The Houghs: Return to Eight Point, Pt. III

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Return to Eight Point, Pt. III

(Contd.)

Saturday

July 18th

"Gathering of the Clans"

A drizzly morning over Eight Point Lake. I woke up feeling nostalgically like I used to all the time in college - the Brians stayed up far too late the night before, and we all reeked of maple.

This is about all we could handle of the cottage's dreaded Michigan puzzle. Cindy shelved it for the rest of the week, as it was taking up a lot of room in the living room, and we were soon to incur a huge influx of bodies.

My littlest brother Jeff and his wife Annie, along with their kids Scarlett and Owen (shown here) showed up shortly after Dad returned from his surgery in Clare. Our middle brother, Chris, also showed up around the same time, so by the time I sluggishly woke from bed, the living room was packed with kids, dogs, and chattering. Awesomeness.

Imagine how much fun it is for twenty people to share one bathroom, rotating showers and pee-breaks. Go ahead. Imagine.

Coloring on Nana's iPad.

Creepy Uncle Chris. Having a Bloody Mary.

Watson and the other dogs were kicked outdoors while the little kids were scrambling about on the floor. I don't think they were necessarily cool with it.

Later on that morning, enjoying a popsicle break (check out all the napping dogs.)

More iPad coloring (and NO, my kids did not spend the entire week in front of a tablet screen.)

The Cagafuego.

Taking my ship out to round ol' Cape Buoy.

Impromptu sandbox.

Grilling up some lunch.

Family portrait time, featuring the Houghs (version 2.2) Whenever all five siblings and their families are together in one place, there tends to be a crap-fest worth of picture-taking. Bear with me, here. . .

A cute kid and a really stupid-looking hat.

Everyone aboard your flotation device. . .

Swim break with the nephews

The Houghs, version 2.0.

My roommates are weird.

These two were born within eight or nine days of one another, thereabouts. So whenever they're in the same place at the same time, it goes without saying that someone tries to get them to act cute with each other. It took, like, forty pictures to capture this single image, so be sure to appreciate the hell out of it.

The Hough Family, ca. 2015 (not pictured: Bryan's wife, Lyssa, and Chris' most-likely soon-to-be-fiance, Nicole.)

Nothing good can come of this.

The Hough Brothers (and Owen, our sole chance of passing down the Hough family name.)

Bizarro clouds

Grandparents/Grandkids shot

The Borthers (and Jill)

Nana and Owen

Shortly after the conclusion of the Hough Family Portrait Session '15, Jeff and his family took off and the Waites showed up at the Cottage. They were renting a place about two hundred feet down the road, so we'd be seeing a lot of them over the course of the next week or so. Here's Dad's little sister (my Aunt), Lucy.

Bryan, Uncle Larry, and Bryan's annual Cottage invite, Justin.

Playing catch with a horde of kids

Grilling up more dead animals

Abby and two of our cousin Kevin's kids, Jonah and Lola.

This kid loves baseball.

Rescuing Jax's ball.

The Cannonball, ordering kids around with a megaphone. As usual.

The old Virgil Q megaphone - still as effective as it ever was over a decade ago.

Bradley teaches Alayna how to swing at a ball. Sadly, it would appear that Alayna has inherited the Hough family sense of athleticism.

At one point in time during the day, I came in to charge my phone in our room, only to find the girls had been gathering a huge stockpile of acorns and were storing them on our nightstand. Like a bunch of stupid squirrels.