Summer 2013 In Review

Summer is coming to a close and, as usual, it is bittersweet to be returning to India (although we’ve been back for a month and half now).  It is always hard to leave friends and family (and clean air, toilets, and delicious food...) in the good ‘ole US of A.  But, of course, it is great to see all of our friends in India and our cat, Danni.  I really miss her sleeping on my face every night.  Isaac’s hair isn’t even close to as soft!  Sorry, dear.  

As we leave, I decided to write a blog about our summer adventures because as my sister says “Do you EVER write a blog post?”.  YES, Katie, I friggin write!  I just need to be harassed just enough for me to break down and get it done.  So thank you for being just annoying enough.  :)

This summer we had a few great adventures:

1. We visited Greece with Melissa and Jeff!  (See blog posts by Isaac)

2. We came to Texas and did the usual: Ate BBQ and Tex-Mex, talked about Obamacare with conservatives, and “enjoyed” the heat.  It was fun.  :)

Skye loves matching Isaac and Tom!  Seriously, what's up with the red shirts, fellas?  I guess it's because it masks blood stains?  

Nice crotch shot, Matt.

3. Went to Drew and Maki’s wedding in Pennsylvania.  T’was great fun!   We also got to explore Philly with Ben Raily!

This is the only pic we have with Drew and Maki actually in it.  I guess Isaac's career as a wedding photographer will have to be put on hold for a while.  Can you find them?

Is it a boy or a girl?  It's Pat's!  

I got mine with provolone instead of cheez wiz.  Big mistake!  BIG!  HUGE!  (movie reference?)

nuff said

4. Saw Erin Daniels in Boston. It was great to hang out with her for a few days and mooch off of her hospitality. Thanks Erin! She also tolerated me forcing her to go on morning runs AND take jumping pictures:

Haaaavad

Happy Birthday, America!

Don't fly away, Erin.

5. Finally got to see my parent’s new diggs in Madison.  Of course, I have no pictures of the place but it was pretty nice.  Madison’s a great town and we look forward to spending more time there next summer. We also got to meet up with our friends from Korea, Ryan, Jolene and Jayden.

6. Took sailing lessons!  Yes, Isaac and I are now officially sailors!  Feel free to give us any extra sailboats you have lying around.  Preferably something over 20 ft.  :)  See photo evidence of our sailing abilities (or picture posing abilities) below:

7. Visited Milwaukee.  Believe it or not, this was my first time to Milwaukee, despite it only being about 1 ½ hours from Chicago.  It was a pretty cool place.

8. Stayed with Katie in Chicago AND a lake house in Wisconsin.  It was a really great time and I think the most one-on-one time we’ve had in 7 years!

Justin Strickland, super-friend and whatever the opposite of an agoraphobe is came to hang out with us in Chicago for the weekend.

9. Got together with the ENTIRE CURREY FAMILY!  This was the first time in 4 years that all of the Currey bros and spouses got together.  Most public places cannot contain that level of Currey but some bbq place in Fort Worth with dead stuffed bears all over was able to accommodate everyone.  We also learned of Isaac’s brother Joel’s engagement to the amazing Morgan Hester!  I’m so excited to welcome her into the family as she appreciates my sense of humor (mostly involving bodily functions and general inappropriateness).  I can’t wait to make a special unrequested speech at her wedding!  Just kidding, Morgan........kinda.......

10. And finally, the most exciting thing we did this summer was.......go to the doctor!  Yes, it was pretty exciting for us because Isaac and I are going to have a baby.  Yes, we will finally be forced to be somewhat responsible adults.  Yes, Dad, REALLY.  

We will post pictures of our journey (and my growth) along the way.  Please feel free to disregard these posts if you get annoyed at looking at strategically placed nude pregnant pictures of Isaac and I like:

And now here are some pics of Danni in her new fave sleeping spot and in a onesie: (yes I need help)

The Texas Friends Shout-out Blog

Texas, our Texas, all hail the mighty state.

Texas, our Texas, so wonderful so great.

We leave for India tomorrow, but I wanted to get one final blog in before we leave the good 'ol US of A.

The last two and a half weeks were spent in the great state of Texas.  The 2011 Tour de Texas took us to Austin and Houston.  Our schedule was full of family and friends.

I started the Texas Summer off right by heading over to Sauced Wings to meet with college roomies Adam and Phillip, and (non-roommate but friend and new dad) Jordan.

Adam is the owner of Sauced.  If you live in Plano and haven't made it there, you are really missing out.  Easily the best wings in DFW.  My second favorite part of eating there is the roommate discount (favorite part is the boneless wings).  Phillip made a seven hour round trip just to see us, and Jordan left his uber-pregnant wife for a few minutes.  She gave birth to a Larkin Brazeal a few days later.  I would post a picture, but all babies look the same to me...is that racist?

Becky arrived a few days after me (from a wedding in Michigan).  For the second year, we stayed in the Chateau de Adam y Kimber.  (If you are counting, that is second and third different language word used in this blog...uber, chateau and y).

Becky and Kimber.

No trip to Texas would be complete without taking in some American League champion Texas Rangers baseball.  Thanks to Justin Strickland for the use of his season tickets. If you are a blog follower, you might have noticed that we used Justin's Yankee season tickets as well.  Conflict of interests...absolutely.

My brother Joel is living in College Station while going to school, but he made the drive to DFW to see us.

 Becky celebrated her first ever 'over 100' game!  I celebrated victory with three games in the 140's.  Mostly, we had a great time with Joel and my mom.


     

No time for rest when you are only in the state for two weeks.  We met our friends Tim and Mary Katherine for a delicious home cooked meal and then the next day at Lone Star Park for the last day of live horse racing.

Heck yeah that is a cowboy hat.  This comment was only for non-Texans.

Don Juan's, local Grand Prairie cuisine.

We left right after the races for Austin.  We stayed with our friend Ben and met another friend Kristin downtown to watch her boyfriends band play.

We planned to float the Comal River the next day, but as soon as we got out of the car and sun-screened up, it started to rain.  We made do though and headed to the world famous Salt Lick barbeque restaurant.

Here is Josh (drummer), Kristin, Colin (lead guitar and boyfriend), Me, Becky, and Ben.  Dressed for the river.

Mmmmmm - open pit.

That night, we saw our friends Mike and Erin, who helped me to get involved with overseas teaching.  Sadly, no picture.

After playing disc golf with semi-pro Ben in the morning, we made our way towards Houston to meet up with my Uncle Larry, Aunt Belinda, Cousin Jonathan and his wife Theresa.

We hung out in Houston the next day where we met our friend Aubre for lunch at Pappasito's for some Tex-Mex.

Texas is a big state.  I don't really know much about Houston, so we made our way to the only place I know: the water wall.

Thanks P90x.  This is easily the most 'air' Becky has ever gotten!  The top left picture is here because she loves the way her hair is blowin' in the wind.

We had dinner with some more college friends.  What should we eat?  How bout some more Tex-Mex. Although it is impossible to get a years worth or Tex-Mex and BBQ in a two-week period, it didn't stop us from trying.

Me, Becky, Phil, William, and Lauren.  Lauren is a master toddler interpreter!

My brother Matt and his wife, the other Rebecca Currey, just moved to Arizona (presumably because they love the forward thinking immigration reform policy - read sarcasm).  He is a golf teaching pro and is heading up a center near Phoenix.  They were awesome enough to make a weekend trip to Dallas to hang out.

Me, Becky, Rebecca, Matt, Adam, Mom, Skye (Adam's son/Nephew), and Dad

One of the best parts of the summer was getting to see my bro Adam, his wife Tiffany and their awesome kid, Skye.

Becky and I really got into US Womens soccer this summer with the World Cup, so we made sure to head to a sports bar down.  I took the picture so I could post us celebrating...and then moments later Japan tied things up.  I may have jinxed us. Sorry.

After the devastating penalty kick loss, we headed over to a high school friends house for a mini reunion.  I had my 10 year reunion earlier this year but didn't go since I was in Asia and they selfishly didn't hold it there.

Marcos, Anamaria (and their kids), Becky, Me, Rachel and her husband Craig, Jeff and Blake.  It had been years since seeing these crazy kids.

Our time in Texas was drawing to a close, but we still had people to see.  Our friend Katy drove out to meet us for lunch.

 Melanie White also was awesome enough to drive out to have some lunch.

And we had just a couple of days of overlap on time we were in Texas and our friends the Martinez' were in the State.  They were cool enough to join us about the same time that Melanie needed to leave from lunch. I worked with Todd and Jill at GSIS in Korea.  Todd and I were neighbors and collaborated to keep order on the 4th floor.

Becky, Me, Jill, Helena, Ian and Todd.  Good to see that Todd is teaching Ian how to pose for photos.

We also got to meet up with our friends Jeff and Melissa who got married last year.  Naturally, we went out for BBQ at Hard Eight.  We had a good time hanging out. Becky and Melissa had a booty contest.  No winner was decided, so leave your choice for winner in the comments section please.

                

 

Once again, don't forget to choose a winner in the comments section.

We made ourselves at home.  Thanks Mel and Jeff.

 Our last night was spent with family.  My mom, dad, brother Adam and nephew Skye met us at El Ranchito for one last Tex-Mex experience.  This is the same restaurant where we had our rehearsal dinner two years ago.

That's it from summer.  We leave tomorrow afternoon.  We are on the Wisconsin/Minnesota border near Minneapolis for Becky's cousin Mandy's wedding.  So party hard tonight and get in the car at 4am in order to make our long flight to New Delhi.

Thanks to all our friends and family for making Summer 2011 a great one.  We hope that many of you will want to come and visit us in India soon.

Love,

iBeck