Late this afternoon Kyle had a tournament match. His ankle is feeling much stronger and it was apparent from the level of intensity of his play. Here he wins a nice header but is ultimately called for jumping over his opponent. Despite missing just about every other call in the match I have to agree that the ref got this one right. Regrettably, after a 1-1 tie in regulation time, the boys came up one goal short in the overtime period despite playing an extremely strong game.

Kyle joined me for lunch today and we did a campus tour of MIT which is about a ten minute walk from my office. Despite his initial trepidation, I think Kyle really had a good time and especially enjoyed learning of the “hacks” perpetrated by MIT students. Perhaps the most notable was the dismantling and reassembly of a MIT police cruiser on the top of the dome pictured here.

 
Replacing the Burning Bushes will be this Kousa Dogwood. Complicating the excavation/transplantation is the proximity of our water line, power line, telephone line, cable TV line and irrigation system. So far nothing has been damaged.

Landscapers arrived early this morning to begin transplanting a pair of Burning Bushes from the southwest corner of the house to an area adjacent to the garages.

 
Nicolai is ready to move to Minnesota permanently. He is having a great time with his cousins and really enjoys playing with all the neighborhood kids. This group, apparently, also includes a number of girls who seem to fancy our young basketball player.

 
Maya was in heaven equally enjoying her younger girl cousins as well as the older boys. She assisted with her first diaper changing and also perfected the invaluable football hold. Rose is a feisty ball of energy and gives no quarter to her older siblings.

This morning, Jeanine, Nicolai, and Maya left for Minneapolis, where they will be visiting my brother Mark and his family for the next several days. Mark and Marie have four children: Mario (14), Rory (12), Sophia (3 – pictured here), and Rose (15 months).

The British, in a little know fact, where not defeated by the Minutemen with their muskets and cannons but rather by Girl Scout Troop 2665 which is honored each year in the parade. The scouts depleted the British war coffers by selling the Red Coats an endless supplies of Thin Mints.

In addition to a twelve musket volley from the Minutemen observers watch the Concord Artillery Company fire a 3 pound projectile brass cannon. It is a sound you are unlikely to forget (ever).

Patriot’s Day is not something that is taken lightly in Concord, the birthplace of the American Revolution. “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” was taken here at the Old North Bridge and each year we commemorate the occasion with an early morning parade that literally shuts down the town. When you ask someone from Concord how long they have lived here they are more likely to answer in generations than in years. To say that it is a community steeped in history would be a huge understatement.

 
This evening Kyle had his haircut, apparently pleased enough with Nico’s new look to let me proceed. With Kyle a haircut is measured in pounds of hair removed rather than inches. I estimate this was a two pounder. Kyle and I both played with injuries today (Kyle’s ankle and my hamstring)and yet managed the only goals for our respective teams. My team came away with a hard fought 1-1 tie and Kyle’s team had a disappointing 2-1 loss.

Nico asked me to give him a haircut today. He requested a buzz cut but I suggested we try something a little less dramatic since we could always go shorter if he was so inclined. Kyle has an appointment for tomorrow. Maya and Jeanine will still not let me cut their hair.

It is not clear to me whether this is a soccer or a boxing match. If the later, Maya seems poised to deliver a nice jab to her much larger opponent. Kyle is still nursing an injured ankle and saw limitted action in 2 matches today. The first a dissappointing loss to a team they should have beat and the second a definitive 5-1 win.

Maya samples the peanut butter chocolate milkshake she made in the new blender. My attempt at a strawberry shake was just shy of a failure, closer to a thick smoothie than a shake.