In Memoriam

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, A-Holes.

So this year, like usual, saw us balancing our Midland social life with our Eight Point Lake family life.  This has been the Houghs' go-to move ever since my parents bought the new lakehouse, and in 2020 and 2021 we'd make a short trip up to Eight Point before heading back in order to make an appearance at the Colliers' big, annual Memorial Day Party (unlike our group's annual Friendsgiving, Christmas, and the Superbowl parties, which all have different families taking turns to host, the Colliers always host Memorial Day, just like we Houghs always host Halloween and St. Patrick's Day.)

This year, however, was a little different.  Due to pretty shitty weather Friday evening and most of Saturday - low/mid-'70s and cloudy/rainy - we didn't end up going to Eight Point until Sunday morning, and consequently made it a day trip.  We all had to be back in Midland by Monday morning, bright and early, because - as you're about to see - Kris and I were both participating in Midland's Memorial Day Parade this year.

So here you go, folks - the Houghs' '22 Memorial Day Weekend.

Behold. . .

As I mentioned before, Erik and I co-lead our local Masonic lodge's Community Initiative - basically managing how our lodge interacts with the surrounding community, participates in events, our social media presence, etc.  As part of this initiative, I decided to get our lodge involved in the city's annual Memorial Day Parade, something it hadn't done in over a decade.  After securing our spot, gathering up volunteers, and fine-tuning all the last-minute details, all that was left to do was design a banner that we could carry throughout the parade.  Our old lodge banner was lost to history - who knows how many decades ago - so I designed a new one and had an online printer whip this high-quality, vinyl banner up in less than three days.  Turned out perfect.

Speaking of designing stuff, if you'll recall I also designed the cornhole boards that Kris' mom friends bought for her last year.  Kris finally got around to putting a poly-something-or-other finish on them so that the bags slide better and it's water/UV-protected.  The bags are brand new, so they're still a little on the clunky side, but since everything's regulation that should work itself out after awhile.

Saturday afternoon we headed over to the Colliers' place for their huge-ass, annual Memorial Day party.  Once again, they decided to rent a bounce house to occupy all the kids. . . and several of the adults.

Ryan handles meat duty.

This obstacle course was huge. . .

Another ridiculous spread.  If it's anything this friend group does well, it's eat.

Forgotten shoes.

Wives, cluckin'.

(No idea who the guy on the far left is. . .)

Breaking out some cornhole after gorging ourselves (we didn't end up bringing our boards.)

Morgan and Mitch

Abby, Ella and Sophie - the three amigas.

Kris, throwing up gang signs.

Mees and Danielle

Mitch's daughter Audrey is really into this game. . .

Had to give the bounce house a try, and it was pretty awesome.  We didn't get any pics or video of it, because it was so dark out, but later on in the night all the dads held a tournament to see who could make it through the bounce house the fastest, squaring off two guys at a time.  After multiple races, it came down to Ryan and Yours Truly. . . but sadly we got distracted after that and the Championship never took place.  Maybe next year. . .

Getting the evening fire going.

Inside the Collier residence, Alayna and her friend, Ava, stumble upon one of the Collier girls' violins and took it for a test run.  The Cannonball was not impressed with its tuning.

Getting ready for cigars at the end of the night.  By this point in time, most of the Colliers' relatives and other friends that aren't in this particular friend group of ours had taken off, leaving only the eight families (Holtys and Griffins couldn't make it this year.)

At the end of the night, everyone all hanging out together around the fire (only happens towards the end of the night with this group.)

The following morning, bright and early, Kris and I loaded up the van with all the necessary supplies needed for a day trip up to the lake, along with Abby's besties, Ella and Sophie, and Alayna's friend, Gabby (since it was a day trip, we were able to leave the dogs at home this time around.)  We rolled into Eight Point in the late morning, where Dad and Brian White were busy putting the boats and jet ski into the water.  With no other watercraft available for the kids the second they got to the lake, I jumped into the golf cart and began to make a series of trips to the pole barn in order to bring the kayaks back to the cottage.  Any excuse to drive the golf cart, really.

Dad rolling up with the jet ski stairs and tubes.

Playin' in dirt: Sophie, Ella, and Abby (Abby, being the gracious hostess that she is, let her friends wear the 'good' life jackets. . . and the wetsuits, which are her favorite.)

Cousins and friends.

I could do this all day. . .

Gabby and Alayna in the kayaks.

After hours of not-so-patiently waiting, Brian finally got his boat in the water and the girls were finally able to go tubing.

Leaving port, about to beat the holy hell out of some little girls. . .

Alayna goes along for the ride, she never tubes.

Kris took more videos, but they files were too large and, honestly, it's nothing you folks haven't already seen before by this point.  After an hour or so of boating, the girls were ready to head back and get some food.

Nana serves up some food for the ravenous.

After lunch, the girls decided to 'tan.'

. . . just like these moms.

As they've done the last few years, Dad and Cindy offered to celebrate both girls' birthdays on Memorial Day, seeing how it falls almost directly between the two girls' actual birthdays. Cindy ended up getting the same Costco cake Abby at on her birthday, too.

After giving the girls their presents, Cindy also gave them two rings that used to belong to Granny Hough.  Before the extended family pillaged all of Granny's jewelry, Cindy went through and picked out two rings for the girls, to give to them once they got older.  Today was the day they finally inherited the rings.

In the evening, after dinner, the Whites all took off.  Before we headed back to Midland, however, Dad offered to take us for a cruise around the lake in the pontoon - my all-time favorite thing to do up at the lake.

Cozied up and ready for a cruise.

Preparing the playlist.  Critical step towards a successful loop around the lake.

Beauty and the Beast (from L to R, obviously.)

Finley makes his move.  Straight out of the Watson Playbook.

Worn out after a long day out on the lake.

The next morning, Erik, Tom, Brad, and Morgan met up at my house at 7:45am in order to fill our Yetis up with Bloody Marys before all loading up into Morgan's Ranger (at right in this pic) and heading up to his dealership (he's the sales manager at Midland Ford.)  He was lending us a vehicle - the monster-sized behemoth you see on the left here - to use in the Memorial Day Parade: we wanted a truck to decorate with signs to help advertise our lodge, as well as to serve as a moving base station where we could sit my JBL Bluteooth speaker, bags of extra candy to throw out to kids along the parade route, etc. The guys had volunteered to help out in the parade, because, since most of our lodge are older guys, we weren't sure how many brothers would be down for walking 3 or 4 miles in the blistering sun.

On the drive over from the dealership to the start of the parade route - the staging area, if you will, there wasn't enough room in the truck for everyone, so I volunteered to lie down in the bed of the truck in order to avoid being detected by the police.  This was my view as we weaved through Midland's streets.

We arrived about 80 minutes before the start of the parade, so we got to work taping up some signs I designed (and Tom printed off) on the side of the truck.

Note the banner - I ordered it with sleeves at the top and bottom to accommodate running poles for people to carry.

I requested that we be placed right behind the Shriners in the parade, seeing how they're an off-shoot of our lodge, and all the guys in the Shriners are masons there.

Brad helps with the flags.

The infamous Shriner cars.

The guys in kilts are brothers from Joppa Lodge in Bay City - they offered to come out and help swell our numbers a bit, which was cool of them.  That tartan pattern their wearing is the official Masonic tartan - Erik and I are going to be ordering those kilts soon, they're pretty badass.

Preparing to head out as the parade starts.

About halfway in, we had already ran out of candy to throw out to kids.  I had accidentally hit four kids with flying candy, a mom in the boob, and severely pissed off a couple dads/husbands in the process.

Brad and Morgan idling along in the battle tank.

After the parade, we got a grew shot of us and the Joppa guys with our banner.

Celebrating a successful undertaking over a few beers at Big E's. Happy Memorial Day, America.

- Brian