Memorial Day Weekend: Coronavirus Edition

A few days after the flood, the city of Midland is still pretty soggy.

How's it goin', America.

So we're just wrapping up Memorial Day here at the Hough's.  We had ourselves a pretty solid weekend - had a bonfire and grill-out at the Bos Family residence on Friday, on Saturday we had a second grill-out at the Collier's, and on Sunday we headed up to the family lakehouse up at Eight Point Lake.

And Monday?  Monday we did yard work.  Which isn't fun at all, obviously, but that shit has to be done.

Anyway, I don't feel like writing a whole hell of a lot today, so here's a bunch of pictures and video for ya.  Have fun.

Another aerial view of the Tittabawassee on the doorstep of downtown Midland.

Taking her skateboard out for another spin.

I sold my spin bike on Friday, which I had purchased off Amazon in the summer of 2014 for $260.  Since we picked up a treadmill in 2015, I haven't touched it (I prefer jogging over biking, it's more of a workout.)  When we decided to start building a wall in the basement (more to come on that later), I realized we didn't have the space for it so I sold it on Facebook Marketplace for $200.  I'm gonna put the proceeds towards my planned summer purchases:  a longboard and an electric uke.

After mowing the lawn, Abby usually bugs me to drive around the yard on the mower.

This is the only pic I took of the grill-out at the Bos residence.  It was a pretty solid beer, from our local brewery.

I picked up this sampler from Cork and Ale in preparation for our weekend of summer grilling.  Definitely hit the spot.

Kris has been taking 2-second videos everyday of the quarantine in order to loop them together in some time-lapse app on her phone (hence the short video of the riding lawnmower above.)  She tries and highlights each day with something, so this was her morning's work in one of the garden beds (while I focus on the grass, she's been hitting the gardens pretty hard the last month or so.)

Dinnertime at the Collier's (we've been eating a shitload of grilled food lately, it's been awesome.)

While folks were eating, the kids were screwing around in Ryan's hammock and - believe it or not - ripped a small tree down.  When that thing cracked it sounded like a gunshot.

More cornhole.  A definite summer staple.

I tried pawning this seltzer off on Kris, but she wasn't a fan (neither was I.)

Building with giant Jenga blocks.

As usual, the moms staked out the deck so the dads were forced to set up headquarters around the fire pit.  We don't like hanging around each other.

Towards the end of the night, with the kids inside watching a movie, the moms and dads faced off in a match of backyard Jenga.  As always, the moms kicked our collective asses.

The next morning, we headed up to Eight Point Lake to hang out at the lakehouse.

We all got some serious sun today.

The water was freezing, but that didn't stop from the girls running full-tilt into the lake.

Playing on the lily pad with one of the neighbor kids.

The people who sold my folks the cottage left a bunch of stuff behind, including a set of children's wet suits.

The White boys are too big for them, otherwise I'm sure they would've been claimed.

Cooling off in the shade.

After a few hours hanging out in the sun, we moved inside.  Air conditioning is pretty awesome.

Another dinner off the grill.  I'm seriously gonna weight 300 lbs by the end of summer.

Taking the girls for a spin in the Ranger.

Before we left for the day we took a short cruise around the lake in the pontoon.  Dad had to be sure to dress accordingly.

Pretty worn out after a day of swimming.

Alayna was pretty exhausted, too - we were on, like, Day Three of grilling and sun.

Kinda have to let the kids drive the boat once and awhile.

The girls wanted to swing by and check out the old cottage while we were cruising about (the new cottage is on the opposite side of the lake.)

Abby's turn to drive.

Kris and her Resting Bitch Face.

Back at the Cottage, before we took off home, Cindy and Dad had a cake to celebrate Abby's birthday (which was earlier in the week.)

On the way back to Midland, we drove through the Butthole of the State, Farwell (also known as Kris' hometown.)

We used the opportunity to drive by Kris' childhood house, which is located on the south side of town.

I'm pretty sure this was the first time Kris had driven by this house in, like, fifteen years.

- Brian