Hong Kong’s skyline is composed of 100s if not 1000s of narrow towers nestled below the mountains and surrounding the harbor. You must click on the photo to appreciate the scale of this city.

 
Whoever dubbed Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes, would have needed an extra zero to describe Northern Russia. This leg of the journey was a 15 hour flight.

 
Early this morning I began the 40 hour journey from Boston to Shanghai by way of New York and Hong Kong. This route takes you over the North Pole. Pictured here are polar ice flows as viewed from 36,000 feet. Some of the bigger chunks are hundreds of miles across.

I will be traveling to China and Malaysia for the next week so there will be no posts until I return. I am bringing my good cameras so hope to share some nice photos when I get back.

 
After a BBQ dinner and the world famous Kimball’s ice cream bar we worked off any remaining energy in the bumper boat pond.

 
The competition went on for almost an hour and was dead even after 95 darts had been fired by twelve contestants. With exactly one dart left before both teams had agreed to settle for a draw, victory was secured for the engineering team and we will proudly retain the trophy pictured in the foreground until next year’s rematch.

 
Earlier in the week I threw down the gauntlet and challenged the customer support department to a nerf dart shootout on behalf of the engineering department. The cocky tone of my email provoked the intended call to arms and chest thumping on both sides.

 
…and old alike.

 
The evening featured golf (driving, pitch & putt, and miniature) for young…

 
This evening we attended the Sonos Summer Celebration held at Kimball Farms. Nicolai left for Encore Coda music camp earlier in the day so he was not able to join the family appreciation outing. Despite some brief periods of intense rain the event was a great success. This being the first Cambridge based company gathering since my arrival, I was very keen to take full advantage of the event to build an even closer knit team. For an ice breaker, Maya assisted by sticking labels with the names of taco ingredients on them to each attendees back. Each person was asked to circulate in the crowd and ask yes/no questions to determine what their label said. Having done this, I informed the participants that the first team to form a complete taco (shell, chicken, lettuce, tomatos, salsa, cheese) and sit at a table with their hands up would win the prize.

 
The fact that she was eager to sign up for next year’s camp on the spot suggested that Maya had a wonderful experience in this camp run by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. She enjoyed many activities including kayaking, mountain climbing, swimming, archery, soccer, singing around the campfire, a talent show and a Ropes course. Most importantly, she made some very good friends and returned with a much greater appreciation for nature, wildlife and the great outdoors, a theme of the camp which is woven into every activity.

 
Maya was very proud of the latrine that her cabin shared. She demonstrated the sink and explained how each girl could dip their toothbrush into an individual stream of water.

 
After the closing ceremony, Maya showed me her campground.

 
In addition to to making two friends her own age, Maya had befriended many of the older girls as well.