Mayela (age 43) shows off her guns. Her older brother decides to stand behind the camera rather than face the humiliation of comparing biceps.

 
My uncle Bob (age 72), my sister Mayela and husband Stephen, my cousin-in-law Burton, my nephew and I set out to climb 4,000 foot Mount Webster, part of the Presidential Range.

 
Her protruding tongue is very cute, but I must teach her to protect it by keeping it inside her mouth.

 
After a quick breakfast Maya scales the first mountain she finds.

 
I am the first to rise and cannot resist photographing my favorite daughter.

 
After dinner young and old retire to the basement of the lodge for a ping pong tournament.

 
My art shot for the evening.

 
Lounging before dinner, Jeanine is responsible for orchestrating the family reunion weekend which is a joint celebration of my mother’s 80th birthday and my 50th (not till late September actually).

 
Before the evening ends we are joined by my parents, my uncle Bob and aunt Maruja, sister Mayela and brother-in-law Stephen, and Jeanine’s sister Susan who drove up with us from Concord. Here we pose in front of the Crawford train depot illuminated by the setting sun.

 
We arrive in time for a quick hike around Saco Lake. Kyle had to remain in Concord for high school soccer tryouts and will not join us until tomorrow.

 
Our arrival coincides with three perfect days of weather after a long stretch of rain. Temperatures are perfect for hiking.

 
We will spend a total of three nights at the Highland Center Lodge which is run by the Appalachian Mountain Club of which we are members. The accomodations are spartan but cozy and allow plenty of room for our group of twenty one.

 
My first vacation day since I started work at Sonos. The family heads north to Crawford’s Notch, NH for a family reunion/dual birthday celebration weekend. Here we enter Franconia Notch as we near our destination in the White Mountains. We are renting another van while the Honda is being repaired.

 
My boss demonstrates his photographic talent capturing this image of me on day two of our strategy summit. It’s nice to be on the other end of the lens for a change.