Black Friday, Clare, and Launch of the Holiday Season

Happy Black Friday, gang.

The Moron Brothers. We left these two assholes back in Midland this year.

Last year the extended Hough family decided to reclaim Thanksgiving, a holiday which has long cursed our family (going back to the '90s, and the main reason why no one in our clan has ever really cared for the holiday in the first place.) Due to the success and ease of last year's Extended Hough Family Thanksgiving, we decided to do it again this year (and probably in the coming years as well.) In true Hough fashion, like we do at Christmas, we'd be celebrating this particular holiday the day after - Black Friday. Dad and Cindy invited all the siblings and their families up to Clare in the afternoon, with dinner around 4pm, which gave our immediate circle of Houghs time to sleep in a bit after our trip downstate the day before.

Setting up the basement Christmas Tree in the morning before we left. . . 

By noon, everyone was ready to head out. First, though, we had to run up to the Mall district of town in order to knock out a few, quick errands. . . . which was probably the stupidest thing we could have done seeing how it's seriously the busiest shopping day of the year and everything. It was definitely busier than usual up there, and some of the lines were wrapped through the store, but it wasn't as bad as you'd expect, oh, ten years ago (you can thank the rise in consumers shopping online for that.) Once Kris had returned some no-longer-needed Christmas gifts to Kohl's and Target, and Yours Truly picked up a veggie tray at Meijer for Cindy, we got on US-10 and headed towards Clare for the festivities.

So here you go, folks - our second Hough Family Thanksgiving, Curse-free this year (thank God). . .

Cindy set out a charcuterie board for folks in the early afternoon. It did not last long.

Jeff, Carissa, and the kids rolled into Dad's about five minutes before we did. The pinball machines in the basement were up and running, after Dad had some pinball wizard bring them back up to speed.

I had sat down and put in Star Wars: Battlefront for the PS2, and was able to play through one or two sessions before nephews swarmed me and asked to play. So I spent like twenty minutes giving Levi and Owen (and later Louis and Sam) a crash course in how the game worked. Not surprisingly, they were all absolutely terrible.

Basement amenities.

Nicole whipped up some gin concoction for folks to try, which was awesome. but had to label it so her drunk of a husband didn't get himself into trouble (I assume.)

(Jax was slightly better at this game than his cousins.)

The true heart of the basement.

Jill busted out a bunch of tiki umbrellas that have been part of the bar setup since the mid-90's, so, you know, we kinda had to put those in everything. I decided I'd use a Jim Beam glass for sampling Nicole's gin drink, seeing how I went there over the summer. . . 

Happy campers.

Miraculously, no small children were injured throughout the course of the day. We'll count that as a win.

Abby and Alayna each drank their weight in pop today. . . for the second day in the row. Their dentist is gonna love them.

Not sure where it appeared from exactly, but at some point Jill found one of her old Cabbage Patch dolls.

I guess there's a story when, back in the 80s when they were kids, they were riding in a car and Bryan Rowley had to pee really bad. Unable to get to a bathroom in time, he peed into a cup, which quickly overflowed and drenched this here Cabbage Patch doll. Why folks held on to this for decades after it was soaked in sibling piss is beyond me. 

Dinner time. Finally.

The girls have really weird apps on their phone. This one apparently changed Kris into a frat guy.

Snapchat selfies.

I'm so hot. . .

That's terrifying.

Later on in the evening, while Jeff and I struggled to get Skype and/or Zoom up and running on Dad's archaic laptop so we could virtual hangout with Bryan and Chelsey, the parents attempted to get a grandchild pic (this was the first time in years, if not ever, that we had all of them in one place at the same time.)

Oldest to Youngest (or youngest to oldest, depending on which way you're traversing the stairs.)

Ultimately, we never were able to get Dad's stupid laptop to work, so we just resigned ourselves to a mere Facetime call with Bryan and Chelsey.

(Jill put her brother in the bushes.)

Pool in the basement (feat. Uncle Bryan via iPhone)

Still hanging out via Facetime - he made his rounds around the house tonight.

Bradley and Nana

We left around 7:30pm, and upon getting back home we decided to kick off our annual Tree Decorating tradition. This, of course, required Holiday beverages, so we broke out our first Egg Nogs of the Season (courtesy of Costco, it's my new favorite 'nog.)

Like we do every year, Kris and I threw in Some Like It Hot for our annual viewing, something we've done practically every year since we've been married. Probably the most random tradition we have.

Abby's special.

Name a better comedic duo.  I'll wait.

Alayna didn't last long - she got bored after, like, ten minutes and then went to bed (at like 9pm, for f***'s sake.)

Jack Lemmon isn't putting up with anyone's shit.

With both girls asleep, and Kris basically not helping much at all, I finished up the tree by putting up the star. . . but then couldn't plug the damn thing in because the extension cord we usually use for it ran off. So that was cool.

The finished product (the top of the tree cropped off on purpose since it wasn't frickin' lit.)

The End.

- Brian

How the Girls Learned to Swim (Finally)

Hey, America - enjoying your Summer so far?  We are.

Trying to make the most of it while it's still around, to be honest:  school (and work) is rapidly approaching in the distance like dark storm clouds on the horizon, so we're trying to enjoy the good weather and free time while it's still in abundance. Keenly aware of this shrinking window of time were my parents, Dad and Cindy, who invited us up one Saturday for a day of swimming (and dinner) while we all still had the time off (Dad's schedule is insane these days, too.)

The highlight of the visit - by far - was that the girls finally figured out how to swim.  FINALLY.  By the end of the day, they were jumping in, swimming underwater, and absolutely fearless.  Of course, they'll need a lot of work still in order to boost up stamina and what not, but, at least for now, we no longer have to worry about them slipping in and drowning.

Hip hop hooray. . .

Within minutes of our arrival, one of our girls decided to play one of the parents' pinball machines.  Shortly thereafter, it began making popping sounds and emanating smoke (fortunately, the damage was minimal and easily replaced.)

Watson, pissed as always, that someone's having fun in the water

BAM

Cannonball's cannonballs

After a couple hours of swimming, the girls wanted to heat up a bit in the hot tub. . .

They never end up staying in their too long - maybe 10 minutes or so - before whining to get out.  Kids are fun like that.

Dried off, time for make-overs.

After watching this shit-show for awhile, Cindy decided to step in and give the girls some pointers. . .

All dolled up.

Letting food digest

We broke this out for the girls once they started to grow bored of sitting around visiting: this Electronic Battleship game has been in our family game closet since we were all kids, and surprisingly it still works.

It took some time setting up for the kids, but once they got going they really enjoyed it.  So much so, in fact, that Dad let the girls keep it.  Probably had something to do with the fact that no one's played it since 1993, but still. . .

- Brian