We arrive in time for a quick hike around Saco Lake. Kyle had to remain in Concord for high school soccer tryouts and will not join us until tomorrow.

 
Our arrival coincides with three perfect days of weather after a long stretch of rain. Temperatures are perfect for hiking.

 
We will spend a total of three nights at the Highland Center Lodge which is run by the Appalachian Mountain Club of which we are members. The accomodations are spartan but cozy and allow plenty of room for our group of twenty one.

 
My first vacation day since I started work at Sonos. The family heads north to Crawford’s Notch, NH for a family reunion/dual birthday celebration weekend. Here we enter Franconia Notch as we near our destination in the White Mountains. We are renting another van while the Honda is being repaired.

 
My boss demonstrates his photographic talent capturing this image of me on day two of our strategy summit. It’s nice to be on the other end of the lens for a change.

 
The executive team at Sonos after day one of a two day strategic planning session held in Cambridge. Although it was a rather long day, we made excellent progress. Rather than joining the group for dinner, I drove home to be with the family only to discover on my arrival that they had gone with the VanDoren’s to watch a Revolution (pro soccer team) game in Foxborough. As they were leaving the parking lot the van was hit by a stadium employee who was speeding on his way out. No major injuries to speak of but the van is going to need some serious work.

 
Kyle has become something of a grill master and is largely responsible for this evening’s meal featuring a dry rub salmon. Yum yum.

 
Today Jeanine, Maya and the VanDoren clan went whale watching. I had to work and regret having missed such a great adventure.

 
For desert we enjoyed a marbled pound cake baked by Maya. She was as proud of her creation as we were appreciative of the delicious treat.

 
Today the VanDoren family from Belgium arrived. They will be visiting with us for the next few days. Francis (far right) was a foreign exchange student who lived with Jeanine for a year during high school. They have stayed in touch ever since. Counter clockwise from Francis are here husband Dirk, son Arne, yours truly, Maya, daughter Jolene, my bride and Nala completes the picture. We enjoyed dinner on the sun porch and got to watch a beautiful full moon rising over the field.

 
With the kids scattered to the winds (Maya in Nantucket, Nico with cousins in Minneapolis, Kyle in Nicaragua on a service project) Jeanine and I had the day to ourselves. We decided to go kayaking on the Sudbury River launching from the South Bridge boat house where we rented a kayak for Jeanine. We headed upstream for a liesurely 9 mile paddle and encountered more Blue Heron than people on our voyage. We are very fortunate to live so close to so many great kayaking destinations. We are less than 5 minutes from the Concord, Sudbury and Assebet Rivers.

 
So many people on airplanes these days spend all their time watching the movie, working on their computers or glued to a book failing to appreciate the beauty below them. Forget about smelling roses; take a moment and look out the window.

 
On my return flight to Boston I enjoyed an unusually clean window and typically spectacular views of the Rocky Mountains.

 
Santa Barbara has a lovely beach, warf and marina. I made the 15 minute walk here from my hotel after work. Suprisingly I found little photographic inspiration until I came across this reflection in the waning evening light.

 
As colorful as the produce was, none could compete with this street performer. I have seen him here on prior trips and hope to get a better portrait of him on my next visit. For me, he captures the spirit of Santa Barbara.

 
I travelled to Santa Barbara today for work, arriving at about 6pm. Around the corner from my hotel each Tuesday is the open air farmer’s market. Although things were winding down as I arrived I was able to purchase some delicious fruit and get a few pictures.

 
We thoroughly enjoyed the visit by Anita and Dave. Anita prepared dinner for the family last night while Dave, who is an excellent musician, jammed with the boys in the basement. Jeanine drove Kyle to the rendezvous point for his 3am departure to Nicaragua while the rest of us slept.

 
The blueberry pie masterpiece created by Jeanine from this mornings berry harvest. Delicious!!

 
A final remembrance from Camp Encore Coda.

 
It would have taken less time had a realized earlier that we were not suppose to eat the berries as we picked them.

 
…. Jeanine and Maya discover wild blueberries along the roadside which we harvested for almost an hour. When we returned home Jeanine turned our gatherings into an unbelievably yummy pie which we shared with my cousin Anita and her boyfriend Dave who called out of the blue and are visiting with us this evening as they travel through the area.

 
While I stopped the car for this photo of Bear Lake ….

 
This B&B is known for their collection of Nubian goats and the cheese they make from their milk. I wandered into the barn for a peek at a couple of the young Nubians. There is a good joke here, but I will pass it up in favor of maintaining a G rating for this blog.

 
We spent last night at the Fern Hill bed and breakfast just as we did last year. After their numerous performances on Saturday, campers unwind with an all camp dance that evening. Parents return on the following day to collect them necessitating the overnight stay. The proprietor is a veteran mountain climber and was a little skeptical last year when I told him that Nicolai and I intended to climb Kilimanjaro. This year having heard of our adventure on the radio was most congratulatory and thrilled to discuss the climb at length.

 
This morning Jeanine, Maya and I left the house at 6am to make the three hour derive to Sweden, Maine where Nicolai has been attending music camp Encore Coda for the last three weeks. Maya is the first to embrace her brother and he is thrilled to see her.

 
In his final performance, Nico played drums in a rock band. we were all very impressed with the set and it was great to see Nico having so much fun, not that you could tell by his facial expression while performing. Not cool to smile I guess. How do you get a guitar player to stop playing? Put some music in front of him. How do you get two picolo players to play in tune? Shoot one of them. Nico now has a full complement of musician jokes and he was very happy to share them with us.

 
After playing percussion for the symphonic orchestra he then played drums for a jazz ensemble. It’s a shame they always put the drummer in the back. Nico asked me why it was important to make sure the drums are set up perfectly level. It is so the drummer will drool equally from both sides of their mouth. He then asked me what you call a trombone player without a girl friend? …. Homeless.

 
Nicolai performed in four seperate groups. This year he participated in the Jazz Choir. Click on the photo and see if you can find him among the singers. Bonus points if you find Waldo as well.

 
Because we arrived earlier than expected we had some time before Nico’s first performance. Maya entertains herself using a crab apple to draw with on the concrete foundation of the administration building.

 
Nicolai gives us a tour of his cabin and shares stories of his teachers and bunk mates.

This evening I attended the wake for Hakim and was overcome with emotion. My soccer team is a band of brothers and his father’s loss is our loss. When I returned home to learn that Kyle had obtained his driving permit and had driven home I could not see past my fear of losing my own child to share his enthusiasm for reaching this milestone. I know that Bahi will carry the burden of his son’s loss for the rest of his life and I will do what I can to ease that pain. This reminder of how quickly we can lose a loved one will also cause me to find more moments to cherish my own family.