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.
My parents drove in from Schenectady to join us for the weekend. It was warm enough to dine on the sun porch for the first time this season.
Maya hand carved this stamp which she used to sign her brush painting with.
One of the class projects was to design a windmill using a milk carton for a base and to experiment with different style vanes. Maya’s windmill produced the highest torque (measured by lifting weights in a cup supported by a string wrapped around the shaft) of any in the class.
This morning Jeanine and I attend Maya’s school open house where we see some of the projects she has been working on recently. This poem and Chinese brush painting will certainly resonae with her grandmother who is coming to visit this weekend.