The Suite Life of KOTH and RHOM

What's up, sports fans.

So my buddy Erik recently bid on and won a Loons Suite at one of those local charity thingamabobs he's always going to, and the private box could accommodate 24 people with ease. That basically equates to six families of four (which even out when a family like the Colliers has three kids, but the Johnsons only have one, etc.), so they invited us, the Larsons, the Colliers, the Boses, and the Griffins. Now, we've hung out and had a lot of fun in these private boxes/suites/whatever before, so while no Hough could be considered anything remotely close to a baseball fan, we do enjoy walking around Dow Diamond, having a few drinks, and bumping into fellow Midlanders that we know. We were all in.

After getting out of work, I got home, freshened up a smidge, and Kris and I took off for the stadium (driving separately from our girls, who showed up a little later. . . you know, 'cause they weren't finished getting ready or some crap.) We didn't watch a whole lotta baseball this evening (I couldn't even tell you who they were playing, and honestly didn't care anyway), but we had a hell of a time kicking off another season of baseball with the Tribe.

Check it out. . .

Kris and I pulled into Dow Diamond's complimentary parking (courtesy of the suite reservations) at the same time as the Larsons and Johnsons, around 5:30pm-ish. 

We had to show our printed tickets a second time to gain access to the stadium's second floor, which has all the private rooms and suites, along with private restrooms, food counters, and even a bar (which three three of us dads took advantage on the way to the suite.)

Us other five families decided to split a fully-catered barbecue dinner that fed twenty-five people, as a thank you to the Johnsons for dropping the money on the suite. The people had begun to set up the spread shortly after we arrived.  

There was a mini-fridge full of pops and waters, too (the Collier and Bos kids, unsurprisingly, killed most of the pop off shortly after arriving.)

Ella and Sophie, braving the frigid temperatures out in the stands (it was a high of 50 degrees this evening, and would eventually dip down to the mid-30s, so needless to say we were all incredibly grateful for the private suite and its heat.)

Erik buys a bunch of those raffle tickets that he buys at every game we go to (to date, he's never won, buuuuuut as the saying goes - you can't win unless you play.)

A couple different varieties of pork, along with some mac and cheese. There was also some coleslaw and some other stuff, but none of my family ate much of anything (we rarely do.)

As is the case with any time one reserves one of these private suites, Louie the Loon popped in to meet the evening's tenants. We asked if we could get a pic of him with all the kids first.

Then we finagled one with the adults. Afterwards, Louie silently beckoned for me to follow him out into the hallway, which was more than a little terrifying, but it turns out that the guy inside the suit was one of my former students from like five years ago, and he's not allowed to break character around children. So I got to catch up with him (and his handler, whom I also recognized from my school from back in the day, but she was on another team) out in the hallway for a few minutes.

A lil' father-and-son action, watching baseball.

My roommates. Alayna and Abby had showed up about 30-45 minutes after we did.

Some weird selfie I found off Alayna's phone while going through her pics from this evening. Abby is clearly in the middle of yelling at her right here.

Speaking with my aforementioned former student while he was on break (and out of costume - he said that thing can get like 110 degrees on the inside during the summer months, which would absolutely suck.)

Kris endulges in a Cherry Pepsi in order to get some caffeine in her system.

You could watch the game on a TV in the room as well, which was a little easier if you had to just to stand around the table due to lack of seating.

These were the only seats in the room that faced out over the field from the comfort of inside the box, so for most of the night the dads stood around the table and watched the TV on the wall.

These three, going in for seconds.

The dads were ready for a lap around the Diamond (something we do all the time at these Loons games), so started to bundle up in order to brave the frigid temps.

When we were preparing to head out, the catering folks wheeled in a dessert cart and asked if we wanted to order anything. Erik and I had already walked out into the hallway, so Kris filled me in on all of this later.

Everyone was gonna pay for treats for their kids (and the wives) themselves, I guess, but Kelli must have just offered to grab everything because she didn't realize how much everything was (or that was included in the previously-catered, barbecue thing we all split earlier, I'm not sure what happened.)

Long story short, all the kids ordered desserts (and some of the wives did, too), and the Boses covered it. Which, you know, Mitch was super thrilled about.

Meanwhile, back outside, we grabbed ourselves some walk-around beers and set off on our cold lap around the baseball diamond.

While we were paused to check something out, the wives snapped a few pics of us from up in the stands outside our private box.

The Big Five

Baseball also happened this evening, as you can see here.

Making our way around the rape-y area of the perimeter, behind the large wall in the outfield.

Coming back into the stadium from the opposite side of the diamond, tour walk concluded.

The OG offspring: Ella, Abby, Cannonball, Sophie and Jackson.

(Kris got one, too.)

(Not sure what's happening here.)

Back inside the suite, the wives were all hunkered down where it was warm.

They wanted a group pic at one point, and had Audrey do the honors.

Bunch of old skanks.

A couple moments later, Erik was able to get a pic of the Jumbotron (or whatever it's called) when it panned up to the wives all standing around and dancing.

Back inside the suite, keeping warm and watching baseball on the TV (like God intended.)

Got a couples pic out on ledge while the light was still decent.

. . . as well as one with the girls.

Trying to make it up onto the Jumbotron again. . .

A group pic of the Fab Five (sans children.)

When the stadium took the time to welcome all the visiting groups this evening, Erik made sure to submit our group's official name (The Kings of the Hill, feat. Their Wives would've been more accurate, but still. . .)

The kids took off before the end of the game, and we weren't far behind them (the Loons were getting the shit kicked out of them and the stadium stops selling booze in the 7th or 8th inning, something like that), so we all headed home while the game was still going. The plan was to after-party over at the Colliers' place, so after Kris and I got home, I texted Erik to see if folks were over there yet, and he responded with this pic.

While we were hanging out with the adults over at the Colliers', Alayna and the rest of the OG Kids went up to Taco Bell to hang out for a bit.

Some folks engaged in a game of Euchre, but I wasn't quite up for cards this evening (I'm down with that from time to time, sure, but cards isn't my favorite thing in the world.)

Some asshole snapped a pic of me in my Readers, whittling down and touching up the pics that I just shared with you here. Productive as always.

- Brian

Return of the Shepherds

What's up, gang.

Happy Veteran's Day. . . I guess.  We're not doing anything to commemorate this 'holiday' per se - because I refuse to thank the military for their service unless they're defending us from a serious threat, which they haven't done since. . . oh. . . World War II.  We did, however, end up doing something completely unrelated this evening.

Our old friends, the Shepherds, recently returned to Midland to visit family, something they do once or twice a year, perhaps.  The Shepherds were once one of the ten or eleven families that were part of this friend group of ours, but moved out to New Jersey in 2019 when Pete landed a sweet promotion with his company. So, accordingly, whenever they pop back into our neck of the woods our group makes an effort to hang out with them.

This evening, they rented out an entire private VIP room at Valley Lanes - an entertainment venue across town with a bowling alley, arcade, laser tag, bar/restaurant, etc. - and hosted all of us (they are, well, pretty rich now.)  Five of the families were able to make it out for the evening - coincidentally, the Inner Five families, if you will - and we spent the night feasting, drinking cheap beer, and watching the kids bowl while catching up with our long-lost New Jersey compatriots.

Check it out. . .

We placed all of our food orders around 6pm - several pizzas, appetizers, wings, etc. - but it took quite awhile for it all to come out (they were pretty short-staffed.)

Abby, mid-flight

There were a few other families there that none of us knew - friends of theirs from Mt. Pleasant (both Andrea and Pete are CMU alums), so we didn't get to hang out with them as much as we would've liked, so our group just kinda hung out as usual.

The wives, cluckin' away as usual - Danielle, Kris, Mees, Kelli, and Courtney.

The dads just stood around in a circle and drank multiple pitchers of Miller Lite - par for the course with this group.

The pizza arrives, and the Cannonball wastes no time in loading up the first of many plates.

Wouldn't be a hang-out with this group without attempting to get multiple group pictures. . . 

The moms with Andrea. . .

. . . and one with one of Andrea's friends (not sure who that is.)

The Dads, feat. Pete.

After a few hours at Valley Lanes, we said goodbye to the Shepherds and, wanting to hang out some more, headed back to the Collier residence to have a few drinks.

Moms holding court at the kitchen table, as usual

We ended up having a wives vs. husbands game of Mind the Gap - a multi-generational, trivia game we've played in the past, and one that we dudes always dominate.

This game wasn't even close - Erik and I are pretty much unstoppable when it comes to trivia, so it came as no surprise that we absolutely slaughtered the womenfolk once again.  So ends another fun evening with our local squad.

- Brian