Poms, Parties and Pools

Abby and Ella hitched a ride with teammate Harper and her fam this morning.

Hey gang.

Today was jam-packed with The Houghs being spread out across the State of Michigan, scattered to the four winds and each of us tasked with separate goings-on. 

Abby had to be dropped off at 6am to Midland High School, where another JV Pom parent was taking her (and Ella) downstate to the team's Atomic Pom invitational. This was like a mini, day-long, boot camp where teams across the state drilled a new routine throughout the morning before performing it in front of judges the very same afternoon. This quasi-exhibition was more of a fundamentals camp than an actual competition, but it marks the first time Abby and this new team have performed together, so they were all still pretty excited about it.

Meanwhile, Kris was currently on Day Two of her annual Momcation - the female equivalent of the grander, more elaborate Brocations our friend group does - that saw her once again in downstate Michigan, kinda by Three Rivers, hanging out poolside for three days. It's a low-key event where moms just bronze, float in the pool, do their nails, gossip, and drink a shitload of seltzers. I included a few pics Kris got from today, but one thing's for damn sure - the wives definitely don't take as many pics as us guys do.

That left Alayna and I, who had to attend Bradley's Open House in Clare this afternoon. . . with her driving us to and from the Whites' house in order to catch up on her required driving hours. Compared to the other two, Alayna and I didn't have as much going on, but still - we did stuff, too.

I'll leave you now with an assortment of pics and video that chronicle how today went down, all over the frickin' state.

Enjoy. . .

Some of Midland's JV squad, assembled outside the school (somewhere in Plymouth, I guess.)

Navigating their way through the school, our team had to go to some designated area where they would warm up and do. . . whatever the heck pommers do at practice.

Learning the new routine. Not sure how long they had to rehearse this, but I can't imagine they had very long because there were tons of other schools there.

You can spot Abby there at the far left.

Post-practice break time.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Southwest Michigan, Kris and the moms continue to soak up the sun (which must've been nice, we didn't have any to speak of back in Midland. . .)

Mees greets a colleague.

Bathroom mirror selfies are super popular around these parts (not sure if the random-ass, little kid in the background there appreciates them, but whatever.)

Abby and Nica, pre-performance.

Abby, Ella and Harper

Waiting to perform.

So later that evening, once she got home, Abby told us that the squad performed really well, but that the judges rated the song choice and routine poorly. She said it 'lacked sass and energy,' whatever the hell that means.

Also, I'm not sure who took all these pictures, but from the looks of things (I pulled all these off Abby's account) they came from multiple vantage points.

Some more still pics from the routine (I don't think I really need to caption all these. . .)

(I assume this was screenshot from someone's social media thing.)

After pom performances, all the teams come down to the gym floor and sit in these weird-ass circles while they await the judge's results. Lots of anxiety, lots of emotion, but this time around - seeing how it's not a real competition - Abby said most folks were pretty chill.

Not sure what this collage is, or where it came from, but there ya go.

Loading back into Harper's family vehicle, following the boot camp.

Sometime in the early afternoon, on the way back up north, they all stopped off at Chik Fil A (is that how you spell it?) for a late lunch.

Yes, this is a thing.

Meanwhile, a couple hours north, Alayna had successfully driven us to Clare without getting into a car accident (so that's definitely a win.) It was on-again/off-again raining out, so when we got there we hung out in the garage with my siblings and parents.

Lil' Bradley and two of his homeboys.

They once again catered a local food truck (slinging burgers, hot dogs and fries), but had a dessert spread out for folks to graze upon while they came in and out of the open house.

Many Bradleys.

Me and Dad

Bradley and two of his friends, hanging out inside away from his guests.

Yours Truly and the Cannonball, waiting for food (we got ours to go - now we didn't have to worry about dinner when we got back.)

A few hours south of us, the moms continued swimming and drinking and clucking about boys (I guess.)

Aaaaaaaaand that was The Houghs' random-as-all-hell Saturday, guys - we'll see ya next time.

- Brian

The Cannonball's Sweet 16, Pt. II

(contd.)

The next morning, around 10am or so, I loaded up Ella and Abby (and the dogs) and headed out to our family lakehouse on Eight Point Lake. We were skeptical about the weather at first but it ended up being sunny and high-70's for the majority of our time up there.

Kris, Alayna, and four of her friends - Maddie, Lexi, Amelia, and Toby - rolled in about an hour and a half after us, by which point in time I had successfully blown up Kris' floating raft and established headquarters. With the girls' help, we were able to carry it over the sand and rocks of the beach area and place it in the newly-expanded swimming area by the docks.

The lake water level is considerably lower than in previous years, to the point where the boat launches couldn't function in their usual spots. To remedy this, Dad bought a 20-foot extension for the dock in order to house the boats in deeper water, but since these were installed a day or two before our arrival, there still hadn't been time to install the launches. . . meaning we were without boats on this particular visit.

The girls were placated with sunbathing on the raft for the time being, and I had psyched myself up to the realization that I'd be shuttling kids about the lake on the jet ski for the duration of our time there.

At least it's sunny out. . .

Alayna, Abby and the friends that had previously been up to the lake countless times before - Lexi, Ella, and Maddie - were adamant about hanging out on the Sandbar for a couple hours, so I began to shuttle kids over there, two and a time, while running over supplies (like my JBL bluetooth boombox, snacks, drinks, balls, sunscreen, etc.) in the stow compartment of the jet ski.

The kids hung out at the Sandbar for probably two hours (which might have had something to do with the fact that there were a group of shirtless, teenage boys playing volleyball up there), before they called asking to be picked up. When I rolled in to grab the first two, I found our kids herding along a flock of Loons. . . like normal people do.

Abby gets a photo op on the jet ski for the 'Gram.

Packing up another couple of kids for the ride back to the lakehouse.

Ella the pack horse.

Just look at all the parenting Kris is doing right now. . .

Abby takes a break on the beach.

The bedroom on the lower level where Alayna and her friends were going to be crashing for the night.

While kids settled in from their time on the Sandbar - whether they went back to sunning on the raft, or changing back into normal clothes - Cindy whipped up some mid-afternoon snacks.

Abby and Ella get down on some of Nana's taco dip.

Samson's a big fan of Bailey and Finley's squeak toys (we usually don't buy them at our house because the dogs shred theirs so damn fast.)

I'm the designated watermelon-guy, so whenever we come up to the lakehouse I bring one with me and slice it up for the folks on hand. These two requested slices instead of cubes (which is, you know, just plain weird.)

The ever-popular mirror selfie.

Cindy decorated the inside of the lakehouse with Sweet 16 decor, which was much appreciated by the Cannonball.

Samson's never quite sure what to do with himself while up at the lake.

Alayna and Lexi fill up on some taco dip as well.

Hanging out inside and not whipping kids around the lake on a jet ski (I logged, like, four hours on that damn thing throughout the afternoon.)

Back to tanning on the raft.

Dad's old high school buddy - and fellow lake resident - Carl, offered to lend us use of his pontoon boat for a cruise around the lake, knowing that our boat was temporarily out of service and we had seven teenager girls on hand to entertain (which was super nice of him.) 

The sun had beat the shit out of a lot of the kids by this point in time, so they were pretty chilled out.

Nagatha Christie.

Pretty solid bronzing weather out on the high seas today.

Hey look, there's me.

Worn out Freshmen.

It's cool, sit wherever, Maddie.

Pontoon Captain

Undertaking the mandatory buzz-by of the old, rental college we used from 2002 - 2019. Every year it seems like these change something about the backyard.

Heading out of the cove and back into the main lake.

That chick is gonna crash hard tonight. . .

The Cannonball captures a couple of her favorite, 0.5 forced perspective pics. . .

Back at the lakehouse, she took. . . whatever the hell this is.

Abby naps on the living room couch.

The rest of the girls entertained themselves with music and cards on the deck while Cindy started to get dinner around.

Kris continues working on her Momcation playlist.

Putting on The Cannonball's Sweet 16 sash.

After dinner, we managed to get a few pics on the deck of folks.

Belle of the Ball

(Cindy didn't make this.)

The Houghs

After food, cake, and ice cream, the teens retreated back downstairs into their lair and we adults hung out upstairs for a bit and enjoyed some duty-free, lounge time.

As it began to get dark out, Yours Truly made a bonfire for the kids for s'mores and whatever.

We hung out fireside for a couple hours before folks started to get tired and began to head indoors. Lots of us got eaten alive by mosquitoes, but didn't realize it until the next day - that's always fun.

Some pic of the moon Alayna took on her phone.

Opting not to leave the girls downstairs in charge of the dogs, we kept the dog bed in the room with us (where they doubled-up for the night, something they do whenever this happens.) The next morning, we let the kids sleep in a bit and Kris and I deflated and stowed the floating raft, picked up all our stuff, and slowly got our giant, gaggle of teens assembled. This was our first outing to Eight Point this year, and while it wasn't the multi-day, boat-heavy visit that we usually have, it was still pretty fun. And a cool way to celebrate the Cannonball's Sweet 16. Until next time, folks.

- Brian