250, Pt. II

(cont'd.)

My folks woke me up early the next morning as they were getting ready to leave in order to catch my nephew running in the annual Fourth of July 5K the lake puts on. Since I was in charge, I decided to just stay up, grabbing a cup of coffee (or three) and trying some of this breakfast bread/cake/whatever Cindy had bought for everyone.

Bradley showed up to the lake house after my parents left (not sure why, maybe to grab waters or something.) I asked him if he was planning on sticking around for the awards ceremony this year (because apparently despite winning all the time he always neglects to do so), and he said probably not, as he only runs in these races because my parents pay him to do it. Not sure if that's only if he wins or not, I should ask him.

Sunrise over the lake.

Bradley the Mercenary

Yours Truly did not run a 5K this morning, but after having a few coffees and showering, I whipped up my lake staple, with a few bougie ingredients to boot.

The rest of my roommates and their guests finally start getting around for the day.

By mid-morning, we were down by the waterfront and ready for an action-packed day on the lake. The forecast today was stellar, so Kris helped the girls get their hair up so it wouldn't be down in their faces all day.

Samson didn't stay outside much today, 'cause he's terrible with barking at random neighbors. 

Jeff and his fam rolled in around 11am, and as his kids started jumping off the dock and swimming around, they noticed a sharp piece of wood sticking out of the lake bed, in the shallows. Jeff went in to investigate and discovered that this sharp piece of wood was buried pretty deep in the sand, so he went and got a shovel from the basement and started to work on free it.

This thing was facing up out of the sand, and would've skewered a hapless kid eventually. Dad surmises it was part of an old dock that rotted away decades ago.

As the morning dragged on, Abby and Ella decided to paint one another's faces for America's big 250th Birthday.

This process took well over an hour, but hell - it kept them busy.

Levi and Owen did this, on repeat, for a long, long time.

Levi continued to bother those of us who were trying to relax on the raft while Jeff helped Dad replace the jet ski's battery.

Oliver broke through the electronic fence and ran out onto the dock at one point. Not sure how he managed that.

Interrogating Scarlet on all things middle school.

These two are something else. . .

Be grateful I decided against posting all of the selfies these two took this weekend - you're seeing, like, 20% of them probably.

Someone managed to capture a rare instance of Kris and Abby co-existing peacefully with one another.

The chaos of nieces and nephews.

The Whites showed up around 1pm, and Brian set to work getting his boat ready for an afternoon of service (my kids were chomping at the bit to get out on the lake and get whipped around on tubes.) His boat has been having some issues with power lately, however, so before he took out the full gang of kids, he wanted to test it out with his own son, Jax, with Yours Truly coming along as a spotter.

Cindy got this pic of the girls in the backyard, while Brian and I were out testing the boat on the water.

Jeff takes Levi out on a ride on the now-functioning jet ski.

It took about ten minutes of driving around (and me moving up to the front of the boat in order to lower the plane), but the boat started functioning normal again, so Brian came back in to drop Jax off and pick up the next two riders - Abby and Ella.

The whole 'scuba' thing the kids are doing these days is beyond stupid.

The first few minutes of cruising the lake was probably pretty boring for them - we had to warm the boat up first and the lake was super crowded in the eastern half. Once he got it up and running he drove over to the western half and started whipping those kids about properly.

Ella bit the dust first (I took a video but it was too large to post on Blogger, my apologies.)

Lots of waves today, on account of so many boats being out for the holiday weekend. The kids held on pretty well, though.

Second time through both girls were thrown off the tube. A shame they spent all that time painting one another's faces with water-soluble acrylic paint. . .

She looks like she's peeing after holding it in for an hour.

Sebastian went next, and managed to hold on for quite awhile before ultimately being thrown off (again, the video was too long to post here, but you get the idea.)

This is the sorta shit the girls post on their TikTok accounts. . .

Brian's boat began driving weird again, so he wanted to be done with it. We decided to switch gears and load everyone up for a Sandbar outing instead.

The Sandbar, by this point in the mid-afternoon, was packed with anchored boats, so there was nowhere to squeeze in. Jill suggested we head down to the little beach area in the northwestern corner of the lake, by the swamp.

Brian drove Dad's pontoon out, which could accommodate more people and would be easier to beach. Still, we were probably over-loaded (we had eight adults and five children, technically.)

The Chud Face

The busy, busy Sandbar.

Heading straight for our destination, west of the Sandbar.

Another selfie on the boat.

Alayna managed to squeeze into a child-sized life jacket that we had brought along as an extra. It was the same one she used to wear when she was seven years old, that we got from the McNerney's (see pic at left.)

Beached by the swamp. This didn't go nearly as well as we would've liked - the ground was mucky and full of pebbles, and the kids didn't really get down with the vibe here. After about ten minutes of awkwardly standing about the boat, Sebastian and I pushed it free of the 'beach' and we began to make our way to the eastern half of the lake (where the plan was to just float in place and let the kids take turns diving off the side of the pontoon.)

Cruising across the lake.

The police pulled over this pontoon. We tried snooping without being obvious, but were definitely too far away to see anything.

We pulled into port once again, this time to drop off a few people and pick up a few things. Since we were only stopping momentarily, Brian didn't bother raising the hoist so I just stood at the edge and held the boat in place.

Photo-bombing is peak Dadness, folks.

Back out on the water, Brian took us out to the area that, I guess, is great for swimming. Here's Sebastian cannonball'ing off the side of the pontoon.

The adults had to stagger ourselves across the boat in order to keep it from tipping into the water. Wouldn't want that to happen.

Abby and Ella launch into the water.

The Cannonball, not taking part in any of this.

The Next Generation of Wives (sans Chelsey and Nicole.)

Sebastian and Jax

(Not sure if that's Owen or Jax at far left.)

Sebastian and the Cannonball

After awhile of jumping off the boat, Brian was funned out with the busy-ness of the lake and decided to return to port.

Heading back to the lakehouse

My brother has strange children.

By the time we came into port, it was just about time for the annual golf cart parade to kick off, so we all started gathering in the driveway out front. While we were waiting, Cindy wanted to check out Sebastian's Corvette.

Waiting for the parade to start.

The golf carts arrive. . .

Alayna insisted on bringing Samson outside for this, despite there being tons of noise and commotion. 

Samson wasn't a big fan of all the honking horns. He's a coward.

At some point after the parade, Abby and Ella walked down the street a ways to visit the 'petting zoo' (basically a few chickens and a couple goats in a cage.)

Meanwhile, back at the lakehouse, Jill and I taught the nephews how to place Euchre (which their deadbeat dad never got around to earning, WTF.)

They took to it pretty quick, they'll just need to keep at it in order to develop strategy (this game is like 20% skill and 80% the cards you're dealt.)

Kris, Alayna, and our timid-ass dog (people were starting to shoot off fireworks, so he was getting scared.)

Folks swarm the kitchen as dinner comes out. . .

Cindy made up a ton of food for folks, and it was gone in a matter of minutes.

The Kids Table

Post-dinner down time.

The calm before the storm (we'd be down at the lakeside most of the evening.)

This kid's weird.

The kids took Scarlet for a golf cart ride around the lake after dinner, killing time until the flares and fireworks kicked off.

Forced perspective pics (one of my kids must have taken these.)

As it got closer to 'go' time, I promised everyone I'd get a fire going for the evening.

Levi offered to help me build it, so I showed him the ropes on fire starting. There's a science to this, folks.

We started an 'America' playlist of mostly classic rock songs (though 'America: F*** Yeah' from Team America snuck in there somewhere and we had to frantically switch it out.)

Alayna offered to paint her little cousins' faces for the big event.

The point-and-shoot camera got broken out for some patriotic pics this evening (of course.)

The clouds looked dangerous, but the weather fortunately held out.

We all nearly missed this guy (who's passing by kicks off the lighting of the flares around the lake) has he zoomed past - I was able to catch him as he went by, but just barely. We must have gotten side-tracked by the playlist or whatever, who knows.

Dad started lighting the flares on one side of the dock while Sebastian and Owen tackled the ones on the other.

Levi was set on hanging out on this raft for some reason. 

Lighting of the Flares. . .

Watching the progress of the flares lighting up around the lake.

Sebastian and Alayna

Sebastian bought a few fireworks in Lake Station at some point in the weekend.

Doing the 'Six-Seven' hand thingy with Levi (fortunately this fad died out last fall, I don't miss it at all.)

With the flares all lit, folks around the lake began shooting off fireworks. . .

As the fireworks began to wind down, folks trickled inside to call it a night (and check in on the dogs, who were probably losing their damn minds by this point in time.)

So there you have it, folks - our return weekend to Eight Point for the Fourth of July. The next morning, we'd be gathering up our things, cleaning up, and heading back to Midland so that Yours Truly could get to the local record store before they closed (you know, for my birthday - gotta go to a record store on my birthday.)

- Brian