We got an early start this morning on the short but fairly steep ascent to South Twin Mountain (4902 feet). The kids are at the perfect age for hiking. They are strong enough that they view the climb as a challenge and they are motivated by their own desires to reach the top. Rather than coaxing them along, the parental role is now simply trying to keep up. South Twin offers what I believe is one of the best views of the White Mountains. The centrally located peak offers a 360-degree panorama of the entire range. Perfect weather and low haze made for a magical visit. Having left early we had the peak to ourselves for quite some time before other hikers began to arrive. We hung out at the top for about half an hour before setting out across the saddle to North Twin (4761 feet) where we paused for lunch. We completed our 6.4-mile hike by mid-afternoon and joined Jeanine and Louanne for well-deserved ice cream.

Alex Mackenzie, one of my former soccer teammates and father of Maya’s close friend Fiona invited Maya, their mutual friend Sarrinagh, Jeanine and I to join his family for a hiking weekend in the White Mountains. Last night we stayed at their mountain condo located in the vicinity of Crawford’s Notch. We enjoyed a hearty breakfast before setting out on our adventure. Fergus, Fiona’s twin brother, joined the girls, Alex and I for a 4.6-mile ascent to the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) Galehead Hut (3800 feet) while Jeanine and Fiona’s mother, Louanne, did a day hike on their own. After getting settled in at the hut, we made quick work of the one-mile round trip to the summit of Galehead Mountain (4024 feet). Incorrectly assuming that the tree-covered peak would not offer any photo-worthy views, I opted to leave my camera and tripod behind only to discover a wonderful vista showing our hut nestled in the Pemigewasset Wilderness. I decided I had to have the shot and made a second ascent with my photo gear.

By the time I returned, the sun was beginning to set and I put the golden hour light to good use chasing the kids about as they frolicked upon a giant slab of granite.

Rarely at work do I get a chance to participate at the engineering level with members of my organization. For the last four days, I have enjoyed working with the team pictured above to develop a new product concept at the request of one of the General Managers at iRobot. I am not at liberty to reveal the idea, but I can say that the group, with significant contributions from every single member, produced a design that we are all quite pleased with. Each member contributed their own time to the special project and many will labor through the weekend to finalize a working prototype. I treated the team to lunch at the Macaroni Grill to celebrate the highly successful design sprint.

Often when you see macro images of insects they have either been chilled or frozen or gassed. This keeps them from moving during setup and exposure. I am no big fan of bugs but do not feel any creature should be harmed for the sake of a photograph. While doing a little routine maintenance on the kayaks this evening, I noticed a motionless wasp on the driveway. Upon further investigation, I determined it had recently died and decided it would make for an interesting subject. As I was setting up my shot, Jeanine came in from her garden with a live white caterpillar. When she set the little fur puff down it remained quite still. I thought posing the two insects together would make for a more interesting image and was pleased that the caterpillar was so cooperative.

Massachusetts driver’s licenses are oriented vertically until age 21 after which they are oriented horizontally to help ensure alcohol is not served to minors. Kyle has been using his passport to prove his age for the last few weeks and was pleased when his new license arrived in the mail today. This tiny document identifies the owner as a true adult. Even though my memories of Kyle as a child remain vivid, and as much as I want to hold on to that image of my little “Champino”, I too see an adult before me these days. I must say that I like the man he has become.

When I look out my second floor office window there are certain things I generally do not expect to see. A man in a yellow hard hat safely falls into this category. The window seals of our building are in need of maintenance which prompted this most surprising visit. Hard to describe the response I had to this floating head as it ascended into view.

Formerly the Bromfield School, built in 1877, this building is now home to the Town of Harvard’s Public Library. When I arrived early to pick Maya up from a soccer evaluation (she is considering playing for a club team next spring) I opted to look for a nice photographic opportunity rather than wait in the parking lot. When I spotted this library, the sun was already setting which lit up the clouds nicely. I looked for a shooting angle that would isolate the building from others in the background and reveal only the historic portions of the structure. I settled on this perspective and am quite happy with the result.

This female Common Yellowthroat has one mighty headache after trying to fly through one of the glass windows on our sun porch. He rested for ten minutes, mostly with his eyes closed, before flying away. When I saw him in the same place on the deck for more than 5 minutes I realized what had happened and grabbed my camera. I got a quick soccer practice in this morning and spent the balance of the day in my woodshop.
I completed the top for a table I am making for the deck and deconstructed the 20-foot long pallet on which the deck boards were delivered. Some of the wood will be used for projects the remainder will be added to the fireplace pile.

When his friends invited Nico to go for a hike up Devil’s Staircase with their dogs, he decided he would bring Nala with him even though she hates riding in cars. If not for the fact that he can lift her with one arm, there would be no other way to get her into the car. I was so surprised that he actually got her to sit in the front seat that I quickly grabbed my camera to document this rare occurrence. In the evening we belatedly celebrated Kyle’s 21st birthday (August 5th). His cake featured 4 tiny shot glasses filled with liquor acknowledging his right to legally consume alcohol now, not that legal concerns have ever stood in his way.

Maya asked for and received permission to sample one of the shots. Rarely does a photograph tell the entire story but the one below comes pretty close.

Maya attended the Slocum Soccer Camp all week with several of her friends to get tuned up for the fall season as a high school freshman. This year her 4v4 and 11v11 teams both won their respective all-camp tournaments, the latter of which Jeanine and I were able to witness this afternoon. Her play is looking very strong. She shut down the offense while playing sweeper and contributed a beautiful assist after being moved up to a wing midfielder position. The soccer-themed cake she prepared with fellow campers Fiona and Sarinnagh did not fare so well in the baking competition but she was nonetheless pleased with her two awards for athletic competition.

Normally teenagers do not respond well to 6:30am wake up calls. My niece Rachel, however, was up and at’em in anticipation of our early morning kayak outing on the Sudbury River. We covered a good four miles and saw as many herons and dozens of swallows during our one hour paddle which started with a light fog hovering over the water. I taught Rachel to paddle the last time she visited and she needed no additional instruction this time looking like an old pro. We were quiet on the water but I had a nice chance to check in with her on the car ride to and from the put in.

It is not often when my iRobot duties include taking small children out for ice cream but this evening that is exactly what I did. As a result of the decision to consolidate our California offices in Pasadena we have two families visiting Bedford to explore the area and look at potential housing options should they elect to relocate here. I decided that plying their children with ice cream and bumper boats at Kimball Farm could only enhance the chances that they look favorably on a move to the Boston area. I enjoyed meeting both spouses and hope I will be seeing them again.

My nephew John is a frequent visitor and has spent part of the summer living with us. Far more rare is a visit from his sister Rachel who is two years older than Maya and her closest cousin in age. Needless to say, we are thrilled to have her with us and it was very nice to have all our kids plus two cousins around the table for dinner this evening.

Our vacation has come to an end and it is time to return to Boston. The return flight offered an opportunity to review all my photographs and to reflect on our time spent together. The quality of any couples vacation can be maximized by correctly solving for SHE (the Spousal Happiness Equation). This multi-variable measure of contentment is difficult to express quantitatively but easy to measure photographically. I think I can safely say that this vacation yielded an extremely high SHE index and I submit the following photos as evidence. The entirely different but highly correlated HE index is directly proportional to the SHE index although photographic corroboration would not be suitable for this blog.