The Sausage Pad (Sort of) Returneth

It doesn't happen very often, but whenever an ol' war buddy makes it down here to San Juan Orlando, we Houghs fancy ourselves some shenanigans.

Of course, now that we have kids in tow, these shenanigans have gotten considerably lamer.

Nevertheless, we enjoyed a brief, PG-13 visit with none other than the Sausage Pad's Zack Smith.  The weather wasn't all that great (January isn't really peak tourism season down here in the sub-tropics), and I had to work throughout the week, but we soldiered through.

Observe:

Zack and his girlfriend, Renee, stayed at some condo Zack's dad owns.  Not a bad place - too bad the weather was complete shit. . .

Some homeless guy that was crashing on Zack's balcony.

Wizard Wheat Ale.  I hadn't had this since I was 23 and a regular patron of Bilbo's back in my kidless years at Western Michigan University.  Wasn't quite as good as I remembered, but still a nostalgic nod to my hazy past.

Another conversation for the ages.

Smith fancies himself a sound pamperin' whenever possible. . .

Z. Smith, gettin' his nails did.

. . . okay, so I did too.  Kinda hard to say 'no' to doe-eyed kids.

Produce Manager, illustrating the appropriate way to slice up a pineapple.

Ready for business.

We opted to grill out some chicken and pineapple/vegetable kabobs and throw back some craft beers opposed to dining out, which - if you'll remember - is totally awesome when you have little kids.

Abby, Baby Commonia (however the hell that's spelled), and the Cannonball

We tried in vain to hook up some rabbit ears to an old TV out in our sunroom in order to catch the playoff game, but alas our old rabbit ears were garbage.  Smith cried a little.

Only a matter of time.

Ladies love this guy.

Zack nicknamed our kids 'Clare' and 'Farwell,' and the monikers somehow stuck.  Here Abby shows off some piece of crap shirt my parents bought her. . .

Later on in the week, I took the girls over to Zack's condo so that they could hang out in the pool. . .

. . . unfortunately, it was in the low 70s, windy as hell, and the sun was being a major a-hole.  Oh yeah, and it rained.

Still enjoying the pool.  'Cause my kids are weird.

Zack attempts taking Abby through the Fountain Gauntlet of Death. . .

I was REALLY tempted. . .

(Abby wasn't enjoying herself.)

Seconds before Abby announced that she had pissed herself.  Fortunately they weren't our towels.

- Brian