Afterglow 2005 - Day 6
James had yet to swim in the lake, which Tim and I thought was absolutely ridiculous. After all, we make it a point of swimming every day, as I can't help but repeating. James did join his brothers in the hot tub though.
It soon came time for the grand Kurutz/Reck dinner. We grill up every kind of meat, assemble many casseroles and salads, and as many deserts as we can eat. There's always plenty of food, and my cousin Brian ate alone on the dock.
My Mom ate alone too, on the picnic table, but for a different reason than Brian did. Brian did it because he wanted to be goofy, but my Mom did it because it was less crowded than the inside and because the weather had finally cleared up.
After dinner, Tommy and I headed up to the tennis courts to watch Brian get humiliated by Mark in a game of tennis. We thought that it would be great because Mark has a good 1 foot advantage on Brian. This will be hilarious.
I took this opportunity to make a crazy face. I don't really know why I did it, but it just kind if felt right at the time. I almost look like a pirate, though on this day, this pirate was without his signature eye patch and shoulder parrot.
Kevin was prowling about in the woods, and emerged just in time to stop this tree from falling and causing permanent damage to Afterglow Lake Resort and its inhabitants. For his bravery, he was awarded the Hero of the Week award
Despite Mark's obvious advantages, this was actually a pretty balanced match between him and Brian. Despite his demure physical size, Brian is an exceptional athlete and posses more heart than any kid I know. He plays for his high school's football team and is also on the wrestling team. I don't know who won this match, but it was sure fun to watch.
We went to the casino after the awards and video presentation. There's not much to say about the video/awards because none of us featured prominently in it because we don't participate in the events that receive awards and get taped. We have effectively passed that torch on to a new generation of Afterglow youngsters. The old generation spends their vacation week playing "big kid" games at the casino. Thursday is the night when all of the adults go, and Tim and I ended up doing quite well, as you can see from the picture. And we did it all on slot machines, which operate purely on chance. Playing a combination of penny, quarter and dollar slots, we amassed a small fortune between the two of us.
In the picture above, it looks like we won a lot of money. While it is true that we won a lot that night, that money brought us back to even for the week or just a little ahead. Not too bad for 5 days of casino fun if you ask me. It's hard to believe that we were able to go for that many days and not come home with holes in our pockets. I guess that we wouldn't have continued to go had we lost money during the week. Tim had a great time there, because it was his first time gambling (remember that you only need to be 18 to gamble in the state of Michigan) and he had yet to learn of the hardships of loosing money time after time in casinos. I love the Watersmeet casino because I've always done well there. As long as I continue to enjoy my time spent at the Watersmeet casino, I'll keep on going back year after year.