David Multer

We headed north today to check out the old town of Redridge in Houghton. There’s a very cool old dam, though I didn’t get any pictures. We hung out at the site of part of the old copper works. Lots of fun and dangerous stuff to climb all over. The beach and cliffs along here are incredibly beautiful. There’s also plenty of old mining garbage like this tangle. I thought it was kelp like back in Santa Cruz, but you certainly won’t find any seaweed in Lake Superior. Turned out to be a tangle of wire. Pretty interesting. ...

The clubhouse is so cool looking, we can’t get enough pictures of it. Nick and Joe spend most of their day in there doing things behind locked doors. They load it up with soda, videos, and snacks and then lock the little ones out. It looks so friendly on the outside. Meanwhile Monica enjoys swimming in the lake. No doors here.

The little pond is at the edge of Valri’s property by Bootjack Road. We often ride our bikes, or the golf cart over for an easy adventure. There are loads of frogs, tadpoles, and small fish in there and we never tire of catching them. It’s messy going, but Valri looks very prepared in her waders. Monica shows off some of the booty they’ve collected on this trip.

Kim takes the jet ski out for a spin with the kids. Someone takes a turn riding on the back and watching while the others hold on to the raft for their lives. Monica is out there hanging tough with Chris and Charlie.

Gabe gets the Santa Cruz look going for school today. He’s sporting the Hawaiian shirt and the spike hair. The girls better watch out.

Back east the stuff to watch out for is poison ivy. Out here in Santa Cruz, the nasty stuff is poison oak. All you have to do is rub up against a leaf or branch and the oil gets on you or your clothes. From there you can spread it all over the place without even knowing it. We’re not sure where Nick got it, but he clearly rubbed it into his face. Time to break out the cortisone. Poor guy. ...

Charlotte’s friend Debi is in town with her son Jared. Here they are hanging out on the deck catching up with Charlotte.

Charlotte headed down to San Diego to spend some time with our friends the Mishkys. We both have known Lynn since our days in Boulder long ago. Charlotte and Lynn headed out to Palm Springs to spend some quality time at Merv’s Place.

This summer the kids all attended soccer camp. It really was a lot of fun even with the huge number of kids all playing at the same time. Nick, Monica, and Gabe each played in separate groups. There was a fair amount of waiting on the sidelines for your turn. Once a group was called out, there was no shortage of running around. The coaches did an awesome job coordinating this many kids. ...

Monica has quite a few collections going. She’s got the stuffed animals, dolls, rock collection, Pokemon cards, and figurines. She’s particularly fond of these teddy bears that are on proud display.