Skate or Die

Hi gang.

We're currently in the middle of Spring Break (whoo-hoo), and while Kris has been away at work, slaving away in the secular non-school field, Yours Truly has been responsible for keeping the kids entertained.

Good times.

Today, I decided to take the kids out to the local skate park on the opposite end of town, over by the Tridge.  Abby and her friend Ella have been bugging me to go all week, and today I said 'screw it' and load them and all their gear up into the trunk of my car.  Alayna wanted to go as well, but, not being remotely interested in anything quasi-athletic (just like me at that age), she requested to bring along our two dogs so that she could play with them in one of the enclosed dog parks, right next door. 

So, being the insane individual that I am, I consented to this as well.

We spent two hours down by the Tridge, and it was ridiculously windy and cold out (mid-40s, but with the wind it felt about ten degrees colder, thereabouts), but it was a pretty good time.  Abby and Ella really got into the skate park, and are already begging to go again, and Yours Truly got some much-needed time in on my Arbor Axis 40 longboard that I got last summer (they have some nice, flat and even walkways that curve about between the skate park and dog parks, perfect for longboarding, so that's how I kept myself entertained while the kids were otherwise occupying their time.)

Alayna wasn't a fan of the weather, though, so next time we do this we'll probably leave her - and the dogs - at home.

No surprises there.

Check it out. . .

Arriving at Trilogy Skate Park, around 11:30am. . .

A 40-year-old hero, preparing to trick himself into believing he's only 22.

I'm glad they have two dog parks here, one for small dogs and one for large ones.  Watson's an asshole, and would have no problem picking a fight with a much larger dog that could potentially maul him to death.

Letting these two assholes run amok.  We're fencing our yard later this week (finally), so these guys will be able to do this in the comfort of their own backyard very soon.

Super windy out here on the open fields.  Alayna was not a fan.

Wish I would've thought of this place last summer - these long, curving pathways were perfect for this.  I'm hoping it doesn't get overly crowded in the summer, when the weather improves, but I'm sure it will.

I spent the majority of my time skating back and forth between the dog and skate parks, and when I set up Alayna and the dogs at one end, I headed back to check in on Ella and Abby.  It took them awhile to warm up to the ramps, but eventually they had zero problem with it.

When we first got there, the only other people on hand were a trio of high schoolers who had BMX stunt bikes with them, but they stayed on one end and our kids stayed on the other.  They spent the majority of their time there just sitting on the side and listening to music anyway, probably trying to look cool.  You know, 'cause teenagers.

I had to remind Ella to keep her helmet on.  Her dad would not have been cool with her skating around without it.

Alayna (at far left) got bored of the dog park within ten minutes, and wandered over - dogs in tow - to watch the other two skate for awhile.

The longer they did this, the braver they got.  Par for the course.

I told Abby she should try bringing her skateboard up here sometime, but that pretty much fell on deaf ears.  These two were much more interested in rollerblading instead.

After skating for about an hour and a half, the girls wanted to take a break, so we all ventured back over to the dog park and let the dogs burn off some more energy.  They all tried to get the dogs to run through this pipe thingy, but only Samson wanted to do it (no surprises there.)

Samson tunnels out. . .

Commandeering my longboard for a bizarre commute back to the skate park. . .

We'll definitely be hitting this place up much more frequently in the future, that's for damn sure.

- Brian 

Everything Else March

What's up, gang.

So Winter '21 is finally starting to thaw somewhat.  This month has been pretty busy, what with St. Patrick's Day, my trip down to Kalamazoo, Spring Break, you name it.  We're still in the school/work grind, and during this third quarter slums, we're all just trying to survive until the end of the year (this is usually the low point in the school year, after the Holidays and before the good weather decides to get its ass in gear.)  

Anyway, here's your monthly round-up of all things Hough, March Edition.

Enjoy. . .

After Lodge, the first Thursday of the month, Erik and I had a couple post-meeting beers over at Whichcraft.  This one was fairly decent.

That weekend, Mitch decided to bust out some of his mad-scientist grill/smoking skills and threw this slab of brisket on his pellet burner.  Awesome as always.

Some shots with the boys to chase down the meat.  I wasn't sure I was gonna be up for hanging out on this particular night, since I had taken my 2nd dose of Moderna earlier that day and that one usually puts folks on their ass with fever-like symptoms.  I managed to hold it together for most of the night, though - I didn't start to feel shitty until about 4am.

Hanging out at the wives table.

Our snowman family isn't holding together so well these days. . .

Our girls like adding 'inspirational quotes' on our weekly meal menu on the side of the fridge.  None of it makes a whole hell of a lot of sense.

The second week of the month, I dropped Alayna off at the orthodontist to have her grill removed. . .

The end of Phase I.  She'll need to wear a retainer for awhile, then might need to get more stuff done in the future.  She's pretty excited.

Erik and I, who co-lead our Masonic Community Initiative, have been working to build our lodge's presence out there in the local area, and have been working with reporters to have articles printed in the Midland Daily News.  Here's Part II of a series they did on our lodge's 150-year history in the area.

Cleaning up dog shit in the backyard.  Always fun.

Testing out one of my lenses for our upcoming St. Patrick's Day party.

This kid is weird as f***.

The Johnsons took Abby out with them to visit some ole timey something-or-other one weeknight, somewhere where you can collect your own maple syrup.  They sent us this pic of the girls checking out the syrup-making process.

Mr. Hough.  For the children.

Questin' with some ESO.

While I was down in Kalamazoo, adventurin' with the ol' Sausage Pad, Kris and the girls enjoyed a male-free weekend.  The moms got together one night at our house for some drinks and nail-accessorizin', which is all the rage these days I guess.

Out for lunch with Kris and Courtney. . .

Grease Fest

(Not sure what they're doing or where they're at.)

Hanging out with Ella downtown.

The girls had their nails done, too.

On a scavenger hunt down at Kris' church, Sunday morning.

The sign that is currently hanging on Abby's bedroom door.  Kids are awesome.

A glimpse at the Hough's March.

Taking the Dynamic Duo out for an afternoon stroll. . .

I forget which kid drew this.  Both girls are getting more and more into drawing lately.  They come by it naturally.

While shopping at Kohl's with Kris one weekend, I noticed they had a ton of suits on clearance.  Since I wear suits a lot these days (mostly for Lodge), I decided to stock up.  Kinda hard to pass up $200 jackets for a mere $35 (seriously.)  They're not custom tailored, so they have that off-the-rack fit, but still - you can't pass a deal like that up.

Part of our annual Lawn Resurrection process:  burning all the debris in the yard that's accumulated over the course of the Fall/Winter.

This is how our girls 'help' us with yard work. . .

Kris focuses primarily on our ridiculous amount of garden beds.  It's a non-stop battle.

This fire burned all damn day.

A hearty meat offering off the grill.  I don't get down with 12-hour smoking like some of the other dads I roll with, but I can handle my own with traditional fare.

Having a beer/bathroom break at the Collier residence while out on an evening walkabout with Erik and Mitch.

A coworker of mine has a daughter currently enrolled in Delta College's Dental School, and she needed a child to log some hours with in the chair, so to speak.  So I bribed Abby into spending two morning having her teeth worked on over Spring Break (cost me a bit, but it helped out a college kid with her coursework.)  While Abby was occupied with this, I nerded it out working on some side projects in one of the nearby study lounges.  Just like old times.

On another walkabout with the families in our friends group.

A solid easy-drinking offering from Bell's.

Erik and Ryan, prowling the streets of Midland.  We'll be doing this more and more frequently as the weather starts to heat up.  Finally.

- Brian