Today is “Spooky Trail” at work. Kids of all the employees come to work and enjoy a variety of halloween activities. Pictured here is one of the entrants in the pumpkin carving contest.

Nicolai created a beautiful pepperoni pizza. After dinner we spent hours watching home videos of the kids when they were small.

As you would expect, Jeanine’s pie was an exotic masterpiece.

Each child used their own technique for spreading the dough. Nicolai made a thick crust, Aunt Susan went ultra-thin, while I opted for a calzone.

This evening was make your own pizza night. Jeanine prepared the dough and each member of the family got to create their own pizza.

Maya showing off her new bike this morning. She has been working diligently at her piano lessons for several months with this reward in mind. Her previous bike did not have any gears and there is one hill in the neighborhood that was a big challenge without them.

We are treated to a visit by Aunt Susan and Nicolai is compelled to review her cell phone ring tone selections.

This morning I found Maya on the sofa with her pig and could not resist the overhead shot.

A parting shot as the sun begins to set. It has been another spectacular fall weekend and we were fortunate to spend so much time outdoors. Jeanine is with Kyle this evening for a church youth group activity.

Pausing to rest after we had walked around the lake. Maya collected red and black berries which she intends to crush this evening to make paint.

Late this afternoon, Maya, Jeanine and I went for a nature walk at the Old Lexington Reservoir. Earlier in the day Kyle’s team suffered a 2-0 loss to a tough opponent. It was one of those games where they dominated possession but could not find the back of the net. My team had no such problems as we cruised to a 7-1 victory against a team we had beat 2-1 earlier in the season. This win virtually guarantees our promotion to Division 1 (of 7 in our league) provided we do not get any additional yellow or red cards.

I am convinced Maya is going to follow in her father’s foot steps as an engineer. This evening, she took apart a calculator (broken by her brothers). When she had it completely apart, she put it back together perfectly. She never ceases to amaze me. Earlier in the day Nicolai’s soccer team won a narrow 1-0 victory against a team that had beated them 5-0 earlier in the season. Nico had the assist on the winning goal.

I believe this weekend is the last for peak color and I will try to move on to a new theme.

After the game, I was asked to take the annual team photo.