• Wednesday-What'sUP August 15 - 12:05 pm

Brita Happala sure has a knack for capturing the fun of being a kid in the Copper Country. These two photos today, depict the carefree days of summer vacation and the different personalities of each child in view. While they're all splashing through the water, playing follow the leader, you can see the confidence of the leader in her relaxed walk, the determination of the next young man in the swinging of his arms, the relaxed attitude of the boy in brown, the ladylike walk of the little girl in stripes and finally the look from the diaper clad youngster straight at the camera, not sure if he should follow the kids or go back to Mom.

Brita's second photo was taken at McLain State Park and here you can see the layers of the scene, with the sun already down below the horizon, the breakwall and entry light shadowed, the glow of the water as it reflects the remains of daylight and the dark silhouettes of the children who've joined together for a quiet moment at the end of a busy summer day.

Don't these shots make you wish you were a kid again? :->

Yes, these shots sure do make me wish I were a kid again!

Great shots of Brita's kids. I especially like the 2nd one.

Here is a reprint of a notice that appeared this morning on the Pasty Cam:

Yesterday the Western U.P. experienced a widespread outage of communications services - including 911, cell phones, voicemail, and Internet services. This was caused by an accidental break in AT&T's fiber resources at Champion, Michigan.

Interruptions of this type continue to be a frequent occurrence, in particular, for the Keweenaw Peninsula, because of one principal consideration: a lack of circular redundancy for data services that are dependent upon the phone company.

The phone company has changed over the years. From Michigan Bell to Ameritech to SBC to AT&T – each merger has been represented to the FCC and other regulators as a move that will bring an improvement in services. However, underlying regional data access and control continues to be a point of failure that allows these types of all-day outages to reoccur.

More than just a matter of inconvenience, this has become a concern of public safety. Please join us in contacting the FCC to report yesterday’s outage and voice your concern about the need for vital communications redundancy in the Western U.P. See: FCC CONSUMER COMPLAINTS

Thanks, Charlie. I didn't see that. I was wondering why we couldn't get on last night. Had some e-mails from friends who were trying to get on too.

As soon as I saw the little blond kids in the first picture I said to myself, "Look's like Brita's kids" and sure enough I was right! Great pictures!

She does get the kids out, they must have a good time.

Charlie, I didn't lose service in Laurium yesterday (that I know of) but there were no junk calls on the machine either. Should all of us in the area do this even if not effected by that particular outage?

Personally, I think everyone should complain. That there is only one cable servicing the entire peninsula seems ridiculous to me!

Wonderful pictures, Brita!

I love Brita's pics of her kids. What memories you are making for them - in real life and from photos. You are very talented Brita.

Always know when you open one of these it's Brita's kids! great shots!

We all hope our kids are healthy and happy, but sometimes it does not work out that way..

yes here comes the segway..

There are 3 young men who are what is RIGHT with the world today doing a fundraiser to help 2 families who aren't so fortunate.

check out this web site and read up on the efforts of these young men. (there is a donation section at the bottom)

http://www.100milesfor2bigsmiles.com/

Give your support to Bob, Jason and Ben as they help out 2 families in need.

Charlie if I violated any rules by posting this feel free to remove it.

Those three young men's gift of their time and themselves is PRICELESS! Best of everything to them and their endeavor!

I too just knew as soon as I saw these photos they must be the Brita Happala kids!
Must admit I'm biased as they look SO much like ours when they were little! And our grandkids now do! :)

What a beautiful wonderful picture...that silhouette...wow!!!!

Wow amazing photos! Brita sure does get her crew out. They sure have a good time too. That picture at McLain's is beautiful. Whoever was in that one should be thankful because not too often you see siblings much less any kids that age gather like that these days!

About the outage....I have cable but yeah I was wondering why I couldn't get on very many sites last nite. I mean there were very few and few between that were actually up and running...nothing locally though was up and running. Do we all go to that link or what's the deal there?