Memorial Daze, Pt. I: Return to the Lake

Kris shows off her new beach bags (courtesy of Aldi.)

'Sup, gang.

Not sure if you could've asked for better weather for celebrating Memorial Day Weekend - it's been mid-80s without a cloud in the sky the last few days, and it's forecasted to continue like this for the next few days.  Weather like this just screams 'lake life,' so - as we've done the last few years - once Yours Truly returned from his annual 8th Grade excursion down to Cedar Point, the Houghs made a bee line for Eight Point Lake and the family lakehouse.

Saturday we had the place to ourselves (the girls each brought a friend along, we had the dogs with us, etc.), but Sunday morning Jeff and his kids, as well as the Whites, rolled in.  Everyone was able to get in a full day of boating, bronzing, tubing, and sandbar-ing before ultimately leaving later that evening (we left shortly before dinner in order to make it back for Collierpalaooza. . . which I'll cover in the next installment.)

So behold, readers - the first installment of Memorial Day Weekend '23, featuring the Houghs' first trip back up to our lakeside headquarters.  Enjoy. . .

Abby and her friend, Alivia. Boating options were limited when we first rolled in, shortly after lunch: Brian didn't have his boat in the lake yet, and the jet ski and hoist weren't in either (these things usually get put in on Memorial Day, so this wasn't out of the ordinary, per se.) Without boating, tubing, wakeboarding, etc. as options, the girls spent a lot of the time this first day up at the lake just swimming.  

Alayna and her friend, Lexi.

Kris works on her nails while catching some sun.

Bronzing - Yours Truly definitely got a lot of this in throughout the day. 

While I finished up my book (detailing the day-by-day records of the Lewis and Clark expedition - highly recommended if you're a fellow history nerd), Kris took the younger girls out around the lake on a golf cart ride.

Teens are weird.

Abby and Alivia, eating snacks on the dock.

A couple hours after arriving at the lake we decided to break up the monotony of just sitting around on the beach by running the girls up to the Lake General Store, an ole timey party/general goods store that the girls really enjoy (you can buy candy dirt cheap - like 10-cent suckers and crap like that.)

Yes, Alayna needed 'big girl toiletries' - that was the main reason we had to run up there.  I wouldn't be a good dad if I skipped out on such a perfect opportunity to embarrass my child.

Running to the store with five females is SO MUCH FUN.

(Abby gives us this look all the time nowadays.)

Back on the beach, getting more sun.

Abby and Alivia, back in the water.  Alayna and Lexi spent most of the day indoors, in the sun room, studying for their Biology exam (Midland High's Finals begin on Tuesday.)

Samson keeps track of things on the beach (and, as always, he had to be tethered to an unmovable object so the son of a bitch didn't run off. . .)

Striking a pose with some of the girls' years-old inflatables. . .

Kris got a decent action shot of the girls charging into the water.

Grandparents and doodles.

Abby and Alivia occupied themselves by taking turns burying each other in the sand for a bit.  Whatever it takes to keep the natives from growing restless. . .

Still bronzing.

Samson regularly gets picked on by the other three dogs whenever he's up here at the lake.  Eventually, it gets to a point where he jumps up on the furniture and seeks protection from one of the humans.  Here, Finley is trying his damnedest to get Samson to engage with him.

After dinner, as it got later on in the evening, we started gathering up kids and supplies for the always-anticipated, hour-long sunset cruise.

Setting off around 8:45pm. . .

Not a lot of cloud cover this evening, so it was brighter than usual.

Teenagers.

Keeping an eye out for bad guys.

Lexi and the Cannonball

A couple kids went paddling by on whatever-the-hell these things are called. One of them sharing the board-thingy with a dog, which makes zero frickin' sense.  It was growing darker out, what with the sun going down and everything, so you gotta wonder what the hell their parents are up to. . .

Spouse, being helpful.

Alayna spent the majority of the sunset cruise devouring this gigantic tub of cheese balls.  She's being super healthy this summer, she tells us.

Passing by the Old Cove (didn't tour inside it this time around.)

Abby and Alivia lied on the floor of the pontoon and took a ton of 'artsy' pics like this one.  Must be all the rage among 7th grade girls.

Honestly, it wasn't even that cold out tonight - these girls are just wusses. . .

(Photos courtesy of Abby. . .)

We didn't think sunset pics were gonna turn out all that awesome this evening, due to the lack of clouds in the sky. . . but by the time we were entering the final stretch of the cruise, along South Shore Drive, the sky livened up a bit. 

Some random guy - probably super old - getting some super-important fishing in.

One last shot of the lake before pulling in to port.

The next morning, I managed to get up around 6am and was able to get a decent sunrise pic over the Eastern side of the lake.

At that time there's still a lot of mist rolling off the lake. 

After getting some coffee, showering and getting around for the day, I kinda lounged around for a while until all the other folks started to catch up.  Of all the possible locations to sit in the living room, Bailey figured this was the ideal choice.  Don't mind me, dog.

After a bit, Dad offered to let me attempt taking the pontoon on the lake.  Now, I know how to drive a boat - that's not an issue - but getting a boat in and out of a hoist can be a bitch, and I for one wasn't overly excited to put a few scratches into dad's boat.  Taking it out wasn't as hard as I thought, though - a few additional steps, but nothing ridiculous.

Bringing it back in was trickier, but again - manageable.  A few more times doing it (in ideal weather - I wouldn't want to attempt it with a decent wind) and I'm sure I'll have it down.

Back on shore, later that morning.

Bloody Mary time.  Had to pick up a few different fixings for this weekend, seeing how we're usually the ones to provide this stuff.  Not having Bloody Marys on the lake is like not having a swimsuit.

Jeff and his kids showed up around this time, and while Jeff and I prepped our morning drinks, his kids hit the beach and/or water.

Jeff and I took this selfie of us and our Bloody Marys for Chris, who - being the middle-child douche he is - decided to hang out in Traverse City for Memorial Day instead of with his loving brothers.

Alivia and Scarlett dig around in the 'beach.'

Yours Truly got another chance at taking the pontoon out - practice makes perfect, folks - in order to give Jeff's kids a boat ride.

Scarlett tries her hand at driving a pontoon.

While we were gone, The Whites finally showed up - Jill annoyed that I wasn't on hand to make her and Kris' Bloody Marys.  Women. . .

With Brian there it was time to put the Jet Ski, its hoist, and dock steps into the water.  The two of us and Dad headed down to the pole barn (any excuse to drive a golf cart, folks) to load everything up.

Attaching the trailer to Brian's truck. Before we could take the jet ski to the boat launch, we first had to stop by the lakehouse in order to offload the hoist and steps into the water.

Levi and Scarlett got some use out of Alayna's old swan floaty.

Abby and her prized donut.

Brian, Jeff and I bring the hoist down into the water (it's not really all that heavy seeing how it's aluminum.)  Water was pretty frickin' cold, though.

Meanwhile, while us guys were doing all of this manual labor, Kris and Jill hung out on Brian's boat and drank Bloody Marys in the sun. Like the fickle bitches that they are.

After the hoist and steps were in, Brian and I made our way out to the boat launch.  He backed the jet ski in and I drove it back to the lakehouse, which is always fun - I can get down with some jet skiing any frickin' time.  By the time I got back I was more than ready to enjoy the drink I had made for myself, like, an hour before.

With everyone now somewhat settles and all the boats fully operational, it was decided that the whole gang should make our way out to the lake's Sandbar.  We loaded up a boat full of kids, toys, booze, towels, and sunscreen and set out across the lake.

On the way over, I followed along behind them on the jet ski, giving Abby and Alivia a very wave-heavy ride.

Took advantage of the wake behind Brian's boat - beat the living shit out of those two girls.

Coming in to shallow waters.

With the jet ski and Brian's boat anchored in the shallows, the kids slowly clamored out onto the Sandbar.

Again, we really lucked out with this weekend's weather - not a cloud in the sky and mid-80s.

Me and the ol' ball n' chain.

Old ladies.

Can't have an outing to the Sandbar without plenty of balls on hand. . .

Freshmen

(Made sure to take the keys before homeboy here took the 'wheel.')

A estrogen-heavy group picture on the boat (while Yours Truly starts shuttling kids around for short rides.)

Coming back in after doing a bunch of donuts with Owen (of all the kids, this one is the least phased by the jet ski - kid's got zero fear of waves, sharp turns, etc.)

Holy shit, I'm handsome.

None of the kids drove the jet ski, don't worry - they just enjoyed climbing on it and posing while it was anchored onto the Sandbar.

Jill, Kris, Jeff and Levi.

The Cannonball, Scarlett, and Lexi - drying off on the boat.

Mrs. Hough

Kris and Jill, splashing water and frolicking for another one of their overly-dramatic lake pics.  We seriously need to frame these in a series.

Loading up the jet ski for another ride with some little kids.  Riding with two ahead of me makes it super difficult to sit down and steer because I can't see over their heads, but fortunately these two - Levi and Scarlett - don't like going very fast and don't like hitting waves.

After a couple hours of Sandbar and jet skiing, we made it back to the lakehouse for a late lunch.

Alivia, Abby, Alayna and Lexi - all pretty exhausted from a day in the sun.

Dad, Brian, Jeff and Cindy

After the kids got some food in their system, they waited down on the docks for Uncle Brian, who agreed to take them all tubing - hands down the fan-favorite lake activity for the older kids.

Lexi, Alivia and Abby on the tube (Alayna has never gotten into tubing, and enjoys just watching from the boat.) Here's a bunch of video clips for ya. . .

Meanwhile, back on shore, Dad, Jeff and I hung out on dry land and relaxed.  By this point I had spent all day on a boat and was getting pretty sick of it.

Back on dry land, it was time to do cake and presents with the cousins.

Celebrating Levi's birthday (belated slightly.)

Nana and Abby

After opening up his gifts, Dad and Levi went outside to toss around a couple of the balls that they got him for his birthday.

And so ends our first visit to Eight Point Lake for the 2023 season.  After the kids wrapped up their cake and ice cream, we loaded them, the dogs, and all of our crap back into Kris' van and hit the road back to Midland, where the Houghs were scheduled to make an appearance at Collierpalooza '23.  Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion, America. . .

- Brian