A Hitching in Scenic... Romulus

Keepin' it classy.

Hi, America.

We had the opportunity to drive half-way across the state this weekend.  All the way down to that beautiful epicenter of culture that is. . . Romulus, Michigan.  The sort of place where you can order a salisbury steak and an omelet at a strip club.

Anyway, we had a wedding to go to, and fortunately for us the reception wasn't being held at the Landing Strip.  Kris' little cousin Alicia was getting married to some guy at a local, hate-spewing, fundi-Christian church, with a reception to follow at the local VFW hall.  We ended up setting up headquarters at Kris' Aunt Margie's house, where we had previously spent Thanksgiving, and Kris' sister, Jessica, was able to fly into town from Texas.

So the Hough girls were able to hang out with their long-lost cousins, Isis and Ben, and get their annual allotment of Minions and sugar.

Check it out. . .

She's a weird kid.  Margie had a lot of baby stuff set up in the spare bedroom for her one-year-old grandson, so of course our kids felt it necessary to dig it all out and play with it.

The girls had been looking forward to checking in on the world's largest yellow lab, Captain, next door at Kris' uncle Wayne's house.  Dude's the size of a frickin' horse.  And it's 100% yellow lab, too.

Margie, Isis and Ben playing Just Dance on the Wii.  Those kids love videogames.

Abby and Isis playing with some Disney Princess thing Abby got at Christmas from a relative.  Kids are easily entertained.

On to Mario. . .

This is where Ben camped out for the majority of the day.  Pretty sure he wore knee spots into the floor rug.

Margie and Pat's

Suiting up for the wedding (I had very little to do with any of this.)

Isis, getting her hair did.

A little granulated, but here's the Hough family.  A little cleaned up.

Margie's place (and Wayne's in the background.)

Packed in and ready for nuptials. . .

Happy, happy Kris.

Ted Cruz country.

Following the wedding ceremony (in which Abby threw a tantrum for not being able to sit next to her cousin, and just about every single person in the audience - aside from us - seemed to have a speaking part in the service), we drove five minutes down the road to the VFW hall.  We were some of the first few people there.

Table center pieces.

(LED candles, people.)

Cousins

These things were pure sugar.  So of course we let our kids chow down on them.

'Merica.

A cousin pic for Grandma Jordan. 

More of the usual (you can tell which ones are Houghs.)

Selfies

(I have weird roommates.)

Bride and Groom

The girls spent a lot of time ordering drinks at the bar.  Not sure how the bartenders felt about that, but I didn't care too much.

Gossiping

Kris' extended family spends a lot of time on their phones.

That's Kris' uncle Jeff (her dad's youngest brother.)  And here we see Abby's been given a phone to keep her busy, as wedding receptions get pretty boring for little kids after awhile.

The Maid of Honor's speech, an hour into the bridal party's drinking bonanza, was prepared about two minutes before she went on.  That, coupled with booze, made for a pretty. . . 'colorful' toast.  Needless to say, Kris felt it necessary to cover Abby's ears (a ridiculous amount of f-bombs. . . not sure how all the grandparents in attendance felt about that.)

Queens of the dance floor

Prof. Hough.

The traditional Bride and Groom's dance. . . featuring Alayna.

An impromptu conga line.  This was a reoccurring theme throughout the reception.

. . . and of course this happened.

Ben was pretty pissed from the beginning of this reception until the end (he's autistic, so large social events like this can obviously be pretty problematic.)

Ben caught the. . . whatever that is. 

After the reception, back at Margie's.  This was some Minions night light, but the kids had a riot pretending it was a fortune teller's crystal ball.

- Brian

Thanksgiving in Romulus

Happy Clintsgiving, America!

Alas, there will be no Clint and no Voigts this Thanksgiving.  The Houghs are no longer in Orlando, as you know, and we have no intention of flying back down to Florida in order to celebrate a holiday that, frankly, neither Kris nor myself really gives two hoots about in the first place.

You heard me, Thanksgiving.  You're not that cool, and lately you really just serve as a shopping incentive during the early stages of the Christmas season.  Consequently, Kris and I really don't get overly excited about celebrating you.

Well, since we're back in Michigan now, and around family once more, we have to start caring about Thanksgiving again (instead of just using it as an excuse to go over to the Voigts' house to watch the Lions lose.)  Since my own family shares my disdain for this holiday, we turned to Kris' family instead:  her mom's side of the family always holds a major family get-together down in Romulus (where most of them are based), so we carpooled down there with Marcy and Scott to celebrate Thanksgiving this year.

And will probably continue to do so on a yearly basis from this point forward. . .

Watching the Lions game (Scott's son and his wife are at the far left, followed by Kris' cousin, Colton, her aunt's Margie's husband, Patrick, and Yours Truly.)

Abby springs into action (in her Thanksgiving dress, of course.)

The girls run over to Kris' uncle Wayne's house (where the meal was being prepped.)  We were staying next door at her aunt Margie's house (yes, they live directly next door to one another.)

Kris' cousin, Scarlett, her aunt, Mickey, Marcy and the Cannonball, and. . . I forget.  Their family's frickin' huge.

The girls watch some TV with their aunt Lily.  Yes, the girl on the far right there is technically their aunt (Kris' mom is the eldest of seven, and Lily is the youngest daughter of Marcy's youngest sibling.)

Making potatoes.

More kitchen prep with Kris' uncle, Wayne (I helped by staying out of the kitchen.)

Two of Marcy's sisters, Maxine and Mickey (Mickey is Marcy's twin, Maxine is the second youngest.)

Circling items for their Christmas Lists in a toy catalog.

That dog (Captain) is huge - and he's only a year old.

Chapstick time (the kids go through it like crazy up here on account of the cold and dry air.)

Watching the game

Alayna, Abby and Lily hung out most of the day, which kept them occupied and out of our hair.

Mashing potatoes.

Kris' aunt, Margie, bringing pies and baked goods over from her house next door (where we're staying.)

Healthy snacks.  From L to R: potato chips, Cheeze Its, and cookies.  While watching Despicable Me 2.

Scarlett

The Laginess Clan

With the exception of a few individuals (Mickey's kids and their families, and Margie's younger son), this is everyone.

Margie and her grandson

Those are Margie's two boys, Andy and Cody

More chaos (playing with Scott's walker is a favorite pastime.)

Waiting patiently for dessert.

After dinner and desert, we drove over to Kris' uncle Jeff's house, where they were having a huge family Thanksgiving for members of her dad's side of the family.  

Kris' cousins and some of their kids (and no, I can't remember who's who in her extended family, and I've been around since '98.  To my credit, my dad had one sister who had two children, and my mom had one brother who had three children - my family is small.  Kris' mom had six siblings, and her dad had five siblings.  Each of them had between two and five kids apiece, sooo. . . yeah.)

Hammin' it up for the camera.  Par for the course, really.

Attempts at a group picture. . .

Abby started to get pretty tired while at Jeff's, but Alayna was having a blast, so I let Abby play games on my phone to buy Kris and Alayna more time to visit with her dad's extended family.  Never fails.

We eventually returned to Margie's  - later than we had expected - and put the girls to bed in the den, while Kris and I slept out on their sectional.  I slept like a frickin' rock.

- Brian