The Behemoth That Was June

Lillies from our front yard, temporarily in bloom.

So I don't know if we necessarily did a lot in June, or else I just took a ridiculous amount of pictures in June, but there was an insane amount of pictures to weed through for this, our monthly installment of randoms that otherwise didn't get relegated to their own blog post.

Seriously.  I took, like, 500 pictures this month.  What the hell?

Anyway, June brought quite a few dramatic changes to our household, you could say.  The girls had their combination birthday party - the biggest in Hough family history.  They ended their first school year at their new school on the same day that we as a family celebrated our one year anniversary of having moved back to Michigan.  Both girls celebrated another completed year in the Girl Scouts.  Yours truly finally accepted a contracted, well-paying social studies teaching position at a reputable, non-ghetto school, and kicked off a summer of teaching illustration, animation and STEM camps at Delta College.  Season 3 of Peaky Blinders was released on Netflix.  Lots of things going on, for sure.

So behold the ridiculous amount of pictures I took in June, America. . .

Classic Abby, mid-tantrum.  We've had a three-year-old for four years, now.

Bizarro selfie

Who doesn't?

Impromptu lightsaber battle, spilling out into the neighborhood. . .

This Morning Dove - which Kris and the girls nicknamed 'Francine' - took up residence atop our front porch light, right by our front door.  She wouldn't fly away when people walked by or used the door, either.  Day in and day out, for weeks, this is where you could find her.

The Tower of Awesome.  I highly doubt you have something this awesome in your basement, Internet.

The infamous Black Paul DeBoer stopped by our house with his daughter, Delia, on his way back down to Grand Rapids from his parents' house in Clare.  While Kris had the three girls occupied outside with a hose, him and I set to business with Gauntlet II on the Sega Genesis. . .

I died by, like, Level 2 or 3, but BP continued on, kicking some serious henchman ass, until he ultimately beat the game.  Not surprisingly, his player stats (at left) were way better than mine.

Meanwhile, the girls were entertaining themselves with a pair of Razors. . .

. . . and a hose.  'Cause what kid doesn't love drinking out of a frickin' hose?

Hanging out, enjoying the good weather (that's Delia in the middle, flanked by my kids.)

My results from the www.isidewith.com political quiz - without a doubt the most accurate political quiz you could hope of taking (the downside being that it takes about a half hour to do it accurately.)  I know I haven't really weighed in yet on this whole political clown show our nation has become infatuated with, and I won't do so just yet, either.  I'll simply state that the candidate I wish could become president probably won't (his name rhymes with Ernie Flanders), and that Yours Truly is going to be voting Third Party in November.

Planting some. . . plants?  Not sure what she's dealing with, exactly.

I'm not necessarily known for my Green Thumb.

(I can promise you that if they did have plants growing here at one point or another, they were quickly destroyed by my lawn mower - this whole area of the lawn is nothing but weeds, and there's no way a guy like me's going to be able to differentiate between 'plant' and 'weed.')

Watson's an idiot.

Found this on my phone.  Good to know Abby respects boundaries.

One of these is Alayna's, one is Kristina's.  This is why I don't fold laundry in this house.

One Saturday, Kris took the girls up to Clare to visit with her Mom and Scott for Marcy's birthday. . .

This happened.

Abby, thoroughly enjoying time with Grandma Jordan.

Alayna and her second-grade teacher, Mrs. Larson, on the second-to-last day of school.

Kris' sister, Jessica, was "nice" enough to send the girls these recorders (and some songbooks) in the mail from Texas.

Next stop, Guantanamo Bay.

I blame their watered-down, Farwellian blood.

My classroom for an Illustration & Storytelling course I taught at Delta College this summer.  I'm teaching a series of courses throughout June and July, because Delta is paying me my hourly teacher wage (which is awesome.)

Kris is not very good at Trivial Pursuit.

This family edition is pretty good, though (one of the girls' birthday gifts from their combo birthday party) - there are adult questions as well as kid questions.  After awhile, Kris wanted to know if she could switch from adult to kid.

Find the dog.

My command center at work.

No idea.

The celebratory - and mandatory - bottle of champagne I had to pick up on the way home from my job acceptance meeting. 

The girls had vacation bible school at Kris' church for the first couple weeks of June, and at the end of the program the 'campers' gave a little concert for parents.  Try and spot our kids - they're in there somewhere.

With temperatures across Michigan heating up, Kris and I took the girls down to a splash park downtown (kinda by the Tridge), where they met up with a neighborhood mom and a few of the neighbor girls.

Sophie and Abby

L to R:  Alayna, Reba, Sophie and Abby.

Group hug

One day, during a random week, Kris and a few other moms from Chestnut Hill took a group of girls over to the Soaring Eagle Casino water park.  I didn't go, so I can't write much more about it besides that.

One Saturday, towards the end of the month, Chris and Nicole invited their parents, her sister, and us over to grill out and eat some food.  They have a kid's playhouse in their backyard, and, inexplicably, this is what was inside.  We're assuming it has something to do with black magic.  And/or animal sacrifice.

Abby's been really into the monkey bars lately, as you can tell.

While her sister exerts herself elsewhere, Alayna gravitates towards Chris' dog, Tucker.  She asked Chris if she could brush him, and Chris let her go to town. . .

Tucker sheds like a mofo.

One of Granny's margarita glasses.  Also works for Chardonnay.

Another week, another 'summer camp' taught at Delta.  This one - Camp Epic - was STEM-focused, with pre-prepared curriculum so I didn't have to plan as much.  Still got paid the same, though. . . definitely a win-win.

Francine had some babies.

Creepy artwork on the driveway. . .

The last we'd see of Francine and her kids.  I'm guessing the bank foreclosed on their nest, 'cause they moved out in a hurry and didn't pack up their things.

- Brian