Happy Brothers Day(s)

Abby and Alayna, tossin' some heavy bags

What up, gangsters.

So we've got Mother's Day, we've got Father's Day (but not really), and if this past weekend were to have a similar theme, it most certainly would have been Brothers Day.  Chris, Jeff and I hung out most of the weekend with all of our collective offspring:  weather was hit-or-miss (Friday was awesome, Saturday was meh), we all had wide-open schedules, so figured we'd let the cousins hang out with one another and throw a few back.

Friday we hung out in my backyard for most of the afternoon and evening, enjoying the trampoline, some cornhole, crochet, and watching my grill nearly catch on fire and burn down my house.  Saturday saw Jeff and I bringing our families up to the lakehouse on Eight Point Lake (Chris unfortunately had sand in his vagina and couldn't make it out), where, despite the cloudy weather and occasional wind gusts, we managed to get a solid amount of boating in (once the jet ski was fixed, that is.)

Pretty chill weekend, but good times for sure.  Took a bunch of pics (and a few videos) for your viewing pleasure, as always.  Enjoy, folks. . .

Before folks showed up in the early afternoon, the Houghs decided to give the cornhole boards a spin.  Bags have a hard time sticking on this set, so we're thinking it's due to two factors: 1.) the bags aren't quite broken in yet, and, as a result, are still pretty heavy, and 2.) the boards are too slick - Kris is gonna have to sand some of the polymer layers off so bags don't shoot off as easy.

Folks showed up around 2pm.  Originally we had planned on a later hangout, with maybe a fire involved, but the county is in the middle of a Burn Ban right now (all over the state, actually - we haven't had rain in weeks) so we bumped everything up a few hours.

The trampoline was a huge hit with the younger kids.  Our kids never go on it anymore.

Mom and John stopped by for, like, a half an hour or so to hang out with all their grandkids.

Jeff monitors the controlled chaos of the Octagon.

Kris and Nicole

Some handsome guy. . .

Kris and her wide-angle lens.

This kid needs to be grounded for wearing a Central sweatshirt.  F*** the Chips.

Meanwhile, back in the trampoline. . .

Abby gives Owen a ride around the backyard - she's pretty good with her little cousins (unlike the Cannonball, who's too cool to lower herself to such efforts.)

Louis asked that I take a picture of him holding up these crushed, plastic eyeballs he found in our backyard (leftover from Kris' Halloween Scavenger Hunt during our annual Halloween Party.)

Yard full of debris - clear sign of kids running amok.

Watching everyone else have fun while I try and keep my grill from catching on fire.

So we kept it simple as far as food goes for today - burgers, brats, dogs - but that apparently was too much grease for my grill.  Flames started shooting out and I had to cut the line to the propane tank (which I had to switch out at Kroger as I was getting started, a process which took nearly a half an hour because it was like the frickin' Special Olympics down at Kroger when I went to switch the tanks out.) At least the food came out edible in the end.

Womenfolk, patiently waiting for food.

These three, not so patiently waiting for food.

I thought the young boys were going to rise up and mutiny over the corn on the cob taking too long to cook.  I've never known kids to love corn so damn much.

Nicole and the twins.

Grazing.

Kris had to leave our backyard hangout for a little bit in order to drive Alayna over to Midland High School, where she was accompanying a group of Orchestra kids, along with their teacher, down to Detroit in order to watch a performance by the Detroit Symphony.  She wouldn't be coming back until frickin' midnight.

Nicole and I vs. Jeff and Abby

Cousins, plotting something.

Samson managed to eat an entire hotdog - bun and all - along with an entire corn on the cob this afternoon.  And that's just what we caught him with. . .

Louis and Chris, playing catch.

This pool that Chris and Nicole brought along with them definitely came in handy - the water was a solid distraction for the kids.

So much going on in this picture. . . I love it.

We started a game of crochet in the evening - I had set up a solid course throughout two-thirds of my backyard - but halfway through Chris and Nicole had to leave (I think their kids were hanging by a thread at this point), so Abby and Owen were subbed in.

Long story short, at the last gate of the course, Jeff was about 8 inches from winning. . . when Yours Truly, utilizing my superior crochet skills, hit a hail mary shot from about 15 ft back, passing Jeff's own ball by an inch or so, and striking the final post.  That's what heroes do, folks.

Levi, running his Goddamn mouth.

My nephews don't give me a minute's rest.  Abby and Scarlett do not look amused.

As it started to cool off outside, we made our way indoors and Jeff and I hung out in the Study, listening to records and having a whiskey.  The kids followed us in there, ruining all chances of having some relaxing, adult time.

Jeff and his clan ended up leaving an hour or so later, and the rest of us chilled out with a movie to close out the night.

The next day, our family and Jeff's both rolled into the lakehouse out on Eight Point around noon-ish (Jeff's fam about fifteen minutes before ours.)  His kids were already in the water, but when they saw me coming down the lawn they began to bombard me with jet ski requests (remembering my shuttling services from Memorial Day Weekend.) I took Owen out first, but after hitting some waves for a bit I noticed the jet ski was running weird.  Several times it just stopped entirely, so I brought it back into port so Dad and I could take a look at it.  Opening up the engine, it was incredibly hot inside - and damp - and Dad noticed a hose of some kind had been knocked off.

While Kris once again worked on her nails, Dad and his neighbor - in the background - worked on the engine.  Apparently it was the coolant hose (I think, something along those lines) that had been knocked off, so the engine was overheating.  They had to run out to the Boat Doctor for some more fluid, and once they had the tank filled up, I took it around the lake on a long cruise in order to get the coolant running through the engine again.  Once I docked, they topped it off and the jet ski was good as new - basically an hour, tops, out of commission.  Catastrophe averted.

Scarlett watches on and Kris fusses with Abby's nails.

Cindy wanted some updated family pictures for her many collages in the house.  Here's Jeff, Levi, Scarlett and Owen.

. . . and the Houghs.

Bailey does not respect personal space.

This was a pretty interesting spin on the classic Oberon.  I'd been sitting on it for over a year, so figured it was time to give 'er a whirl.

Levi was starting to get bored with swimming, and didn't have any interest in jet skiing just yet, so I took him and Jeff inside and showed them where the Nintendo was.  A little Super Mario 3 is good for what ails ya. . .

Meanwhile, back on the lake, I ran the jet ski into the f***ing ground - taking different combinations of Owen, Abby, Scarlett and eventually Levi out whipping around the lake.

Dad and Jeff.  Not parenting.

Kris and Scarlett.

Abby was freezing.  Had the sun been out at all it wouldn't have been too bad - it was in the low '80s, after all - but it was overcast and pretty breezy, so it felt a hell of a lot cooler.

The Cannonball brought her Chromebook up to the lakehouse. . . for some reason, not sure.

Kris took the womenfolk out on a golf kart ride around the lake, in order to break up the monotony of the afternoon while Yours Truly took kids out in turns around the lake.

Alayna and another Snapchat selfie.

Brats and dogs for dinner.

After dinner, the wind had died down enough that Dad offered to take kids out around the lake on a pontoon cruise.  Alayna took this picture of Kris and I walked out towards the dock from underneath the pontoon canopy - kinda weird we're marching in step like that.

A bit chilly out on the lake, but nothing some blankets and sweatshirts can't fix.

My kids definitely love their blankets on the pontoon.

Scarlett, Levi and Jeff

I need to shave.

Dad let Jeff's kids take turns driving the pontoon (once we got past the Sandbar, obviously.)  Here's him and Owen. . .

. . . aaaaand then Levi.  Who clearly knows everything about everything in existence.

This is a lot of shit-talking from such a little dude.  Nephew better watch his mouth.

Lotta shade coming from my roommates in this pic.

Coming into the home stretch.

Closing out the evening with some ice cream.

Levi colored this surprisingly-awesome picture of what's clearly the jet ski hitting some waves.  Colors and details are on point - nobody, including Jeff, knew he could do this sorta thing.  The Hough genes show themselves in yet another. . .

Cousins sharing pics and video over ice cream.

Apparently Levi's a Meghan Trainor fan. . .

I have no idea what the hell is happening here. . .

Hair-braiding is so commonplace in our house that I don't even acknowledge it anymore.  It's like nails being done, it's just always happening in the background.

Me and my clone.

Working a brush through Scarlett's lake-mange.

Around the time we were packing up to head back to Midland, Jeff's boys were back out in the sand - despite the wind and cooling temperatures - because, you know, boys will be boys.

- Brian