Sports – Page 8 – M. Sullivan Photography

February 4, 2012 M. Sullivan Photography Daphne, Family, Photos, Skiing, Vacation

T.G.I.F. (Actually It’s Now Saturday)

Friday nights are traditionally pizza nights at our house. This means I am off the hook from cooking. Mike picks up Papa Murphy’s pizzas and we enjoy a movie or game night with the kids. After a long work (or school) week, it’s something that we all look forward to.

Tonight’s Game of Choice – Mario Brothers
Sophia recently learned how to play Mario Brothers. Now that we have a third remote for the Wii, the kids along with Mike are able to sharpen their Wii skills to conquer Mario world. I’ve never actually played the game myself. I’m a little too intimidated since they have nearly mastered the game.

Before pizza and game night, we took Daphne for a walk around the neighborhood. Even though it’s only early February, the melting snow and warm temperatures make it feel like spring. Daphne was busy smelling all the new scents that have appeared. She seems to have the energy of a puppy even though she’s seven years old. Or maybe she has spring fever like the rest of us.

We aren’t planning a winter/spring vacation this year, but will instead spend an overnight at a local hotel so that the kids can enjoy the pool, hot tub and an awesome continental breakfast the next morning complete with Belgian waffles. We won a gift certificate during a silent auction fundraiser last fall and thought it might be a good time to use it. The hotel we will be staying at also has outdoor fire pits for roasting marshmallows and making s’mores. It’s only a mini “staycation”, but we are all looking forward to it.

We will also spend a night in Minneapolis to check out the Twin Cities Auto Show. After over 13 blissful years with our SUV, this is the year that we are going to have to say goodbye. With a leaky sunroof and leaking oil, along with small spots of rust starting to appear, we plan to find something more fuel-efficient (and cool). With two growing kids, a dog, a small boat to tow and winter driving in Duluth, a new four-wheel drive vehicle is an investment we really need to make later this year.

Preparations for our Super Bowl party are underway. I was supposed to spend the day cleaning, grocery shopping and prepping for the big day. The party is pretty low-key with our fellow fantasy football players and friends, along with their kids. Everyone brings something to share. Mike suggested earlier in the week that we go skiing on the weekend and I politely reminded him that we will be hosting the party at our house for the first time. He and the kids made promises to help with everything – cleaning, shopping and cooking – if I would agree to go skiing. I couldn’t turn down a warm, sunny day and ended up playing hooky from my chores to hit the slopes. I have no regrets, but am left with a big to-do list for tomorrow. I hope everyone in our house gets a good night’s rest tonight, because tomorrow is a work day!

January 11, 2012January 11, 2012 M. Sullivan Photography Daphne, Gymnastics, Landscapes, Photos, Weather

An End To “Spring”, CleanWare, Basketball & An Angry Bird

With highs near 50 yesterday, today’s weather was a bit of a shock to us all. I think we were hoping to ease back into winter slowly, but instead we have snow, wind gusts over 30 mph and wind chills in the negative digits. Hard to believe I took Daphne out for a walk last night in capri length athletic pants and a light jacket. The beautiful sunrises also came to an end this morning when the cloudy skies took over. I did catch these photos before work yesterday morning. It was calm on Lake Superior which led to some great reflections on the water.

The kids have been busy with a number of things in recent weeks including Sebastian’s invention project. He was given materials before Christmas break to document and create an invention to display at his school. He had to keep track of his time, the process, trial and error, cost along with documenting the problem and solution that his invention was designed for. Sebastian’s idea was to create a product that could keep meal time tidier. Silverware creates a mess if you lay it on the table. If you put it on your plate, it can slide off and make messes on the table, floor or your clothes. Sebastian designed two utensil holders that clip onto either side of your plate to hold your messy silverware. He used small Tupperware containers, magnets and clips and came up with a very cool product. He displayed his “CleanWare” invention and a poster board at school yesterday. Here’s a snapshot of his display.

When he wasn’t busy with his invention, Sebastian has been busy with basketball. He plays for an area youth rec basketball league. His division is made up of 5th and 6th graders, although his team has only 5th graders. The height advantage of the other teams makes it a bit challenging – as shown in the picture below.

He has a great coach and an awesome group of kids on his team. It’s been fun to see the progress they have made since the season began in the fall.

Sophia finished up her last swimming lesson before Christmas and has now jumped into gymnastics. She would have liked to do both gymnastics and swimming, but it would’ve been a bit crazy to have two sports and religion class during the week along with homework. I don’t have any pictures to share of her gymnastics class, but did snap a few pictures of her new hat last night. We found the hat during a quick trip to Walgreen’s during the holiday break. A big display of several of these plush hats were positioned right inside the door. Of course once Sophia had it on her head, it was hard to say no. I did actually say no..at first. By the end of our mini shopping spree, Sebastian had found a cool sock monkey and Sophia had an adorable Angry Bird hat.

January 4, 2012January 4, 2012 M. Sullivan Photography Family, Photos, Skiing

A New Year, Another Sunrise

I’ve been MIA – busy with the holidays, cleaning up from the holidays, an unexpected trip to the northern-most part of the state, Sebastian’s invention project, the kids’ ski races, getting back to work and the kids going back to school, along with a side project/job that I’ve taken on for a friend. Although our holiday break took some unexpected turns, we did have quality time with both sets of parents (grandparents) and a short visit with the Sullivan cousins. We found time to see a movie, play some games, enjoy our new Christmas gifts and spend time together as a family. Now that we are back into the craziness of work and school, it was nice to stop and enjoy a couple of beautiful sunrises this week. I neglected to bring my camera with me on my drive to work both yesterday and today, but borrowed my company’s point-and-shoot to capture these images this morning.

Here’s a family photo taken with Sophia’s new camera at our traditional New Year’s Eve dinner destination – Famous Dave’s. We spent some additional time next door at Adventure Zone playing games, winning tickets and exchanging tickets for two stuffed monkeys, two tops and a few other plastic trinkets. Fun was had by the kids and the parents. 🙂

The kids spent the earlier part of their New Year’s Eve at Chester Bowl participating in the ski races. Mike and I were busy trying to stay warm at the bottom of the hill, but eagerly cheering on both of them. Sophia had two excellent runs that put her in the middle of nearly 20 kids in her age category. Sebastian outdid himself by placing second in his category. Here are the YouTube clips of their races.