Maya passed her swimming test today which required one lap of crawl, one lap of back stroke, 30s of back float and 30s of dog paddle. The green bracelet indicates that she can swim at the pool by herself. She is very proud of this accomplishment and had to overcome a great deal of anxiety to complete the test. 

Jeanine’s reaction to the sight of Kyle’s injuries. Her foot is still recovering from surgery so she spent the day in the lodge reading and knitting.  

Shortly before lunch, however, Kyle built up a little too much speed on a jump and did a face plant when he landed. The Law of Gravity can be a real bitch. He abraded most of his face, bruised his right eye, smashed his lips, and realigned his nose which was bleeding profusely as he was escorted to the medical center. 

Kyle started the day in fine form. 

Nicolai having mastered skiing with one leg, has graduated to flying. He spent the majority of the day in the terrain park working on his jumps and tricks. 

We enrolled Maya in a day long skiing class. I stopped in a few times to check on her progress. She is a natural skier and had a smile on her face the whole day. After her 6 hour course she still wanted to keep going. When we managed to coral her into the van, however, she was fast asleep in short order.

The kids are on winter break this week and I took a vacation day to spend with the family. We got an early start and travelled to Sunapee, NH for a day of skiing. Conditions were perfect and to our surprise, there were no crowds. 

Naturally, a photo of all the cousins was required as well. 

Despite concerns about shaking the camera, Kyle took a nice photo of the adults before Mark’s family had to leave for the airport. 

Mark has just finished removing oatmeal from most outer surfaces of his daughter after she insisted on feeding herself this morning. 

Mario has become quite the handsome young man. 

A little water in between waffles. 

This evening was my family night and I chose a Belgian waffle dinner. Jeanine prepared an outstanding batch which were consumed as fast as she could make them. Sophia employed an especially efficient technigue loading each hand with a chunk of waffle and alternating left and right. 

As promised, there will be no shortage of Sophia photos this weekend. 

At Mark’s request, we dined at Caruso’s in Melrose, one of his favorite restaurants when he lived in Boston. 

Perhaps my favorite of the day. 

The first of many Sophia photos. Could their be a cuter subject? 

I do not know what this sign means but I think she comes in peace. 

Rory with his infectious smile. 

Maya looks on as Mario plays Nintendo. 

Jeanine spent a good part of the day with Sophia while Mark, Marie and the boys went into Boston. The two ventured out to the middle school to see Kyle perform with his band at the annual talent show. Later they went out for ice cream which turned into something of a comical affair as Sophia attempted to get the ice cream into her mouth using a fountain glass length spoon. Sophia gave me, and apparently many others, the evil eye when I tried to lure her away from Jeanine. It took several rounds of peek-a-boo before she warmed up to me. The child shares her father’s appetite for food. You are well advised to keep valued digits away from her mouth when she turns her attention to eating. 

What do you think the chances are that these two pumpkins are related? 

 
After enduring a flight of six and a half hours (scheduled for two), Mark, Marie, and cousins Mario, Rory, and Sophia arrived at 3AM last night. Despite the late arrival, the boys were up at the crack of dawn.

Jeanine received a dozen red roses from her secret admirer. One of the stems did not survive the shipping (from South America) and Jeanine fashioned a very beautiful resting place for the lone bud in a crystal bowl. 

 
For family night Maya chose to make her own Photo Valentine. She selected and posed all the elements and even directed me to shoot from a high angle.

I am experimenting with adding video clips to my journal. If you click on the image below it will take you to a video I call the Italian Hot Dog. The video is about ten seconds long.

Meanwhile, Maya has a piano recital and performs wonderfully. I am beginning to think Nicolai had the right idea about sleeping in. Did I mention we are having both boys bedrooms painted today and as I type there are 5 teenagers in our basement rehearsing for the school talent show. Believe it or not this is a typical Saturday.

As if that was not enough activity for one day, Kyle has a 2 hour outdoor soccer practice to begin training for the spring season.

Jeanine takes Maya to swimming and Nicolai to diving while I take Kyle to basketball. His team earned another decisive victory.

Nicolai off to a very slow start this morning. As his body grows, it takes more energy for him to get around and I think he uses the weekends to recharge his battery.

Kyle’s team, Chaos, played three back to back games this evening to win their divisional championship. The team gave up only one goal through the tournament and won the final match with a 3-0 shutout. Kyle had two goals and several assists. I do have a nice photo of the team, but I am sure this is the one they will all want to see.