Vacation – Page 4 – M. Sullivan Photography

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.

A break from the game…

Daphne found a way to stay cool too. Fetch in the lake.

And since water basketball wasn’t enough, the guys tried water football.

Enjoying some watermelon on the deck.

After a long day, both Daphne and Sophia were worn out.

A random wild flower.

The end of the evening brought a near full moon.

Part II will be posted tomorrow…hopefully.

February 26, 2012February 26, 2012 M. Sullivan Photography Daphne, Photos, Vacation, Weather

Winter Break

It’s Sunday evening and winter break for the kids has come to an end. They had a good week with lots of fun at daycare Monday through Wednesday. Sebastian had the opportunity to go to Spirit Mountain on Monday evening with his daycare friend’s church group and went tubing and rode the Alpine coaster. Both kids had dentist appointments on Thursday, no cavities, but braces will likely be in Sophia’s future. The dentist said she would give us a referral to an orthodontist at our next check up in August. Just when we were cutting back on child care costs, the orthodontist will more than make up for it.

We checked into a local hotel Thursday afternoon using a gift certificate we won at a silent auction event this past fall. We had a room with direct access to the pool. The kids had their swimsuits on before I even had everything in the room. We swam, used the hot tub and had the pool area pretty much to ourselves.

Sebastian worked on his cannonball.

I played lifeguard until Mike joined us after work. My swimming skills are lacking, so I was relieved that the pool was only five feet deep.

There was also a game room in the pool area. Lucky that Mike and I rarely have any cash in our wallets. The kids talked us into getting them tokens, but our combined efforts only provided for $12 in tokens. Sebastian really wanted to win this.

He came up empty-handed, but Sophia managed to win two rubber balls in a crane game. She used her sharing skills and gave one to Sebastian.

After the kids were exhausted from swimming, we ventured out into Canal Park to get some dinner at Green Mill.

After dinner, we enjoyed s’mores back at the hotel.

The kids swam again in the morning before breakfast, then filled up on waffles, fruit, yogurt and juice at the complimentary breakfast buffet.

Views of Canal Park from the pool area.

The kids layed low for the rest of the afternoon knowing that they would be up late at the Bulldog hockey game that night. We watched a great overtime game with a winning goal at two minutes left in the overtime period. These are photos from last fall at the Bulldog home opener during the tailgate party. A friend and co-worker of mine took a few photos of our family and I just saw them for the first time last week.

Winter break came to an end today with an all day snow storm and ski races at Chester Bowl. Sophia skied two solid races despite having some problems with her ski bindings right before the race. Mike got her back on track and she had a couple of nice runs. Sebastian finished in first place in his division. Mike snapped this picture with his iPhone when Sebastian went up to collect his trophy and take his moment on the podium. Way to go!

And last, but not least, here’s Daphne playing in some of our new snow.

We are expecting more snow this week, days filled with school and work and evenings filled with activities. I am already looking forward to next weekend!