One, Final Pool Party

'Sup, Internet.

Samson, hiding under Abby's bed for some reason.

Considering it's the end of August, and we're in the middle of a four-day weekend and everything, Mitch and Kelli offered to host one, final pool party for the Summer of 2025.

All the usual amenities would be provided, of course - the pool, corn hole, tons of grilled and smoked meats, bourbons of all walks and life, etc. Things were scheduled to kick off around 1pm, and since most folks were around - aside from the Colliers, who were away camping this weekend - we had a pretty decent turnout (well, the wives didn't hang out long, but they're much more lame than us dudes.)

So yeah, decent lil' closing chapter for the Summer. I'll leave you now and let the following pics tell the story (it's pretty straight-forward anyway.)

Enjoy. . .

Kris took this after spending a couple hours in the morning, cleaning out the garden (she wrestles with the garden like I wrestle with the yard.)

Abby attempts to wake up her sister. Alayna usually lies in bed on her phone for an hour before slowly getting her ass out of bed in the summer. Pretty sure that's the case with most teenagers.

Some of Kris' flowers that are blooming right now. No idea what they are.

So since Mitch was grilling up a ton of meat, he just asked his guests to bring sides. Between all the other families coming out, there weren't a lot of sides still needed, so I just went to Kroger and bought a half-gallon of Captain Morgan and a couple daiquiri mixes. After Kris and I arrived to Mitch's around 1pm, it was brought to my attention that the little security lock thing (that sets of the store's alarm) was still attached to the bottle. This makes sense, 'cause when I was walking out of the store the alarm started going off, but I didn't bother stopping to figure out why. Oh well.

Taking some ribs off the grill.

He had a few of these things going - they got eaten up like crazy.

A little while later, another thing of ribs comes off the grill.

The Johnsons and Griffins rolled in around the same time we did, and for awhile it was just us four couples there (not a ton of kids on hand today, which was kinda cool.)

Grilling some bacon-wrapped goodness.

Hope you guys like copious amounts of meat pictures. . . .

Bacon-wrapped venison, lamp, salmon, etc.

This finger food went fast as well.

Rob showed up after awhile (without his wife Lacey, as usual - she's kind of a hermit.)

Kris, Stefanie, and Kelli.

The Bos girls. They were the only ones who really took full advantage of the pool today, but I attribute that to the weather (the high was like 75, so not ideal for swimming.)

A briskett (of some kind) comes off the grill, which was good 'cause we were feeling like we didn't have enough meat on hand.

If you look closely you can see the juices running down it where he's cutting it. This dude sucks at a lot of things, but cooking meats definitely isn't one of them.

This is about the only 'pool time' the adults got this afternoon.

Some of the other dads eventually migrated out there to take advantage of the sun and water.

The Griffins.

The Kings of the Hill (minus five of us, who were out of town or otherwise occupied today): Erik, Rob, Tom, Mitch, Yours Truly, and Lonnie.

The wives, like always, hung out around this table all day. Sometimes playing games, sometimes on their phones, but always clucking about woman stuff.

As the afternoon dragged on into evening, Mitch and Lonnie broke out the cornhole boards and we paired off. . .

This is what passes as a picture for Kris. Like, she couldn't have stood up to clear all those frickin' chairs at the bottom of the frame?

After our first game (where Mitch and I managed to claw our way out of a ten-point deficit to lose by a single point), we let Rob and Tom take a turn at the boards against the defending champions.

Penny walks wherever the f*** she wants, folks.

 I helped Mitch get a fire going, but no one really sat down around it for a couple more hours.

The wives randomly decided that they would make their own Fantasy Football League and had themselves a cute, lil' draft tonight (yes, even Kris.) I guess I shouldn't make fun, some of them probably know more about football than I do.

Kris and I left around 11pm, as we had been over there since 1pm and were getting funned out with drinking and gorging on meat for hours and hours and hours. Most of the other couples ended up leaving within twenty minutes of us, too. Still, an awesome - and very much-appreciated - way to close out the summer.

- Brian

The Month of Caesar: Summer's Chaotic Chapter

What's up, gang.

Kris and I began staining our side of our neighbors' new privacy fence. 

This month got frickin' crazy, holy crap We didn't have a whole hell of a lot on the calendar this month, either: the Bos Fourth of July party, my birthday down in Grand Rapids, Abby's Pom Camp, Momcation, camping with the High School crew. . . I think that's it. So 'on paper' it shouldn't have been too bad, right? 

What the hell happened?

About five hours in, we'd managed to stain up to behind the shed. . .

Our weekdays were filled with various appointments - doctors, therapists, optometrists, orthodontists, house/yard calls, car issues, etc. - so during the day there was always some sort of urgent matter to address. I managed to squeeze my standard three, two-hour long sessions in at the gym per week, wherever I could, along with maintaining my lawn and keeping up with the Joneses in that regard. Alayna worked four, eight-hour shifts at Taco Bell every week, Monday through Thursday, so that her weekends were freed up for hanging out with her boyfriend, Sebastian, and her friends. Abby didn't have pom practice outside of her Camp (thank God), but she also was out and about with friends here and there during the week.

Kris HATED the way I stained a fence, so she ended up doing the rest.

And Kris, Kris had to go to work. Sucker.

Our weekends always filled up. Every Thursday we met up with other families from the Tribe downtown for Tunes by the Tridge, the (free) weekly concert series put on by the City of Midland. Then Friday and Saturday was split between going out with folks, whether to a Loons game, or a party somewhere, or something along those lines. Then Sunday was a day of lying around the house recuperating before kicking off the entire process all over again.

So July was busy, sure enough, but a solid balance of work and play for us Houghs. I've mentioned some of the crap we've done this month in previous posts, but in the pictures and video that follows I've included some of the other random crap that wasn't already disclosed with you.

Behold - the Hough's July '25. . . .

Kris didn't like the color we went with at first, but after it dried we both really liked it. Took about 4 gallons to do the whole run down the side of our yard.

We stopped just past the shed at the end of the first day, leaving about 1/3 of the yard to go. I offered to help the next morning, but Kris was having none of it - she didn't like the way I applied stain, and preferred the look of her sections better. Oh well, if you insist. . .

Erik sent us this pic of Ella posing next to a record show sign up in Marquette at the start of the Fourth of July weekend (they were up there staying with Courtney's extended families this year - they kinda alternate years they go up for holidays.) The Kings of the Hill will actually be heading up there ourselves next month for Brocation 2025. We're laying siege to the Upper Peninsula once more - stay tuned for those future posts.

Unwinding in front of the TV at the close of the day one weekday.

Kris' progress on the fence (untreated at left, the finished, stained product at right.)

Tunes by the Tridge the first Thursday of the month. It was some kinda percussion night, and it wasn't the greatest, but it was an opportunity to get together with friends and have a few drinks (and listen to free music.)

Definitely a light crowd this evening.

While I was down in Grand Rapids with BP and Kimmel checking out Social Distortion, Kris and the girls went back over to the Bos' place for a second day of pool fun in their backyard.

Larsons and Colliers came out as well.

Abby and Sophie in the pool.

Kris texted me this picture of everyone mimicking what I do in the pool (I HATE prune'y fingers, so keep my hands out of the water as much as possible - I'm brutally mocked for this.)

At the end of the Fourth of July weekend, we hung out downstairs in the basement most of the day while I worked on decorating my bar. Kris watched movies on the projector with the dogs and laid around like a bum all day.

This is our marriage summed up in one picture.

If Kris had her own lightsaber this would have been way more fun. I tried telling her this but she wasn't having it.

Abby was running out of time to finish up the art elements for her dorm room door decorating at the next day's Pom Camp, so everyone had to pitch in to get her across the finish line.

Working on Rapunzel's Tower (I did all the coloring, thank you very much.)

Another day, another yard task that demands my attention. Home ownership has its drawbacks.

The Thurday that Pom Camp wrapped up, we headed back down to Tunes for another free concert.

Just Erik, Collier and I tonight - the wives had all taken off for Momcation earlier in the evening, and none of our kids wanted to come out.

Kris looked everywhere for these sunglasses before she left, as she wanted to take them along with her for her weekend-long, poolside vacation with the wives. Couldn't find them anywhere, then I happened to find them in one of the pockets in the camping chair I brought along with me to Tunes. At least they weren't lost.

The bar, coming right along. I have more signs to put up, but I'm waiting until I get bigger pieces so that I can put those up first and then fill in space with the smaller pieces. Also have some more neon signs, but I have to be creative with how I wire it all together.

Abby and Alayna, screwing on the piano one afternoon (totally random, they've barely touched it in years.)

Collab'ing on some song they found on an app (or something, I'm not sure what they're doing.)

90% of Momcation is this right here. Just a bunch of moms drinking and hanging out in a pool for three days.

I've said this before, but Danielle's best friend (also named Danielle, coincidentally), hosts all dozen of these ladies at her house - which is huge - for the weekend. She has a big, saltwater pool that gets a ton of use (weather pending, of course.)

Playing some cards, later on Friday evening.

Some weird selfie of Abby that I found in her photo stream.

Kris sent me this pic of her and Danielle putting weird stuff on their face (not sure what the point of this is, I'm glad dudes don't have to deal with this.)

So Friday evening, while the wives were all hanging out in Danielle's (far left) kitchen, Alayna went over to Sebastian's house to hang out with him and his friends, and Abby went over to Ella's. Yours Truly ended up heading over to Colliers for a chill night playing cards and darts with some of the dads.

Mees and Courtney

Alayna wearing one of her boyfriend's motorcycle helmets.

Erik, Lonnie and I watched Shark Week while waiting for our turn to play euchre (Rob, Collier, Cory and Mitch are playing in the background.) 

Ella and Abby stopped back by the house for. . . whatever's happening here.

The Colliers' Snoop Dogg Elf on the Shelf is no longer a Christmas exclusive decoration. Homeboy just chills out on this dart board all year long.

At the end of the night it was just Collier, Erik, Rob and I left, so we loaded up GranBoard and played a couple games of darts (which I totally suck at, by the way.)

The next day, while I was off camping in the woods with my High School crew, Kris and the rest of the moms got a big group pic taken in the pool (a requirement on these Momcations of theirs.)

Courtney and Kris, bein' weird.

Abby, practicing piano again.

They always do a craft on these weekends so they have some kind of a souvenir to bring back with them, and Kris and Danielle wanted to do the photo-coasters again that they made a couple years ago. Kris made a bunch based on our recent Florida Vacation with the Johnsons.

Sunday evening, with everyone back at the house for the first time in days, we once again hung out in the basement. You can see some of my bar progress here, with neon signs starting to spread throughout the side room of our basement.

Falling asleep sitting up. Working out at the gym, bronzing in the backyard, and doing yard work all day knocks it out of you.

This is one of a set of four of Kris' inspirational mugs that she bought up in Houghton/Hancock years ago, and each has little suns and inspirational messages on them. She took this pic to post to her Instagram, to be uplifting or something, but I can't see this without thinking of the famous Black Flag song.

Alayna took a pic of Watson lounging in his bed in her room one night. Like I've said before, the majority of the pics on her phone are up the dogs.

There was an MHS Varsity Pom team-bonding get-together out at one of the players' houses one afternoon towards the middle of the month, so Abby (second from right) went out there and hung out for a few hours in the sun.

Carrying others in the pool. I guess that's fun?

Abby and Samson, hanging out in Alayna's room.

Another Thursday, another night downtown for Tunes by the Tridge. This guy - I think his name is Russel Curtis? - was pretty good as far as new, gritty country goes.

I know how to pick 'em, folks.

Erik and I are the constants on these Tunes nights, but Mitch, Collier and Lonnie (at left) come out a lot, too.

Abby and Ella came down with us, but as always they just walked around taking pictures in front of random things instead of chilling out and listening to the music.

Holty showed up about an hour into the show.

Abby is carried off by metal children.

After the show, Erik struck up a conversation with the drummer because, as it turns out, they were in the same graduating class at Midland High back in the '90s.

Abby and Ella were still wandering out downtown, taking pictures in front of random things, so the Johnsons and us (everyone else took off) walked up to meet them and have a couple more drinks.

Brinstar is one of our go-to 'after party' spots downtown 'cause they're open later than most other places and the beer and food is not only cheap, but also super good.

And, not to mention that it has one of the coolest vibes in all of Midland. I love retro video games.

Kris and Courtney check out the drink menu.

While we waited for our food, Courtney played an old school arcade game while Kris (as always) played some pinball.

These two dorks sat at the table right next to ours. Kept them placated with egg rolls and fries to buy us more time.

This is how teenagers hang out these days. In case you were curious.

Another selfie with the dog, for the Snapgram.

We had to get our new sprinkler company, Kokaly (out of Bay City) to come out for a house call this month 'cause Marlow - the people that used to maintain our sprinkler system - didn't fix our leaking valve properly a year or two ago. Only took them a little bit and was relatively cheap - I love these guys.

Alayna, hanging out at her friend Amelia's house one Friday afternoon between shopping excursions.

Later that evening, Alayna was inviting like a dozen kids over to her house for a bonfire, so while she was out buying last-minute supplies for her party, I set up the fire pit area for her and got a fire going. When our crew began asking what everyone was up to that night, 'cause it's Friday night and everything, we told everyone we were kinda shackled to our house on chaperoning duty. The Johnsons offered to hang out with us for a low key evening around the fire, at least until the kids started to  up.

The Larson and Bos couples (and Danielle's brother, who was in town visiting) also came out to hang out for a bit, but after like a half an hour or so the teens started to show up so we let them have the fire and we hung out indoors.

Lexi, Kyle and Sebastian

Amelia and Brie

Alayna takes these selfies where you only see like 1/3 of her face. I see a lot of my students do this, too - but be a teenage girl thing.

Lexi and Alayna

Abby's had been dog-sitting for the Angelotti's next door the last few days, and they're always great about letting us use their amenities while they're away. While the older kids were sitting around the fire, Abby and Ella popped over next door and took advantage of the new hot tub.

You can alwayss spot a Hough in the wild.

No idea what the Johnson kid is up to, here. . .

Samson is an absolute terror outdoors (he grew up a stray, so he prefers being outside running around), but this is how he prefers to hang out when cooped up inside.

Both Varsity and JV pom teams had a collaborative car wash to fund the MHS Pom program this month, and they did. . . okay. Didn't help that for part of the time they were there it was sprinkling. 

Alayna helped one of her co-workers pimp out the interior of her car in sunflowers one afternoon. Which, you know, is kinda weird, but at least they were being creative and not staring at a screen. . .

Sister selfie.

After a day trip swimming up at Plymouth Park, Abby sneaked this candid pic of Alayna and Sebastian from the backseat of Alayna's car.

The next day, Abby and the Johnsons went to Mt. Pleasant for some reason, and stopped off this fancy-pants bakery.

We had a bird with a broken wing in our backyard one day, and while I held on to the dogs, Kris and Alayna corralled it through the side gate and into the side yard by our recycling bins (next to the garage.) Its wing was definitely messed up, and Alayna wanted to take it to a vet, but since it was a wild frickin' bird we weren't too excited about dropping a few hundred bucks on an emergency medical procedure that likely wouldn't have helped anyway. Fast forward a couple of days, I was trimming some hedges along the side of the house and found the bird, dead as a door nail, on the sidewalk that leads around the side of our ouse. So, just like last time, I had to turn it into a meme to send to my kid. Creating all kinds of childhood trauama over here, folks. 

Alayna was invited up to Sebastian's family's cottage on Crystal Lake (way up north, by like Traverse City or something), so she was all excited while packing for it. The dog, however, was not very happy about the prospect of people leaving for an extended period of time.

She took some pics while she was up there, but since she didn't really explain any of them, I'm just gonna spit-ball with these captions here. This is clearly the inside of the cottage, looking out at the lake.

Sebastian and the Cannonball

Meanwhile, Abby and the MHS Pom Teams (both Varsity and JV) held a Can Drive at the school in order to raise money for the coming season. Here's Abby with Nica and Ella, I guess the only three girls who consistently stayed at the road side and did all the leg work today.

Sebastian's mom took a few pics of the kids while out on some kinda nature hike (I guess.)

Kris and I, finding ourselves childless for the time being, decided to go have dinner at The Boulevard, one of our go-to bar/restaurants. In a horrible stroke of misfortune, we ended up having some of the shittiest service we've ever had: a half an hour to get drinks, about an hour to get food, etc. And they weren't even busy, the place was dead. We're assuming the server was new (she was young), but still it was kinda frustrating. At least the food was good, though, and - like I said before - we eat there all the time and have never had an issue. Hopefully it was a freak occurrence.

That evening, everyone went down to the beach to watch the sunset. . . right about the same time as Kris and I headed downtown (yet again) for another night of Tunes By the Tridge.

Kris, caught mid-lecturing something-or-other to Alicia.

It was 'Country' night tonight, and the band was . . . . meh.

Courtney, Kris, and Alicia (and Steven)

Lon-Dog and Big E

Sunset. . . somewhere up north.

Tunes looked a little different tonight, as this is the kick-off evening for Midland's annual River Days celebration (where they light up all the hot-air balloons across the river and for the next few days the entire downtown is choked with revelers.

Abby and Ella eventually made their way downtown, catching a ride from somebody (I forget who), and stuck to Main Street all evening. Those things kids are climbing in there are the baskets that go underneath the balloons - a lot of the times they shoot up pillars of fire in order to wow the crowds a bit.

Some random country band, gettin' after some Southern Rock. . . .

Sunset over this lake (with folks kayaking in the distance.)

They have one of those audio-sensory tents, where it's a giant dance party but everyone's listening through provided headphones to the same music. That way it's not bothering anyone, but for the folks wearing headphones it feels like a club (or something.)

Kinda creepy.

The Cannonball's pic of the moon, up north. So concludes another month of Houghishness, Summer Edition. We'll see ya next time, America.

- Brian