Jeanine and Kyle spent the weekend at Lake Tahoe visiting the mother of a close friend of the family. Both reported that the 5 hour drive from the bay area was well worth the effort. They enjoyed hiking, boating, sightseeing, fine dining, and volleyball. I spent time in this area 30 years ago while attending graduate school in California and still have vivid memories of the natural beauty. When Jeanine and I visit Kyle over the coming years it will surely be one of our repeat ancillary destinations. Today I enjoyed an early morning soccer scrimmage, an afternoon spent watching the Women’s World Cup finals (disappointing finish for the US but one can only admire and be happy for the Japanese team), and the evening putting the final touches on Maya’s kayak (all that remains is varnishing).

After spending the morning working on Maya’s kayak I decided to do a little kayaking myself. It took about an hour to drive to Hingham Bay where I put in at the public boat ramp. The map pictured here is overlaid with my GPS log. I have long wanted to make this tour which included Button, Sarah, Langlee, Bumkin, Grape, Slate, and Ragged Islands. I covered 8.3 miles in roughly two and a half hours including a stop on Grape Island for a look around. I averaged a little better than 4 mph which was very respectable considering the amount of evasive maneuvering I had to do to cope with heavy boat traffic. It is safest to paddle into a big wake at right angles and this often took me off my heading. After 15 minutes on the water it occurred to me that I did not have my bilge pump on board (I removed it to size a clip for Maya’s kayak and forgot to replace it). A capsize would have been very hard to recover from and so I opted for maximum safety turning into every wake. Because the weather was exceptionally nice and and the seas were calm I decided not to use my spray skirt which in retrospect was a poor decision. A 3 foot boat wake swell looks awfully big when your cockpit opening sits only 4 inches above the waterline. About the only smart decision I made was to leave my SLR in the car. Although I missed some excellent photo opportunities, I am fairly certain either the camera or I would have wound up in the ocean if I had tried to use it while on the water.

With the hull and deck completed I began work on the kayak coaming (the lip around the cockpit opening to which a spray skirt is attached) today. Progress is much slower without my little assistant. Not a single word from Minnesota which can only mean that Maya and Nico are having so much fun with their cousins that there is no time to call home. Jeanine and Kyle are having a great experience in California where the orientation at Santa Clara University is reported to be going very well. They left this evening for Lake Tahoe where they will spend the weekend with a friend of the family.

The new turf field at Concord Carlisle High School is located at the top of a hill covered in beautiful wildflowers. On Thursday’s I practice soccer from 8 to 9:30PM and this evening I took things slow so as not to aggravate an injured muscle. With temperatures in the 90s it was easy to stretch out and get warmed up!

As I left work today, the outside temperature as reported by my Audi was 96 degrees.

This evening I bonded the deck and hull of Maya’s kayak together. This operation involves the use of an epoxy syringe taped to the end of a 6 foot pole operated by a dowel rod threaded through eye screws. You reach all the way up to the bow and stern using this contraption and squeeze a thickened epoxy mixture into the shear seam from the cockpit opening. I used a headlamp to see what I was doing and then taped a filleting tool to the 6 foot pole to smooth out the joint for a very tidy outcome. At this rate of progress I expect to have the kayak completed by the end of next weekend and the varnishing completed by the following weekend.

Tomorrow marks 12 weeks since I joined several of my colleagues in a weight loss challenge. This morning after soccer practice I checked my weight and have lost 30 pounds. I have not been in the 150’s for more than a decade and feel very good about my progress. My love handles are all but gone and I think this is a good place to stabilize. My approach was to reduce calories in and increase calories burned. Naturally, I celebrated with ice cream. I spent several hours working on the kayak which is approaching completion and watched the US vs Brazil World Cup soccer match with the boys; one of the most exciting games I have ever witnessed. Go USA!

I worked with Nala today to acclimate her to a new wireless electronic fence. The system we have had in place for several years depends on a buried wire which defines her permitted roaming area. After the wire broke for what must be the tenth time we decided to investigate a wireless version. The technology has progressed substantially since I last looked at these systems. We are evaluating a product which uses a bidirectional Wi-Fi link between base and collar which allows us to know how far she is from the house at any time and also can monitor the condition of the collar battery remotely. The only downside of this approach is that the containment area must be circular. We found a transmitter location in the house which results in an optimal field. Now the trick is to retrain Nala from her old boundaries to the new ones.

For the last week Maya has been attending the Summer Stages dance camp at the Concord Academy. This evening Jeanine and I attended her end-of-session recital. She danced routines in ballet, jazz, modern, African, and hip-hop. When asked which I liked best I answered truthfully, “All of them!”

Although his birthday is not until tomorrow the family celebrated Nico’s 17th birthday this evening. Jeanine prepared his favorite mac and cheese casserole and Maya baked a yummy flourless chocolate cake which was served with a raspberry sauce and freshly whipped cream. Kyle gave him a bucket of golf balls which were put to immediate use after dinner. Our undulating back yard is non optimal for volleyball or soccer but when it comes to golf it cannot be beat. We essentially have a driving range complete with elevated tee area. Nico is the best golfer in the family and did his best to give Kyle and I some pointers. Earlier today I had breakfast with a former colleague from Sonos who gave me a tour of their new facility in downtown Cambridge. The company is growing by leaps and bounds and the new brick and wood beam facility has a very nice feel to it. While I miss many of the folks at Sonos, I was reminded how much I hated the commute.

Nico is featured in the latest newsletter from SideStix which can be found at this link. It features a photo of him balancing one of his crutches on the other and I asked him to duplicate the feat for a photo of the day. Maya and I put in a few hours on the kayak and completed the most difficult fiberglassing task (inside of the hull).

Brother and sister looking up the top ten smartest dog breeds on Kyle’s new iPhone as dinner conversation turns to the possibility of getting another dog. The possibility of this actually happening, incidentally, is exactly zero.

Maya and Jeanine volunteered at the Concord Fourth of July Picnic in the Park today as face painters. Oddly, in the eight years we have lived here this is the first time we have attended this free, volunteer sponsored event. It features live music, foods of all kinds, a children’s bicycle parade, a hot air balloon, a 5K road race, radar baseball toss, K9 unit drug sniffing dog demonstration, 911 fire house (simulated fire, kids with a real fire hose) and all manner of activities for kids of all ages. Later in the day the family minus Kyle (spending the weekend on Cape Cod with Hannah and her family) attended a Fourth of July party at the home of Tom Metzold, my high school wrestling partner and life long friend. This year there was enough interest to have a 5 team 4v4 volleyball tournament. Nico asked me to join his team with Tom’s son Evan and his friend. Nico has mad volleyball skills and I thoroughly enjoyed playing with him. Our team played five matches and prevailed as champion defeating a quad of young bucks who thought they were going to dominate the team with the old guy on it. Very satisfying win and entirely enjoyable day with an old friend, pictured here chatting with Nico. Tom and Karen have a lovely home in Westwood where they are joined by family and friends every year for a celebration that includes swimming, soccer, volleyball, delicious foods, and a fireworks show that rivals some small towns. This year there was enough interest to have a 5 team 4v4 volleyball tournament. Nico asked me to join his team with Tom’s son Evan and his friend. Nico has mad volleyball skills and I thoroughly enjoyed playing with him. Our team played five matches and prevailed as champion defeating a quad of young bucks who thought they were going to dominate the team with the old guy on it. Very satisfying win and entirely enjoyable day with an old friend, pictured here chatting with Nico.

I spent 14 hours working on the kayak today. It has been a long time since I did so much manual labor and my hands and arms are extremely sore. Progress has been rapid and the deck is starting to take shape. Maya continues to be a great help and we are pushing to complete as much of the boat as possible before she leaves to visit her cousins in Minnesota next weekend. Jeanine returned yesterday from her writing retreat to Vermont and was looking very relaxed.