June (Besides the Other Stuff)

What's up, America.

Well, as you've all seen so far, this month has been pretty crazy.  Wrapping up the School Year dominates the first part of the month - the girls and i all have blinders on until the year wraps up - and after the dust settled from running that gauntlet, we went in to scramble mode to prepare for the highlight of the month (if not summer):  our Vacation to Florida.

As you know, we spent nine days down there, so by the time we were done with that we only had a week or so left in the month.  Honestly when all's said and done, we didn't really do a whole hell of a lot in our down time this month. . . mainly because we didn't really have any downtime.

And so, with that, I will leave you know with some pics (and video) of some of the remaining, random stuff that happened to the Houghs in the month of June.

Enjoy.

This is what happens when dad and the girls go grocery shopping unattended.  You can imagine how thrilled Kris was with this haul.

At the close of another school year.  After dismissing my students for the last time, and packing up the room as best as possible, I hit the lights off for the last time and got the hell out of dodge.

I usually let my kids graffiti my white board on the last day.  I'm sure the custodians love cleaning up this crap every summer.

The rest of my Social Studies Department showed their appreciation for me after I spent the entirety of the school year lesson planning on all their classes - presentations, edited videos, planned assessments, handouts, lesson pacing, you name it - by presenting me with a hefty gift certificate for Cork and Ale (my favorite liquor/beer store.)  They know me well.

Abby's new favorite past-time is destroying her glasses.  We're a big fan of dropping these off to the optometrist every other week to have them fixed.  We're NEVER buying her wire frames again. . .

Breaking out the cornhole boards for the first time this summer.  The boards themselves - which are gorgeous, by the way - are perfect, but our bags (despite being regulation) are heavy as hell and not broken in at all, so they're difficult to throw and they bounce off the boards easy.  We're definitely going to need to break these suckers in this summer. 

(The girls are slowly improving.)

Arguably the best purchase I've made in a long, long time, I picked up this GoPro for our Florida trip, and it definitely came in handy for all the water stuff we did.  It came with a shit-load of accessories, which I rarely use and can't figure out how to work.

While visiting her mom one weekend (to deliver a pet cat for her. . . seriously), Kris was rear-ended in Clare by a deaf guy.  You can't make this shit up.  Instead of reporting the incident to our insurance provider, Kris had her best friend Kim's husband, Matt, pop the dent out (he works on cars, fortunately, and was able to touch it up to the point where you wouldn't be able to tell there had been any issue in the first place.)

Every Thursday in the first half of the the summer, the City of Midland hosts Tunes By the Tridge:  they have multiple food trucks, kiosks, activities for kids, and - of course - live music.  You just bring a cooler, a camping chair, and some sunscreen and spend a few hours hanging out down by the river.  Not a bad way to spend a Thursday evening.

Ella, Sophie and Abby were called up to the stage (along with a bunch of other kids) during a song to do some dancing (if you could call it that.)

While the wives and kids hung out down by the river, the Dads all ventured up to Main Street periodically to stock up on drinks (most of the bars downtown in The Commons allow you to order 'drinks to go,' which is handy.)

Erik and Morgan, waiting for the other dads to grab their orders.

Setting back off towards the river.

Our route to and from The Commons to the riverside always took us past the 'secret' entrance to me and Erik's lodge, which we always enjoy pointing out to our non-Mason buddies.

A little while later, getting another round of drinks on Main Street.

The Moms.

Packing up at the close of the evening. . .

The music was still going, but we wanted to beat the traffic out of there.

Kids were exhausted, too.

In preparation for this year's ridiculously HOT trip to Florida, I bought myself a Yeti for use in the parks.  And you bet your ass I had it personalized (with my family coat of arms on one side and my nickname on the other.)

Dropping the dynamic duo off at Shelby's in Coleman (the lady who runs it does a great job with our boys while we're away) the evening before we left for Florida.  Our dogs, as seen here, usually get pretty upset when we initially drop them off, but they have a good time after awhile.

Upon our return from Florida, Kris went to war with our front garden bed.  We had a lot of Snow-on-the-Mountain growing all up in it, a ground cover that spreads quickly and is a pain in the ass to kill, so eventually we had to destroy the whole bed and start from scratch.  It actually got to the point where we had to hire a professional gardener to come in and help us out.  I hate this kinda stuff - anything beyond mowing the grass is not in my wheelhouse.

Another Thursday, another Tunes-By-the-Tridge hangout.

After hanging out there for awhile and elderly woman wielding an SLR that, I'm sure, was heavier than her, approached me and handed me this piece of paper.  I guess she covers these events during the summer. . .

This was her picture she took of us.  I look like my f***ing grandfather in this picture.

Getting more drinks on Main Street with the dads (you can see our Lodge building in the background here.)

Erik hits up a truck for some tacos.

Once again, perfect weather for the evening.  I love June.

The Three Amigas:  Abby, Sophie, and Ella.

The Tribe

Moms, cluckin' about stuff

Kris' Uncle Wayne gifted us this old whiskey barrel when he picked us up from Florida - he knows a guy who gets them all the time, so he said he'd be able to hook us up with more in the future.  Kris wanted to refinish it and then cut it in half in order to turn into tables or flower pots or some shit.  I would rather keep it as after touching it up a bit, using it as a standing table of some kind in the basement, but we'll see who wins out in the end.  For now - and probably for the unforeseeable future - it's hanging out, untouched, in the garage.

The third week of the month me and the girls drove up to Clare for my nephew Blake's high school open house (Kris had Covid again so she wasn't able to attend.)

They had ordered a food truck, which was pretty awesome (burgers, sandwiches, stuff like that) - I might end up going that route for when our own girls graduate high school.

We didn't stick around too long - long enough for the kids to eat and drink a few pops - aside from my folks and sister's fam we didn't really know anyone, so we gave Blake $100 cash (because I forgot to get a card) and headed back to Midland.

So Alayna and a bunch of her friends have decided that they're 'getting in shape' this summer (we'll see how long that lasts.)  I figured I'd humor her for as long as it lasts, and showed her how to use the treadmill in our den.

Believe it or not - and I can't believe this myself, honestly - she did three days in a row towards the end of the month logging two hours (at a fast walk) each day.  Since she's watching Tik-Tok videos on Youtube, I'm assuming her short-attention span prevented her from realizing she was even exercising at all.  We'll see how long this lasts.

In a very, very rare form of sisters getting along, here we have the Cannonball helping Abby do her nails.  This happens, like, once or twice a year.  If that.  Hence snapping a picture of it.

Abby finally got braces towards the end of the month, which was quite the big deal for her. Not that she needed as much work done as Alayna, though - Alayna needed way more work done in order to give her half-way normal set of chompers back in the day (she looked like Snaggletooth for a couple years there.)

And, in closing, here's a picture of Alayna and her friend, Ava, sitting in the back of some kinda truck.  I have no idea what this is or where it is, but Kris took this picture. . . I'm including it because it happened in the month of June.  So you're welcome.

- Brian

A Very Midland Christmas Party

Mitch threw this slab of cow on the grill at 4am (this is at noon.)

Season's Greetings, homies.

So in case you guys weren't aware of this, every year during the Holiday Season, we Houghs attend a Christmas party hosted by a family from our social circle's collection of Chestnut Hill neighborhood families that get together on a regular basis.  Like every other get-together we have, the wives seem to gravitate to one room, the husbands to another, and the kids all end up in a basement or backyard or something.  

Erik's bacon-wrapped beef things.

Kinda like segregation, only not so racist.

Anyway, this year, on account of Covid, our group functions with our friends have decreased in frequency and size (obviously.)  We've circled the wagons a bit and allowed continual contact with a smaller number of families from this group, all of which work from home (like myself) or are otherwise more or less quarantined at work (like Kris.)  In addition, over the last six months, all of the families in this 'inner circle' group have already contracted Covid except for we Houghs, so we deem this smaller group relatively safe to hang out with.  

And so, as such, we decided to green-light this year's Christmas party, which was hosted by the Bos family this time around.

Check it out. . .

Kris, in the afternoon, making. . . something.

We five dads all threw in on a 1/6 barrel keg of Copper Harbor from Midland Brewing Company, as they were half-off, only $50 (the brewery was trying to move them because they had a lot of beer to burn through, on account of the brewery being forced to temporary close indoor dining.)  So for a mere $10 you got ten pints of Copper Harbor, which is an insane deal.  I was smart and brought along a growler in order to take four of mine for the road, I was surprised no one else bothered thinking of that.

Mitch, playing with his meat

Grazing in the kitchen.

It's a Holiday party, your damn straight I'm wearing my crushed, red velvet Christmas blazer. . .

Dads seem to always stake out the kitchen at the Bos residence. . .

Our kids always participate in a $10 candy gift exchange every year. . .

It's one of those 'pass to the left three times, pass to the right two times, steal from one another, etc.' games.  You've all played this shit before, you know how it works.

Alayna was adamant about keeping her candy gift this year.  The kids pick out and wrap the candy they contribute to the game every year, so she picked out stuff she liked and then made it her mission to win back her own gift.  Mission accomplished.

Mitch's son, Drew, won Abby's candy, which was by far the most sought-after candy in the game - Abby had insisted wrapping the candy in a large, Amazon box, which made is seem way more impressive than what it was.

Abby's haul

Some dapper-looking gentleman. . .

We dads moved outside after dinner, since the weather was in the low 40s and it was fairly decent out.  Mitch and Erik hooked up a space heater to help improve things further.

Erik and I, showing off our new, engraved Masonic Yeti's that I designed (I took the classic Jack Daniels logo and modified it for our Lodge.)

Five dads and a keg:  Ryan, Mitch, Yours Truly, Erik and Morgan.

Meanwhile, inside in the dining room, the moms hung out and played cards and enjoyed pudding shots.

The meat, finally off the grill at long last.

Smoked beef, over twelve hours in the making. . .

We attempted to get a fire going at one point, but the wood was too wet to light.  Even with the help of gasoline.

The Mom Squad.  Danielle, Kelli, Courtney, Mees, and Kris

Towards the end of the night, warming up indoors.

Playing some husband vs. wife games. . .

A definitely more chill affair this year, but safety first I guess.

- Brian