The Houghs: Reunion. Sort of.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Reunion. Sort of.

Hi folks.

We're only entering the second official week of Summer, and so far it's been pretty crazy around these parts. School wrapping up, settling into a new house, dealing with graduating girls scouts and birthday parties, surviving floods, and teaching at Delta.

And that was only Week One.

Sanford Community of Christ Campgrounds

Week Two, all things considered, was hopefully going to be much, much quieter for the Houghs. I was planning on teaching my second week-long class at Delta (this time Illustration and Storytelling), and since Kris works during the summer (unlike other, more fortunate individuals), we needed someone to watch the girls. Last week, we didn't have to: Kris took a few days off to unpack and continue moving into the new house, and Mom watched them on the days she worked. For this week, in order to avoid paying out the ass for the girls to attend the Midland Community Center for daycare while we were at work, Mom offered to take them with her up to the Sanford Community of Christ Campgrounds.

I know you've heard me talk about this before, so I'll keep it brief: I was practically raised on these campgrounds. Every summer, since I was born, was spent on these hallowed grounds. I attended summer camps there from elementary school to high school, and during college I returned to become a camp counselor and later an Assistant Director, leading my own youth camps. In addition to camps, I would accompany my family to the large, community-based Reunions where families across the state would throw up RVs, campers, and tents and hang out together.

I personally haven't attended a Reunion since I was 16, but now that we're home for good, that might be something we end up doing in the near future. For now, though, we welcomed the idea of introducing Sanford to the girls on a short-term basis: Mom was going to keep them up there for about five days in her camper, which was pretty doable for our kids.

By the end of the week, the girls reported that they had a great time, and Mom assured us that they had behaved themselves (for the most part.) While unpacking their things, we stumbled across their cameras, and found a treasure trove of pictures they had taken during their stay.

Check it out:

Usually, in years past, Mom would always set up her camper behind and to the right of this old shower house. This was impossible this year, though, on account of the recent flooding, so Mom relocated nearer to the Dining Hall, in view of Sanford Lake - a lot like where Granny and Grandpa Hough used to park their airstream trailer.

Dropping off two kids and a bunch of crap to Grandma

Establishing headquarters

Setting off to check out the surroundings and introduce the girls to the campgrounds

The main shower house (I remember the hill being a lot taller, but whatever.)

Unsurprisingly, this old favorite would prove to be the girls' hang out spot of choice in the evenings.

Lakefront

The Dining Hall - FYI, it smells exactly as you remember it

The side of the Dining Hall, and the Bell

The Boy's Bathroom, on the 'camp' side of the campground. I've scrubbed these sinks and floors (and toilets) more than I'd like to recall.

The Tabernacle. You can still see leftover remnants of Sanford's flooding, some days later.

Some quonset huts (C is no more, but A and B still stand.)

(Growing up, the hot girls always stayed in Cabin B.)

The ol' swimmin' hole, where I spent many a summer in my youth slingin' mud back and forth with other kids (Alayna actually had her Blessing here, too, back in 2009.)

Walkin' the trail back from the swimming area, back up towards the quonset huts. . .

I'm pretty sure these are the same canoes that were here back in the '80s. Not sure how safe that is.

Fun Hough Fact: I broke up with my first girlfriend on this back porch. She didn't take it well (but who could blame her, am I right?)

The Youth Building, sometimes referred to as 'Cabin E' during larger youth camps. The smaller room on the far side was my home away from home, though: Cabin D.

The Point, the location of nightly campfires (and, coincidentally, Grandpa Hough's ashes.)

And now, for some of the girls' many pictures from the week, after Kris and I drove back to Midland. Believe it or not, what follows are some of the better ones we found on their cameras - I'm going to have to work with them on their photography skills. . .