Our special friends Scott, Amy and Blake Hossack made their second annual pilgrimage from Canada to Lake Orion today. We taught with them in Shanghai and love them to bits. When my mom and sister visited us in Shanghai, they also got to know the fabulous Hossack family, so they joined us for a little lakeside reunion.
The Hossacks came to Michigan last summer and spent Christmas with us in Laos, so we had planned to return the favor before leaving for New Delhi. Unfortunately, I still don’t have my passport back from the Indian consulate, which means I can’t cross the border into Canada. Drat!
Despite the heat advisory, we did the usual stuff: fed the fish, waded in the lake, floated around on the raft, and took the paddle boat out for a spin. Such a nice day with such wonderful people!
The boys head out on the paddle boat.
Kate and the kids throw bread to the fish and try to attract some ducks.
Cooling off with freezy pops.
Blake and Paul play basketball with the fishnet.
Group hug!
Tony falls asleep while watching a show with Blake.
My little nephews love to swim – at my parents’ pool or at our lake. Nico wears his swim mask in and out of the water. And Paul, who will be 3 in September, has started tossing off his floaties to get serious in the water. Summer vacation … ahhhhh!
Kate made a surprise appearance modeling our mom’s water aerobics gear.
As an oldest child with admitted control issues and a progressively worsening case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, I am a list-making, plan-following organizer who is not a big fan of spontaneity. However, sometimes when the rest of the world goes off-script, it turns out better than expected. Our Fourth of July celebration at Lake Orion (which actually took place on the Second of July) was one of those times.
We had invited the usual motley crew – my family and a few family friends. We had the awesome Deluxe Screened Gazebo filled with lawnchairs, beach towels, and lake toys. We had purchased a button-popping amount of food and drinks. I had spent hours chopping for my gargantuan veggie platter. I had picked up a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting from Kroger’s (my most missed snack when I’m overseas) with frosting-inscribed birthday wishes for America. As the day progressed, the kayak and paddle boat were getting a good workout, and the brats were on the grill. All was going according to the usual July 4th agenda.
John poses next to my beautiful veggie platter.
The men fire up the grill.
Nico and Mike fish from the dock.
Britt takes Paul out for a ride.
Suddenly, the sky went dark and a bit green. Surely it was about to rain. Should we take down the Deluxe Screened Gazebo? Nah, said my dad. My brother-in-law, John, swore he didn’t mind grilling in the rain. Cool.
Next thing we knew, marble-sized hail rained down with gale-force winds, pelting everyone and filling the Deluxe Screened Gazebo’s roof with ice balls until a plastic joint cracked into pieces, and the whole lovely thing collapsed in a heap. While we ladies watched from the dry dining room, our brave men salvaged our belongings and frolicked in the hail. John even continued tending to our dinner, risking a concussion.
Check out the video!
Our lakeside picnic moved indoors, but just as we sat down to eat, our power went out. This was status quo for us in Laos, but we weren’t as prepared for an electricity-free evening in America. We lit our few candles, but I scooped out cake and ice cream in virtual darkness.
The storm passed in about an hour, but our power didn’t return until around 1 a.m.
Paul picks up all the hail.
Eventually, we paraded to the lakefront to watch the fireworks show, but it also fizzled. According to the gossip mill, (a) one of the barges caught fire and a technician was badly injured, or (b) the power outage precluded setting off the cannons. A fireworks do-over is scheduled for tonight.
We had planned a sleep-over with my sisters, their hubbies and the nephews, but nobody seemed excited about staying with no power, so they all traipsed back to my parents’ house. It was too dark to clean up, and I didn’t want to keep opening the fridge to put away our few leftovers, so Tony and I just crashed on our basement sofa-bed (where the temperature was about 30 degrees cooler than upstairs).
When we got up the next morning, we walked drop-jawed into the kitchen. It looked like a bear had ransacked the place overnight. Cauliflower left on the countertop had stunk up the entire house. Frosting coated my toaster and coffee maker. Chip dip caked the kitchen island and chairs. Piles of sopping wet towels dotted the floor among scattered leaves, sticks and dirt tracked in during the storm. You would have thought we had a kegger frat party instead of a family gathering with mostly 40-to-60-somethings. There was nothing to do but laugh and clean.
Although I’m sad about the Deluxe Screened Gazebo’s demise, I have to admit the storm added a fun twist to an otherwise run-of-the-mill Fourth of July celebration.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905, making an observation about the development of human intelligence.
“Didja hear about those dumb**s newcomers on Bellevue Island who lit their flares too early?” – everyone at Lake Orion, Michigan, July 2010, referring to our bungling of the Flare Night tradition. (See details at https://www.dentsadventure.com/?p=1358)
July 1st was Flare Night. We were determined to do it up right this year. I even insisted on buying an awesome Deluxe Screened Gazebo,” which Tony and I erected early in the day. Piece of cake.
Yeah, Tony did most of the work.
The Deluxe Screened Gazebo was a big hit!
Our neighbors, Kim and David, have property that juts out into the water with perfect views of the red lakerimeter glow, so they throw a big Flare Night party every year. Their home dates to 1901 and captures the spirit of Americana we feel on this Independence Day weekend.
Kim’s Kandy Store was the highlight of the night for the kids.
The rest of us didn’t get the memo about wearing lime green polo shirts. Our neighbor Mark and my dad (right) apparently did.
Unlike last year, we waited until 10 p.m. to light our flares. We had a good condescending laugh at some new residents across the cove whose flares blazed crimson in premature isolation. Dummies. (It’s so nice not to be THOSE people for once.)
John and Tony light our flares.
The view from our front porch.
We popped back over to the neighbor’s peninsula for a quick look at the rest of the lake, but we loved our own little spot so much that we settled back into the Deluxe Screened Gazebo till the sparkling flares burned out.
I’m sorry, but that’s the way I feel about them. Sure, they look like lots of fun. But then you pedal your little legs off out to the middle of the lake and then realize, oh right, you have to pedal BACK TO LAND. But your calves have turned to jell-o and you are about to have a heat stroke and a speedboat just zipped by creating a wake that nearly overturned your lame boat, and now no matter how hard you pedal you just catch air ’cause your boat is still getting whipped around by the waves and the paddle is more often than not NOT in the water.
So imagine my surprise when I returned to America this summer to find my mother had bought – you guessed it – a paddle boat!
Our home’s former owner, Janelle, visited last night and howled with nostalgia over the paddle boat. “Oh my Gawwwwd! We used to have so much fun in our paddle boat!” she screamed. “We’d paddle out with a few beers, me and my girlfriend, and then we’d get stuck out there and have to get towed back. And then they’d tow us too fast and we’d start to go under! It was greeeeeeaaat!”
I’m sure that was rad back in the early 80s, but it’s not the same when you’re no longer 16.
However, being the open-minded person that I am, I allowed my sisters (paddle boat defenders) to take me out for a little cruise. Beer-in-hand, I rode in back with Nico. I’m not too proud to say it was a splashin’ good time.
The nephews get excited at the prospect of a paddle boat ride.
Big strong John dumps the boat into the lake.
A swan family laughs at us.
The crew prepares to launch.
We have a little trouble getting out to sea.
Our lightning-esque speed made it tough for John to catch this shot.
How can you NOT like a boat that makes this boy so happy?
Hanging out on the porch with my sister and Nico, I heard the distant tinkling tune of the neighborhood ice-cream truck.
“Do you know what that is?” I asked my nephew.
“It’s a ice-cweam man,” Nico said.
Then Katy told me the poor kid had NEVER bought a treat from the ice-cream man! We had to remedy that.
We waited at the curb till the truck approached. Nico waved at the driver and jumped up and down with excitement. When the truck stopped, I realized the driver was talking on a cell phone and steering with a cigarette between his fingers. Nice.
Katy, Nico and I checked out the pictures on the side of the truck and debated which ones to buy. Nico and I both chose Bomb Pops, which were significantly bigger than those of my youth.
After six wonderful weeks in our beautiful little house, we spent the last two days traveling back to Laos. Although we return to work on Wednesday, I have decided to remain in a state of denial. So I’ll just post a few more pics from our summer break.
On one of our last days at the lake, Nico played in the sprinkler while his little brother napped. The lure of the sprinkler was too great; he couldn’t be bothered with putting on a swimsuit, so he jumped and splashed in his Fruit ‘O’ the Looms.
Nico has very big muscles because he eats so much watermelon.
I can’t believe I didn’t post about our visit from the Hossacks! It was a highlight of the summer. Duh.
Scott, Amy and Blake drove from Canada to spend the day with us here at the lake. For some reason, I didn’t think to grab my camera till they were almost ready to leave, so I don’t have any shots of the grown-ups. Fortunately, Amy was not such a forgetful dork, so you can see more about their visit at her blog: Hossacks Three.
We worked with the Hossacks in China and became great friends. Seeing them felt totally comfy and normal with only a few differences:
(1) Scott used to chug gallons of Coca Cola every day, so I stocked up for him. Who knew he was on the wagon? Now he’s all Mr. Fitness Healthy Man. I guess Amy was his inspiration. And that brings me to …
(2) Amy has slimmed down and powered up. She participated in two triathlons this summer. I’m so proud of her!
(3) Blake is bigger, but just as cute and smiley as ever. I adore him!
Blake and my nephews had fun rolling around the tent and playing on the shore.
I miss these guys so much, but I am thrilled that we now have houses just across the border from each other. Another reason to look forward to summer!
