My sister Mayela and husband Stephen have come for a brief visit with canine children Jake (seen here stealing a kiss) and Sebastian. These children are quite remarkable. They rarely talk back, they clean up after themselves and anyone else who has dropped food on the floor, they eat everything you put on their plates and would rather run around outside than watch TV or play video games. Our kids could learn a thing or two from these guys.

The surf was up and I was able to catch some of the action.

During my recent business trip to California, I had a brief opportunity to visit the Pacific Ocean at Newport Beach.

Today was another exciting day on the soccer field. Kyle’s team fell to a 2-0 deficit before coming from behind to win 3-2. It was not one of Kyle’s better games but he started a nice passing sequence which resulted in the go ahead goal. Jeanine seen here as we packed up to leave the field. Have you ever seen anyone who looks so nice in hats? I was out of action today with a pulled groin muscle which I suffered in a scrimmage match on Labor day. Tomorrow I head to California for a three day trip and will probably not post again until Thursday.

Larry, Jeanine’s father, arrived this afternoon after driving out from Indiana. First to greet him were his two girls.

This evening was the first (hopefully annual) Mattison neighborhood family block party. Activities for the children included pony rides, a huge inflatable moon-walk with slide, volleyball/nukem, a bicycle parade, face painting, and an open ice cream bar.

Maya is dressing herself this year. Today, she came down for breakfast adorned in this scarf and macrame choker.

Nico is relaxing before his first full day at school, where he is pleased to be in a class with a number of his friends. There is already talk of soccer and volleyball during recreation period and this has Nicolai very excited.

Just like “Goldilocks”, Maya had to sample every bed.

This evening, Jeanine and I took Maya out to shop for bedroom furniture. Although she did not quite fit in the strollers, she was quite content to be chauffeured about the store with her legs dangling out.

Father and daughter snuggling on the couch before her first day of school as photographed by Nicolai.

Mother and daughter bike ride after a garage clean-up. I don’t know which girl is cuter.

Kyle and his team played another fantastic game this afternoon against one of the best teams in the state. The game ended in a tie and the sudden death overtime ended in a tie. The game was decided on penalty kicks and Kyle’s team cam up short. Kyle plays center midfielder and simply dominates the middle of the pitch. He is one of the larger and stronger kids in his age bracket and uses his power to “move” defenders out of his path.

Kyle scored a spectacular goal to open the season and help his team to a 3-0 win this morning. He took a blistering shot from about 25 yards which he placed just over the goalie and just under the bar. He plays again this afternoon and twice more on Sunday.