A Half-Assed Attempt at Reunion

Hey gang.

You guys remember last year when my mom took the girls up to the Community of Christ Campgrounds in Sanford for Reunion?  She had them for, like, four or five days, and they got to camp out in Mom's pop-up camper and run around the grounds, just like my brothers and I did every summer for the duration of my childhood.

Abby's about as bad as her mom when it comes to selfies. . .

Well, this year, Mom once again extended the offer to host the girls up at Reunion, and once again Kris and I were totally supportive.  The girls get a week of camping out and running around the quasi-outdoors with kids their own age, in a positive enriching environment that's loaded with kid-friendly activities and three healthy meals a day.  Kris and I get a week off of parenting.  Everybody wins.

(Each kid brought their own cameras again this year.)

Alas, this year didn't go as smoothly as last year.  Abby only made it two days before she started asking Mom if she could go home.  Alayna had made a couple friends, and Abby - although their were plenty of kids there her own age - only wanted to hang out with her sister and the older crowd.  When she was ignored and ultimately rebuked in these efforts, she unleashed her Hough temper and Hulked out on all those around her. 

The bickering sister thing, while old news to Kris and I, is relatively new to my mom, who raised three boys.  It takes some definite getting used to, I guess, 'cause I don't think Mom could've packed up Abby's things fast enough.  I ended up picking Abby up late in the morning of Day 3, and picked up Alayna the following evening.

Good times.

Anyway, here's a quick look at this year's briefer-than-usual Reunion. . .
 

Can you tell Dad is excited to ship his kids off to camp for a week?

The kid looks possessed.

Their friend from last year - I forget her name - was a frequent visitor to the camper.  They hung out with her most of the time.

They took a lot of poorly-framed pictures like this, too.  Seriously - how hard is it to take four steps to the left to photograph the tent without the f***ing tree blocking your view?

Grandma, working on church stuff.  As usual.

Again, Photography 101.  If the kid wanted to photograph the shower house, they should have walked a little closer to the building.  Perhaps shot it from a 45 degree angle, I don't know.  I need to have a sit-down with my children, this sorta shit is unacceptable.

Seriously - what the hell is going on here?

This kid had a hand-me-down iPhone, and happens to be in Alayna's grade.  You can imagine how fervently the Cannonball pushed the phone thing when we picked her up.

Abby recorded a ten-minute Fingerling production on her camera.  It's the creepiest thing I've ever seen.

Hanging out in one of the quonset huts while Grandma sets up her class stuff.

Dueling cameras.

The girls created a skit with their friend - completely on their own, without prompting - and performed it at the Reunion Talent Show.  They wrote a script, practiced their lines, and then acted it out in front of the audience.  I'm pissed no one thought to record it, but I heard it was really good.

Decorating bird houses with Grandma during arts and crafts time.  

- Brian

Traverse Smitty, Pt. III

(Contd.)

After our exhausting Forced March up the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, we swung out to some historic 'ghost town' called Glenn Haven.  Kind of a creepy place, really.

Smitty knows tons of hidden gems like this - he'd clean up as a Michigan tour guide, that's for sure.

I guarantee people have been murdered here.  Pretty creepy vibe with this place, and the gloomy weather definitely didn't help.

We had to stop 'cause our two kids had to use the restroom, but the girls room was occupied.  Smitty had offered to take them, so Kris, Abby, Rita and I watched a bizarre scene unfold from the vantage of the van.  Eventually the girls had to all take turns using the men's room, with Smitty standing guard outside.

Smitty had to turn away a few different guys who attempted using the bathroom, including a very, very confused Asian gentleman who barely spoke English and didn't understand why Smitty wasn't letting him use the bathroom.  Definitely hilarious.

Stopping off in Glenn Arbor for some mandatory souvenir shoppin'. . .

Abby and Smitty take a break in the van while the rest of the womenfolk shop.

This town would be a pretty cool place to hang out in - they had a few different outdoor bars that looked cool, but we were still a ways away from Traverse City, and had to start heading back. . .

We spent a half hour snaking around this lake, assumingly back towards Traverse City, only to discover - to our unbridled horror - that we had arrived right back in Glenn Arbor.  Somehow we had taken a long victory lap around the lake, and were unaware of our blunder because we had taken no turns off the road that would indicate we were returning to our point of destination.  It was super bizarre, and we were so shocked that we weren't really upset that we had just spent 45 minutes driving around the lake for nothing.

Trying to get the hell out of Glenn Arbor. . .

Randomly, we drove past this lone man, walking along the side of the road - IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE - carrying a plastic bag with something heavy in it.  We assumed he was a serial killer, and that he was carrying a human head, but we never got around to stopping to ask.

GPS recommended we take this random, one-lane dirt road to get back to Traverse City, so, being the tech-dependent idiots we are, we followed its suggestion. . .

This is how horror movies start. . .

In the end, GPS apparentely did know what it was doing.  After long last, we FINALLY made it back to Traverse City, where we witnessed this regiment of college kids strolling across the street in formation.  No idea who the hell these people were or what they were doing.  By this point in the grand scheme of things, nothing was really surprising us anymore.

More selfies

We had to replenish supplies for our last dinner at camp, so we dropped off Kris and Rita inside Meijer and Smitty and I hung out in the van with the three girls. . . and listened to shit-load of Kidz Bop.  Thug Life.

Dance party in the van.

Back at camp, getting ready to wrestle with yet another stubborn fire.

Again, we didn't have much in the way of kindling, and it was still a pain in the ass to get the fire going, but it didn't take as long this time around, which was cool.

The next morning - kids woke up and scampered outside pretty early.

A dry morning (thank God.)  Everyone up and around, grabbing breakfast (except Smitty, obviously.)

(We're messy campers.)

Photo courtesy of Abby

Another score from my dead grandmother - a handy mini-vac that makes short work of sand and dirt off a tent floor (Kris is a huge fan of cleaning.)

Abby enjoyed documenting the slow process of cleaning and packing up the campsites. . .

Returning from our trash run (it was a bit of a walk to the dumpsters, which were located at the front of the campground, but Smitty and I could use the exercise.)

Alayna breaks out her digital camera (we basically gave her our old Canon Powershot.)

Somewhat cheaper than developing rolls and rolls of film for stupid pictures like this. . .

The girls hung out in the van while we slowly loaded it up with the tent, camping gear, coolers, etc. - they clearly kept themselves entertained with taking ridiculous pictures.

Leaving the campground, heading towards downtown Traverse City for some last-minute shopping and lunch-eating. . .

I made us stop for a coffee first, though - Daddy needs himself some frickin' coffee in the morning.

After finding a parking garage, we set off for some shopping.  They had a ton of artwork hung up on the outside of the buildings downtown - all repros, I'm sure, but they were cool to check out.

Map-readin'

Downtown Traverse City

Some cool-looking old Opera House that we didn't set foot in. . .

We ducked in and out of several different shops.  Kris and I didn't really see much that we wanted to pick up, but Alayna bought a shitty pair of handcuffs and a ring.  Abby ended up saving her money for one of those Beanie Boo animals (see previous post) with the large, glittery eyes.

Fossil shop.  Or whatever the hell you would call this. Medicine Man Emporium?

I don't know about this.  It kinda looks like a rock they pulled out of the lake. . .

This was a big hit. . . for whatever reason.

I need a mug like this in my life.

Our last stop of the day was at Mackinaw Brewing Company, which was some much-needed food.  Everyone was tired and hungry and ready to be done with walking around, and once we had put greasy bar food in our systems we realized we were still exhausted and should probably just load back up into cars and go our respective ways.

We saw this on our way back towards the parking garage - one of the reliefs from the gates of Ishtar, back in the days of the Babylonian Empire.  I kinda want a copy for my living room.

- Fin -