Randoms from the Month of April

Things have definitely slowed down again around here. . . thank God.  March and early April were absolute insanity, what with the house being being packed up, my parents coming in to town and loading up the truck, our house being listed and the flood of potential buyers that besieged us as a result, multiple family adventures (Clearwater, St. Patrick's Day, etc.), and all of this outside of the usual work/school/piano/girl scouts bullshit.  Only recently, in the last week or two, have things finally calmed down and we can actually have a day off where nothing needs to be taken care of.

It's awesome.

Anyway, here's your monthly installment of Holy Random from the House of Houghs.

Enjoy:

Yes, it's that hot out already.  By the time mid-March rolls around down here, it's time to start swimming in the backyard.

Our backyard grass is beyond help.  I'd care more about this, but. . .  hell, I'm moving soon.

Watson's definitely intrigued by the pool, but has yet to jump in.

Showing the girls - fresh out of their nightly baths - the new Star Wars: Episode VII trailer (featuring a couple of my childhood heroes.)

Checked out a new micro-brewery in Winter Garden with Adam a couple weeks ago called Crooked Can Brewery.  Winter Garden is kind of a yuppy/hipster-ish community (Michigan people, think 'Grand Rapids'), so it was only a matter of time before they built themselves a local brewery (in a brick building, to boot.)

This particular brewery wasn't anything too out of the ordinary - I'm finding a lot of microbreweries start tasting the same after awhile - but their higher ABV IPA wasn't bad (I didn't care for their Stout, my usual go-to beer.)

Adam and I bought a couple flights (seen here) which are nice if you've never tried a brewery's different beers and want a sample of several different ones before committing to a single selection (these here are all about eight-ounce glasses.)  I want to find one of these bi-plane flights - they're awesome.

Found this on one of my students' homework assignments earlier this month.  I get hell from my kids on a regular basis because I refuse to buy/wear tacky Air Jordans (which are insanely popular with today's youth.)

. . . then you find shit like this, and can't help but wonder if this is some kind of a political endorsement.

The Cannonball decides to help 'sell our house.'  Rest assured, we made sure to take this down prior to showing the house.

Yes, that's our kid cramming an ice cream sandwich in her face.

Once again, Alayna got a hold of the Powershot.

This year's harvest was about as big as last year's - hope the new homeowners enjoy peaches.

- Brian

Spring Break '14

SPRING BREAK!!!

Not that we'll be taking off our shirts for beads anytime soon (though frankly I wouldn't put it past the kids), but we're still big fans of not going to work.  I can't get enough of that.

So since we're child-laden and lame these days, we're not necessarily having margaritas made in our mouths, doing shots out of one another's belly-buttons, and the like.  Nay, Spring Break to middle-aged parents means wearing one's pajamas well into the afternoon, drinking a pot of coffee unmolested throughout the morning, catching up on TV series and videogames, battling with the yard, and otherwise working on odds and ends around the house.

Jesus, I wish we had more Spring Breaks. . .

Check it out:

Abby dances in the sprinkler in the backyard. . .

For whatever reason, the step in front of the shed is the kids' favorite 'stage.'

Look what was released today?  We'd been waiting for this for quite some time, and Abby and I snatched it up at Target on the way home from picking her up from school.  The poor clerks were handing these out to desperate parents immediately after pulling them out of the cardboard shipping boxes and slapping them into plastic clamshell cases.  Rest assured, I exchanged more than a few understanding nods with other weary dads waiting around for our Blu-Ray handouts. . .

Time for the annual Lily explosion around the house. . .

The Velez's had planted tons of these things around the front and back yards - we're constantly finding new plants as they start blooming out of nowhere. 

The Cannonball's taken a liking to climbing the peach tree in the backyard lately. . .

At Greenberg Dental for the Cannonball's routine cleaning. . .

Walking the dog/kids.

Queens of the Hill.

Pin-up pose on a not-so classic car.

I  love picking up our point-and-shoot camera and finding 48 pictures of this.

Kris accompanied Alayna on a Sunchild field trip to a local skating rink - it was Alayna's first time on skates.

She skates like her old man. . .

I took her a while, but eventually she warmed up to it (I still hate skating with a passion, just in case you were curious.)

Snack break with some of her homegirls. . .

Watson

I took the kids to Walmart in order to pick up a kiddie pool from their Lawn & Garden section (walking through their with two kids in tow was a blast.)

We picked up a $15 pool and a bunch of toys in order to tide the kids over until we set up the big 12 x 36" Intex pool we do every summer.

And yes, there were two pools stuck together.  I'm assuming that's how they were sold, I don't know.  $15 for two pools seems like a pretty good deal to me.

Breaking in the new pool, while Yours Truly takes an obnoxious amount of pictures with his phone. . .

I had to explain to them that Watson, contrary to popular belief, does NOT like to be squirted with water cannons. . .

Healthy lunch, courtesy of Dad.

Watson charges a lizard.

Alayna started Violin Lessons this week.  She's got a violin, the practice book, and has taken to the instrument considerably well.  For her first few practices, she's learning how to hold the instrument correctly, read sheet music and pluck strings.  From there, she'll learn multi-note chords, and then - probably a month from now - will start using the bow (I'm told that as kids learn how to play with the bow, it sounds like a cat dying, so we're not pushing it.)

- Brian