The Houghs: Eight Point Lake '18, Pt. III

(contd.)

Sunday

July 22nd
"The 2018 Cornhole Tournament"

A late morning for all parties involved. The second generation of adults had stayed up far too late the night before, so we were slow rising in the morning. I managed to wake up first, hearing random - but familiar - voices in the living room. . .

Chris and Nicole had brought the twins over, early in the morning, and arrived to find an empty living room. About five minutes later, Watson and I stumbled out, and eventually everyone else got their asses out of bed. Hard to pass up the prospect of playing with twin babies, I guess.

Dad and Samwise.

Louis with his folks.

Our girls are somewhat obsessed with their young cousins. They do a fairly good job with them, though (Nicole is an incredibly patient person.)

(Video courtesy of Abby.)

We've amassed quite the collection of random shoes this week.

Although the clouds were still dark and the sky dreary, there wasn't any rain to speak of when we woke up, so I used this time to paddle the Cagafuego - which had about six inches of standing water in its hull after two or three days of rain - over to the boat launch on the opposite side of the Cottage. . .

It's always a huge pain in the ass to flip a water-logged, metal boat over on its side and drain it out, but Brian White came out and gave me a hand with it.

After a morning of being handed around various family members and having multiple cameras shoved in their faces, both boys went down for some well-deserved naps.

Later on, after lunch and naps, I took Chris, Nicole, Kris and our offspring out on a leisurely boat cruise around the first half of the lake. The annual Cornhole Tournament was slotted to kick off at 1pm, so we had about a half an hour to kill before we had to report for duty.

Uncle Chris, looking particularly snazzy.

This was actually the boys' first boat ride, so I was glad that there was a Hough at the helm for such an occasion.

(Should've brought my Captain's hat this year. . . damn it.)

Alayna spent the entirety of this boat ride trying to set up a comforter as a tent in the bow of the boat. By the time she got it just how she wanted it, we were pulling into dock and she had to take it back out of the boat.

The straps on the back of infant life preservers are awesome. And, I'm sure, incredibly useful (we didn't try them out, though.)

We got about half-way around the lake when we realized we were cutting it close to kick-off time (or whatever the equivalent would be in corn hole), so we cut directly across the lake to head back.

Waites, assembled.

Uncle Larry, having gone over the rules and procedures, prepares the masses for the first two games in the tournament. Like in previous years, we'd be doing a series of brackets, with double-eliminations in the later brackets. Each team would consist of an 'A'-level player (someone who was pretty good), and a 'B'-level player (someone who wasn't as good, or otherwise inconsistent enough to not be an 'A.') I'm currently being groomed to replace Dad and Larry in the management of this tournament, so I helped set up the teams this year.

Up from his nap, ready for action.

Not up from his nap, not ready for action.

Kris chows down on some leftovers for lunch.

Time for some serious sports spectating.

The first match of the day saw Brian and Lucy face off against Lucy and Mackenzie.

I forget who's an 'A' and who's a 'B' on these teams (I want to say the 'A's were Chelsey and Brian, but maybe I'm wrong.)

In the end, Mack Attack and Chelsey defeated Lucy and Brian, and moved on in the brackets. . .

Uncle Bryan, arising from his slumber (probably against his will, considering the niece in the picture.)

Larry and Al (both 'A' players.)

Selfies on the Swing.

This year saw the return of two previously-used teams: Blake and his friend Nick, who were runners up last year, and myself and Bryan (who lost to the boys, having spent two hours last year between matches not warming up and, instead, drinking beer.) Blake and Nick would end up defeating Mackenzie and Chelsey in this second round of the tournament.

We faced off against Cindy and Jill in the second round of matches, which was, well, hilarious.

Brother and sister. NOT competitive. At. All.

After falling from the competition, Brian mended poles while watching his wife and brother-in-law spar with one another.

We defeated Jill and Cindy, but ended up losing to Larry and Bradley, and earned ourselves a 'bye.' During our time off, Bryan went to go lay down for awhile (he was having some trouble from the previous night's antics.) In the meantime, Larry and Bradley faced off against Blake and Nick. We would have to play the losers of this match, and defeat them, in order to stay in the tournament.

In the neighboring match, Cindy and Jill (now in double-elimination), had to face-off against Al and Shirley.

These two boys shit-talked each other throughout the entire match. 'Cause brothers.

Spectatin'.

Bradley had thrown really well against Bryan and I, but his brother was able to get in his head and rattle him.

Meanwhile, in what would become the longest match of the year (since you have to win by at least 2 points, and both teams either 'pushed' one another - broke even, that is - or only gained 1 point every throw) Al/Shirley and Jill/Cindy battled each other for nearly an hour.

Blake celebrates a victory over his younger brother (who, by the way, doesn't handle defeat well at all.)

Around this time, Alayna slipped off the side of the boat and fell in the water between it and the dock. Fortunately, Blake had broken out his fishing gear and was standing nearby to help her back up.

Time for a wardrobe change.

Grandma Jones and Louis.

No one could really do anything while Al and Shirley continued their slugfest against Jill and Cindy. Whoever won the game had to face off against Bryan and I, then the winner of that match had to play Larry and Bradley in the Loser's Bracket. From there, the winner would then move on to the Finals to face of against Nick and Blake. During this downtime, Bryan napped and I played a series of practice games in order to improve my throwing.

Lazarus risen. Bryan came around when an old friend of his showed up to the cottage (she had stayed up here visiting with us back in 2008.)

Her husband was my teammate in a series of practice games against various opponents. Definitely helped my aim improve, that's for sure.

Kris gets some more baby-holding in while she still can.

What can only be considered a true Cinderella Story, Bryan and I came back from our two-hour break with a vengeance. In stark contrast from our barely-win over Cindy/Jill and solid loss to Larry/Bradley in the early rounds of the tournament - when everyone had more or less written us off - we straight-up trounced Al and Shirley. We then knocked Larry and Bradley (who crumbled when he saw us throwing far better the second time around) out of the brackets, avenging our earlier defeat. On fire, we then proceeded to defeat Blake and Nick not once, but TWICE, back to back, in order to win the 2018 Championship.

This was made all the more impressive by the fact that Yours Truly was playing on a broken toe, and Bryan was severely hung-over from the night before.

The Comeback Kids.

The 2018 Cornhole Tournament Champions and Runners Up

Following the tournament, Blake and Nick took the paddleboat out fishing, while the younger kids hung around the boat fishing and swimming.

Al, Shirley, and their giant frickin' black bear of a dog.

Dinner's centerpiece was this beauty right here. . .

Al brought Bryan and I up this porter from the Mitten Brewing Company (which we had visited back in 2015 on a Grand Rapids brewery tour.) Pretty good stuff, despite the fact I fancy myself more of a stout guy than a porter guy.

These giant flower bushes were covered with bumblebees all frickin' week. It wouldn't have been so bad if the bushes weren't right along the back patio steps, where everyone passed by continuously. I hate bees.

Following dinner, Brian and Kris took the girls and their cousins out for a tubing ride around the lake. On their way in, all the kids opted to ride the tube once they got to the buoy. Brian warned the girls that if they did so, they'd be falling in the lake, since the boys like to 'submarine' the tube (putting their way towards the front of the tube, so it submerges underwater.) Of course they shrugged this off. . .

I wasn't able to upload the video (the file size was too big), but Abby was FREAKING OUT as the tube sank. Shrieking at the top of her lungs, you'd think she was being attacked by a shark or something.

Scrambling to get back on board.

Abby was not amused.

Watching Jaws (Alayna's choice, of course) and enjoying the peace and quiet of a less-chaotic cottage (the Waites, Al and Shirley and left for their own cabin shortly after dinner.)

Kris had to leave shortly after dinner as well, seeing how she had to work Monday morning, so she took Watson along with her to keep her company back in Midland. She texted me this picture when she got back home - the dog clearly needed to catch up on his rest following a crazy weekend at the lake with Bailey.