Today, Jeanine is at a Ropes course with some of the youth from our Church. My day starts by taking Maya to swimming lessons.

Friday the 13th marks a big management shake up at work. My boss and his boss, both of whom I have a lot of respect for, have been moved out of the organization. I have been asked to stay on and will report to the new General Manager as VP of Engineering and will also pick up the Program Management team and an engineering team in Dallas (my total team size is now ~550). On Monday, additional senior management changes will be announced with six VPs being reassigned or moved out (I am one of two to survive in my current role). Although the changes are massive, I think they will be good for the company in the long term. My new boss has scheduled meetings for 12 hours on Monday so I don’t expect I will be posting much during the early part of next week.

I drive past this farm every day on the way into work. This morning, I stopped to explore a little and found this nice perspective which is not appreciated from the road.

At the end of the day we had a fantastic dinner on the waterfront at the Black Pearl.

On our last run, the wind completely died, affording me my only opportunity to get a photo of us on the water.

Today, I took my entire management team to Newport, RI for a team sailing challenge. The weather and wind were perfect and the outing was a great success. We had six J-22 boats manned by three team members and one coach/safety officer. We learned basic sailing techniques in the morning and had the team challenge in the afternoon. The challenge required us sailing in teams of three boats through a course (set with buoys). We were rewarded for sailing in a specific boat sequence, in the least amount of time, with the tightest grouping of boats (time of slowest boat plus the delta time of the first boat to the last boat). A great deal of communication and strategy was involved. The final event required us to sail as a group of six boats against the clock. Our team produced the best time in this configuration (the ultimate goal) which was a first for the facilitators of this event.

1 PM: Woman flying through air suspended by balloon complying with sign (only in NYC)

8:35 AM: Brush with celebrities John Lithgow,Jeffery Tambor, Katie Couric, and Matt Lauer.

8:30 AM: Arrive Rockefeller Center for meetings with NBC.

7:00 AM: Sunrise over NYC on approach to Laguardia.

4:20 AM: Wake up
4:45 AM: Limo to airport
6:30 AM: Taxi for take-off

Kyle showed some interest in my camera and took this very nice photo of his mother and sister while we were waiting for our dinner to arrive.

When we returned from hiking, we went out to our favorite Mexican restaurant. Kyle had a rare weekend with no soccer games which was very fortunate as he is nursing a turned ankle.

When I retruned home Jeanine and I were both in the mood to be outdoors on this glorious fall day. We grabbed Maya and drove to the Boxborough Conservation area and did a little hiking in the woods. Here we discovered a tiny stone bridge over a small creek.

This morning, I was back in action again after missing one game to a hamstring injury. We beat Cambridge 1-0 despite playing a man down for the entire second half due to a red card ejection of one of our players. Since I was so close, I decided to do a little shopping at Harvard Square. When I arrived, I discovered the entire area closed to auto traffic for Octoberfest. I decided to stay for lunch and sampled the varied open air musical entertainiment.

Question: How long does it take to consume nearly two pounds of Cougar Gold cheese? Answer: It has been 8 days since I received this gift for my birthday. Thank you Larry!

Jeanine and Rudy shared a canoe with good friend Gabe (in the middle – even though you can not see her). I had Maya and Julie with me. I love these girls more than words can express, but when they persistantly dragged their paddles in the water thus thwarting my attempts at propulsion, I was prepared to put their swimming ability to the test.

Maya would have taken the lamb home with her if she could have gotten it in the canoe.

For reasons that are not all together clear to me, there was a lamb at the Old Manse and Maya wasted little time introducing herself.

Today we were visited by Rudy Albachten, one of Jeanine’s childhood friends. We rented canoes and paddled down to the old North Bridge where we put ashore for a while. Here, the two pose in front of the Old Manse.

As the sun went down, we stopped along the Kancamangus highway at a scenic overview where we renewed our marriage vows. For those of you who attended our wedding you will recall that it was set in fall color as well.

Another view on the way down.

Mountains covered in fall foliage as far as the eye could see in almost every direction.

Later we took the gondolla to the top of Cannon Mountain (4100 ft above sea level) and enjoyed views of Canada, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.

Click the photo for a larger view. Jeanine is the little orange spec standing on the bridge near the top of the flume.

Visitors can make their way up the flume on this walkway which takes you all the way to the top.

This covered bridge takes you to the entrance of the Flume, a spectacular slot canyon cut into the rock by water. Because pedestrians are not allowed on this road, I had to hike through the woods and down a very steep embankment to get this photo. The shuttle bus goes over the bridge once every five minutes so I had to hide in the brush and then jump out for a few shots and then dive back in for cover. It was really a lot of fun and nothing was going to deny me this classic vista.

Jeanine and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary today. I took the day off and we traveled to the Franconia Notch of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. There is nothing in this world I know that can compare to fall in New England. We were treated to a pefect day and peak color.

Minuteman National Park on the way home from work this evening.

Nanna reads with Maya in her own canopy bed.

After we returned home, Jeanine, my mom, and Maya completed the bedding and canopy for the bed I made with Maya. Elizabeth was very pleased and so was her dog.