Yeah arney, the beach winds pretty much get rid of some of the smoke, when i was driving to school during the fires, we went through Del Mar and it had mega high winds and was totally dark (at mid-day) and I thought that that is what the end of the world would be like, did I mention there were no people? Still_Alive, maybe you could just have a small pack of toys and stuff that goes with however you carry your kids (Stroller or what not) it would be useful to know how you plan on carrieng them along...