The Stay Fit Cycling Crew!

Well, we did it! Completed the 2 day, 165 mile bike ride from Miami, Fl. to Key West, Fl on November 14-15, 2008. Check out the link http://www.thesmartride.org/3/ for all the ride details including monies raised, photos and general information. I plan to sign up for next years ride once it is announced. The picture of me below was taken an hour or two after arriving in Key West and having the closing ceremonies on White Street Pier.

Now for the physical toll on my body- drank 20 , 24 oz bottles of water and gatorade; ate 4 turkey sandwiches, 6 energy bars, 5 bananas, 3 oranges and oh nearly forgot, took 4 ibuprofen. That was during the 100 mile or Century section of the ride. Burned an estimated 6000 calories that first day! The second day, just as much water and gatorade several PB covered bagels an enormous egg & chz croissant and 4 more ibuprofens. Everybody takes the ibu's. Below is a picture of me at one of the pit stops for day one.

The picture below is from the closing ceremony at White Street Pier. Believe it not,5 pounds lighter weighing in at 217lbs. Even with all the eating & drinking, I still managed to lose 5 pounds.

A special thank you to my parents for bringing me a replacement contact lens after losing one 7 miles into the ride. What a bummer that was! My wife Julie for having to wake up early on Sunday mornings as I would head out of the house by 6:45am for rides until noonish. For Parker Anne for not making it too hard on her mommy all those early mornings. For all of the support from the Stay Fit Cyclers! Lastly but not least, to all of you who supported me with your generous donations to AIDS Awareness and constant support, both physical and mental. I am now hooked onto cycling and will be riding Sunday, December 7th for Kids in Distress http://www.inletchallengebikeride.org/ in Fort Lauderdale. One day before my 35th birthday! See the link for more information and if you would like to donate visit my donation page, http://www.active.com/donate/kidinlet/CCurry17. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Happy Halloween 2008!

This year Julie dressed Parker in traditional Chinese attire.

Parker will be representing a new country next year. Any ideas will

be considered. It did take her several stops to get comfortable with

Trick or Treating. Once she did, she started selecting her own candies

and turning her nose up to anything that wasn't chocolate! She is her

momma's daughter. Thank for stopping by. By the way, Parker is now

36 inches tall-more than half of her momma.

Now Introducing...

Marcelina Marie Curry. The daughter of Amia & Gregory Curry. She was born on Tuesday, October 14th 2008 at 6:52am. She weighed 5lb 15oz and is 18.5 inches in length. She is the 4th grandchild of Greg and Annie. The third granddaughter.

Yesterday Grandma Karen & Grandpa Nick came all the to Key West from Fort Lauderdale to see Parker, Julie & I. Once arriving, they presented Parker Anne with a Dora Tea Party set. Parker invited everyone for a Tea Party and a surprise birthday party for Baby Brooke. Baby Brooke is wearing the green cup as a birthday hat!

As you can see, it was quite a Tea Party! Obviously, no Tea Party is complete without some fried Key West Chicken.

Love the hat!

At around 4pm today people all around Mallory Square were looking into the sky at this waterspout which formed from a pretty fast moving cluster of storms. I took this video from the Key West Shipwreck Historeum Tower. The waterspout lasted for several minutes while the cluster of storms moved North.

This picture shows the waterspout as it began to dissipate. The only thing I forgot to do was holler, "Wreck Ashore".

Back in May I signed up to ride in the Smart Ride 2008. The ride is from Ft. Lauderdale, Fl to Key West, Fl for AIDS Awareness. For more info check out the link http://www.thesmartride.org/3/. The ride takes place on Nov 14 & 15 of this year. I have begun training, as you might imagine 165 miles in 2 days is alot. So far, my longest ride is 60 miles. I ride with the group pictured below. In this shot we are at Baby's Coffee, the first of several stops on our Sunday training rides. That is me third from the right! Yes, I do wear the tight shorts and shirt, funny shoes and a helmet.















In signing up for the ride, I pledge to raise over $1250.00. All of which is used locally. If you would like to make a pledge (family required, no matter how distant). You can be as far away as Utah, Toronto, Pa. (PennSYLvania takes up alot of space), New Jersey, Maine, Nova Scotia. You get it I think. If you only have a couple of $$$$ fine. I need (they need) as much as we can raise! Click on the following link https://www.thesmartride.org/3/pledge/ and enter my name or rider number, # 166. I will be posting more pics of me training as well as short videos of what it is like to have a semi pass you on the highway at 50 mph, only inches away. Maybe feet, but it sure feels like inches! By the way, this is great exercise, I have already lost 15 pounds!
If you want to see my ride follow this http://www.bianchiusa.com/08_c2c_nirone_tiagra.html. I never knew riding a road bike was so much fun. The pic below is on one of the old railroad bridges of the Florida Keys. A surprisingly comfortable place to stop and replace what else...a flat.

Today Julie, Parker, Lynly, Josh, Colbin and I went to the County Jail to visit the animal farm which is run by our friend Jeanne Selander. Jeanne takes care of animals which have been claimed by law enforcement and several other groups. The farm is open to the public every other Sunday from 1 to 3pm. Some photos below...

Nice snake...

My two Ladies...

Colbin looks hungry...

Plenty of Quail to go around. Maybe we can eat them in several more weeks...

Albert the tortoise...

a day of fun. On a side note, Parker got bite by her first red ant today. She did not like it!

So in case you hadn't heard, Julie, Parker & I evacuated for Hurricane Ike several weeks ago. First time for me. We went to Disney with many other Kaunches. We spent 3 days and as you can tell from the photos we had a great time. First, the 3 of us went on the merry go round. One of P's fav's. That is only a sippie cup of P's juice I am holding.
















The next day we went to the Animal Kingdom to comb goats.
















Parker really loved the goats, particularly when they pooped!
















I would say, from this look, it looks like we are in for one heck of a ride with this little lady!
















And at the end of it all, one little sleepy head. Actually, three sleepy heads.















Til next time!

Has it really been since mid April since our last update. We are either lazy, or exceptionally busy. Exceptionally busy, definently. Photos and stories of the last 4 months are on the way. Check out the link to the right. We have finally joined FLICKR. We will see how it goes. I do like some of the features, particularly the map feature. MAke sure you check it out. Anyhow, more is on the way. Gotta go, got some homemade key lime pies to make! Au Revoir.

Well in case you hadn't heard, here is the picture that says a thousand words. Yes, that is a cast. The "Little Man" suffered a spiral fracture on his lower left leg Monday. He is under excellent care and in approximately 4 to 6 weeks will be back to normal. All I gotta say is he is one tough kid. He has taken it a lot better that most people I know who have suffered breaks and fractures. Of course, by now you are wondering how it happened. It was a freak accident while playing (supervised) on the trampoline. Research has shown that actually more than half of the 75,ooo kids bouncing their way from trampolines to the ER every year were supervised. Hopefully this won't slow him down for too long, afterall summer is right around the corner. We love you Colbin!

Got a phone call today from Michael, he said he heard Gregory had made the paper for helping save a manatee. After searching the web, I came up with this link to a photo http://www.naplesnews.com/photos/galleries/2008/apr/07/baby-manatee-rescued-ditch/45292/. Don't know about you, but that does look like a Curry arm in the bottom left corner of the photo.
Well, "is that Gregory?" Once you click on this link, http://www.naplesnews.com/photos/galleries/2008/apr/07/baby-manatee-rescued-ditch/45299/ there is no denying it. Make sure to scroll through the photos to see the rest of this rescue!

Love this picture. This is one of several from the Fort Jefferson trip for Bubba Greg's BDay. I wonder who she gets it from?

Parker Anne and I went for an afternoon kayak trip today. I must say, "the white caps were as high as mountains." She had a blast and on several occasions even tried to take the paddle from me. Or perhaps she thought she could do a better job.

Happy Easter!

Check out our Easter Egg Hunt.

Today Bubba Greg, Gregory & Amia, Michael & Cherie (nice picture), Lynly, Josh & Colbin, and Parker & I went to the Dry Tortugas for Bubba Greg's 61st birthday. In case you wondered Julie was up in Fort Lauderdale for Ezra's Bat Mitzah. As you can tell we had a good time. Will update more later. Bye for now. Parker says, Hi Mommy.

Bubie even decided to get in on the action! Nice sweater Bubie. "Bet you didn't pay more than $5 for that!?"

Parker showing off her Conch Shell Blowing skills!

So Saturday was the Old Island Restoration Foundations 46th Annual Conch Shell Blowing Contest. Extra thanks to my loving wife, daughter and photographer extraordinare, Bubie, for attending the contest with me. Parker Anne entered as well. Her photo will be up next.

Check out the AP write up.

http://www.bradenton.com/breakingnews/story/454496.html

Check out the response when you ask Parker Anne a question. Her Great-grandmother Bubie taught her this, hopefully she can teach her how to cook as well.

Need I say anymore!

Parker said that after this dinner of ravioli she is ready for a trip to Itlay. "Raviolo Beware"

Now Presenting... The Dancing Queen!

Man! Has it really been two months since my last post? Guess so. Time is certainly flying by- Annabel, Thanksgiving, Dec 8 BDAYS, Christmas, New Year's. Today, Parker broke it into an interesting dance performance for Bubie, Julie & I. I am attempting to include video, however am having some difficulty. Make sure you check back later to see if the video of this 18 month old advanced Curry is operational.