The Houghs' 1100th Episode: March Quasi-Madness

How's it going, everybody.

March has come to an end. Somewhat quieter this year than in previous years, that's for sure. St. Patrick's Day wasn't as insane by any means, considering we cancelled our annual after-Clare party, and as a result we had way less stress and way less pics and video to sort through. 

Spring Break was super chill this year, with Yours Truly working on catch-up work shit and stuff around the house, Kris painting the kitchen and dining room, and the kids otherwise occupying themselves with screen, friends, or some weird combination of both. No vacation trips this year (last year, as you'll recall, Kris and Abby went to New York City while Alayna went to Mexico. . . and me and the dogs stayed home and chilled), so our wallets are a lot fatter than usual.

So as a result, there's not as much to share this time around. The change of pace was welcome, for sure, but this post is a little thinner than our usual March round-up, I guess.

Anyway, here you go, folks - enjoy this month's installment. . .

ComicCon returned to the Midland Mall towards the beginning of the month, not sure if that was for the entire week or just the weekend. I drove Alayna up there Saturday afternoon and dropped her off at the Food Court so she could meet up with some of her friends up there, and I swear to God I haven't seen the parking lot that packed since back in the Mall's heyday, back in the mid-90's.

Abby takes an after-school nap during the following week. We had a warm spell where it rose back up into the '70s - this is seriously the warmest Michigan winter I've ever experienced - so while her sister was outside soaking up the sun, Abby said 'screw it' and just napped indoors.

Alayna and her friend, Lexi, decided to make the most of the eerily warm weather and opted to chalk up our driveway, like they used to do back during Covid. They settled on drawing fruit, but when Alayna started chalking a pineapple I had to instruct her not to draw the pineapple upside down. Not about to have the neighborhood getting the wrong idea about Kris and I. 

Meanwhile, inside, Abby shifted positions but kept the nap going - turns out she was running a fever and her body needed the rest. The dogs felt bad for her and stayed by her throughout the evening (like dogs will do.)

At the half-time of the last basketball game of the season, Abby performed for the last time with Northeast's Team. . .

Abby and her Coach

The 'graduating' 8th Graders on the team got a pic with the coach after their final game. 

On a whim one night I decided to ask AI to create a picture of Virgil Q's Dixieland Kazoo Revue (one of my old bands from college.) No prompts, no instructions - I just wanted to see what it'd come up with. The results are, well, terrifying.

The second attempt. Totally different direction here.

While I was away camping with my high school friends for the weekend, Kris and the girls took the dogs out for an evening walk around the neighborhood.

Sure, this is totally safe. . .

We went over to the Larsons' house for the Academy Awards the Sunday I came back from my camping venture. They catered Olive Garden and threw the invite out to everyone, but no one really seemed interested in the event besides us. While we were downstairs watching the awards, the girls were upstairs hanging out with the Larson kids - Jackson and Sophie - playing video games and what-not.

Later on that week, Northeast Pom Team held their annual, end-of-season awards banquet at the Midland Community Center. This was, like, four hours long, and far more bloated than it's ever been in the previous years. 

As usual, the team (for the most part) all sat together at one, central table, while their parents and families sat spread out throughout the rest of the rented room.

They handed out the usual awards for the team after dinner, with each girl receiving a unique one from the coach. Abby was awarded the Sky High Kicks award, as she has the best kicks in the team's Kick Line.

The 2023-2024 Northeast Pom Team

After the 6th and 7th Graders left, the 8th Graders were given a smaller, funnier award ceremony from the coach (seeing how they're moving on to Midland High and won't be on the Team anymore.) Abby's second, more lighthearted award was for Most Forgetful, which is totally understandable (especially considering the team's ill-fated State performance a month or two ago.)

(Neither Kris, who took this pic, nor Abby seemed to notice the upside-down award. . . oh well.)

The Houghs

Kris got a few pics with Abby and some of her teammates after the awards ceremony - most folks were just trying to get some last-minute pics, cleaning up the leftover food, and dealing with over-emotional, teenage girls.

(I don't know who this kid is.)

With Ella and Nica.

Abby and Ella's signature 'handshake'. . .

The 8th Graders.

(Not sure what's happening here.)

Abby and Ella's signature 'handshake'. . .

Another Abby-and-Coach pic.

Lexi and Alayna, on some random school field trip. . . somewhere.

The Friday night before St. Patrick's Day, I finally busted out my Black-and-Tan strainer Kris er, Santa put in my stocking this Christmas. I was blown away by how well this damn thing worked, it was insane. 

As you can see here, soooo much better than using a traditional spoon.

A weird pic Alayna took of Samson - on the couch, as always - the morning of St. Patrick's Day. 

Sophie invited Abby and Ella back over to her house later on in the afternoon for a quasi-formal 'tea party.'  Didn't know folks still did stuff like that.

I was looking up hashtags on Instagram to see if anyone had posted any pics from Clare's Irish Fest this year, and I stumbled across a post from the 2017 Irish Fest. Some guy with a fancy lens took a pic of the hat Kris was wearing that year.

The Thursday before Spring Break, I went out to Diamond Jim's with the guys for a few beers. I rarely go out for the weekly, Thursday hangouts, since I don't like going out then having to go to work the next morning. But Friday was called off earlier that evening due to an impending snow storm, so my Spring Break started a day earlier. No complaints here.

Kris spent most of Spring Break this year repainting the kitchen. . . yet again. She let Alayna draw/write a few things on the walls while she tested out paint swatches. 

Alayna's go-to character drawing.

Ultimately she ended up putting on multiple coats of primer and paint throughout the week, as the crap Alayna drew/wrote was still visible through the first couple of layers. But whatever - happy wife, happy life.

That first Friday of our Spring Break, we decide to celebrate the girls' report cards (Honor Roll yet again), and let Abby choose the restaurant this time. She's a big fan of Italian food, and wanted to check out D'Allessandro out on Wackerly.

(This probably looks a lot better in the summer.)

For the third time in a row this year, Abby pulled straight A's on her report card - not even A-'s, which is insane. 

I'm not a big fan of Italian food, so I just got a beer and an appetizer while Kris and the girls chowed down on their entrees (which, I'm told, we're really good.) Our server came out towards the end of the meal with some carry-out boxes for us (because the portion size was out of control) and asked us if anyone wanted dessert. The girls were interested, but hadn't been able to finish their meals, so we declined and the server went to go get our bill. When she returned, she brought out complimentary desserts for us, saying that - get this - the management was blown away by how well-behaved our daughters were. She was gushing praise on all four of us, saying that Kris and I had clearly raised our kids right because our girls are 'not the norm' that they see, and that most families that come in there have rude kids who are glued to their devices and don't know how to speak politely to wait staff (and the parents are just as bad.) Needless to say, not only did we tip this server incredibly well, but Kris and I left there with some pretty inflated egos.

On our way out, Kris wanted a family selfie in front of the sign.

. . . aaaaaand one in front of the not-so-scenic patio area.

Watson wouldn't stop staring at our the power washer that Kris ordered on Amazon. Dogs are stupid.

Later that night, I went over to the Sheahan residence to play some pool and darts in Tom's basement with the other dads.

While I was out over there, Kris took the girls out in Alayna's car to get her some more driving time logged (better her than me, my anxiety is off the charts riding with a teen driver.)

This was the first time any of us had hung out in Tom's basement, it was pretty cool down there.

Getting some after-dark driving time in (out of the thirty hours of driving time she needs in order to get her Phase Two driving accreditation, she has to have at least three hours of nighttime driving. . . which I believe she already has at this point.)

Moving on to darts (we were able to link up our usual GrandBoard accounts to it, which was cool.)

Abby got this at Kris' church during her youth group on Palm Sunday. Good to see Christians are capitalizing on the Gen Alpha slang.

That afternoon, once we got back from church, we headed over to Mom's to celebrate Grandpa Chinery's 93rd Birthday, alongside my younger brothers and their families.

My nephews load up on sugar.

Girl talk.

Levi gives Grandma the business.

Later that evening, after we got home, we hung out and watched a movie with the dogs (who are big fans of the couch blankets.)

Watson's a hell of a lot better at this than Samson, that's for damn sure.

Alayna decided to rearrange her bedroom over Spring Break, and forced her dresser into her closet (despite our urging her not to, since it was a ridiculously tight fit, and would take up all her closet space.)

But, as you can see here, she's stubborn as all hell, and was totally fine with storing her shoes out in her room instead of at the foot of her closet like a normal person would. Whatever.

Kris took us downtown for a prayer thing in the side chapel of First United Methodist on Mondo Thursday (whatever that's called.) We'd seen this room before, but never actually been in there before.

Alayna took a pic of me taking a pic of Abby. She comes by it naturally.

Watson soaks up some sun while keeping watch over our backyard.

Around dinner time, we met up with the Johnsons at the Holiday Inn up by the Mall for some food, drinks and swimming. They always rent a room for one night during Spring Break in order to enjoy the pool - kind of a 'staycation,' if you will. They then throw out the invite to our social group so other folks can come out and take advantage of the amenities. Right next door to the pool is Big E's, so we're well-versed in their beer/food selection.

The Larsons, Colliers, and eventually Griffins ended up meeting up with us up there. The kids were out of hair for the majority of the night, only returning to the table here and there in order to graba piece of pizza or whatever.

Alayna left her phone on the table, so Collier and I took weird selfies with it. That'll learn her.

The next morning, the Johnsons and us drove down to Great Lakes Crossing - that giant mall we met the Voigts at a few months ago - in order to let the girls shop around a bit.

Seeing how Abby would have Ella to run around with, Alayna brought along the infamous Maddie Charles. Also, Abby just so happens to be wearing the exact same outfit she wore here last time. Nothing weird about that at all.

Made a short pit stop at the aquarium in Bass Pro Shop on our way to the mall area. Kinda have to whenever you're passing through.

Checking out the koi in the water below (Maddie was clearly impressed.)

Like last time, we stopped off at the Food Court first so everyone could eat lunch before we started our day-long shopping venture. Kris and I once again got Mediterranean food, Erik and the four girls all got A & W, and Courtney waited a super-long time to get a Philly cheese steak at some overly-swamped joint. Frickin' love this place. 

I didn't take many pics of us shopping around, but this one was about three or four hours in. We spent all day walking around, logging miles in and wearing out our shoes in the process.

Towards the end of our day, Kris circled back to this Jerusalem store in order to buy a ladle holder for our stove (that she had seen last time we were here and regretted not purchasing.)

By this point in the day we were all thoroughly exhausted and ready to head home. I definitely should have worn better shoes, I was sore from the waist down.

One of the girls gets a 0.5 pic of Kris on our way out to the parking lot, passing through Bass Pro Shop.

Heading to the cars, frickin' beat.

Falling asleep on the couch to a movie, once we got back to Midland. Everyone was wiped out.

The next day, hanging out in the basement. Someone had gotten our one of our old guitars so I was just making sure it was still in tune.

That night we went out to Midland Cinemas in order to check out the new Ghostbusters movie. Kris got us the VIP seats, which were awesome - I'm never sitting in regular seats again.

The next morning was Easter, which used to get its own blog post in previous years, but now is just another morning in the Hough house. Now that the kids are teenagers, we don't have to hide eggs and do scavenger hunts anymore - we just spend too much on Easter Baskets and leave 'em out on the table for them.

The dogs didn't get baskets this year. I don't remember if last year was the first year we stopped doing that or maybe it's been a few years of us saying 'screw it.' The girls used to expect the Easter Bunny would leave the dogs a basket, filled with dog treats and toys and whatever, so we used to have to buy all that shit as well. Now, we can just say 'f*** the dogs' and focus on the girls. It's awesome.

We threw a couple dresses and swimsuits in their baskets this year, along with some sandals, makeup, gum, and (of course) some candy. The clothing drives the cost up substantially, but seeing how they needed that stuff anyway it's two birds with one stone so we're fine with it. Anyway, Easter was the last day of the March, so we'll pick this up next month when we do our April randoms. Until next time, folks. . .

- Brian