Kyle and Nicolai comparing their hauls.

Maya and her friend Julie are preparing to make their trick-or-treat excursion. Maya ran almost the entire route, leaving the father exhausted. She did not fall for the “do you want me to carry your candy ploy,” nor did she feel compelled to offer me candy in exchange for the protection from swamp monsters I provided all evening.

Nico was a cheerleader for Halloween. Maya says he is weird.

After an early snow yesterday, today turned out to be a glorious fall day. Jeanine spent some time in the garden, and Carl spent a little time leaf peeping.

The day started and is ending now with Maya reading to her mother. Both boys lost soccer matches today. Carl’s team had a 5-0 win and needs only one more victory to win their division. It was Jeanine’s family night and the theme was charity. Each child was asked to select a charity and decide how much they wished to contribute from their own money. Next all three were asked to select a single charity they could all agree on for a family charity. At the time of this writing consensus on this point remains unreached.

We had the first snow of the season today. This is the first time I’ve seen our burning bush at peak color covered in snow.

Maya playing in her Halloween piano recital.

Kyle started his indoor season this evening. He scored FIVE goals to lead his team to a 5-2 win. His team had no subs and Nicolai was called into action. He was so proud to be playing with Kyle and played one of his best games ever with a beautiful assist to his brother. Hard for a father to be prouder of his boys.

Halloween preparations are underway. Maya is carving her pumpkin this year.

Nicolai played his first indoor game this season. His team won 6-3 and he had two assists. Nico is well suited to indoor because of the shorter distances. Here he handles a header nicely.

Above he unleashes a rocket which missed just wide.

Maya and her friend, Lydia are getting ready for a Halloween party at school. Photo by Nicolai.

Couldn’t resist this shot on the drive home from the train station. Still no great fall color this year so I am having to turn my attention elsewhere.

I returned from NYC by train and grabbed this shot through the window. Fantastic cloud formations formed by the remnants of hurricane Wilma.

My brother Mark had a baby today! Well, technically, Marie did most of the work. Sophia (6 pounds, 2 ounces, 19″) was delivered by emergency C section a couple of weeks early. Mother and daughter are doing magnificently. Maya, who to the best of my knowledge has never written anything before, composed a 4 page letter to Sophia. I videotaped her reading the letter and I must remember to play it for her cousin in a couple of years. We are thrilled that they got a little girl. We love our boys so much, but I can’t imagine our lives having been complete without Maya.

I traveled to NYC today to participate in a press conference announcing the shipment of a new Avid product which my team and I were responsible for developing. It is a massive storage system (64 terabytes pictured) which is used by broadcasters and post production houses to store massive amounts of video and audio. ISIS stands for Infinitely Scalable Intelligent Storage. It was a very high-pressure setting and I was quite relieved to pull off my presentations without any mistakes. Can’t remember being so completely spent after a day of work in a long, long time.

Maya and I went on a photo date today (we both take our cameras and head out in search of beauty). Here, she is taking a picture of White Pond. Kyle had another soccer match today and scored a powerful left-footed goal from the 18 to help his team to a 3-0 win.

It has not been a stellar year for fall color, but there are still some very nice pockets to be found.

Nico had an assist on his team’s only goal against a much stronger team. Nico was in fine form and did a magnificent job of distribution from his center midfielder position. Kyle also had an assist helping his team to a 3-1 victory.

Maya’s team won 6-4 and she scored one goal on this break away. She was knocked to the ground on three different occasions but bounced right back due, no doubt, to the extensive “training” provided by her brothers.

Maya and friends huddled together against the cold at her soccer game this morning.

It is starting to turn cold here, and the flies are getting very slow. I was able to sneak up on this guy for a quick portrait. I don’t particularly care for flies and have killed more than my fair share, but it is hard not to admire the way these critters are engineered.

I have enjoyed my Mercedes immensely, but it was time for a new car. I picked up this Audi A3 yesterday and just love it. I wanted something that was fun to drive, could hold the entire family, was able to haul a lot of cargo, and got excellent gas mileage. This 5-seater sports wagon fit the bill. It has a turbo-charged 2L engine, 0-60 in 6.2s, a dual-clutch automatic that shifts faster than a manual (steering wheel mounted paddle shifters) and I averaged 31mpg on the way home from work yesterday (almost double my SUV). Kyle has figured out that if I stay on my new car every 4 year pattern that he will inherit this “pocket rocket” when he is ready to drive and has given his enthusiastic approval to the new purchase.

A touch of Japan in the heart of Massachusetts.

The weather this fall has been very unusual, and the leaves have not turned yet. I was in the mood for some fall color and found it in Jeanine’s garden.

Kyle beats a defender who grabs his shirt to slow him down. It didn’t work. Kyle has been playing center midfield this season and is quite dominant at the position. He is very unselfish and will always look to pass first. I have been encouraging him to make an occasional attacking run and he did so today twice with very good results. He has just turned 13 and I would have to say he has already surpassed me in skill. Fortunately, I am still bigger and can knock him over so I think it will be a couple more years before he can claim total domination over his father.

I just never get tired of this little subject. I think red is her best color.

Today I took more than 800 photographs, 99% of them of soccer games. Kyle was in action today and his team earned a 1-0 victory despite wind gusts of 50mph. My team won a 2-0 match and I was forced to watch (photograph) from the sidelines. My groin muscle injury looks like it will probably keep me out for the rest of the season (although I am holding on to a glimmer of hope that I will be able to make the playoff games). The non-soccer 1% included this set of stairs I came across.

Pictured here is the target. The wall proved to be remarkably sturdy and withstood over 50 assaults before collapsing. The people inside the castle did not fare as well with heavy casualties during the initial attack. Kyle also fashioned a grappling hook which he launched from the catapult to successfully breach the wall.

We decided to have family night on Saturday this week. Nicolai chose a catapult vs. castle construction challenge. Nicolai, Maya, and Jeanine were on one team and built a castle wall, popsicle stick people, and a tower, respectively. Carl and Kyle constructed the catapult shown above.

Maya and her friend Sarinnagh. I might as well give up now.

To say their aim was dead accurate would be an understatement. Although I was permitted to move around, they kept the stream of water on me for the entire two minutes. Even the money in my wallet was wet.