Thanksgiving in Scenic F***ing Romulus

Happy Thanksgiving, America.

 As we've done every year since being back in Michigan (with the exception of 2020 and, you know, Covid and all that), we once again spent the holiday down in everyone's favorite town in the State. . . Romulus. Kris' maternal side of the family congregated down at her uncle Wayne's house (like we do every year), and the whole day played out much like it does every year. A lot less extended family on hand this year (due to interpersonal drama between various aunts, work/car issues, whatever), so the  day was pretty chill.

Anyway, I feel like every year I type the same damn thing in the paragraph proceeding each year's Thanksgiving photo dump, so I'm just gonna stop right and here and let you enjoy the pics (and video, courtesy of the girls) that detail how the day went.

See ya next year. . . back in Romulus.

Kris and her mom (who caught a ride with us downstate, like usual) as we pulled into the main, 'downtown' drag of town.

Once again, Kris neglected to stop off at the infamous Landing Strip for a Salisbury steak.

Uncle Wayne's.

When we showed up to Wayne's, the only other people there were Kris' cousin Merry Lynn and her boyfriend - most folks were rolling in within the hour - so the girls just hung out on the couch and took copious amounts of Wayne's horse-size dog, Captain.

We changed up the setup a little bit this year, putting out a table in the living room for additional seating and food. Captain is dangerously tall for having food at this level, and was watching Kris' setup process carefully.

Wouldn't be Thanksgiving without watching the Lions lose. And they were supposed to be halfway decent this year, too. . .

When their cousin, Lily, showed up with her parents, the girls ran across the street and hung out - like they usually do - in the parking lot of this random funeral home. Who knows why this is the cool spot to hang out, but I guess it beats small-talking with relatives.

(Not sure if Alayna is dancing her or having a stroke.)

Coming back across the street back to the house. . .

Gang signs (I assume.)

Merry Lynn and her boyfriend (forget his name. . . again) get cornered into another weird conversation with Kris' aunt, Margie. Once you're roped into one of these it's almost impossible to break free.  Good luck, kids.

Wayne's son, Colton, grilled up corn on one of those Blackstone grills. . .

Wayne took out the turkey in the mid-afternoon, and Yours Truly was once again tasked with carving it up.

Meanwhile, down in the basement, the kids made a series of weird videos on their phones.  As could be expected.

This dog was incredibly patient, but that shit wasn't happening on my watch.

Lily and the Cannonball (and Snapchat.)

Kris' extended family are a bunch of dwarves, most in the 4' 10" - 5' 3" range.

Marcy and Lois (their dad's sister.)

This process takes a bit, but with a beer or three it's manageable.

At one point, while I was cutting turkey and the other folks were laying out dishes on the various serving tables, the girls ran next door to Margie's to check out her basement (they were tasked with looking for the old statue that I had brought back from Ghana for Kris' dad, which disappeared in 2005 when he passed away.)

Unfortunately, they never found it - hopefully it didn't get sold or some shit.

Selfie while hiding in the basement.

While the girls were away next door, Captain got into their food and wasn't courteous enough to bother leaving them anything.

Teenagers and these stupid filters. . . 

This seriously looks like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. . .

Marcy and Kris' cousin, Andy.

Cleaning up at the end of the meal.

And there you go, folks - another Thanksgiving down in Romulus. Not as many folks on hand this time around, but I'm sure that'll change next year - this family's frickin' huge.

- Brian

Double Trouble

You think this is a dude or a chick?

Welcome back to the Houghs, readers.

I gotta tell ya, folks, from a parenting perspective and everything, throwing a combo party for your kids is seriously the only way to go.  I think I'm throwing the girls' combo party for extended family from this point forward, it's soooo much easier than coordinating two different parties that are only separated by three weeks.  And gone are the days of having family and friends about at the same party.  We tried that once for what was, hands down, the girls' biggest party ever - the behemoth combo party of 2016.

Nearly 75 people - family members, the girls' friends, their friends' parents, random neighbors - all stuck under a pavilion at Plymouth Park in the pouring rain.  Kids made out like bandits, for sure, but that was waaay too many bodies in one space.

Abby, Abby's tablet, Grandma, and Louis.

This year, on account of the girls' new trampoline and everything, we're throwing three parties, spaced out just enough to keep us sane.  We already had Abby's party with her friends on May 21st, and we'll have Alayna's with her friends on the 16th of this month.  Smack middle in between the two, we have a combo party with family members on all sides.  Nice and simple, two birds with one stone.  That's how I like it.

Overall, I think it went okay.  As a host, you don't really get to sit down and talk with people very much - I kinda just floated around (with an SLR in hand, taking all these f***ing pictures - surprise, surprise) - but I got to mingle here and there.  The girls had a lot of fun, and that's what counts, I guess.

Anyway, here's how the girls' combo birthday shindig went down.

Enjoy the hell out of these pictures, folks - I didn't get to sit down much on account of 'em. . .

I'm assuming Louis just did something funny.  Maybe he farted.

The only non-family guests in attendance were our stalwart camping friends, Smitty and Rita (at left.)  They had planned on coming up this weekend anyway, before we had even thrown together the idea of a birthday party for the girls, in order to plan our upcoming camping trip in the Upper Peninsula at the end of the month.  We're all big fans of collaborative strategizing.

Grandpa Chinery made it out, as did Uncle Jeff (sans any members of his family, due to conflicting schedules or something.)

Bradley asks the boys if he can play with the Noah's Ark set.

In the background, the girls open up Uncle Chris and Aunt Nicole's combo present - a cornhole set for the backyard.

Louis.

The Cannonball.

At least the weather held up - a lot of folks stayed out back and enjoyed our park-like grounds (and Chris' personal cornhole set.)

Jax, you're doing it wrong.

Papa and Grandma Jordan.

Blake came out after awhile and promptly began pissing off his brother.

Grandpa and Papa John mostly hung out on the back patio as well.  Too nice out not to (though I can't wait until we screen this whole thing in, about two years from now or so.)

Abby demands competition out back. . .

A rare moment of cousinly quietness.

Cake time.  As you can see, Kris really put her heart and soul into this year's cake for the girls.

Digging into the sugar

Nana was nice enough to give Kris a hand in the distribution of junk food.

Some neglected healthier options.  Kinda hard to compete with cake and ice cream.

The twins staked out the living room early on.

Hanging out in my Study (and breaking a cardinal house rule by eating over my rug, but hey - have to be civil with the in-laws and all that.)

Digging into presents (Smitty and Rita gave them some camping lights, and stuffed the rest of their gift bags with tons of small bags of Doritos (the girls are notorious for eating all of Smitty and Rita's Doritos whenever we go camping.)

Jax and Papa John give Watson a rub down. . . not that he's an attention whore or anything.

This is a super random assortment of people if I've ever seen one.

Grandma Jordan and her glitter-filled envelopes strikes again. . . all over our living room rug.

. . . but the girls were fine with it so long as their was cash inside.

Some drawstring bags, clothes and accessories from Aunt Jill and fam.

(Jill always does an awesome job with this, as it's probably one of the only time she gets to shop for girls, seeing how she has three boys and everything.)

Grandma and Papa John bought the girls a membership in the Midland Gymnastics Center, where they'll start taking classes starting on the 13th.  Alayna probably won't stick with it long, but Abby's practically born for this sort of thing, and has been asking to take lessons for quite awhile now.

Abby didn't understand what the piece of paper was when she opened the present, so Kris had to kinda break shit down for her. . .

. . . with some gymnastic outfits thrown in for good measure.

Folks started to leave shortly after presents were opened, about two hours into the party.  After awhile, the only folks who remained was Chris and his family, and Smitty and Rita.

Who knows why the dog's so pissed off, here.  Maybe he wasn't served cake and ice cream, I don't know.

Abby, funned out with all the noise and commotion of the party, retreats into her tablet to play a gymnastics game that she's obsessed with (a shocker, I know.)

Alayna blows Smitty's mind.

After Chris, Nicole and their dynamic duo left for home, the four of us spent the next few hours planning out our upcoming camping trip in the far reaches of Northern Michigan.  I'm sure I'll have more than enough tales - and pictures - to share with you in the coming posts.  Stay tuned.

- Brian