2001

Check out this garden! You can pretty much see everything Charlotte planted this year. Tons of tomatoes, Gabe enjoying sugar snap peas, and lots of pumpkin vines. See what else you can make out. There’s lots more.

Gordon and his family joined us up north this week. Here’s a whole pile of cousins hanging out in front of the clubhouse. Gordon is doing something with note cards, while Nick seems to be listening attentively. Gordy is taking the kids out on the pontoon boat. Monica and Kayleen have some fun swimming. Grandma, Valri, Kim, Doug, and Gabe do the rounds in the golf cart. Gabe shows off with a very cool pair of sunglasses. ...

It’s a really fun, short boat ride over to Houghton. We typically tie up right downtown and then hang out and maybe have lunch. The ride can be a bit cool, and you have to keep an eye out for the weather. The kids of course love the ride. On a warm day it’s fun to jump off the boat and go for a quick swim in the middle of the lake. You can get a glimpse of one of the MTU buildings on the south shore of the channel. ...

Valri owns a big chunk of land on the other side of Bootjack Road. We go up there occasionally to enjoy the big pond. They’ve got a bunch of beavers that keep themselves busy knocking down trees and keeping the pond full. Makes for good frog hunting. The challenging part is dealing with the mosquitoes. They grow them really big up north, and this far from the lake they’re really bad. It’s pretty tough making your way around the pond, so we tend to bunch up at this particular spot. ...

It’s birthday time for Doug. We all head over to Rice’s for the party. Lots of balloons, presents, and hanging out time for Gordon and Kim.

I try to take one of the boats out on the lake everyday. The little metal boat is always good for a quick trip for fishing, driftwood collection, or just a ride. Sometimes we take the canoe if it’s not too windy, and other days it’s the Sailfish if the wind is just right. A bit of wind today. Meanwhile the wind makes for great fun swimming in the lake. Nick, Monica, Charlie, and Joe play in the waves. Hopefully the wind will keep picking up and then it’s really a blast. ...

Gordon and Charlotte are off to the annual lobster feast. I’m sure they’ve been looking forward to some time with their friends and a little grown up time. Camp has been run over with kids for many weeks now.

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.