The Houghs: Return to Eight Point, Part I

Many, many moons ago (2002, if we're being specific here), my family began renting out a small cottage on Eight Point Lake, tucked away in the backwoods of central Michigan, way out in the boonies. Every summer since then, for a two-week stint in the latter half of July, the Houghs have reunited for a week of boating, grilling, 'cornholing' (it's not what you think), fishing, and - seeing how we're Houghs and all - drinking.

Keeping it classy at Eight Point Lake, 2006

Now, as Kris and I have lived in Florida for the last eight years or so, we've missed more than a few of these annual get-togethers. I personally missed 2004 and 2005, due to my years spent overseas while serving in the Peace Corps, but we also missed 2007, as that was the first summer for us down in Florida, and we were pretty strapped for cash (plane tickets, believe or not, can be somewhat expensive in the summer.)

Alayna's first boat ride, 2009.

In 2008 and 2009, we were able to fly up and once again take part in what other families might call a 'family reunion,' but from 2010 - 2014, we opted to fly home for Christmas instead, (due to a longer duration of stay, the nostalgia of snow for the Holidays, etc.) and seeing how teachers don't really make as much as, say, lawyers - and as our kids grew older, we were purchasing four plane tickets instead of two - it became financially impossible to return home twice a year.

All of that ended in 2015, though, when the Houghs triumphantly returned to the land of their forefathers, and Eight Point Lake once again became something attainable. Since Kris and I had finished moving into our new home, and Kris and I were just sitting around job-searching all day anyway, we decided to make the most of our current state of affairs and spend an entire week up at our family's cottage.

And so now I present to you all, a condensed visual account of the Hough Family's 2015 Eight Point Lake Vacation. 'Cause I'm nice.

Tuesday

July 14th

"Establishing Headquarters"

Making our way down North Shore Drive, towards the Cottage.

The Cottage

A modest woodpile (I'd end up sticking a larger-than-needed cache of pallets and logs in that shed, as we were expecting rain during a couple of the nights we'd be up there.)

Eight Point Lake.

Kris now wants one of these for our house. You'll notice the absence of children running about in the background - we had dropped them off to stay at Grandma Jordan's in Clare for the night, if only to give Kris and I a small break from being responsible parents for one frickin' day.

This was how I spent my week. Unsurprisingly.

Old people selfie.

BFFs.

First beer at the Cottage.

The Whites used to snag this room every year, since they had two kids long before anyone else was getting knocked up. Now that we're back with two of our own - and their's are not only older, but now they have a baby, too - we inherited the room, and they took the three-bed room at the end of the hall.

Yes, I brought my own mini-fridge this year, in order to house me and Kris' beer (much better than a sloppy ol' cooler, if you ask me.)

When we arrived at the cottage, Cindy drove into town to pick up Dad and their Sea Doo boat (shown here.)

Watching the cinematic masterpiece, Sharknado 2.

Sounding the alarm.

Homies

First bonfire of the week (courtesy of Yours Truly)

S'mores

Look, America - Kris is having a drink

And so begins the diabolically evil Michigan puzzle. . .

Wednesday

July 15th

"Arrival of the Whites ( . . .and Our Kids)"

Early morning sunrise over Eight Point Lake

You can't really make it out all that well, but I'm reading a book there in the background - Michael Korda's Hero, a biography on T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia), who happens to be one of my favorite historical figures. It's an awesome book, but a really, really difficult read - I've been working on it since February, and I'm only about 2/3 of the way through it. . .

Throwing a Frisbee around with Blake. . .

In the late morning, Kris drove back into Clare and picked up Alayna and Abby, bringing them back to the cottage right after lunch. Here's Abby splashing Watson, who loves trying to bite water (because he's an idiot.)

Blake lands a bass

Our primary cottage boat. It's changed hands a few times: it first belonged to the Epperts (friends of Dad and Cindy's) before my folks bought it to use up at the cottage. Then, a few years ago, they sold the boat to Bryan and Jill (as Dad and Cindy only use it for the two weeks we rent the Cottage, and the Whites use it regularly throughout the summer.)

Geared up for the girls' first boat ride

Abby takes the "helm."

Alayna had to be coerced into driving the boat - she wasn't really all that into it. Of course, the minute she got up Abby wanted a second turn at the wheel.

Renal failure.

Working on the solid white border of the puzzle. I'm sure prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are given the same puzzle.

This game sucks.

Playing on the floating raft the kids would later christen, the Sacagawea.

Abby look kinda weird to you guys? She should: her eye is swollen to shit and she looks like a completely different kid. She fell out of her bed a couple nights ago, smacking her forehead on the hardwood floor of her bedroom, and over the course of the following day developed a huge egg on her noggin. In the two days since, the egg has slowly drained down her face and causing her eyes to swell up (Dad assures us this will go away in a day or two, though.)

The rest of the White clan - including Aunt Jill and new addition Jax - arrived in the evening.

This random water bottle was a pretty big hit this week. Who knows why.

As always, my kids are super cooperative when it comes time to pose for pictures.

After dinner the Houghs and Whites piled into the boat to pull Bradley and Blake back and forth across the lake. You kinda have to do this on a daily basis up here.

The kids ransacked the s'more ingredient tray once we got back, as everyone apparently dislikes s'mores around here, but can't get enough of the Hershey's chocolate and marshmallows. . .