Sunshine and Frost

While recently on vacation in Northern Wisconsin, I was able to get out early and explore with camera in hand. I decided to head west from homebase and since I left before the sun came up, I didn't realize what was head of me once it did.  Once the sun was above the horizon, I was able to see what the new day had brought.  A wonderful layer of hoar frost covering a good chunk of Northern Wisconsin. I also found that I had traveled almost 2 hours west of home which is a little farther than I had planned, but it was all good, since in all my years living up there I had really never been to the area I ended up which is a town called Tomahawk.  Found a lot of protected land that was mainly used for logging, snowmobiling, and hunting.  Tonights shot is an good idea of the landscape of the area. It also shows the beauty of the frost mixed in with the morning sun.  But, any picture will not do justice to being completely surrounded by everything in an almost pure white state.

Misty Morning

Not too much to post lately due to busy life and a bum knee which is getting fixed on Tuesday thanks to an orthopedic surgeon.  But here's a shot from this fall during my favorite time to shoot- mornings in the fog.

Scary Day

Last weekend our home was the scene of the "Umteenth annual Zelazoski Children's Halloween Party".  It was once again a success.  I don't know why, but each year we worry that the kids have outgrown it, and that the turnout will be low, and that the weather won't cooperate, and every year we are wrong.   If anything, we get the same number of kids or more, AND their parents stick around more to enjoy the festivities.  We had the normal number of witches, and superheroes, zombies, and ninjas.  We even had a hot dog and Chicago Bear(Unfortunately, the Chicago Bear is blood related).  Here is a group pic of the scary bunch:

Gametime

These fall Saturday mornings have been filled with volleyball games and soccer games. Unfortunately, its much harder to get good shots indoors and with more space constraints, but volleyball pics will follow in the coming weeks.  Tonight, though, will be some game action shots of Derek "Pele" Zelazoski.

 

I get a "Kick" out of you

Now, with summer over, we need to find ways to keep my son from immersing himself in his schoolwork( Heavy, heavy sarcasm in that last statement. You could say, it is the definition of sarcasm). Actually, it is all too easy for a 9 year old to immerse himself in TV and/or video games.  In the past, we've done a park district karate class or soccer clinic.  This year, instead of just instructional time, he's playing in a soccer league.  And a well run league it is.  3 practices a week with a game every Saturday. It has been a new experience for mom and dad trying to juggle extracurricular activities like cub scouts, soccer practice/games, and volleyball games and dance classes for my daughter.  Needless to say, while we have always been a pretty structured household as far as dinner times and sitting down together at the dinner table each night, that structure has kind of flown out the window for now.  You have dad with one kid going in one direction and mom with another in a different direction.  New experience.  But, its all good.  The kids like being involved and its good for them.  And, when I feel a little worn out from the running around, I remember the same mantra I would quote at various times since we had kids, like while changing diapers, when the kids would crawl in bed with us and steal pillows/covers, or the 3 am ear infections, "Someday, you're gonna miss this." A few shots of the soccer star.

Another year...

I'm very late in getting these posted, but, in following tradition, the kids once again stood in front of the neighbors tree to get their "first day of school" pictures taken.  I'll let you guess which one wasn't happy at the moment.  But, it is what it is.  Unfortunately, this might be the last year of pics in front of the neighbors tree since the tree shows little signs of life.  Zero signs of life to be exact.  I'm hoping to convince him to just cut it down from 8 feet up, at least until the kids are in college.  I'll let you know how that goes.

And now, the end is near.......

The end of summer that is.  While not a blazing hot summer, it was still a good one.  The kids, I believe, had a great summer.  4 trips to waterparks.  Several trips camping up north.  And many sleepovers and days of just hanging out with friends.  A few disappointments but nothing major.  No boating this year due to icky spring/early summer weather and then all of a sudden its July and you haven't even gotten the boat prepped yet.  So, we decided to keep it parked.  Not as much grabbing the camera and going for a drive as in the past.  And, of course, the natural evolution of children, where they don't seem as hip to do the things we did in the past, especially with their parents.  But, I guess I need to get used to that.  Maybe its time to have another one...........................Sorry, I was laughing too hard to type there for a minute. So, tonight's shots are of the final summer sunset and my boy getting the last swim of the year in at the beach.  Hopefully, winter will hold off a bit and I'll get some wonderful autumn shooting in.