M. Sullivan Photography

July 16, 2012July 16, 2012 M. Sullivan Photography Garden, Photos

Container Gardening

I’m trying my hand at container gardening this year. I won the bid on a container gardening kit last fall at a silent auction for Chester Bowl. It came with 15 containers, stakes, instructions and seeds that were mailed to me in the spring. I also bought two tomato plants and a pepper plant to add to the container garden. It was a bit of a rough start with all the rain that we had at the end of May and early June. None of the basil from the first planting came up. I think it all got washed away when we had several downpours with many, many inches of rain. Luckily, I had extra seeds and replanted. Unfortunately, cutworms and slugs thrived during the wet weather and ate the leaves off the spinach and also tried their hand at the peas, beans and pepper plant. I’m not sure if the dry weather at the end of June and early July solved that problem or if it was the ground red cayenne pepper that I sprinkled on the soil that put a stop to their eating spree (my Mom’s recommendation). The spinach almost came back and then the 85+ degree temperatures hit. The leaves that had sprouted, began to shrivel up. Fortunately, everything else enjoyed the heat. We have already harvested lettuce and sugar snap peas. The cucumbers, mini pumpkins and summer squash are blooming. The tomato plants have lots of green tomatoes and the onions and carrots need to be thinned. Here’s a look at what we hope to enjoy on our table in the next few weeks.

As I was taking the vegetable photos, I also got some shots of the grape vine, apple tree and various flowers blooming in the yard.

I wouldn’t mind a nice rain storm to give me a break from watering all of the plants with the garden hose or watering can. I can’t believe I’m hoping for rain after the flooding we had just four weeks ago. As long as I’m asking, it would be nice to have a day that is less than 85 or 90+ degrees. With no air conditioning in our house, a good (cool) night’s sleep would be glorious.

July 15, 2012 M. Sullivan Photography Photos, Vacation

Fun In The Sun – Part II

The second half of our vacation gave us more sun and warm weather.

Day Four

On our fourth day of vacation, Sebastian made plans to get out on the lake before any of the other boaters. He wanted to experience the calm waters with no waves. He also knew that Mike would drive faster without any other boats on the lake.

After boating, we all swam and relaxed. We stopped for a minute so Mike could take a picture of me with the kids. Sophia had a hard time not being silly.

Back in the water.

We enjoyed a fireworks show from our cabin on July 3 held by the Famous Dave’s restaurant on the opposite side of Round Lake. We were a bit far away, but the night was calm and the fireworks were a nice way to end the day.

Day Five

Before heading out to swim in the lake , the boys played a little chess. Sebastian has become quite a chess player and pulled off a win against Mike.

By request, I made one of Sebastian’s favorite muffins – lemon poppy seed.

The heat from the oven was too much, so we headed out to cool off.

Sebastian found the best way to relax.

Until we tipped him over.

After the getting soaked, Sebastian worked on his balance.

Time for dinner.

We had our own little fireworks display in the driveway for the 4th of July.

We also enjoyed fireworks shot off by the neighboring cabins.

Day Six

Another day, more beautiful weather.

We found an old pair of kids’ water skis in the garage. Sebastian tried them out for size and decided to give it a shot. He got up on his first try and stayed up for a minute and a half. I still have to upload the video Sophia took with my iPhone, but will insert it here when it’s done.

Day Seven

Rain in the morning, dry afternoon. Time to make a trip into town for mini golf.

We didn’t keep score, but everyone had a hole-in-one along the way of the eighteen holes (except me).

We did a little shopping for souvenirs, had lunch at Subway and also picked up a treat for the trip back to the cabin.

We all purchased “Hayward” t-shirts when we were in town. I made everyone put them on for a group photo.

Day Seven

More sun, more fun, more swimming and boating.

Sophia and I fed bread to a family of ducks.

Daphne acted as our life guard while we were in the water.

Day Eight

Check out day. One last look around.

We had originally planned to check out some of the tourist attractions in the area during our vacation – wild life park, go-kart racing, etc., but ended up spending most of our time at the cabin in or on the water. We couldn’t have asked for better weather and since it was the 4th of July week, Hayward was packed with tourists. Streets were filled with pedestrians, stores were teaming with tourists and restaurants were busy with hungry vacationers. We did go out for pizza one evening and stopped by the candy store for dessert. We also found an empty baseball field for Sebastian to stay up on his batting and pitching skills the day we mini golfed. Other than that, it was a very low-key vacation. I guess you could say it was exactly what we needed.

July 14, 2012July 14, 2012 M. Sullivan Photography Family, Photos, Vacation

Fun In The Sun – Part I

We returned home from our vacation in Hayward, Wisconsin a week ago. We spent the last several days getting caught up with yard work, house work, office work and photo editing work. We took a lot of pictures while we were gone and many more when we returned. We attended a Huskies baseball game the day we got back and Mike took an extra two days off from work this week with the kids because our daycare was closed through Wednesday. They spent one of the days at Park Point Beach and the other at home playing games and cooling off in our small pool.

Here’s a Part I of how we spent our vacation.

Day One

We checked in late in the afternoon to our rental cabin and spent most of our time unpacking and getting situated. The past two years we’ve been on Lac Courte Oreilles, but this year we rented a larger cabin on Round Lake. It had plenty of space, lots of windows, a great deck and a fabulous view.

We made a quick pasta dinner, got the boat in the lake at a nearby boat landing and then made a fire in the fire pit. We brought supplies for s’mores and enjoyed the only cool evening all week.

Day Two

Since the day was sunny and warm we enjoyed the lake by swimming, boating and playing in the water. We headed into town late in the day to pick up a week’s worth of groceries, but then headed back for more time at the cabin.

Throughout the week, toads and frogs would make their way onto the deck where the kids’ water shoes were drying. They would hop inside the shoes for protection and enjoyed the wet shoes so much they would stay until morning when the kids would empty them out again.

With no dishwasher at the cabin, the kids became the dishwasher during our stay.

Day Three

Another day of sun and 80 degree temperatures kept us near the water most of the day. We picked up a water basketball game on our trip into town the day before. Mike and Sebastian got a chance to try it out.