The interior of the estate featured stunning woodwork everywhere and brought back memories of our Meridian St. home in Indianapolis.

This evening, I held a Holiday Party for my staff at the Stevens Estate in North Andover. Although I have been at Avid for over three years now, this is the first time I invited spouses and significant others to an event. It was a great getting to know everyone and to formally introduce Jeanine to my colleagues.

Immediately after church, all but Nico went to watch Kyle play in his basketball season opener which resulted in a 61-40 victory.

Seth slept over last night and Maya (having found her long lost camera) could not resist photographing him. We all went to church this morning where the teens conducted the entire service (Godspell theme). It was truly moving and with my outdoor soccer season over it was nice to attend church with the family.

This morning, Jeanine went into Boston to shop at the French market while the kids and I did a bunch of chores around the house. Later in the day, we attended the First Parish Art Festival where Jeanine and I both volunteered to assist with craft projects. I was please to get a shot of Nico while he was serving as my assistant in the woodworking area.

Returning home at 10:30pm, I did not anticipate that the evening could grow more outlandish. Although I do believe the person on the right is one of my children, I have no idea what is on his head or why. Looking on is friend, Anna.

This evening my soccer team had it’s annual celebration banquet at Serafina’s. Suits and ties are mandatory, but as you can see it does not take long for all sense of decorum to give way to unchecked exuberance. The bill gives some insight to the evening; $1400 for food and $1800 for drinks.

This evening I helped Nicolai to prepare an eBay listing to sell this microscope. Nico and I worked together to set up the product shot and we were both quite pleased with the result. It is actually more difficult than you might expect to arrange all the items in a visually pleasing way. Nico has a great eye for composition..

Maya reunited with her pig.

On the way home today we travelled by way of Route 2 to avoid traffic. Although it adds about an hour to the trip, the scenery is magnificent and despite grousing from the children I made several stops to enjoy it.

Alissa returned from shopping with a bright pink pair of vibrating slippers. You read that correctly. Battery operated, vibrating pink slippers. Despite serious teasing (not much imagination required), Alissa could not be parted from her new found foot joy.

My nephew Johnny looking more like a man every time I see him. He is taller than his mother and is nearly as tall as Kyle.

I have vivid childhood memories of watching the locks operate. Unfortunately, today there was no traffic on the river and we could only image what it was like.

The lock allows boats to traverse the 20 ft. transition between the top and bottom of the falls.