The Houghs: June 2023

Hi, folks.

So this weekend has become, over the years, a mandatory Eight Point Lake outing for the Houghs. Random weekends at the lake happen from time to time, sure, but three particular weekends throughout the summer are now locked in for us on an annual basis: Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day. In other words, the opening, pinnacle, and closing of Summer.

Weather was supposed to be pretty decent at the beginning, then descend into crappiness, during our five-day/four-night stint at the family lakehouse - typically our longest stay of the season. We drove up separately this year because we a.) had four kids, two dogs, and a ton of crap to bring along with us, and b.) what with each of our daughters bringing along a friend, Kris had to drive around all morning and pick these said friends up from their houses and get them loaded up. Yours Truly wanted to head up there first thing in the morning in order to establish headquarters, blow up our large, inflatable raft (that Kris was insistent on getting last year), and get the most out of the sunny day as possible.

What follows, dear readers, is three or four posts chronicling this, our longest stay at Eight Point for the 2023 Summer.

Behold. . .

Upon arrival, I emptied my car of my personal belongings, our cooler, and all the dog beds and crap. First thing we usually when we arrive is walk the dogs out back and attach Samson to a run around the tree (Watson stays in the yard without being tied up, but Samson is a bonafide asshole.) With the dogs secured, I used the golf kart to carry my 100-lb, loaded cooler down to the back of the lakehouse to set up in the shade (even with three refrigerators up there, we quickly run out of space for beer and additional drinks - for these longer stays we always bring our own cooler.) While I was setting these things up, Samson decided to wait for me in the golf kart, not wanting to be left behind.

Took about an hour to inflate our go-to 'bronzing raft' and get it into the water - sorry for not getting pics of that process - and a little while later Kris arrived with the four, teenage girls (Alayna brought her old friend, Maddie, who was last up here in 2020, and Abby had along Kris' cousin Lily, shown here.)

Dad and I struggled for a bit trying to figure out how to inflate Maddie's paddleboard that she insisted on bringing up - took us, like, a half an hour or so.

Headquarters established. We've been looking forward to getting back on this raft for a year now.

Maddie gives her paddleboard a spin on its maiden voyage. It's a lot sturdier than it looks, feels solid opposed to some inflated craft.

Abby and Lily.

Kris is a big fan of reading texts.

Maddie comes back into port after her voyage.

Abby, Lily, and the Cannonball, ready to 'bob' in the lake - something they learned from Chelsey a few years ago.

Admittedly, they're far too out in the lake than they should be - drunken college kids on jet skis buzz the docks all the time, and these kids could be killed instantly if clocked in the head with one of those things. We regularly yet at them to come in closer to shore in order to avoid such a fate.

While our kids risked their lives on the open waters, Kris and I were busy bronzing and taking old people selfies. Parents of the Year, 2023.

Abby smacked the sunglasses off Alayna's face while we were out there, and they quickly sunk to the bottom of the lake (about seven feet at that point), so they quickly began a 'rescue mission' for the glasses. Unfortunately, in the murky, dark water, they were never found. My kids are notoriously bad when it comes to holding on to sunglasses.

Kris, still on the raft.

At one point, one of dad's dogs decided to mark his territory on the side of my cooler. Which, you know, I appreciated a great deal.

Cleaning things up.

Kris gets some company on the raft finally.

My baby brother, Jeff, rolled in later on in the morning - he'd be in and out all weekend with his girlfriend, Carissa, but today he was just flying solo while she was away at some country concert downstate. When he showed up, Dad and I took him out on the pontoon (Yours Truly has been learning how to operate the hoist in order to take the boat out on my own.)

Watson was being sort of clingy so we brought him along for the ride - which he clearly enjoyed.

Meanwhile, back on shore, Kris took a pic of a not-at-all healthy lunch with Alayna and Maddie.

Driving the pontoon is easy, but taking it in and out of its hoist is a pain in the ass - I definitely need some practice.

Abby, Lily, Maddie, and the Cannonball. Around this time we decided to hit up the Sandbar, as the weather was absolutely perfect for it. I didn't want to bother dad with the pontoon again, so instead I ferried two girls out there at a time - along with snacks, drinks, towels, balls, etc. - and just made multiple trips.

While I was making trips out, Maddie found a dead fish floating in the water and threw it at some local boy up there at the Sandbar. Because it's Maddie.

After the girls, and Kris, were all there, I lastly brought Jeff over. Nothing gay about two grown men riding a jet ski together. Nothing gay at all.

It wasn't super busy out at the Sandbar, but the 'good' beach (along the Eastern side of the Sandbar) was spoken for already, so we had to set up shop on the rockier (Western) side.

There used to be a bunch of trees at the far point of the Sandbar, years ago, but now all that remains of them is a gnarled, tangle of dead tree roots. . . which our kids now use as hangers for towels and life jackets.

The water-tight compartment at the front of the jet ski comes in handy quite a bit.

This was really, really good - I'm gonna have to stock up on more of this.

We first spotted this a year or two ago, and actually bumped into the guy that made it while up at the Sandbar one time - he used some kind of saw (I assume) to drill cup-sized holes in some piece of dead tree so that folks hanging out up there could have a place to set their drinks. Not all heroes wear capes, folks.

Playing catch (kids always enjoy tossing a ball around in shallow water - gives them something to do.)

Sunscreening mom's back.

After awhile the girls began to grow bored and contented themselves with hanging out on the jet ski, listening to Maddie's classic rock playlist connected to my JBL Extreme speaker.

Slainte, America.

Gross.

Abby and Lily, still lounging on the jet ski.

Spotted this dog taking a giant shit up at the Sandbar. The owners couldn't be bothered with cleaning any of it up. People suck.

Upon returning to the lakehouse, I began to take kids on cruises around the lake. Following a wave-intense thrill ride around the lake with these two, I was coming back in to dock and doing small zig-zags with the jet ski. Probably at, like, 5mph - nothing crazy at all (especially compared to what I had been doing out on the lake earlier.) Well, Maddie lost her balance - probably because she was starting to stand up, seeing how we were like 20 feet away from the pontoon and almost into the 'harbor,' so to speak) and she fell overboard. This wouldn't have been that bad, per se, seeing how we were so close to shore she could have easily just swam in, but on her way overboard she grabbed on to Lily, who was holding on to the hand grips on the seat. This then tipped over the entire jet ski, and even Yours Truly went overboard. The jet ski capsized, and Jeff - who was watching from shore - had to jump in and help me push the tipped jet ski back into shore. We managed to flip it back over, release all the water from the ballast, and it was able to start back up (after kicking out a bunch of smoke.) The engine was bone dry, these things are designed to tip over - I'm honestly surprised I was the first person to ever tip this one over.

Dad and Cindy wanted to try out a local pizzeria for dinner, instead of our usual Buccilli's. It was pretty good, but definitely no Buccilli's (also known as the greatest pizza on Earth.)

After dinner, relaxing in the living room (with Kris braiding Maddie's unkempt hair.)

Our girls are big fans of the .5 wide-angle, forced perspective, head pics. They do them all the time.

In the early evening, Kris and I (and Jeff) took the girls up to the Lake General Store for some snacks, drinks, and treats. Jeff had never been there before so I insisted he come along to check the place out.

Decisions, decisions. . .

Bunch of ole timey crap that wasn't for sale, but inexplicably still on the shelves.

Checking out, after about a half an hour in the store. Indecisive teens are the best.

As the sun began to set, we figured it was high time for a cruise around the lake (the fan-favorite tradition up here on the lake.) While coming out onto the dock, Kris spotted some goggles floating in the water and made an effort to rescue them.

Waiting for traffic to clear in order to finish pulling out from the hoist. Like merging into a lane, sometimes it's a bit busy up here.

Clearly we weren't the only folks ready to pontoon it around the lake at sunset. . .

Jeff and Cindy

Kris and the gaggle of teens.

Not Kris' best work, I'll say that much.

The Cannonball was not feeling the cruise this evening.

Accidentally took this in 'portrait' mode for some reason. The forced blur on smartphones still doesn't compare to the natural depth of field found on an SLR (which I didn't bring up with me again - I get sick of always having to lug that thing around)

What the f*** is going on with my wife's neck in the background here?

Hough men.

More selfies on the boat.

Abby, Lily, and a pack of candy cigarettes.

Buzzing by the old cottage, which seems to change every year - not sure what they're thinking over there.

Believe it or not, Alayna took this pic of the moon this evening with her frickin' phone. Not sure if it was a certain setting or what (like the background is back, which is wasn't while we were out on the boat), but it's still pretty damn impressive.

Kris and the teens, as we round our way out of the Cove - about 3/4 of the way through the cruise.

And, of course, it wouldn't be a sunset cruise without a glorious sunset pic.

Once back to shore, Maddie took her paddleboard out for a quick sunset 'paddle' (for lack of better term.) We made sure she stayed close to shore, due to the low lighting as well as the fact she had neglected to put on a frickin' life vest. At least she threw on a glow stick. . .