Borthers Assembled, Pt. IV

(contd.)

Day III.5

"Barely Any Pictures Because Brian Hough Wasn't There and No One in the Family Takes Pictures Besides Him"

The title says it all, folks - when I'm not around, nobody bothers to take pictures, so this '3.5' segment is just a mini-installment that not-at-all chronicles the day I was away in the woods camping with my high school buddies. That morning, as I was preparing to leave, the parents requested some sibling pictures on the back deck. Here are the original Hough Brothers (in order from oldest to youngest, naturally.)

Chelsey and Bryan, getting a couple pic in the meantime.

The Borthers.

Chris had shown up in the morning, right before I left, for a day visit (without his family - Mom was watching his kids and Nicole was taking a personal day back in Midland.) Jeff and Carissa left a little later on in the morning than I, giving Kinsely time for one more dip in the lake with her cousin, Abby.

Abby does her damnedest to say cooled off in the oppressive Saturday heat.

The girls 'bobbed' in the lake for a bit today in order to cool off (bobbing being the term for buckling a life vest upside down and using the arm holes for your legs, kinda like a giant, buoyant diaper.)

Kris, Chelsey, Bryan and Chris eventually bobbed for a bit, too. I have no frickin' clue what happened the rest of that day because, like I said before, nobody took any pictures of it at all. This family would be royally f***ed if I ever passed away.

Day IV

"Ashes to Ashes"

Upon my return back to the lake following my camping trip, most everyone had gone home. Kris and the girls had returned to Midland the evening before, and my brothers Chris and Jeff had taken off as well. The Whites, who had left Saturday morning before I had for one of Jax's baseball games, were slotted to return to the lake in the afternoon, however, but in the meantime Bryan, Chelsey, the parents and I had a couple hours to kill. We decided to knock out some of the mandatory tasks that were on our weekend 'To-Do' list first, such as driving Rachel's jet ski over to the boat launch (I got it on the first try, thank you very much) and moving it over to the pole barn. With that out of the way, we set about scattering Larry's ashes around the lake, per his final request: he wanted his nephews to scatter his ashes at certain parts of the lake, and in specific ways. For example, Bryan was to dump part of Larry's ashes while driving a jet ski.

Took a couple attempts at this, because he was going against the natural flow of lake traffic (due to the direction the wind was blowing), and had to wait for a spot to clear up in order to drive in front of our dock (where I was filming and taking pics.)

Next up, was the Sandbar, so we packed a cooler and I grabbed a couple of lime-laden Landsharks to accompany Larry's ashes (shown here in one of the little plastic containers we were all given.)

The Sandbar. Pretty dead for a Sunday.

Yours Truly was tasked with scattering his ashes on the Sandbar, so we decided to do it on the Waite family's side of the 'beach,' as it'd be more appropriate. FYI, the amount of pebbles and rocks on this side of the Sandbar make it extremely painful to walk through here, so he better be appreciative. . .

With the ashes scattered, we kinda hung out for twenty or so minutes and enjoyed a drink in the sun, since we were there anyway.

Dad and Cindy

Chelsey and two Brians.

Bryan and Finley

Heading back to the lakehouse. Mission accomplished.

About an hour or two after we had knocked everything off our To-Do List, the Whites finally showed up. Immediately, it was decided we should take Brian's boat out around the lake for an adult cruise.

Bryan, Jill and Chelsey head to the boat.

Weather was absolutely gorgeous today - perfect lake weather.

Bryan demands a pause on the cruise around the lake so that he can cool off. . .

Man overboard.

Back on dry land, we set about getting dinner around. Well, I say 'we' but I, as usual, didn't help out at all.

Burgers were on the menu for this final dinner up at the lake.

I hate how much burgers flare up with their grease always catching on fire - can't stand grilling these at home.

Jax didn't want a burger, so he decided to eat. . . whatever the hell this is. . . for dinner instead.

Almost done.

More backyard sports as the sun begins to set after dinner.

Before the sunset, we needed to have Brian White scatter his Larry Ashes at the pre-determined spot of the lake while there was still some light out.

Another bad-ass Eight Point sunset.

More pics with this dog.

Brian was supposed to scatter his ashes in front of the old cottage we used to rent out (2002 - 2019.) As you can see in the video, it didn't quite go as planned. . . 

Instead of doing what Bryan and I did - scattered them low to the water, like any normal person would - Brian White threw them up into the air, where a breeze quickly blew them straight into Dad.

He realized he had messed up pretty damn fast.

It was frickin' hilarious, and Larry would've loved it.

There were so many ashes on the windshield of the pontoon that Bryan was able to write 'Larry' on it.

One last sunset over Eight Point Lake. . .

Priming the last fire of the week.

Like Friday night, we hung out here for hours, and slowly, over time, folks wandered off to bed.

(FYI - these are the Govee LED smart lights I got Dad for Christmas, if you'll recall. They work awesome, I have them everywhere in my house, I swear by this brand.)

In your face, Jill.

- Brian

Eight Point Lake, Pt. V

Hi guys.

Well, as you'll recall, it hasn't been all that long since we were last up here at Eight Point Lake - about ten days ago, actually - but we had made it a priority to come up here more frequently this summer than in previous years, something we had decided alongside the Whites around Memorial Day.  I mean, if it's sunny and in the 80s anyway, why wouldn't you want to be out on the water?

Anyway, another big motivator in getting our asses back up here this weekend was that my step-brother, Bryan, and his long-term girlfriend, Chelsey, are in town for a bit, having driven up from Nashville earlier in the week.  Since they only come up to Michigan, like, once every year or two, you kinda have to make an effort to see them while they're up.

This weekend was basically more of the same sorta shit you read about from the Fourth of July.  The kids tubed, us adults enjoyed drinking and tanning on the raft, the weather was great (not as great as last time, we did get some rain this time around), we got some evening pontoon cruises logged, and we ate awesome food all weekend long.  Only downside was the jet ski was out of commission - Bryan Rowley (of course it was Bryan Rowley) broke it a couple days before we showed up.

Oh well.

So here we go with another installment of Lake Life '22, folks - enjoy. . .

We had rolled in around 11am, and quickly threw on suits, slathered ourselves in sunscreen, and hit the water.  Brian and Bryan had been nice enough to inflate our raft for us so we didn't have to worry about it when we showed up, so after having a couple drinks and catching up with everyone, Brian offered to take the kids for some tubing around the lake.

Bradley and his girlfriend, Savannah, have a turn on the tube.

At one point, they hit some serious waves and Savannah went flying off.  Bradley managed to hang out but smacked his face on the tube hard enough for his nose to start bleeding all over the damn place.  If it was a younger kid, it would've freaked us out a bit, but when the kid's like 16 it's pretty hilarious.

Ava and Abby have a go on the tube. . .

Drying off and getting some snacks after the boating excursion. . .

Bryan and Brian throw some racks of ribs on the smoker - they'd be slow-cooking out here for hours.

Playing some catch in the backyard

Dad takes a break from watching TV to check his phone.

After some lunch, the adults and kids all wanted to go bobbing in the lake (using a life jacket almost like a giant, floating diaper.) 

Copper and Brian

Alayna and Ava

Watson.  Not a fan of the water.

Hanging out with Nana on the raft.

Dad and I took the pontoon on a short, little classic rock cruise around the lake while everyone was bobbing in the lake.

Coming back in to port. . .

(We need better kayaks up here - these ones are death traps, and are bound to wind up at the bottom of the lake one of these visits.)

The kids drinking pops because they can't drink hard seltzers.  Raisin' 'em right.

More snacking in the kitchen, following the bobbing session.

I'm not a huge fan of them being this far out from the dock - on weekends there are all sorts of drunken, college-aged idiots zipping around on jet skis.  Someone's going to f***ing die up here one of these days.

Samson, being the smallest and youngest dog up here, is usually the target of canine bullying, so he hides under chairs like this frequently.  Dude needs to grow a pair.

Meat off the grill at long last. . .

Chow time.  This food was beyond amazing.

Kids at the bar

After dinner, the Cannonball helps her friend with an earring.

Bryan on the uke (don't remember if he traveled up with this or else used one of the ones hanging upstairs.)

Tossing Jill yet another seltzer.  #lakelife

A rare - but much-appreciated - adults-only sunset cruise around the lake.

My wife is weird.

Brians.

Kris is really into whatever the hell she's showing Jill and Chelsey here.

Some top-grade sunset pics here, folks.  I'm like a black belt with this shit.

Kris takes a selfie.  I don't get the fascination with selfies, the person holding the camera always looks weird, regardless of how they hold their head.

Managed to jump over the gate and grab this ball that was floating by.  Can't pass up free balls, guys.

Another awesome cruise in the books.

Had a bit of a packed house this weekend - the Whites were uncharacteristically staying the night, seeing how Bryan and Chelsey were in town - so they had taken over the basement with their family.  As such, Alayna and Ava would be using this pull-out couch in the sun room (or whatever the hell we're calling that room) and Abby would be crashing in the pull-out couch in the upstairs landing.  First time I think we've had to mess with those, but desperate times call for desperate measures.  Stay tuned for the next thrilling installment. . .

- Brian