Eight Point Lake '21, Pt. III

 And now, the final installation of Eight Point tomfoolery. . .

Dawn over Eight Point Lake.

Abby came upstairs early in order to visit with the twins, but shortly after breakfast fell promptly back to sleep.

Later on in the morning, Louis and Sam hung out swimming on the Lily Pad.

Sam enjoys growling at people.  He must get that weirdness from his old man.

Like the sands through the toddler's fingers, so go the days of our lives.

Walking back from getting Kris' van from the pole barn, a block away - Kris was leaving for Midland later in the morning, taking Abby and Sophie along with her.

Dad took Abby and Sam out for a G-rate jet ski ride about the lake.  Louis wasn't having it.

After their morning jet ski rides, cousins killed some time playing with these magnaformers (always a big hit with little kids.)

After lunch, us and the Whites took the older kids out tubing around the lake on Brian's boat while Dad took Chris and his fam out on a slow cruise on the pontoon.

Louis, Nicole and Nora

Dad's Pontoon Captain shirt hasn't been seen in awhile. . . 

Discussing Israel's war crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza.

Sam takes the helm.

Pulling Abby and Sophie around on the lake.

I'm sure these two are also talking about Israeli war crimes against the Palestinians.

After tubing a bit, the kids asked to check out the sandbar in order to swim and chill for a bit.

Brian and I quickly realized that, while the Sandbar is fun and everything, we were totally unprepared for an extended stay there - no sunscreen, no towels, no snacks, no toys, and, most importantly, no booze.

Soon-to-be-8th graders, catching some rays.

Sun's out, guns out.

We rounded up the girls and told them we'd return later after we gathered up supplies (and Chris - he's a big fan of the sandbar, as well.)

Tubing on the way back to the lakehouse.

Grabbing some food and supplies before heading back out on the lake.

Back at the Sandbar.  Kris took Abby and Sophie with her when she left for Midland, so Chris, Brian and I took Alayna, Cristina, Jax and the twins with us.

Captain and his boat.

Chris sunscreens up his brood.

Playing catch with. . . whatever the hell these things are called.

Alayna tosses one of the balls we picked up in Ontonagon on our recent U.P. Adventure.

Bradley and his girlfriend - Sara, Helen, Ruth, or whatever the hell her name is - met us up there.

Meanwhile, back at the lakehouse. . .

After an hour or so at the Sandbar, we returned to the lakehouse once again around the same time the Waites came over for the annual Cornhole Tournament.

Ice cream break.

I have doubts that Nora understands the fundamentals of chess.

And so it begins.  As chief officiate of this tournament, having inherited the reins a couple years ago, I wanted to keep an efficient, crisp tourney this year that was fair and quick.  Reading the 'room,' so to speak, I realized most folks weren't really in the mood for an epic tournament, so there wasn't any point in having a full-on double elimination bracket.  Instead, I kept it at single elimination, with six teams - we'd be over and done with everything in about an hour-and-a-half.

First matches of the tourney.  As tradition goes up here, I created a list of 'A'-level players and a list of 'B'-level players, and randomly paired them off together.

Cindy (B)

Bradley (B)

I'm an inconsistent B Player - some times I throw like an 'A,' other times I'm most definitely a 'B.'  In this opening match against Dad (B) and Larry (A), I was definitely the dominate player (my partner, Blake, who is usually an A, was throwing like pure shit.)  We easily crushed them.

The Peanut Gallery

Bradley and his girlfriend - Jessica, Mary, or Gertrude or something - advanced against Blake's friend (forget his name, too, but he's definitely an A) and Lucy (B.)

Little kid boards kept the younger ones entertained for awhile.

Lucy's team and mine squared off for two games in this year's Championship.

These guys, believe it or not, actually threw better than Blake this year.

I did better against Dad and Cindy, but I still scored a few bags each time around, just couldn't keep up against Blake's friend.

Snack time for the twins.

Too-cool-for-school teens.

Game 2.  We decided we'd do best two out of three for the Championship this year.

In the end, we lost both games against Lucy's team, and Blake's record-setting streak for Most Medals for Runner-Up continues.  Our tournament founder, Uncle Larry, presents the awards and plaque to the winning team.

Lucy finally gets her name on the board.

Blake wanted to check and see if these Second Place medals were legit.

2021 Cornhole Tournament Champions.

Around the time the tournament was wrapping up, Brian pulled his brisket (or is it a shoulder??) off the smoker.

Blake shows the twins how to fish.  That, or else they just waddled up and started bothering him.

Dribbling leftover grease and juices onto the meat.

This was so frickin' delicious.

After dinner, Chris, Nicole and I hung out in the backyard and threw around some corn hole bags while having some drinks.

Afterwards, we got a fire going, hooked up a classic rock playlist on the ol' bluetooth speaker, and settled in for the night (Alayna and Cristina preferred s'mores over to a slow 'boring' sunset cruise.)

Cindy went to bed early and Nicole had to hang out indoors in case the little kids woke up or whatever, and after Cristina and Alayna had their fill of s'mores, they retired for the evening.  After another hour or two, we called it a night and let the fire die out.

And that, dear readers, is the end of Eight Point Lake '21.  We might go up again over Labor Day weekend, we're not sure yet - we'll have to see how the whole Back to School bullshit - which will be here before you know it - goes.

- Brian