Nicolai rests on the couch while rubbing Nala’s belly. This week has seen temperatures well into the nineties, which has made soccer camp quite exhausting for the girls and left everyone ready to relax at the end of the day.

The new gardens have been a source of delight and nutrition for the entire summer. Now it is also the source of something of a mystery. There are two football sized gourd like objects which are growing adjacent to the raised beds. Jeanine has theorized that they have come from seeds in the compost. We will no doubt discover what they are when Jeanine cooks them into something or other.

Yesterday I received several 30″ x 20″ posters of photos I took on our southwestern RV adventure. The dining area of our kitchen features one wall which features a magnetic wall (steel embedded in the paint under the wall paper). This morning I mounted the various prints with magnets and enjoyed the reaction of the kids as they came down stairs for breakfast.

We can now choose the most fuel-efficient car for the trip at hand and Kyle can add an hour to his day by not having to ride the bus two ways. With Nico attending the same high school, it is a double bonus.

Meet 15 year old Jolle from Belgium. She will be spending the next three weeks with our family. She is the daughter of Jeanine’s Youth for Understanding (YFU) exchange sister, Frances who came from Belgium in 1980 to live with Jeanine’s family in Lebanon, Indiana. When Jeanine was twenty she stayed with Frances and her parents in Belgium. In no small part due to Jeanine’s father, Larry, the families remained connected over the last 30 years and we are delighted to host Jolle. This week she is attending a soccer training camp.

Today I participated in a charity soccer tournament in Ipswich with my former Concord United Over 40 teammates. The temperature was well above 90 and we played a total of four 35 minute games. The first three were back to back and we only had one sub. We tied the first game 1-1 and won the second 1-0. During the third game we were losing 2-0 with 15 minutes left to play. I spent most of the day as a defensive midfielder but at this point moved to the front line where I scored a very pretty diving header within a few minutes. The team rallied around this goal and we scored another two in quick succession to win the game and advance to the semi-finals. By the time we played our final match we were all exhausted and in my case sporting a pretty nasty blister. We did our best but were defeated by a younger and more skilled team. Proceeds of the tournament went to a college fund for the daughter of an Ipswich soccer player who died.

This motionless statue work seems to be catching on and it would seem that you can actually make a living by doing absolutely nothing.

We paused at this self-serve, honor system book store. Very reasonably priced books are laid out on a table, and if you want one, you simply put the marked price into a lockbox on the table. What a great concept.

Jeanine took the train into Cambridge, where she met me at work (her first visit to my office since I started at Sonos). With all three kids scattered to the winds, we enjoyed a date night, which started with dinner at Arabian restaurant Oleana. Later, we walked about Harvard Square, which always offers a lot to take in.

This evening Kyle clipped a curb and popped one of the tires on the van while avoiding another car in the very chaotic Route 2 rotary. Just last weekend we entered into the AAA teenage driver contract with him which spells our parent and teenager responsibilities regarding use of the family car. Tire damage is addressed and Kyle will pay the $150 repair bill. A painful lesson but better than a collision for which we are thankful.

The undisputed champion catcher was Jamie, who was virtually indistractable and had a near perfect record. He may, consequently, be the first to throw up.

From my perspective, the winning teams had the best tossers. A good toss required very little repositioning by the catcher. Dave received my vote for best tosser.

This evening Kyle had a number of his friends over to the house to hang out. How do 6 teenage boys entertain themselves? One activity involved tossing mini-marshmallows across the kitchen and catching them with your mouth. Tossers and catchers alternated while attempting to disorient or distract their opponents.

Maya just got had her braces removed and shows off her very nice and straight teeth. As I understand it she will need to wear them again in a few years when all of her permanent teeth come in. Until then we will all enjoy her unobstructed smile.

Since returning from our vacation Maya has been in a relentless pie baking mood. Today we are treated to fresh blueberry.

This evening we had Kyle’s family birthday celebration. Maya was largely responsible for baking the chocolate peanut butter pie that Kyle requested. Each year I do a birthday interview with each child. This year, Kyle’s interview was done by his friends Dave and Jamie who did a far more entertaining and compelling interview than I ever could have.

This evening Kyle was the grill master and prepared some of the best chicken I have ever tasted. His progress was somewhat hampered by this frog which seemed to have an unnatural attraction to the igniter switch on the grill. We surmised that it might have to do with the similar coloration. I have never seen such a frog before and will have to study our field guide to see if we can identify it.

Today Maya and Jeanine decided they would make a peach pie from scratch and I was fortunate to get a single sliver before the rest was devoured.

As soon as the sun is up, Jeanine’s top priority after being away from home for almost a month is to check on her garden. She returns with a big smile and a handful of string beans.

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Today as we return home to Boston I am electing to reflect on our family vacation rather than post and comment on another photo. It has been a dream of mine to visit the national parks with my family for as long as I can remember. Jeanine and I thought carefully about the timing and realized that this summer was the optimal, if not only window in which to take this adventure. Maya is old enough to handle the hiking and to appreciate and remember what she has seen. Kyle is young enough that his priorities have not yet shifted to working over the entire summer vacation. This may well be our last extended duration family vacation and I must say that it more than met my expectations. I was concerned that the kids would get cabin fever and be at each others thoats. I cannot remember a single fight. I was concerned that they might not appreciate the natural beauty they were exposed to. They were just as awe struck as their parents and some of my favorite moments were spent in total quiet. I was concerned they would grow bored. Instead they filled down time with reading, playing chess, bananagrams and a variety of card games. What I did not expect, and moved me the most, was how the kids helped each other and their parents. Kyle carrying his sister across deep water and up mountains on his back along with most of the water for the rest of us. Nico holding on to Maya so she would not fall off during tubing. Everyone encouraging Jeanine to traverse the gross water so she could enjoy the inside of a slot canyon. Maya and Nicolai helping Kyle and I to overcome our fear of heights. It is safe to say that I will remember this vacation/adventure fondly for as long as I live and hope my children will do so long after that. I will close by wishing Kyle happy birthday on this his 17th.

Of particular interest to the kids were the living sculptures. I can not imagine a job where you are paid to stand perfectly still. Despite their significant interest in this possible future career, I can state categorically that our children are unqualified for this job. Being still is not a trait that runs strong in the Calabria family. Over the course of this vacation we covered 6000 miles in the air, 1800 miles in the RV, 150 miles on the water and nearly 50 miles on foot.

While wandering around inside of the Venetian, it is easy to forget that you are entirely indoors.

Maya was positively captivated by a pair of artists who were creating the masks shown here. They used tiny glue applicators to make patterns and then sprinkled glitter over the glue. Note to self: such a mask would make a nice gift for Maya someday.

Our last day is spent back where we started in Las Vegas. This time we are staying at the Luxor, although we spend almost as much time visiting and dining at the Venetian.

Jeanine’s explorations result in another exceptional macro photograph. Many of this adventure’s best photos have come from Jeanine, and I could not be more pleased. Click on the photo which can only be fully appreciated at a higher resolution.

Jeanine is more adventurous than the kids, who have now learned that hiking through deep sand is extremely hard work.

Our final stop on the park circuit is Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park. The name says it all and we are treated to this most unlikely scene in the midst of an otherwise rocky landscape.

Yesterday we attended a ranger program about the California Condor which looks nearly identical to what we believe is this turkey vulture which we spotted on our drive out. The condor is much larger with a 7 foot wingspan. The only paved road to our next destination was closed for several hours while fire crews battled the forest fire we saw on the way in. Once the flames on both sides of the road were extinguished we were escorted by a fire fighter through the affected area, smoke still billowing from the felled tree trunks.

The tiniest of ponds is fenced off, presumably to keep the bison (a herd of which we spotted yesterday) from reducing it to nothing.

As we depart the Grand Canyon National Park, we stop to enjoy the lush vegetation that has been so uncharacteristic of our various destinations. There is but a single flower in this entire field, and Jeanine must photograph it.

 
Although her project was successful there was very little left to paint black when she was done. This evening we enjoyed a wonderful campfire, s’mores, crude attempts at singing (not a strength of anyone in my bloodline), and Jeanine and Maya opted to sleep in the tent rather than the RV.