Whales can be identified by the patterns of their tales which are the equivalent of a fingerprint for humans. In total we saw at least a dozen different humpbacks and several finbacks.

Here the whale is cruising along the surface with its mouth open allowing the water to filter out while the little fish remain behind. This big bump on top is the blow hole.

Occasionally the whales would turn on their side and raise a flipper before slapping the water with it. It was almost as if they were waving to us.

Whale Ho! Here is our first sighting, a young humpback. This is one of the few experiences I have had where photography fails to convey the feeling I was experiencing. The boat gives a sense of scale, but nothing can convey how gracefully and peacefully these great giants make their way in the world.

On the one hour trip out to the whales we passed an identical version of the vessel we were on. I staked out a prime photography location at the front of the top deck and set up my tripod and long lens.

Erica selected whale watching for today’s family night activity. We departed from Boston’s Long Wharf (pictured here) on one of the high speed split hull ships.

Jeanine and I had a great date this evening. We had dinner at an open air cafe on Newbury St. and then enjoyed “Taming of the Shrew” on the Boston Common.

Das boot.

Kyle was in need of a headshot for this season’s soccer pass. This is about the only reason he will sit for a photograph these days.

Erica having had more than her fill of weeding retires indoors to work on her needlepoint.

A gorgeous day and Jeanine decides she must be outside weeding. Please note the Frankenshoe she wears on her recovering right foot.

We love having Erica visit and hope we are not wearing her out. She has been an enormous help with Jeanine still recouperating. Jeanine went in for her one week check up and the doctor was very pleased with the outcome of the surgery and the healing progress.

Maya and Erica swinging in the backyard.

Maya is attending camp at the Museum of Science and brought home this molecule today. She has named it “tricubic”.

Erica made an absolutely delicious lasagna for the family this evening. Nicolai has officially graduated to a normal eater and Maya has secured the picky eater crown.

It is fun to watch the boys play soccer with each other. This week they have been in the backyard every evening kicking the ball around. What’s really amazing is that there have been no fights.

Maya stayed up late last night and this morning is looking rather tired.

Mother and daughter sampling the birthday pie. We adjusted Jeanine’s crutches to the proper length and she is starting to move about nicely. Everyone has played with the crutches and all have a new appreciation for how adept Nicolai is and how much extra energy it takes to use them.

Apparently his wishes will be coming true this year.

Even though the official day was yesterday, we celebrated Kyle’s birthday today. He requested Chinese takeout (in consideration of his mother’s healing foot) and a chocolate peanut butter pie (Jeanine prepared it before her surgery). Earlier in the day Kyle had some of his friends over for a band practice and later dragged his father off the sofa for some one-on-one soccer including Nicolai. Although he beat me like a drum for 30 minutes, he made the mistake of accepting a next goal wins challenge in which I was able to score. Regretably, he will have to wait until he is fifteen before his next opportunity to claim soccer superiority over his old man.

After I got tired of chasing bugs around, I relaxed with this flower composition. I find something about it very satisfying.

After a day full of chores and staying close to Jeanine, who is recovering nicely, I spent a little time this afternoon shooting macros.

Kyle turned 14 years old today. Seems appropriate that today’s post should feature him. It didn’t take long before there was a reason to aim a camera at him. Nicolai kicked a soccer ball into this tree and Kyle volunteered to retrieve it. In consieration of his birthday, I would say that Kyle has graduated from monkey to ape.

AFTER – The surgery was successful and the right foot is now done. It will take 3 months before Jeanine can have the left foot done. She looked great after the procedure and was out of the hospital in just under four hours.

BEFORE – Jeanine immediately prior to her bunion surgery. We originally arranged for our neice Erica to stay with us so Jeanine and I could take a vacation in Fiji. Jeanine opted instead to have bunion surgery while Erica was available to help her recouperate.

Maya has learned needle point and is busy with a project for her grandmother.

Jeanine and the family are returning from Indianapolis this evening. Rather than returning home, I went into Boston while waiting for their flight to arrive. While strolling through the Boston Common, I came across this free performance of Taming of the Shrew.

On the final leg of their vacation, Jeanine and Maya traveled with Lauren to Chicago where they spent time with Aunt Karen. The highlight of the trip was a visit to American Girl Place (1 Accepting this is a more honest and focused approach to marketing tadalafil buy cheap https://www.supplementprofessors.com/free_quote/ and remember that those who unsubscribe from services were never your market to begin with. Consequently, the lessquality deep snoozewe arein a positionto acquireeach and everyevening the decrease the levels of HGH made and sildenafil super active releasedinto the bloodstream will probably be. Generic products purchase viagra supplementprofessors.com sometimes don’t contain the proper portion of the ingredients (here it is Sildenafil Citrate) which they should have. There has been research released recently which suggests that watermelons can be considered the new cialis canada generic and may act as catalyst in the hair fall mechanism. of three in the country) where Maya adopted Elizabeth pictured here. The group enjoyed a tea party as part of the “experience.” Maya insisted on introducing me to Elizabeth herself and wanted the entire affair kept secret until they returned.

While visiting with Jeanine’s dad the kids did a little fishing off the dock. 

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The fast shutter speed fails to convey the speed at which these cars were moving. Here we have a rare moment when all three are vying for position in one of the hairpin corners.