Come What May

May.

This has been an insane month, if that wasn't already obvious from the abundance of posts you've seen in the last few weeks.

May always is a tornado of social events, end-of-the-year school stuff, Girl Scouts, and whatever hell else our family has going on, so the fact we had practically had every day and evening of every weekend booked didn't shock anyone.  It's the end of the year gauntlet, and by now we're all used to running it.

We had plenty of other random stuff happen to us between those previously-discussed, noteworthy events, so I'm going to leave you now with a somewhat lengthy post about all the other randomness that befell the Hough's this May.

Behold. . .

Alayna's Girl Scout troop organized a Garage Sale to benefit Guatemalan children (somehow.)  So here we have members of the troop decorating a sign in our basement, to display while they host the garage sale over at the Davis residence.

Morning of the Garage Sale. . .

Of course the Cannonball is doing this. . .

This one has been hanging out in my beer fridge for years.  Finally got around to it towards the beginning of the month.  Not bad, but probably not worth the wait.

We didn't have any ice cream when Alayna wanted dessert, so she improvised.  Frozen whipped cream, blueberries, and chocolate syrup.  So she took a pic with Kris' phone and somehow wrote on the picture (something she's fond of doing.)  Absolutely disgusting.

Noticed this in the side yard, between our driveway and the neighbors' house.  Showed it to a few friends and they all said the same thing:  probably skunks, digging for grubs.  I hadn't treated the yard for bugs this year (d'oh), but fortunately after a couple weeks this disappeared.  I'm hoping they ate 'em all, but that's probably not all that realistic.  I hate yard maintenance.

Hanging out at the Collier residence one evening, Alayna took Kris' phone and snapped this.  Can't say I disagree with her.

The girls' Mother's Day card for Kris this year. . .

Kris let the girls dress up in some of her old bridesmaid dresses one afternoon.  They got a HUGE kick out of this.

And of course this spilled over into wearing a bunch of Kris' other clothes.  And make-up.  Whatever.

I had to get a new Driver's License last month, and my new one finally came in the mail this month.  Believe it or not, the one on the LEFT is the newer one.  About ten pounds lighter, more tan, and - what can I say - significantly younger.  I'm like Benjamin Button.

Watson has been sitting on the couch like this lately. . .

Our dog has problems.

The things my kids are willing to do for money these days. . .

Kris and Abby's Girl Scout troop (or Alayna's, I don't know) had some random outing at that one Chippewa Nature Center across town one night, during the school week.  Not sure what the point was, as - per usual - I was not at all involved with any of this.

Out on a hike on the trails.

Checkin' out some chicks.

Contemplating the mysteries of life.

Came back from a Sick Day and found this nonsense left by a sub on my desk.  I was not happy.  Mt. Dew is disgusting.

I had high hopes for this one right here.  I was super disappointed.

Mr. Buff.  The legend continues.  One of my students got a hold of some spray paint.  Figures.

The culminating event of Fifth Grade in an IB-sanctioned school is Exhibition:  a middle-school level research project that requires students to form groups and research a problem the world is facing and come up with a solution to remedy it.  They have to cite their sources, create a series of visuals, and present their findings to parents, teachers, and their fellow students in an evening showcase.

Alayna and her good friend, Christina, along with this kid here (I forget his name) that they sit at a table with in their classroom, selected Endangered Species as their focus problem. . .

They took turns presenting their background information, statistics, and their proposed solution for saving Endangered animals. . .

They had a few different solutions for addressing this problem, namely fighting pollution and deforestation, combating Climate Change (good luck in a Republican administration, kids), protecting water sources, and - of course - donating to non-profits like the World Wildlife Fund.

Alayna, who, as you all know, is a supporter of the WWF, brought in a bunch of the notecards, pictures, and stuffed animals she's earned by donating to the organization over the years. . .

After their presentation, they took audience questions, and called on various adults - and fellow students - in attendance to address each and every question.

They did a really good job with this - we were pretty proud of Alayna's hard work.  Of course, it helped having a topic she was super passionate about.

Bought a few dresses for Alayna for her upcoming Fifth Grade Graduation ceremony.  That'll be Friday, June 7th, but unfortunately Yours Truly will be down in Cedar Point while this is happening, so here's hoping Kris gets some good pictures and video that I can later share with all of you. . .

- Brian

Memorial Day Week

Note that I said 'Week' and not 'Weekend.'  This was a four-day weekend, to begin with, and even thought that isn't a full week, we crammed soooo much into these four days that it sure-as-hell felt like a solid seven-day time stint.

A tour-de-force of grilling, feasting, drinking, swimming, sun-bathing, trampoline jumping, bounce-housing, corn-holing, candy-throwing, weed-treating, rough-housing, cigar-smoking, parade-marching, yard jenga-ing, chimney-vinyling, lawn-mowing, bonfiring, record-shopping, and much, much more.

Going back to work tomorrow is gonna suck.

So let's break it down day-by-day so you can see what all transpired this year for the Hough Family's Memorial Day Week. . .

Friday

May 24th

Yours Truly had a half day Friday, and, considering it was electives for the majority of that, I only had my students for 50 minutes of that time.  And seeing how most of my students only had to see their core teachers for 50 minutes, most of 'em stayed home.  So I had, like, eleven students in my classroom for under an hour.  I just had them work on make-up work while I blasted classic rock down their un-appreciative throats.

Following this grade bout of teaching, around 11am, I decided to drive across the street to a local thrift store, Bethesda, to see if they had any records worth picking up.  What's great about this place is that they price their records at 59 cents apiece, opposed to the usual $1 most places do.  Furthermore, they're not as picked through as other places, so while they generally don't carry anything awesome, per se, I can usually find a half-dozen things worth picking up that.

So, this particular time, I go in there and find three, SEALED, Readers Digest boxed sets from the '60s:  a 10-LP set of Broadway hits, an 8-LP set of Bacharach standards, and an 8-LP set of Hawaiian music.  All brand new, priced at $2 apiece.  I snatch these up, then drive home for a quick lunch before loading up a few other LPs I've been meaning to sell, and driving over to Radio Wasteland in order to trade in my wares.



I kept the Hawaiian boxed set (I already owned it, but this one was in better shape being mint and everything), but with the other two boxed sets and three singles I was selling, I netted $45 in store credit.  I think I could've gotten more, but Jim's gotta make a profit, I supposed.  I picked up a nice copy of Blues Image's Open on vinyl (hard to find), along with a couple vintage LPs, and kept the majority of my credit for when Jon Kimmel - an old friend from high school and college - comes into town next weekend.

Not too shabby, folks.

This is quickly becoming my new favorite cigar. . .

After my score, I drove home victorious and fine-tuned my turntable for awhile before Kris and I loaded up the kids in order to go over to our friends the Shepherds' house for a Mexican-themed potluck dinner/grill-out.

Tons of awesome food on hand, as they had been planning on having a pool party that night, but it was a little cooler than expected.  So, the dads all sat outside and Brad - who's a cigar rep - kept giving us cigars to try out.

That was Friday.

Saturday

May 25th

Saturday morning, we slept in and then slowly started gathering the girls and their things around while Kris ran some errands.  We planned on going to Clare in the late morning for some swimming and dinner with Dad and Cindy, the Whites, and my brother Jeff and his family.  It was a little overcast, but the pool was heated to near-bathtub conditions, so the girls were more than excited to break in their new swimsuits we bought them for Florida.

I actually took pictures on this day (unlike yesterday), so here you go:

Lucy and Larry drove up to put some flowers on all the dead grandparents' graves for the holiday, and so were on hand to hang out poolside and enjoy the warm weekend.

Happy to be finally swimming.

We brought up Watson with us to see how he'd do with Dad and Cindy's new dog, Finley.  Since they all played well together, Dad and Cindy offered to watch him when we go to Florida next month.  We're insanely grateful for this, as we we felt bad boarding him somewhere for eight days that he had never been to before.

Jeff's family arrived a few hours after us (we like to show up early to let the girls burn off a crap-load of their energy and excitement before all the littler kids get in the pool.)

Solid summer beer, this.

Scarlett playing with her dad's old, faded alligator floaty.

The Whites arrive. . .

Following our stint in Clare, we drove home and packed up my cooler to take over to the Collier residence, where they had been throwing a day-long, humongous birthday party for their daughters - resplendent with bounce houses, pavilions, etc.  We showed up as the party was winding down, so most of the younger kids and relatives were gone, which gave us adult friends time to hang out by a bonfire, throw some corn hole, and play some yard Jenga. . .

Ghost Pepper-infused ice cream from Great Lakes Ice Cream.  All us dads ate a spoonful, and some of the others couldn't take it.  I, personally, didn't think it was all that bad.  Definitely wouldn't eat an entire bowl of it, though.

I always sit these out.  Jenga gives me anxiety.

A great beer, and very fitting for this weekend. . .

Still going strong. . .

Sunday

May 26th

Thank God this didn't happen to us. . .

Bright and early, John, Mom and Jeff came over and we went to war with the chimney.  Again, I know I haven't talked about this yet - I figured I'd write a post about the entire process, once it's done.  We nearly finished it Saturday, but ran out of vinyl siding at the very end, so we'll have to do it when we place the cap on top in a couple weeks.

Getting the fire going, Brian-style.

The chimney took most of the morning, with folks leaving around lunch time.  After they left, I went to war with the yard, spot-treating dollar weeds and violets that have started to sprout up here and there, and otherwise maintaining my yard's green, carpet-like appearance.  I mowed, edged, weed-whacked, and otherwise manicured the holy hell out of my yard throughout the entirety of the afternoon.  A lot of work, but it was a good time.

Later on, as the day wore on, I took a break to get lost in a book for awhile and enjoy a pipe, while Kris took the girls for a bike ride around town.  After dinner, we decided to have a bonfire in order to get some Q.T. in with the girls, who had been on playdates on and off throughout the last two days.  Took awhile to get going, as some of our wood was a bit on the damp side, but eventually we had a great fire that lasted until the kids went to bed.

Behold:

Wouldn't be a true backyard bonfire without s'mores.  Not knowing these kids.

Had to deal with more than a little smoke as the initial blaze that had caught from the pile of cardboard we had shoved in it smoldered and the wood hadn't yet caught.  We persevered.

Abby is not amused.

Alayna was pretty bummed when her shirt - worn in the previous pictures - was caught with a floating ember and a hole was burnt in it.  She had to go in and change, and the shirt was tossed.

Kris enjoys taking selfies with the fam.  Doesn't always go so well.

Back in business.

Abby kept pouting, saying she was bored.  Eventually the kids went inside to watch Netflix.

Kris and I closed out the evening enjoying what was left of our fire.

Monday

May 27th

Assembling for the start of the parade, downtown Midland.

Monday morning, we all had to spur into action bright and early.  The Girl Scouts were marching in the annual Memorial Day Parade, and, like in previous years, I agreed to make it down to the corner of Main Street and Jerome in order to film them walking by.

Unlike last year, when I neglected to join them, this year I got guilted into it, and so we all marched the remaining couple of miles through Downtown and down Rodd Street, waving and throwing candy at friends and random people alike.

Our buddy Erik (Courtney's husband) snapped this when I complained, in a group text, that I was bored sitting on the sidewalk in front of Kris' church waiting for the parade to start.  He didn't feel sorry for me at all.

The Girl Scouts finally arrive. . .

Kris, Courtney, and Meesook (Ryan's wife), with the Cannonball (who marched with the other troops, despite the fact that her own troop wasn't marching in the parade this year.

By the time the parade was over, it was early afternoon, and the Shepherds were once again having people over for a grill-out. . .

The kids try their hands at this pool-time favorite. . .

We decided to hold a couples tournament in Cornhole after everyone ate, and the kids were still occupied with the pool.  Kris and I won our first two matches against the Fischers and the Griffins before being trounced by the Larsons (Morgan - the guy that hooked us with a van for Kris a month or so ago - is insanely good.)  Deep in the bowels of the Loser's Bracket, Kris and I dug in and fought tooth-and-nail to regain our footing.  Kris started off bad, but got better.  I was off-and-on, making multiple cornholes in a single throw, other times not even hitting the board.  We beat the Fischers a second time, then beat the second-place team, the Shepherds, before once again facing the Larsons in the Championship Game.

In the end, we still lost, but we were cool with Second Place.  Check out the bracket, suckers.

By the time the Championship was winding down, the kids were out of the pool and begging to play themselves. . .

Training the next generation of Cornholers. . .

- Fin - 

- Brian