Caesar's Randoms

Hey fans.

July was a crazy month, wasn't it?  We thought so.  We celebrated 'Murica Day, a few birthdays, reunited with the infamous Sausage Pad on the Muskegon River, reunited with all of our extended family up on Eight Point Lake, and basically got our feet wet with the whole 'Michigan Summer' thing.

Here's a brief look at some of the stuff that took place around these parts over the course of the last few weeks.

Enjoy:

Kris let the girls 'decorate the basement' for my 26th Birthday. . .

Watching Star Wars on VHS and enjoying a morning cup of coffee on my birthday (admit this is the greatest entertainment center you've ever seen. . .)

We decided to host the whole family at our house for dinner and drinks later in the afternoon/early evening, to show people the house, meet Chris' new girlfriend, Nicole, and otherwise celebrate my big 2-6.

Some store-bought (unhealthy) and homemade (extremely healthy) Asian food (we're big fans of ethnic foods in this joint.)

Hanging out with Cousin Owen (Jeff's son) - the sole heir to the Hough name (unless my kids grow a pair and demand to keep their last name when they get married.)

Messing with Scarlett (Jeff's oldest.)

Grandma and a bunch of Aryan children (technically they're Anglo-Saxon, but let's not split hairs, here.)

Getting ready for after-dinner shenanigans. . .

Introducing Scarlett to the joy of lightsaber dueling (you can never start them too young, obviously.)

(You're doing it wrong.)

Grandparents make the weirdest faces.

Uncle Chris takes a saber to the face.

My war injury from the Sausage Pad Tubing Adventure.  Still looking like pure shit.

This dog can't get enough of sleeping in the sun.  He gets it from me.

See my library, off the right, there?  That's about 1/3 of what I had a year ago: I purged half of my library last summer, when I brought home my classroom library from school (which was the same size as my library at home), then another load shortly after the Holidays.  Finally, I got rid of another four boxes worth of books (which was incredibly difficult to do, I'll point out), after carrying all of it down a flight of stairs.  For the next year, they'll remain boxed on those steel shelves, as I have no other place to put them.  I figure when it comes time to actually buy a house, I'll build a series of bookshelves built into our house, like we did in our old house.

She fell out of bed.  Please don't call CPS.

Checking out the ice cream joint around the corner from our house. . .

I hate giving my kids sugar in public - they always turn into a couple of assholes.

After years of hearing people call pop 'soda,' it has been incredibly refreshing to see signs like this wherever you go.

Twister is nowhere near as fun as it was when you were a kid.  At least for us out-of-shape sorts.

Abby plays Barbie Supermodel on my Sega Genesis.  

Don't piss off the Cannonball in Chess. . .

Abby's trying to learn how to play, but she doesn't have the logical inclination - or patience - like her sister does.  I think she's going to be more into stuff like 'sports' or 'drag racing.'

This process takes twenty minutes.  At least.

Find the dog.

How I've been spending my afternoons. . .

There was a big, block party for our immediate community towards the end of the month - something the locals have been doing for years, I guess.  They rent out a bunch of tables, everyone brings a dish, and people chow down and hang out.  We forgot all about this, so we came late as to not eat other people's food.  Tim and Julie - our neighbors directly across the street - showed up, and Tim pulled all the neighborhood kids in his homemade train (a series of painted barrels he pulls behind a riding lawn mower.)

This small park is sandwiched right in the heart of the block, so instead of people's backyards facing each other, they face a park. . . which is kinda cool.  Our house is a corner house, so unfortunately we don't have this luxury.

That's the girls' friend Reba pushing Alayna (she's Abby's age.)

Not a fan of the monkey bars. . .

One of the elder statesmen in the community brought a few coolers full of water balloons for the kids to play games with. . .

. . . which, quite predictably, ended in all-out chaos and anarchy.

Lord of the Flies

Alayna wanted no part of the water balloon fun, but Abby sure as hell did (no shocker there.)  Here she is sneaking up to drench her sister. . .

(. . . she's not very good at this.)

Once the kids ran out of ammunition, it was time for another 'train' ride (that's our kids, there, in the front.)

Walking the dog back across Midland's famous Tridge after checking out the Dog Park they have down there.  Watson was, as usual, more than happy to make a god-awful amount of noise playing with the other dogs down there.

After staying the night at Grandma and Papa John's, the girls were taken out to the 'Thumb' (Michigan-speak for a genuine, geographic region, believe it or not) to some random beach on Lake Huron for a day in the sun. . .

The kids were pleasantly surprised that the water wasn't salty. . . or filled with man-eating sharks, unlike the beaches they used to frequent in Florida.

I never saw the fun in this.

Making friends with random kids.

I guess they sculpted the Trash Heap from Fraggle Rock. . .?

Back to School shopping for Kindergarten and Second Grade. . . already.

One more month of Summer remains before we're free of having kids running around our house.  Let the countdown begin. . .

- Brian

Return to Eight Point Lake, Pt. V

(and now, the thrilling conclusion. . .)

Friday - Saturday

July 24th - 25th

"Swan Song of the Cottage"

Following last weekend's epic (and long) Cornhole Tournament, we spent one more day up at the Cottage before returning to Midland.  Rowley had flown back to Vegas, Dad had to travel on business, and the Whites had to return to work, so there really wasn't much going on during Week 2.  

Cindy stayed up at the Cottage throughout the second week, visiting with her family and the Waites (who each rented cabins on the lake as well.)  However, on Friday, the Whites - and us - decided to return to the Cottage for one, last day/night of fun on the lake. . .

Playing with muck.  'Cause apparently it's 'fun.'

Hough chicks.

The Cannonball makes a new friend.

She spent about ten minutes looking for an appropriate place to release her friend back into the wild. . .

Playing Catch Ball. . . or whatever the hell this game is called.

BFFs.

Jax demands Aunt Kristina's drink.

Brian White puts the finishing touches on the evening's fire.

Back from another bout of tubing around Eight Point Lake.

When you ask the girls to 'strike a pose,' this is the sort of shit you end up with.

Activating a blender from the 1950s to make some margaritas. . .

The last night cruise of 2015.  Somehow it ended up entailing me, Brian, and six little kids.  Not sure how we got screwed into that deal.

A quacktastic sunset over the lake.

*     *     *     *     *

Last sunrise of our stay (menacing clouds, fortunately, didn't spell total disaster for the rest of the day.)

Historical documentaries, fighting dogs, and a cottage filled to the brim with kids.  Just another morning at the Cottage. . .

Taking another group of kids out to get the crap kicked out of them. . .

'Teaching them how to fish,' or ' letting them hold a pole while NOTHING happens.'

Alayna reels in a massive three-inch monster from the deeps. . .

Bradley (second from right) and two of his buddies saw the abysmal job the girls were doing fishing and took it upon themselves to show them how to do it. . .

Another tubing expedition. . .

Not showboating.  At all.

Man overboard

This was a lot harder than it looks.  I figured it'd be the waves that knock you off the tube, but it was when you're flung around a turn, and the inertia (if that's the correct term to use) from the turn, pulls you right off the tube. 

On the way back in, Abby and I trolled behind the boat for an extremely boring pleasurable tube ride.

Once we got back to shore, we packed the boat full of booze and snacks and made our way out to the Sandbar for awhile.  Unfortunately, it was packed with pontoons (being the weekend and all), so we didn't stay there as long as we did last week.  Alas, on our way back, the boat ran out of gas and we were stranded in the middle of the lake.  Fortunately, being the awesome person that I am, their were walkie-talkies on board, and we were able to radio the Cottage for assistance.  Cindy had to wait 'til Dad came back from Clare in order to take the red Sea Doo boat out to rescue us.  Here's Dad receiving a Hero's Welcome from our two, idiot dogs.

We ended up being stuck in the middle of the lake for about a half an hour.  Fortunately, no one had to use the bathroom.

Happy kids.

Securing the ropes so Dad could pull us back in to port. . .

Docking safely.

Girls and Nana.

Weird poses from my kids.  No surprises there.

'Til next year, Eight Point.

- Fín -

- Brian