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Weeding the front bed while Kris enjoys a coffee on the porch. 

How's it going, Internet.

Well, the Ol' Lady turned the big 4-2 today.  No longer the spring chicken she once was, Ol' Ma Hough decided to celebrate her big day in a pretty chill way - no raging parties, no fancy dinners, nothing.  We spent some time soaking up the sun at Plymouth Pool (because our own kids rarely use the season passes we bought for them this summer), then heading downtown to hang out with some of our friends and take advantage of The Commons while that's still a thing.

A PG affair for sure, but that is, as you know, Kris' cup of tea.  And the Birthday Girl gets to call the shots around here on August 3rd, folks.

Check it out. . .

Plymouth Pool. Definitely full of child pee.

Kris and I went up there late in the morning, and about an hour or so later, Abby and Ella made their way down, where they began repeatedly jumping off into the deep end, over and over again.

While we were away at the pool, the City of Midland decided to pave our street. I'm assuming because it was Kris' birthday, and they figured she'd appreciate that.  So, consequently, we had to park our vehicles on the adjacent Mt. Vernon street and walk to our house from there.

On our way downtown, I had Kris and the girls pose with one of these giant frickin' road vehicles, and a particular sign that we've been seeing ALL AROUND TOWN ALL F***ING SUMMER LONG.

The main attraction downtown this evening was the launching of the annual hot-air balloon race (at least I think it's a race.) They have these basket thingies set up throughout the Commons area, where kids can go in and take turns pulling the lever that shoots up a pillar of fire (to make the balloon go up, I guess.)

While downtown, Ella spotted this famous Tik-Tok star (who also has that weird disease where you can't grow hair anywhere on your body - forget what that's called.) Ella asked for a pic with the quasi-celebrity, who politely obliged, and Abby snapped the pic for her. Abby then proceeded to work herself into knots because she hadn't been brave enough to ask for a pic with her, too.

The Tridge

We met up with the Colliers, Johnsons, and Mitch while we were downtown - something we usually try to do on a weekly basis while the city holds its annual Tunes by the Tridge thing.

Gallivanting around with drinks.  All of our kids had run off by this point in time, old enough know to do so without parental supervision.  It's pretty awesome.

The Commons of Downtown Midland.

Main Street.

Alayna's friends took off so she followed us around for a bit, in that awkward phase where she's too old for the younger kids and too young for the older adults.  I hated that phase.

Alayna took this pic of us old folks that Kris requested.  Wouldn't be a night out with the gals if they didn't get a group pic at some point in time during the night.

Back down by the Tridge, it began to rain, and so we quickly took cover under a nearby pavilion to wait for it to blow over.

Folding up the lawn blankets, which had been hastily snatched up in the sudden downpour.

That dude's hardcore.

Some of the other kids (you can see 'em there) had managed to duck into a neighboring pavilion.

The rain passes by and the sun returneth.

Ella spotted that Tik Tok person again downtown, and convinced Abby to grow a pair and ask her for a picture. Mission accomplished.

Back downtown, enjoying the dry weather.

Ah, the ol' Lodge building. . .

As you can see here, there's a Masonic meeting taking place upstairs (we light up the bulb of the corresponding body that's meeting that night.) Erik and I both opted to skip out of this month's regular meeting in order to celebrate Kris' birthday.

Erik makes a friend.

Kris wanted to hang out at Brinstar, which had recently installed a series of pinball machines. Erik and I bit our tongues, not overly-excited to revisit this place, considering how bad the customer service had been last time we were there.

Well, no duh.

Rock and roll.

Nyuck nyuck.

The newly-purchased pinball machines.

As we said our goodbyes for the evening after a couple hours of arcade-gaming, snacking, and drinking, we began to walk back to Kris' van. Along the way, I spotted this random dog, just left chilling on the dashboard of a parked car.  At least it wasn't like 100 degrees out.

A family selfie at the end of the evening, because Birthday Girl demanded it.

- Brian