Nicolai models a birthday present he received from his sister this evening at a family-only birthday party. Nicolai is making out like a bandit this year. First he had a birthday party with his school chums before they left for summer camps. Tonight we celebrated as a family because Jeanine and the kids leave this weekend for Oklahoma making this their last day at home. I have no doubt he will have another party on July 8th (his actual birthday) and I suspect he will orchestrate yet another celebration when he visits with Jeanine’s family in Indianapolis later this month.

I have not posted any pictures of the house since we had it painted and thought I would use this excuse to test out a new camera that arrived today. Having lost one of my expensive SLR bodies and lenses to the Atlantic Ocean (fortunately covered by insurance) a couple of weeks ago I thought I would pick up a light weight travel camera for such situations. The new camera cost about as much as one of my cheap lenses and produces remarkably good photographs.

Maya has fashioned a kite out of an empty plastic bag. Please note the lack of footwear. This seems to be a common summer theme among the children of this house.

Today is “Safari Day” at Concord Academy Summer Camp. Maya has selected classes in dance, drama, and archery.

Kyle and his buddy Seth are attending Lacrosse camp this week. This is Kyle’s first formal training in the sport and he is picking it up very quickly. He seems to have a natural affinity to sports in which you get to hit people.

My brother sent us this photo of my neice Sophia. In our family it is essential that we have photos of our children eating pasta and holding a bocce ball. I will see this cutie pie for the first time this summer at my parents wedding anniversary.

Kyle drives for two of his eight points this evening, in a lop sided win. His team only had one sub so all of the boys got a great work out. By the end of the game Kyle looked a little tired. Probably worth mentioning he spent the entire day at lacrosse camp where they worked kids pretty hard.

The weekend weather (rain, rain, rain) prompted me to tackle two major archiving projects. The first involves scanning old photos provided by my parents so that I can assemble a slide show to be presented at their upcoming 50th wedding anniversary. This was one of my favorites. The second project is the transfer of all my videotape footage to DVD. It has been quite a trip down memory lane.

Greg, Nicolai’s soccer buddy, demonstrates fine technique in the “Water Cup Relay Race”. I spent my lunch hour photographing as many kids as possible but was cut short when it began to pour.

Here is another member of the band, lead guitarist Andrew.

Another relay event involves dressing up in a costume and running about 50 yards before returning to your team and taking the outfit off and quickly dressing the next team member. Pictured here is Sam, one of Nico’s friends and lead singer in his band.

Today was Willard Fun Day which is something of a silly Olympiad for graduating fifth graders. Here, Nicolai participates in the “Lunch Lady Relay”. Each team member must in turn run to the lunch table, put on food service gloves, don a hair net, grab a tray and plate, and proceed down the food line serving themselves spaghetti, sauce, green beans and fruit cocktail. Finally, they poor a glass of water and race back to their waiting team with a full tray so that the next person can begin the routine anew.

When you take the time to look, you start finding these strange little critters everywhere.

While I was looking around I encountered this little fellow.

This morning I went into the garden to capture some of Jeanine’s roses.

This evening, Nicolai and his band, “Breaking the Ice,” were the closing act at the Thoreau Talent Show. They performed “Sweet Home Alabama” and as an encore “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” Not shown in the photograph is their keyboard player Jeremy. The boys brought down the house.

This evening Kyle performed at the Acton Jazz Club for a crowd of 40 backed by his guitar teacher’s band. It was his first performance and he was more than a little nervous before he took the stage. Once he started playing he was terrific.

Jeanine and I attended Maya’s Writer’s Workshop at her school. She has written several stories over the last year and she read to the audience from her favorites including “A trap will not work,” the story of a drowning Guinea pig saved in the nick of time by the father. Jeanine is not pleased with the fact that I am the only parent featured in her stories. Maya’s stories are quite good, but nothing compared to her dramatic presentation style.

For her birthday Maya requested Swedish pancakes for dinner. The whipped cream could only support a single candle which Maya quickly extinguished.

Maya’s smile tells the whole story. When we got in the car to return home, Maya’s first question was “when is my next lesson”.

In other action today, Nicolai finished his soccer season at the Commissioner’s Cup Soccer Tournament with one win and one loss. My team won a decisive 5-0 victory (I had one assist) to advance to the Division Finals. Regrettably, my team will likely forfeit that match because several team members will be traveling to Germany to watch the World Cup. If the game can be rescheduled, we will have a shot at a perfect undefeated season.

Here, Maya guides Hartley over some poles. The horse would prefer to walk around them so this takes careful steering.

It is quite possible that life as I know it has come to an end. Today, in celebration of her birthday tomorrow, Maya had her first horse riding lesson. She is pictured here on Hartley sporting new riding pants and a helmet she received from her brother. Maya was fearless and did not stop smiling for the entire lesson which included grooming, riding, feeding and washing the horse. 

I think it is safe to say that Nicolai enjoyed himself thoroughly as did his brother.

Nicolai requested an AirSoft theme for his birthday party (held early before his friends scatter for the summer). We agreed on rules of engagement with respect to photo journalists which spared me from being targeted. I am happy to report that the guns soon gave way to an old fashioned game of capture the flag. Later they watched the new Pink Panther movie on the big screen.

Good sport that he is, Kyle allowed Maya to groom his hair. As I type this, he is wearing this new hairdo outdoors while practicing soccer drills.

Proud mother and slightly bored sister look on from the audience.

Nicolai performed with the school band in a concert this evening. Try as I might this were the best shots I could get.

World Cup fever is translating into hours of additional practice in the back yard while Jeanine looks on happily from her swing.

Nicolai honing his skills.

Jeanine has captured some kind of “scary” bug. The children observe cautiously.

Maya played a little piano for me this morning. When I got home from work we played pitch and catch. This child is equally comfortable with an arpeggio or a backhand grounder.