Regionals, Nephews, and Lions

Hey gang.

Teams begin to assemble in the Heritage High School gym for Regionals.

Well, today was busy as all hell. Now that we're kicking off Competition Season with Abby and her Midland High JV Pom Team, pretty much every weekend for the next few weeks is filled with pom performances. This morning saw us heading out to Heritage High School in Saginaw Township for Regionals, the determining factor as to whether or not teams advance to the epic State Championships down at Eastern Michigan University in a few weeks.

Abby rode with the Johnsons to Saginaw this morning. 

We made sure to get there early this morning in order to be some of the first people through the doors when they opened up admission to the general public (pommers had to be there a half an hour before.) Abby had her sights set on a Regionals exclusive hooded sweatshirt (to the tune of $50 - ouch), and they always sell out of the popular sizes. I had to crack the whip a bit with my roommates to make sure we were there early enough to pounce on the merch table when they first opened up. Due to my valiant efforts, we were able to get Abby the desired hoodie in her size, and the day was saved.

Did anybody acknowledge my efforts? Hell no, of course not.

Abby nearly lost her AirPods, but I found 'em.

Anyway, Midland JV did awesome, as we knew they would - Abby and her team are a lot tighter than they were during their years at Northeast. They advanced on to States, so keep an eye out for a future post about our trip downstate in a few weeks. Following the Regionals showcase, we headed out to Timbers for some lunch with the Johnsons (like we usually do), then eventually ended up at the Bos residence for the kick-in-the-f***ing-nuts game that was the Lions vs. Commanders.

From start to finish, another jam-packed Saturday for the Houghs.

Check it out . . .

When we first got into the gym, we were some of the first people there. Kris stepped out to check out some of the local pom vendors, so Alayna and I were tasked with saving seats for the Johnsons and my dad (who were all still in line.) We had to spread out with our coats, hats, phones, etc., and at some point Alayna thought it'd be hilarious to take a pic of me looking like some kinda weirdo in the stands.

Midland High JV, right before their performance (Abby fifth from the bottom.)

Now that they're performing at the JV level, we had to sit through like a dozen middle school teams before getting to see Abby and her team perform.

(They did some kinda 'fire'-themed routine this year.)

This is the 'official' video that was shared by. . .  whoever the hell recorded this.

Following the conclusion of the morning performances, there was an hour break during which time the teams all mingled on the gym floor, some folks left, people got snacks, and teams posed for pictures.

Abby and some chick.

I have a lot of current and former students at these things, and they usually find me while everyone's out on the floor. This kid posted a set of pics to one of their socials (that Abby follows) featuring Yours Truly.

Abby always gets lots of team pics at these things. . .

After an hour or so, they started naming off the teams that qualified for States next month.

The Gruesome Twosome

. . . and one with her Fam.

Alayna took this one of Abby and some of her teammates, hanging around in the bleachers across the gym during the afternoon Varsity performances. Because Abby is on the JV team this year, she had to wait until after the Varsity team performed (it's some kinda pom tradition where schools' various teams have to sit court side and show support for their sister teams.)

They threw in a free t-shirt when I purchased Abby's hoodie in the morning (you spend over $50, they throw in a randomly-sized shirt from some random pom competition in years past, but whatever - it's free.) Abby got some Large shirt from a 2022 competition, and to prove how big it was I wore it over my hooded sweatshirt (I'm a Medium) and it wasn't even tight.

We didn't stick around for the Varsity award showcase, because we wanted to be able to get a table at Timbers, a restaurant about a mile from the school. None of us had eaten much in the morning, and so by 2:30pm - when we finally got seated - we were famished.

(Alayna got some pics of the other side of the table.)

Abby and Ella taking bathroom selfies at Timbers (featuring Abby's new, over-priced hoodie.)

The food at this place is awesome, but I ordered a gyro and it wasn't my favorite - wouldn't order it again, it was pretty plain.

Second bathroom selfie in an hour. Not sure that's an ideal background for a pic, but whatever - I'm not a teenager, I don't know what's 'cool' these days.

Kris and the girls were pooped from an entire morning and afternoon being out of the house doing pom shit, but Yours Truly had a few more things on my daily calendar. My nieces and nephews have been wanting me to come hang out with them at my brother Jeff's house for awhile, but due to split custody he gets them every other weekend. I was able to squeeze a three-hour visit in with them over at Jeff and Carissa's house from like 4 - 7pm-ish, during which time I played Foosball, ping-pong, Twister, and pool with various kids, took about two-dozen darts to the nuts during a Nerf war, checked out all their new Christmas presents from the Holidays, and - as you can see here - enjoyed a few Old Fashioneds. These mixes my brother had lying around were pretty awesome.

We played a few board games and card games at the kitchen table once the kids had wrapped up dinner. Levi dominated this game.

 Meanwhile, across town, Alayna and her friends spent the night at Amelia's house to celebrate the kid's birthday (I got this one from Alayna's phone.)

Around 7:30pm, I said farewell to my brother and his fam and headed over to the Bos residence, where Mitch was hosting a low-key watch party for the first NLF Playoffs. Wish the day would have ended on a better note - with the Lions beating the Commanders and advancing on in the Division Playoffs - buuuuuut God hates Detroit. Maybe next year will finally be our year. . .

- Brian

Rhapsody (on a F***ing School Night)

'Sup kids.

How's your Tuesday? Super-cool? Ours was, except for the whole staying-out-past-10pm thing on a school night - I'm definitely not a fan of that bullshit.

Every year that Alayna has been involved in Midland High's annual student talent show, Rhapsody Rendezvous, it has been on a Friday night in December. In the middle of the Holiday Season, when folks aren't stressing out about getting home at a decent time and having to wake up bright and early for yet another day of work.

Well, apparently there was a scheduling hiccup with the venue, Midland Center for the Arts, and Midland had to hold the damn thing on a random Tuesday in January. Totally sucked, but we survived. Hopefully the jackass in charge of scheduling learns how to adult next year, because I sure as hell don't want to have to do this nonsense ever again.

Since Abby is a Freshman now, we had two girls in Rhapsody this year, and a few different showcases they were featured in: Symphonic Orchestra (Alayna and Abby), JV Pom's performance (Abby), and Honors Orchestra (Alayna.) That broke up the monotony of watching random student acts and having to stomach the so-bad-it's-cringy, student MC 'skits' throughout the evening.

Anyway, I managed to find the evening's professional photographer's pictures online, and included them here for your viewing pleasure. 

Enjoy. . .

The photographer managed to get on stage and get pictures of all the kids performing during their practice before the audience showed up. All the high schoolers participating in the evening's big show left school halfway through the day on Tuesday and headed across town for some last-minute practice sessions before the big night.

The team would change into their official school uniforms for their pom routine later in the night.

I'm not sure how the photographer got all these pics being on stage with all these girls moving around like they do - that's a good way to get knocked flat on your ass.

The Cannonball, warming up with the orchestra during their practice session. Sadly I couldn't upload the video of the Symphonic Orchestra performing a suite of music from the Indiana Jones franchise, as it lasted nearly six minutes. Really impressive, though.

Abby joins the ranks of Symphonic Orchestra this year.

Later that evening, during the actual show, Midland JV on the stage.

Abby, front and center as usual.

Ella, also front and center.

I think this one's Honor's Orchestra (hard to tell because I had to film it in a way where the lit up phone screen wasn't visible to folks sitting around/behind me.)

Hanging out behind the scenes following another orchestra performance.

Not sure what's happening backstage at this point. . .

Alayna, hanging out backstage while the Marching Band closes out the evening with a showcase of three or four songs from their season.

Abby requested I get a video of the Drum Line doing their thing, which always ends the evening's show.

The girls with Papa and Nana, who drove down from Clare to check out the girls' performances.

. . . and of course they brought flowers, because God forbid the girls don't get flowers at the end of a show.

The Cannonball, please with her favorite - red roses.

Kiersten and Abby, at the end of the night.

- Brian