Memorial Day in Midland. And a Tent.

Here's this guy.

Time for another 'Murica-centric holiday. . .

Is anyone else out there having a hard time differentiating between Memorial Day and Veteran's Day?  They both honor people killed in war, right?  Do we simply honor living veterans on Veteran's Day, but then dead veterans get acknowledged on both Veteran's Day and Memorial Day?  Are only those killed in battle eligible for Memorial Day remembrance, or is it cool to remember other dead people as well (my grandparents, Keith Moon, etc.)?  Where's the rule book for these holidays?

Anyway.

'Cause freedom.

We Houghs generally don't acknowledge Memorial Day as anything other than a three-day weekend (not that we're against honoring the Dead or anything, we just fell into a tradition of complacency down in Orlando.)  As such, we usually don't make any big plans with friends and/or family to commemorate the event.

This year, again, looked to continue our tradition of Non-Acknowledgment, but then Kris found out that both the girls' Girl Scout troops had to march in Midland's Memorial Day Parade and throw candy at the masses lined along the parade route.

So, suddenly, the Houghs had Memorial Day plans.

Midland sure has a soft spot for its colonial reenactors. . .

The holiday aside, Kris and I had also been looking to set up our tent at Mom's house for quite some time, where nosy neighbors wouldn't be watching us the entire time (Mom has a secluded yard, and we don't. . .  our neighborhood shares the same blatant openness of the one from The Burbs.)  We had purchased a 10-person tent (yes, seriously) online with the hope of doing a lot of camping this summer with the kids, but we wanted to set it up to make sure everything was legit and undamaged (no missing parts, no tears or stains, etc.)  Scheduling a day to do this with Mom was much more difficult than one might think, since we could only do it on weekends when Mom was home and none of us were working, and the weekend weather had been either rainy or windy for quite some time.

Now, finally, the weather was awesome and everyone's calendars were wide open.  So, after the parade, the plan was to go back to Mom's and set up our tent.

Then, my brothers and I started entertaining the idea of doing some grilling for the Extra Day Off.  So that got added to the list of activities.

Before you knew it, we had a chock-full Memorial Day planned out.  Out of nowhere.


('Murica.)

Kris and the girls had to get up to the parade staging area earlier in the morning, but Mom, John and I got there about ten minutes before the parade started and nabbed an ideal spot along the route:  right on the corner of M-20 and Main, smack in front of the First Methodist Church (Kris' church) downtown.  These three vets started the parade off, further cementing my impression that this holiday has something to do with veterans. . .

Does Michigan have Open Carry legislation I'm not familiar with?  How is this legal?!

More colonial reenactors (I'd wager this guy gets laid quite frequently.)

Seriously.  Is this a Trump rally?

Some more adults playing dress-up, but these guys look cooler (love the WWII Jeep. . .)

Shriners.  And their damn, Hobbit-size cars.

At one point in time during the parade, the police had to halt the procession to allow backed up cars on M-20 - who had been previously stopped by police from crossing the parade route - to continue into Midland.  Here we have the Midland High Chemics Marching Band, sort-of-patiently marching in place and playing the same song, over and over again, while waiting for the police barricade to clear the way.

After about 20 minutes of the usual parade fare (of which I'll be good enough to spare you this time around), we finally spotted the Hough girls. . .

Alayna spotted us on the corner, unlike her sister and mother, who somehow missed us (despite the fact we were clearly visible from the very front of the street corner, and only about ten feet away.)

Bread and circus for the masses

This is the best picture I think I could get of Abby. . . some random Dad was blocking my view as they went by.

Totally oblivious.

After the parade, Kris and I loaded up the van with camping chairs, the tent, a cooler, our dog and kids and headed over to Mom and John's to set up the tent and make sure there wasn't anything wrong with it. . .

This dog misses a yard to run around in.  Not that you can tell or anything.

This tent was super high-rated on Amazon, and I bought it through a combination of discounts and sales so that, in the end, I got it for about half-off (booya.)  It has three, separate rooms with their own entryways, sleeps ten comfortably, and goes up relatively quick (I was worried that being as big as it was it was going to be a royal pain in the ass to set up. . .)

Of course.

The only stupid thing we did while setting this up was neglect to put the tent stakes in first, deeming it an unnecessary step considering we only planned on having it up just long enough for the anti-leak spray to dry in the sun.  Having the stakes in obviously stretched the tent out and stood it up correctly.  Lesson learned.

Mom brought out this vintage croquet set for the girls to play around with while we were setting up the tent.  It used to belong to Grandpa and Grandma Chinery, and the kids loved playing around with it. . .

. . . even if they don't know what the hell they're doing.

Kicking the balls around the yard.  That's how Hough girls play croquet.

We wanted to treat all the seals and seams with an anti-leak spray that Mom had, just to make sure the tent would be 100% ready to roll for camping season this summer.  It was mostly sunny throughout the day, so it dried thoroughly after a few hours.

Why's there a baby wrapped in a blanket, sandwiched between the doors of the tent?  This is the sort of question one doesn't ask in this family.

Nooooo doooogs alloooowed.

We ended up taking the dog off the tether after awhile.  He listens well enough to not go running off like an asshole whenever he feels like it, and generally stays right by us.  Unless there's another dog.  Or a squirrel.

Back view of the tent.  My only qualm with this tent is that there's no windows facing the rear of the tent in the two end rooms, but that's a pretty minute complaint, to be honest.

After the top seams dried, we put on the rain cover and treated that as well.  Surprisingly enough, considering its size and all, there's only one, 3-foot pole for that entire rain cover.

Chris and Nicole stopped by after a couple hours, having just come back into town from Traverse City.

Around the same time, Jeff and his fam rolled in, and Alayna kept Scarlett entertained in the backyard. . .

. . . when she wasn't crossing blades with her sinister uncle, that is.

After eight hours in the sun, the kids were getting pretty lethargic.  As Kris and I took down the tent, following a dinner in which everyone ate their weight in food right off the grill, Mom kept the fussier kids (shown here) occupied with a story. . .

 

Aaaaaand so ends one of the busiest Memorial Days we've had in quite some time.  If not ever.  'MURICA.

- Brian