The Desert

Danny loves the desert. If he could, he'd pedal his mountain bike, ride his motorcycle and/or hike his long legs all over the desert all day every day. He's an outdoorsy, adventurous, desert guy. I am not a desert person. But, I do love Danny. A lot. So I act excited about the adventure of it all, while trying to erase the image of attempting to remove sand from every inch of my kids' clothing later on.

So when we get invited to go out to the desert with friends, we try to go along. For some reason, people with four young kids don't really get invited to do much. Therefore, we've decided that since the twins are now mobile, we are going to make every effort to get our rears in gear and get out of this house and live a decidedly more exciting life.

This morning we loaded up the truck with all the necessities.

Look at that great big truck with the motorcycle in the back! A picture of masculinity right?

Not really.

The girls are really excited to get out to the dunes. G is pensive. She's considering the effects of sand in the diaper area.

J.D. is unfortunately too sick to attend (another ear infection) and Grandma D and Grandpa D have offered to entertain him for the morning.

We made it! Danny and G are equally thrilled.

Do you know how much G likes to ride in little vehicles? She loves the Cozy Coupe, little red wagon, big wheel, Daddy's airplane rides. She actually likes just about anything rideable. One day, Danny started up the motorcycle in the garage and G started screaming and crying . We thought it was the loud noise of the engine bothering her, but oh no, she had grabbed the bike helmet and was motioning to get on the motorcycle to go for a ride. Danny happily complied for a little ride around the yard. When they returned, I think I saw a tear of joy in Danny's eye.

Anyway, the desert was the perfect place for G to try out all the best ATV equipment.

Yeah, this is fun, but it's not moving.

Uh oh. How do I get out of here?

This looks promising.

Now we're talking!

Ok, now for the real deal. Our friends let us borrow their Polaris so we can fit the whole clan.

Babies use a special kind of seatbelt in desert vehicles. Human arms work best.

Just kidding, baby A was just hanging out for a minute.

The girls are smiling here, but this doesn't even compare to their incredible joy during the ride. They LOVED this! Fun Fun Fun.

Then Danny was like, ok, it's my turn.

All of a sudden this 40-ish farmer turned back into a teenager...

and he was gone.

So the girls and I kicked back for a bit. Wait a minute! That's my chair!

Then it was time to go. The girls don't know this yet. That explains the smiles. You know what though, when we did go, they simply said, "We don't want to go." And I said, I know, we'll be back soon. They were cool with it. In fact I was impressed with how the kids handled themselves during that whole adventure. Even with all the driving and packing, dust and dirt, there was not a single cry, tantrum, fit, complaint or whiney moment. Is the desert a magical place? Have all you desert people been holding out on me? Not cool. Not cool at all.

We're heading on home. The girls are so grimey and dirty, but you can't really tell from this distance. I don't want to gross anybody out.

This is what the desert does for hard-working, desert-loving dads.

This is what the desert does for babies.

Maybe I do love the desert!