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