While the girls enjoyed a fancy breakfast in NYC, the boys and I went out for brunch at our new favorite breakfast spot at the West Concord Train Depot. My calf muscle is still out of commission so I was very thankful when my soccer game was rained out. While Jeanine was enjoying time alone with her daughter I got a chance to hang out with my sons and really enjoyed our conversation. I have decided we should do a monthly manly breakfast going forward.

Lydia and Maya in the lap of luxury at their hotel.

Admittedly, my first instinct would not be to photograph a bathroom stall. Jeanine, suffers from no such limiting conceptions and produced a very nice image of her daughter. I will have to ask the girls to explain the significance of this particular location.

 
Maya and Jeanine with friends Lydia and Kate began a mother-daughter NYC get away weekend this morning. After seeing Mary Poppins on Broadway they explored Times Square. You will probably need to enlarge the photo to appreciate the matching shirts the girl’s are wearing.

My girls just before leaving for a special weekend in the Big City.

As I left my office this evening the street was filled with emergency personnel. A traffic accident had left one driver with a broken leg. Cambridge has an unusually high concentration of cars, bicycles, and pedestrians and a week does not go by when I do not come across an accident scene of one type or another.

Jeanine and Maya hosted a baking party today, during which mountains of cookies, brownies, and other delights were prepared to be sold at the Kicks for Cancer charity event that is coming up.

 
My dad turns 85 today and is going strong thanks to the healthy lifestyle my mother inflicts upon him. Left to his own devices, he would enjoy a delectable but admittedly unhealthy diet, not unlike his oldest grandchild pictured here with him. Of all our children, I believe Kyle takes after my dad the most. Both live life passionately, open to new experiences, and willing to work hard towards goals. They share a love of guitar, fine food, and the company of close friends. Each has the gift of infectious laughter and little is required to get them started. The gift my father passed to me was a creative approach to being in the world which has been the foundation of my success in life. If I had to guess my dad will be celebrating his birthday on the dance floor.

The CCHS Varsity Soccer team was in action this evening against rival Lincoln Sudbury. Kyle did not get any minutes but I shot the game for the benefit of his teammates anyway. The match was much closer than the 3-0 win would suggest.

There are some things that Nico is challenged by, but leaping high into the air for a header is not one of them. Today his ground game was a little weak by his own standards but he was a total beast in the air and helped the CCHS Men’s Freshman Soccer team to a 3-2 win over arch rival Lincoln Sudbury.

Tempted as I was to intervene, I realized that there were some valuable lessons being learned, so I left the kids to their wanderings while I enjoyed the beauty of the park independently.

This shot sums up the situation nicely. Greg believes the group is heading the wrong way, Ty seems to have a headache from studying the map, while Zack is busy calling in an air strike or something.

Although it does appear that some planning took place, the results were not in evidence as the kids exceeded their two hour time limit and needed to be rescued from far corners of the park having been unable to navigate back to the agreed upon rendezvous point. Fortunately a substantial dent was made in their leaf collection assignment.

Against all odds, I was able to play soccer this morning. I would have never believed this possible given the pain I was in on Friday. The chiropractic adjustment, hourly ice treatments, and ibuprofen regimen did the trick. I played for 40 minutes straight before I pulled a calf muscle which ended the game for me. Fortunately, it is not too bad and I expect to be ready for the next game. This afternoon, I helped with the driving for Nico and 8 of his classmates to the Arnold Arboretum. They have a science assignment to identify and collect leaves from a list of 50 trees, many of which are found here. While the kids conducted their search, I found some interesting photographic subjects of my own. This bloom could look a lot like a stand-alone tree to me.