The Cannonball's Sweet 16, Pt. I

Hey kids.

So the Houghs hit this particular milestone this weekend: we've somehow managed to keep one of our offspring alive to the point where they can finally, legally drive. 

. . . well, sort of. She still needs, like, five or so hours of drive time - and to pass a driver's test - before she can actually get her license.

The Cannonball celebrated her Sweet 16 this weekend, which we divided up into two, separate events - per her request. She'd been looking forward to this weekend for a long, long time, and - seeing how it's Alayna and everything - had huge, grandiose plans for the momentous occasion. Large pavilion tents set up in the backyard, catering, the works.

Because, you know, Kris and I are lawyers, and the Cannonball's apparently graduating high school. Frickin' teens.

Just so you're aware, I had a severed allergic reaction to blowing up this balloon arch. I've never had issues with balloons in the last forty-plus years - or latex of any kind - but for whatever reason, these particular balloons caused my eyes to turn red and itch uncontrollably (I couldn't even keep them open, they'd tear up too much), my nose to run, my breathing to become forced, etc. Had to take Allegra, Paladay, and other such allergy crap to beat it down - Goddamn ridiculous.

Our family Fondue set that we break out for parties, oh, once every few years. 

Once we ground reality in her and Alayna remembered that we had already, you know, bought her a f***ing car, she was willing to start compromising on some of her demands. 

She wanted a fancier vibe for her birthday, so Kris and I went out and bought some black and gold decor (at Alayna's request) and we put together a menu that fit her tastes. The compromise for the party here was that she would settle for a toned-down affair under the condition that we'd be able to take her and this assortment of friends up to the family lakehouse on Eight Point Lake the following day for a 'Sweet 16, Part 2' (we had her clear it first with her grandparents.)

Weren't about to let kids drink wine at this Parisian murder mystery. . .

This first part of her Sweet 16 was centered on this Murder Mystery Game that Kris and Alayna picked out online. Death By Chocolate, as it's called, involves eight characters and is set in Paris in the early 1900s. Set up was pretty straight-forward and involved some manual reading, character research, and the hooking up of a TV in the kitchen (along with setting up an appropriate 'vibe' for the evening, obviously.) The kids got into it and, once started, the game lasted about three hours - not bad for the price we paid.

So yeah, the next two installments of this blog of ours will chronicle the Cannonball's big weekend, and I'll let the following pics and videos illustrate how the weekend went down.

Enjoy. . .

The Cannonball's favorite food - by far - is sushi, so we couldn't really host a birthday party for her without buying a platter.

Aside from sushi and fake wine, she wanted lots of finger foods (instead of, say, pizza or shit on the grill.) These meatballs (or, 'Monster Balls') that Kris usually makes for our Halloween Parties are always a big hit with teenagers.

While looking absolutely f***ing disgusting, this chili cheese dip is another party staple around here that gets devoured at parties. If Kris made it more often I'd easily weigh 300 lbs.

Some of the rest of the spread (we rotated out crap as it was consumed - teens will tear through a spread like Sherman to the Sea.)

Kids began to show up around 5pm.

Abby and Ella were nice enough to step in and take the place of two of Alayna's friends - Cristina and Rita - who were invited couldn't attend because they were vacationing with Cristina's family in Madrid.

Kris and I take a break from serving kids pre-game food to have a drink and listen to records in the Study.

The evening's cast of characters for the murder mystery game. Left to Right: Maddie (an archaeologist), Abby (a ventriloquist), Kyle (a boxer), Lexi (a bohemian artist), Ella (a rival investor), Toby (a pyschiatrist), Amelia (a jaded lover), and the Cannonball (a CEO.)

Kris reads out the instructions for the game as the kids research their own characters.

The mystery begins. . .

Lexi takes down notes, and Abby reads from her script, as details of the victim - some chocolatier who was murdered by a bomb hidden away in a piece of chocolate - begin to emerge.

The game was played in a series of 'rounds,' wherein each character had to read from a provided script a small excerpt, and then, afterwards, exchange dialogue with other characters around the table. From these exchanges, clues and details were dropped that the guests had to keep track of in a notebook.

Each turn each character had to go, so each round ended up taking almost an hour.

At the beginning of each turn, we played a few minutes from this video - an interactive part of the game, uploaded to Youtube - that directed players, offered more information and detail, and kind of added to the overall aesthetic and experience of the game. It was corny as f***.

Probably don't need to caption all of these pics and video, you kinda get the gist of it by now. . .

Watching one of the pre-round video segments.

Grabbing a drink between rounds.

Samson didn't know what to do with himself throughout the evening - too many people about the house to just do what he usually does around here, lie on the couch like the lazy piece of shit that he is.

Closing arguments, about three hours into the game.

Things get heated - Lexi was cutthroat with this murder mystery thing (unsurprisingly.)

Revealing the killer at the end of the game (I guess he got away with it because no one accused him. . . ?)

After the game concluded, Alayna and the rest of the kids went downstairs into the basement to open up gifts.

Then, of course, it was time for cake and ice cream (as the law dictates.)

Alayna - like her mom - prefers cheesecake over standard cake, so that's what we do around these parts. . .

With cake and presents out of the way, Kris and I went upstairs and abandoned the basement to the teenagers. They hooked up a movie to the projector, played some games, and otherwise kept themselves occupied for the rest of the night.

Around 11pm, the girls kicked off the sleepover portion of the evening once Kyle went home (we're laid-back parents, but we're not that laid back) with a chaotic hours-long bout of karaoke.  You can imagine how much Kris and I appreciated this blasting throughout our house. . .

- Brian