Puck, Poms, and Sleds

What's up, folks.

We had ourselves a pretty busy weekend 'round these parts.  One of those weekends where every day and evening was slotted with some kind of house or social activity.  Makes for a good time, for sure, but not necessarily a relaxing weekend; nobody was ready to head back into work on Monday morning, I can tell you that much.

I'll skip the lengthy intro this time around and just jump right into things, if that's cool.

Check it out. . .

Friday night we went over to the Colliers house for the typical friend hang-out, which was, as always, a good time.  I didn't bother taking any pictures, because those hangouts all look the same after awhile.  The next morning, Kris and I ran a bunch of errands and took care of business around the house.  In the evening, Erik and I had plans at the Saginaw Ice Arena (or whatever the hell that's called) - the Bay City Scottish Rite had reserved a private viewing/eating area for the hockey game (shown here) for all Masonic brothers in the area, so Erik and I figured we'd go and check it out.

I'm not a hockey fan by any means, so I barely watched the game, and the little bit I did watch I sure as shit couldn't follow.  The Saginaw Spirit, the local team, featured one of my former students on its roster, so that was kinda cool, but aside from that I was pretty 'meh' about the actual game itself.  At halftime (or whatever the hockey equivalent of that is), they had a t-shirt cannon with which they started shooting shirts into the crowd.  It was more like a gatlin gun than a cannon, but you get the idea.

Erik and I, drinking Miller Lite in the patrician section.

The food setup was decent (the meal was included in the $35 we paid to attend this evening's event in the private box) - Jet's pizza, some pretzels and chicken wings, crap like that.  Nothing at all healthy, but once and awhile that's not gonna kill ya.

Shout outs from the Saginaw Ice Arena.

Figuring skating with sticks.

Yes, we deemed it necessary to get our pic taken with this. . . eagle?  Falcon?  I don't know what this is.

All hail the losing team. . .

The next morning, bright and early (much to me and Erik's delight), we gathered up our families and headed back down into Saginaw, this time to SVSU's gymnasium for the 2022 Michigan Pom Association's State Championships.  We showed up about an hour and half early, and Erik and I quickly nabbed ourselves a table and some viewing space at the top of the stands (Kris and Courtney opted to sit down in the stands, which soon became jam-packed with spectators.)  By the time it was a half-hour before the pom competition started, it was pretty obvious that Erik and I had grabbed the best spot in the entire gym, and people were starting to crowd around us.  We sat Alayna and Sophie (the Larson kid, who came along with us) at the table behind us so they didn't have to stand the whole time, and blocked off about a six-foot section right up against the railing, which gave us a perfect vantage point for video and pics.

The pop, pretzel, and shitty hot dog came to about $10.  Overpriced garbage, right there.

Ready to take the 'stage.'

The Northeast Pom Team - they did the same routine that they did back when they performed at Northville towards the end of the month, but this time they had tightened the screws a bit and were much more polished.

A much better performance this time around.

"Getcho hands durrty. . ." (if you count it, Abby is sixth from the right, about center of the pic.)

Northeast was the fourth team to perform, and after all the Middle School squads had finished their routines (including my school, White Pine, who are considered the best in the state), Erik and I surrendered our VIP vantage point, gathered up Alayna and Sophie, and drove out to pick up McDonalds for the wives and Abby.  About an hour later, we shuffled back into the gym - this time just along the side, as the competitions were over and the kids were just all hanging around waiting for the results to come in from the judges.

All the pom squads, sitting around in little circles, had to hang out for about twenty minutes while the judges tallied up their scores.

The Northeast team, sorta-patiently awaiting the results.

You could totally see me in the background of this picture if that red basketball hoop obstruction wasn't standing in the way.

Once everything was tallied, Northeast ended up getting 5th Place, which is the best they've ever done at the State Level (my school, White Pine, ended up taking 1st Place, like they have the last few years.)

One last shot of the team before we all headed home.

We got home in the late afternoon, and I was pretty funned out with being out of the house all weekend.  Kris and Courtney, because they're both absolutely insane, decided they had one more outing in them and volunteered to take Abby, Ella and Sophie sledding out at Midland City Forest.

So I guess some other family that was up there had to leave unexpectedly, and ended up giving Kris and Courtney their toboggan tickets for the track they have out there, which the girls were pretty pumped about.

Flying down the track.

So there you have it, folks - the end of an absolutely insane weekend with the Houghs.  See ya next time. . .

- Brian

Closing Out '21

Hi Internet.

So here we are at the End of 2021, with one last month of random pictures and videos to share.  December, of course, is dominate by the Holidays, and as such most of the big events from this month have their own, individual blog posts.  The rest of the month is obviously still Holiday-themed as well, but features some of the lesser-important, day-to-day crap that occupied our time in the weeks and weekends leading up to Christmas.

And, with that being said, here's your usual random documentation of crap around our house in this last month of 2021.

Behold . . .

The Midland County Courthouse, all festively done up for the Holidays.  I snapped this pic while walking to the Larkin Building downtown for our monthly Lodge meeting the first Thursday of the month (I had to park all the way down at Kris' Church - First United Methodist Church - because all of downtown was shut down for some big Holiday event they were hosting.)

Some pics from Alayna's phone, featuring her friend, Ava.

(Kids are weird.)

The first weekend of the month our friends the Colliers hosted one of their infamous Euchre Tournaments.  They have six tables going at a time, with a spreadsheet that automatically shuffles players between each round.  Points are allocated by successful hands per game - two rounds per player - and then totalled over the course of the entire tournament.  He had a TV rigged to his computer atop the refrigerator in his kitchen so folks could see the current standings between games, as you can see here.

Kris didn't play this year - this was a kid-free event and she ended up going home early, not being a huge fan of euchre herself - but I played this year, ended up 8th place out of about 20 players.  Not enough to win the pot (each player pays $10 to enter, with first place getting $150, second place getting $50, and third getting their money back, and the losing two spots have to sing a karaoke duet.)

Random shot of roommates in the living room.

Trying out another one of my old man cardigans - I'm to the age now where I want to be comfortable at work teaching, and would rather look like an old man and be warm than look cool and freeze my ass off.

Abby, Ella, and Alayna attend a show at the Midland Center for the Arts.

Kris and her co-worker (shown here) got tickets from one of their patients.  I forget which show it was for, but I definitely wasn't interested in attending.

Hanging out in the basement later that night, watching It's a Wonderful Life on the projector.

Abby, passed out.

The next week, Kris took the girls - and a couple of their friends, Ava and Ella - up to the Santa House to help pass out hot chocolate alongside Kris' church.

A non-flying reindeer (I don't think Midland can afford a legit flying one, but I could be wrong.)

Photo op in this non-operable sled thing they have set up nearby.

Caroling with some of the church folk.

The second Saturday of the month, our friends the Bos family hosted their annual Christmas party over at their house.  Alayna wasn't down with dressing festive for the occasion - surprise, surprise - so she offered to take a picture of her family dressed up for the event instead.

Grazing in the Bos kitchen.

Mitch stocked a bar for us, which was mostly utilized by the dads (go figure.)

The womenfolk, as usual, staked claim to the dining room table.

. . .  while us dads stood guard in the kitchen.  Meaning we had to deal with kids coming in and out for snacks.

Mitch has this weird assortment of half-naked men charms that you're supposed to put on the lips of your drink in order to determine which one's yours (like a wine glass charm, or whatever they're called.)  So we entertained ourselves by placing them around the kitchen in weird locations.

Snacks galore.

A handsome gentleman.

Mitch in the kitchen.

Courtney, Kelli, Mees, Kris and Amy.

Ella photobombs a pic of some dads.

As the evening went on, the couples convened around the dining room table for this trivia game we play once and awhile (I forget what it's called.)

Without fail, the winner of these gaming sessions with this particular trivia game is always me or Erik (and then it's usually me, I'm somewhat of a genius.)

Tom gets handsy with Steve.

I attemped making meatloaf one weeknight, the following week.  Kris asked me to do it for her because she had to stay late at work, and I. . . well, I suck at meatloaf, I guess.

On December 22nd, the last day a lot of us dads had to work before beginning the Holiday break, we decided to celebrate by bar-hopping a bit around town.  Our first stop was A Taste of Midland, a Mexican joint that specializing in various margarita options.

A spicy jalapeno margarita.  It was f***ing incredible.

I'm actually not intoxicated here at all, just mid-story yammering on about something.  Erik took this pic to prove to one of our other buddies that I had actually made an appearance coming out on a weeknight (they go out every Thursday night, and I always decline because I don't like going out on weeknights because I have to wake up every morning at 5:30am and then deal with teenagers all damn day.)

A festive stocking gift from one of my team teachers.  Much appreciated.

The wives had a white elephant gift exchange the following night, and - of course - had to document their evening out with yet another group pic.  They do this every, damn time.

Kris and I had originally planned on driving to Clare on the 23rd in order to deliver some furniture to Kris' mom's new apartment, but we were blindsided by a blizzard that morning that made the roads nearly undrivable.  Kris was adamant about still going to Clare, regardless of the road conditions, until we saw an SUV slide off the road in town and up onto someone's yard.  Women are stupid.

Shit conditions in Midland.

I was really hoping this would mean we'd finally have ourselves a legit, white Christmas, but it was forecast to warm up into the lower 40s later on Christmas Eve, so that was a bust.

I was lucky enough to pounce on this aforementioned Hallmark Muppet ornament on Amazon, after over a decade of price-watching it online.  This was the 2010 release, and I didn't end up getting it when it came out originally - a horrible mistake on my part.  In the years that followed, the price of this ornament hovered around $100 on Amazon, but I kept an eye on it regardless.  Then, the third week of the month, some idiot listed it online for $20, and I pounced on it.  Now I own the entire Muppets series except for the 2008 original release, Waldorf and Statler (which I am of course keeping a close eye on.) 

Picked up this Christmas Countdown nutcracker at Target in their seasonal decor section towards the beginning of the month.  They were pretty picked through, so all they had left was a Black option.  At least now no one can visit our house during the Holidays and say the Houghs ain't 'woke.'

Still snowy towards the end of the 23rd. . .

Enjoying some egg nog and some Uno Dare in the Study. . .

The dogs are HUGE fans of the fireplace.

Later that evening, starting another Holiday classic for our seasonal movie night with the kids. . .

Another champagne sample from our 'advent' calendar. . .

Practicing her new bass. . .

Playing some Mortal Kombat on the PS4 in the basement.

Another night, another sample.

And once again - this time after the Christmases had passed and we were in that weird in-between phase between Christmas and New Year's Eve. . .

And yet another night, with yet another sample.

We met up with the Collier's one afternoon for some sledding at Midland City Forest.

Us adults just stood at the base of the hill for a couple hours talking while the kids did multiple runs.  A lot easier that way.

A lazy morning on the couch, on New Year's Eve. . .

While hanging out in the Study, later that afternoon, Watson fell asleep on Alayna's lap like this.  This dog can sleep anywhere.

I'll post a separate post for our New Year's Eve this year, but that's all she wrote for the month of December, folks - see ya in January.

- Brian