'Merica

Happy Fourth of July, America!!!

(HUGE record shopping day will be coming up in tomorrows' installment.)

Gang, we had a pretty chill Independence Day this year; kinda cobbled together considering so many others - family and friends - were busy with other plans. In years past, we Houghs spent the entire weekend up at Eight Point Lake with my parents, my siblings and their families, aaaaand a potpourri of dogs. All that changed last year, thanks to (shitty) weather, when we were forced to hang back in Midland and squeak out a Fourth of a July party over at the Bos residence with the Tribe.

The Houghs (and Sebastian) were first to arrive at the BBB (Bos Backyard Bar.)

This year, believe it or not, we ended up repeating this course of action. Mitch threw out a Facebook invite way back in early June, announcing to the usual 10 or 12 families we associate with that they'd be grilling and hanging out poolside all day on the Fourth. Several of us signed up immediately, because we're always down for a pool party, not to mention the fact that many of the guys in our group are grill ninjas. 

 Smoked pieces of hickory bacon for burgers and whatever else. . .

A day or two before the party, however, some of the families suddenly had to back out due to a double-booking the date (family vacation, somebody else's frickin' pool party, out of town, etc.), so this year's affair ended up being scaled down a smidge from last year's. The weather was far better, though, and so those of us who ended up coming out were able to get nice and bronzed without having to duck under their gazebo for shelter.

That's always a plus.

So yeah, another Fourth of July in the books, folks. Enjoy. . . .

Sebastian took a family picture of the Houghs right when we arrived (I wanted to do it before we all forgot as the evening dragged on, which tends to happen.) I have a new default Fourth of July shirt, which I picked up on Amazon a couple weeks back in anticipation of today's festivities. It's a polyester button-up shirt but I was able to cut it into a more-ideal-for-sunny-weather cut-off ('sun's out, guns out,' you know the rules.) My roommates, as you can see here, are more boring that I.

We were the first ones there, so Mitch wanted to send the rest of the guys a pic of us so they knew folks were starting to show up.

Gottta be careful on our Kings of the Hill thread, because folks will take your pics and do weird shit with them. Like, here's me and Mitch at a Gay Pride Parade somewhere. . . 

Here's another one, with us on the Moon. There were others but I'll keep it PG-13 since this is kind of a family blog. . .

It's cool, Abby - walk anywhere. Not like we're trying to get a picture taken or whatever. . . 

We brought a few sides for the day, since Kris and I aren't really the 'grill masters' that some of these other guys are. Everything you see here was consumed by various kids throughout the course of the day.

Burgers and dogs for Lunch

The Larsons showed up shortly after me and Mitch's pic went out. So Mission Accomplished, I guess.

Tom and Rob - sans families, who were busy doing other stuff for the day - swung by and hung out for a bit, but eventually they left to go golf 18 holes up at Curry.

The Griffins rolled in as the afternoon was wearing on - folks hadn't really gotten into the pool quite yet.

Baby Driver and The Pro

The sun was getting hot out, so it was time to get our collective asses into the water.

The Bos fam has a saltwater pool, which I'm not sure if I've mentioned before or not. It's pretty awesome.

As it heated up outside, so did the water - was like bathwater after awhile.

Playing some games around the table as folks go in and out of the pool.

Morgan, Mitch and Danielle

(It's cool to wear your hat swimming, kids.)

The three of us spent nearly six hours (according to our wives) circled up like this in the pool, talking over drinks. I've spent far shittier days in my life, that's for sure.

We hadn't hung out with Morgan in a long time, since he lost one of his finance managers at his new dealership and has had to pull double-duties (he's the general manager) until the spot is filled. Dude works like six-day weeks, it's nuts.

As evening drew on, it started to get cooler out so we finally got our prune-y asses out of the water at long last.

Snacking on various meat offerings (pork shoulder, pork belly bites, bacon, etc.)

Womenfolk, still circled up around the table.

Kelli and the Bos' newest family addition, Penny.

Abby and Sophie went back into the water and were there for most of the evening. The water had to have been basically at 'hot tub' levels so I'm sure they were fine.

Later on in the night, Mitch broke out this VERY pricey bottle of Booker's for the three of us to try. Probably not the smartest thing to do after drinking all day in the sun, buuut. . . . whatever.

Watching the Detroit Tigers barely squeak out a win over Cleveland. It's been hard to watch this season (so I'm told - I'm not a sports guy.)

This was a damn fine bourbon.

Kris, Abby and I went home around 11:30pm, and both dogs were freaking out over the ensuing fireworks being shot off by locals all over the neighborhood. Samson slept with Abby in her bed and we had to bring Watson into our room, since Alayna was out on the town with friends still. So that was our slightly scaled-down Fourth of July this year with the tribe - we'll keep you updated with what happens to the Houghs on next year's Independence Day.

- Brian