A Smattering Of Recent Days

A look through my iPhone camera roll and recent pictures on my Canon didn’t provide anything amazing, but at the same time gave a glimpse of the last week or so.

This iPhone photo was taken in my neighborhood on a drive home from work.  Notice the hood of my vehicle on the bottom right.  I did stop and park before taking the picture.

 

Here’s an iPhone photo of Sophia before she headed off to Wolf Ridge Environment Learning Center for three days last week.  She was super excited for the trip with her 4th grade class.  She returned home with wonderful stories and memories which included seeing a porcupine, starting a campfire and looking through owl pellets and assembling the skeleton of a mouse.

 

Here’s another recent snowstorm photo.  The sun had just come up and the tree to the far left was glowing in the morning light.

 

Sophia took this picture of the race car Sebastian made in his PTLW class at school.  He learned how to use power tools to create it and then finished it off with a fancy paint job and red tires.  Very cool!  (p.s. He got an “A” on the project)

 

It has become commonplace to see a Coast Guard Cutter out on the lake.  Sebastian spotted this one on Friday coming back in towards Duluth.

 

We have an ongoing tradition of Friday night “pizza & movie night”.  This past Friday was a bit hectic – Sophia had just returned from Wolf Ridge, Mike was coming home from a day trip to the Twin Cities for a funeral and Sebastian was heading out to a preseason baseball team gathering.  Despite the chaotic day, I took out my awesome Kitchen-Aid mixer and whipped up a batch of pizza dough.  Mike and I shared a tomato-basil pizza.  We finished the whole thing that night.  I think Mike ate three-quarters of it himself.  I guess he liked it as much as I did – or maybe even more.

 

We attended a fundraiser brunch this past Sunday.  This is one of the beautiful ice sculptures that was on display.  The food was amazing and we all went home very full.

 

With baseball season just around the corner (or when the five feet of snow on the field melts), Mike and Sebastian went shopping for a new baseball bat.  Sebastian wanted to try a few swings at the batting cage after brunch.  There is also a huge game area in the complex and Sophia was very happy to kill some time there.  She ended up hitting two jackpots and accumulated over 500 tickets to redeem for “fabulous prizes”.  She came home with a large stuffed frog, a green ball, two Thin Mints and a spinning top.

 

In order to work off all of the brunch food, I took Daphne for a long walk on a trail near a pond.  We spotted some ducks and geese (not pictured).  I think they migrated north a bit too soon.

 

While I was busy walking Daphne, Mike and Sophia worked on creating a snowman.

 

Upon my return to work this morning, another Coast Guard Cutter was docked in the harbor.  The Morro Bay had returned from its journey out on Lake Superior and was in need of repairs to its rudder.  With the ice as thick as eight feet in some areas, the Cutter was no match for Lake Superior.