Month of Caesar

What's up, Internet.

July was a busy, busy time around these parts.  Every weekend saw the Houghs out and about adventuring around the state, while the weekdays saw Kris at work and Yours Truly, kids, and dogs hanging around the house, packing for the next trip on the docket and attempting to keep the house (and yard) in working order.

The last day of our trip up into the Upper Peninsula, as we left the greater Marquette area and started our looooong descent back out of the wilds of the North towards Civilization, Kris made it a point to stop over at a Dunkin Donuts so she could grab herself - and the girls, who now fully appreciate iced coffees - some drinks and treats.  Happy wife, happy life, folks.

The Gateway to Civilization.  But seriously - f*** this bridge.

The same evening we rolled back into town, the guys were all heading out to the Dow Diamond for an exclusive Dad hangout.  Mitch picked me up and we met up with the rest of the crew downtown at Decker's.

Erik and Morgan had won a private viewing box at some charity auction back in 2019, but hadn't been able to capitalize on it yet (thanks again, Pandemic.)  It was high time we all take advantage of their spoils.

Mitch and Morgan

This was about the only time any of us actually watched the game.

Front Row, L to R:  Erik, Omkar, Tom and Ryan.  Back Row, L to R:  Mitch, some devilishly handsome fellow, and Morgan.

It was 'Comic Book Night' at Dow Diamond, so they had everything comic book-themed.  People walking around dressed up like comic book characters, playing theme music from various movies and TV shows, and showing stuff like this on the scoreboard.

We took this picture in the neighboring box, which belonged to Northwood University, so that we could send it to Lonnie, one of the dads in our crew who couldn't make it out this time around, and who coaches basketball at the school.

First poor choice of the evening.  The bar was low on decent booze, so someone ordered shots of Jack Daniels, which - I'll tell ya, folks - goes down like unleaded gasoline.

Erik meets some locals out in the wild.

A glorious mullet out about town.

(No, we didn't know who this guy was.)

Ryan and Morgan

After the game, while the game's fireworks were shooting off, we decided to head over to the 702 Bar - a former dive that has developed a large, outdoor seating area during the Age of Covid.

They had a band playing and everything, doing covers, and they were surprisingly pretty damn good.

I absolutely love people-watching. . .

Enjoying some of my recently acquired Ore Dock ale - Bramble on the Rose.  This growler kept that beer fresh and carbonated for an entire week - worth every penny.

Kris' bottle of wine - and souvenir glass - that she bought in Munising 

Now that Alayna is 13, she qualified for her Covid vaccine.  Now Bill Gates has a microchip in her.

Kris bought me these Picture Disc frames for my birthday, which I had been wanting for my two souvenir records that I bought on our Florida Vacation two years ago.  Like I said before, these babies feature the soundtrack, sounds, and scores for each ride (my two personal favorites) - in their entirety - on one side, while showcasing various stand-alone songs, sound effects, segments, and supplemental music from the rides on the other.  Since both of these albums are available on Amazon Music anyway, and I bought them for display purposes anyway, I wanted to frame them.  The quality of these frames - aesthetically and material-wise - more than makes up for the high price tag.  I figure we'll hang these up somewhere in the Den at some point this summer.

Yet another Mom Night Out.  The only missing I think is Courtney. . . unless she's the one taking the picture, I don't know.

One day, Abby and Ella wanted to go to the local community pool down at Plymouth Park, but they didn't have any money and I didn't have any cash on me.  I said they should attempt earning the money themselves, so they asked if they could make a lemonade/brownie stand.  I was fine with this, as it gave them something to do and would get them out of my hair for awhile.

I had no expectations of them making any decent money doing this, and expected them to make $5 or so, thereabouts.  But they were gung-ho about the prospect.

Hustlin'

They were out there for a mere two hours and, no joke, pulled in a whopping $52.  Un-frickin'-believable.

As you know, I'm somewhat of a Christmas enthusiast, and get overly-excited about Hallmark Ornaments.  I check early in the summer for scheduled releases, and saw this baby being released on July 10 at midnight.  Last year I bought the same ornament, only it was the original NES console, so I knew the quality of this next one (in what I assume is the second in an ongoing series of videogame consoles) would be stellar.  The same night I was out with the dads at the 702 Bar (detailed previously), I pulled the trigger the second it went on sale, and had it shipped to my local Hallmark Store in the Midland Mall.

Sooooo happy with this purchase.  I'm assuming next year they'll release a Sega Genesis or Nintendo 64 - either of those would be logical choices if they're going in chronological order of consoles.

One of my summer projects this year was to sift out the dirt in our rock beds surrounding the house.  My buddy Ryan let me borrow his rock sifter - he had undertaken this project last summer - and, now that I had some free time where the weather wasn't too unbearably hot (or rainy, as was the case in most of June), I set to work.  It was back-breaking work, and took forever.  I enjoyed none of it.

This butterfly sat on our back screen door for hours before Abby finally decided to pick it up and see if it was still alive.

It was, and didn't appear hurt or anything, just super chill.  After awhile of carrying it around the house, I had her release outdoors and it flew away.  Totally weird.

Kris and Samson, catching some Z's on the couch one afternoon.

Abby had a low-grade fever one day, and Samson offered some snuggle support.  He's a big fan of sleeping on the couch, just like Watson.

Saving the cushions during a monsoon.

After work one Friday, the Inner Circle hung out over at the Johnson's place for some driveway hanging out (and cornhole, obviously.)

The following night, keeping it chill in the backyard with some Head Bandz.

This was a first for me, spotting an electric car plug-in here in town - this one at my favorite local beer store, Cork and Ale.

And, in closing, a side-by-side I made up after coming across a picture of my Dad when he turned 40 (while looking through family pictures up at Eight Point, earlier in the month.)  The pic of me is when I turned 40, last year.  I think I've aged like fine wine, obviously.  At least I'm not sporting a Cosby sweater.

- Brian