Today, I leave on a business trip to Hong Kong and China. The total elapsed travel time is about 24 hours, and with a day for night time zone change I will not arrive until Sunday evening, local time. Does the nose of this plane remind anyone else of a dog’s face?
Maya is on Nantucket with friends for the next week so she missed our family birthday party for Nicolai. He requested a macaroni and cheese casserole followed by a dessert of chocolate mouse with raspberry sauce in lieu of birthday cake. He was delighted with the sunglasses he received from his little sister and will need to wait a few days longer before his world cup soccer ball (from mom and dad) and replacement cell phone (from Kyle) arrive. I leave for China early tomorrow morning and will be on the road for a week so new posting may not show up until next weekend.
Nicolai shows off scars from two of the three holes in his belly put there since his mother gave him the first. 16 years ago to the day, I watched Nico come into the world, not quite able to comprehend the absence of his right leg. As I cut his umbilical cord I struggled to imagine what his life and our lives would be like from that day forward. Looking back now, I feel blessed for the precious gift we received on that day. Happy birthday Nicolai.
Catching up at work after a week of vacation is never an easy thing. Twelve hours in the office left little time for photography but I did manage to catch a nice sunset.
As a pilot, my brother Mark’s family enjoys free air travel. The only downside is that they are never guaranteed a particular flight and today they were unable to get seats. On the bright side we got to enjoy an extra day of their company and I took advantage of the opportunity to photograph my nieces, Sophia and Rose.
Checking the mailbox today after a week away we found a front page article in the Concord Journal about Nico’s Challenge (the film documenting our Kilimanjaro adventure). Despite a few factual errors, it is a nice piece, the full copy of which can be found by clicking on this link.
Despite our delayed start we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Maine. Everyone missed Marie dearly but kept her in our thoughts always. We send all our love to Sinead in Ireland with these pictures of her nieces and nephews. The drive back took the better part of the day and no one was in the mood to get in the car again for fireworks. Instead we enjoyed them in the home theater.
Our final stop in the park was the Jordon Pond House. Famed for their popovers this restaurant has long been one Jeanine wished to visit and we were not disappointed. Most of us enjoyed popovers a la mode which is easily the most yummy dessert I have ever had. This was the perfect way to end our time at Acadia National Park, a destination we will surely revisit as we barely scratched the surface of activities to enjoy here.
The waters in Maine at this time of year run abut 57F. Each child brave enough to venture into the chilly waves demonstrated their own technique for minimizing the shock from contact with the ice cold water at Sand Beach.
Next we returned to Cadillac Mountain, this time with the boys. Despite high winds, the kids spent over an hour scurrying over the rocks and helping to locate the geodetic marker identifying the top of the mountain.
After breakfast we watched Germany destroy Argentina in World Cup soccer. Immediately after the game another epic soccer battle was contested resulting in an equally humiliating loss. The competition was a test of first touch accuracy. The ball was served from a distance of 10 yards and the receiver tried to direct it into a recycling bin (mini goal) with their first touch. To their utter disbelief and consternation I soundly spanked all 4 teenage males in this test of skill. Demands for a rematch could be heard across the bay and I will happily beat them again next year after they have had sufficient time to hone their technique.
With this mornings kayak run we succeeded in getting everyone on the water. Maya was able to handle the 18 footer with no problems and was also good enough to get a photo of me in the kayak I built. Rose and Sophia were alternately chauffeured be their dad and would have been happy to stay on the water all day.
Later in the morning Jeanine and I made a 12.5 mile bike tour of the Schoodic Peninsula, a non-contiguous portion of Acadia National Park. The coastal views were stunning as were many of the interior scenes. In our excitement to commence the ride, neither Jeanine or I thought to bring water or our wallets with us. Fortunately the sun was kind to us and Jeanine located a drinking fountain at the end of our loop.
Each night, two of us are assigned dinner preparation. Mark and Nico prepared a wonderful scallops and linguini dish, Rory and I did rigatoni in a marinara meat sauce and this evening we were treated by Kyle and Maya to corn fritters (a family favorite) and fire roasted brats and S’MOREs.