M. Sullivan Photography » Animals

Well, There Goes The Neighborhood

msullivanphotography — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 02:28:58 +0000

While Mike was out dropping Sebastian off at a friend’s house tonight, Sophia was hanging out in the living room near the front window. I was busy looking through the mail when I heard Sophia say, “Mom, I think I just saw a bear walk behind the neighbor’s car”. I was quite skeptical since I haven’t seen a bear in this neighborhood in more than 10 years. Plus, Sophia isn’t always the best eye-witness. I brushed it off and said that it was probably just a black lab or some other dog. She was insistent that I come and take a look. I didn’t see anything at first, then saw a big, fat black bear lumbering towards our neighbor’s open garage. After the initial surprise wore off, I realized that I should probably call our neighbor to alert them of the huge bear now hanging out in their garage. By the time I grabbed the phone and tracked down their number, the bear had made its way out. I saw the garage door close immediately following the bear’s departure so was confident that they had seen their unwelcome guest. The bear was now sauntering down the sidewalk, Daphne was barking, Sophia was near tears and I was trying to get my camera bag from the closet. I did pause to reassure Sophia that it was okay and that the bear was probably just out for a walk. I was losing my opportunity to have proof to show Mike that we really did have a bear walk in front of our house. I had to switch lenses from my 50mm to my zoom lens, but forgot to change my camera settings during the chaos. The photos aren’t my best work, but Sophia and I had proof of our new neighbor. Here are the pictures I took before the bear made its way to the other side of the house next door to ours.

New Neighbor

Out For A Walk

You Lookin' At Me?

Look Who's At The Door

Filed under: Animals, Photos Tagged: Bear

Spring Break, Part II

msullivanphotography — Mon, 02 May 2011 02:49:23 +0000

The next part of our spring break was spent in the Twin Cities. Mike still had hotel points from back in his travel days, so we used some of them to stay at a hotel in St. Paul on Friday and Saturday night. We left Daphne behind – our neighbor took care of her – packed up the car and made our way to the hotel. The kids loved the atrium in the lobby. It was filled with trees, plants, a pond and ducks. Sophia sneaked up on one and was able to pet its feathery head. The kids checked out the pool and were happy to see that there was also a hot tub. Our room was spacious and had a fridge, microwave and separate sleeping and living areas. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant and swam afterwards.

Saturday was spent at the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory. We looked at the plants and flowers at the conservatory first. I wasn’t sure if the kids would like it, but they enjoyed it as much as Mike and I did. I don’t know the names of half the flowers I photographed, so I will post these without descriptions.

On to the zoo…

Unique and beautiful plants, cool animals and souvenirs from the gift shop. What could be better? To be continued…

Filed under: Animals, Flowers, Photos, Vacation Tagged: Como Zoo, Flowers, Photography, Vacation

Happy 6th Birthday Daphne!

msullivanphotography — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:26:34 +0000

To our faithful Boxer Daphne, we hope you have a wonderful day of rest, relaxation, good food and drink. Oh wait, you have that every day. Happy Birthday!

Party Dog

All Partied Out

I know it’s wrong to put hats on dogs, but she really didn’t mind. And she looked really cute.

Filed under: Animals, Photos Tagged: Birthday, dog, Pets

The Great Minnesota Get-Together

msullivanphotography — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:36:31 +0000

We made a trip down to the Twin Cities on Sunday night in anticipation of going to the State Fair Monday. We didn’t go last year and Sophia claimed she couldn’t remember going two years ago…not even the Giant Slide. I guess she was only four at the time. Sebastian remembered the fair very clearly. He wanted to check out the Kidway, Midway and Giant Slide again. Mike was mainly interested in the pronto pups and turkey drumsticks. We got up early and made it to the fairgrounds at 8:30am. Tom and Karen also came with us. The weather was overcast, but warm and humid in the morning. The afternoon ended up being sunny and in the 90′s. It was definitely hot, but we had a great time.

Our first stop was “Little Farm Hands”. Sebastian was hesitant to participate this year now that he is almost ten, but he was a good sport and trudged through with Sophia knowing that there was a reward for his labor at the end. He opted out of the apron (too lame) and the tractor (too small). The kids made their way through the various areas of the farm gathering eggs, picking vegetables, milking a cow and then turned in their farm goods for money to use in the store. Instead of picking out Lucky Charms cereal like two years ago, Sebastian bought an apple and Sophia picked out a small stuffed lamb.

Sebastian brought his camera with so that we could take pictures of our day at the fair.

Tractor Driver

Corn for the Chickens

Farmer Family

Planting Seed

Strong Farmer Boy

Strong Farmer Girl

Milking the Cow

After working the farm, we ventured off to see some other displays and to find a pronto pup for Mike (and Sophia).

Pronto Pups

Pronto Pup and Lambie

Off to the Kidway next…

Ferris Wheel Ride

Across the Bridge and Down the Slide

Whale Ride

Whale Ride with Bubbles

Merry-Go-Round

Time for a Sno-Cone break.

Rainbow Sno-Cone

Off to the Giant Slide.

Giant Slide

If you look closely you can see Sebastian in a white shirt, Tom in all black and Mike and Sophia sitting on their burlap sack in black and pink, respectively.

A few stops along the way included various fried foods, restroom breaks and Tom and Karen took the kids to the butterfly house while Mike and I looked at the Home Improvement area and Merchandise Mart.

Despite the heat and crowds, we decided to check out the Miracle of Birth building. It actually wasn’t too bad and the kids were able to see lambs, ducklings, chicks, calves, baby pigs and goats.

Lambs

Ducklings

Petting the Piglet

Calf

Baby Goat

We made it over to the Midway for Sebastian to enjoy games for big kids. We went through a lot of tickets (i.e. $’s), but Sebastian did win a large, stuffed gorilla and a purple stuffed cow. Mike won a small penguin for Sophia. After the games and rides we viewed more exhibits and ended up at the all-you-can-drink milk booth. Karen treated Sophia to an ice-cold glass of milk.

Milk Mustache

And don’t forget Heritage Square for a turkey drumstick.

Turkey Drumstick

We made a quick stop to see a few Vikings players.

Seb and A. P.

Seb and Farve

Mike and Jared Allen

The boys also stopped at the Fox Sports North booth and did a “live” broadcast. It was recorded and can be viewed online. I need to track down the link and will add it here.

We left the fair via the Sky Ride per the kids request.

Mike and Sebastian

Sophia Riding the Sky Ride

THE END!

Filed under: Animals, Family, Photos, Vacation Tagged: MN State Fair