Into the Fire

Last of the Christmas cocktails. . .

Hey fellas,

The Holidays are over, and everyone's gone back to work.

Hooray.

We held onto Christmas as long as we possibly could - we kept the tree up through the New Year, watching Christmas specials, drinking the leftover Christmas cocktails, and jammin' out to Holiday jams until it became weird.

Then came the most depressing time of the year:  boxing up all that Christmas crap until next Thanksgiving.  Or Halloween.  We'll see.

These last two weeks have been a blur, as both kids and adults struggle to get back used to the usual grind.  I think I had the hardest out of the whole clan, seeing how I was out of work for a solid two-week stretch, but I got my ol' teachin' legs back pretty quickly.

As the second half of the school year kicks into gear, we've had a whole slew of new developments fall into our laps. . .

First off, Yours Truly and a few of my esteemed associates from work have been laboring tirelessly on a career 'Plan B,' so to speak.  I can't go into full details yet, but hopefully within the next two months I'll be able to divulge more.  Basically, we realized our creativity was becoming dangerously stagnate at our place of work, and that our livelihoods were suffering as a result.  So, fearing the drudgery of the next twenty or thirty years, we put our heads together and came up with a bold venture that, surprisingly enough, is coming together very rapidly.

Stay tuned.


In other news, Alayna's got a new choir routine she's been actively practicing these last couple weeks. . . and it's horrible.  Any kid song is fully-capable of driving a man to suicide when played on 'repeat' three or four times - back to back - and this new song of hers that she's been practicing is definitely no exception.  Her concert isn't until February, which means we have another month of listening to 'I Love Bugs.'

Thank. Jebus.

Anyway, one huge development - for me, at any rate - is my nomination as Group Leader for an upcoming EF tour to Italy (Milan, Venice, Florence, Assisi, Rome and Pompeii) in March.  Check it out the tour itinerary here if interested.

This more or less fell in my lap, too, so I'm a little stressed as I scramble to start taking over leadership responsibilities with two months before departure.

Basically what happened was that myself and two other teachers began planning this trip out back in May of 2012, but one of the other teachers was the group leader - I was just offering support.  EF Tours is an educational travel agency that I've used in the past to visit Mexico (back in 1998), and they're awesome.  Anyway, we were sorta lazy over the summer and really didn't begin advertising our trip to Italy to parents and students until the beginning of the school year.

The problem with the trip, for most people, was the price per traveler - nearly $2400 per students and $2700 per adult.  Needless to say, only eight people ended up signing up for the trip, despite hundreds of interested persons that had turned out for those early meetings.  EF pays the way for a chaperone if six spots are secured, so basically myself and the other teacher figured we weren't going, and the original group leader continued planning out her trip.

Fast forward four months to present day.

I was approached by this group leader last week, and she mentioned that, due to health concerns, she was unable to lead the group to Italy.  The second-in-line teacher also couldn't make the trip, so, by process of elimination - and sheer luck - Yours Truly is able to travel to Italy for practically nothing.  Sure, I have to pay $130 for a new passport (my old government-issued passport from the Peace Corps is useless), and I have to save up about $500 - $600 for traveling expenses, souvenirs, and lunches (EF pays for breakfasts and dinner, but lunches they expect you to buy yourself).

Not that I'm complaining.

So, for the next two months, I'm going to have my hands full of travel-planning, Plan B-collaborating, lesson-planning, house-maintenance'ing, and child-raising.

Back to the Grind, 2013.

Let's do this.

- Brian

Love and Marriage

Hi gang,

So we had ourselves a wedding yesterday.  Pretty good time.

Let me first start off by saying how much I hate traveling with children.  I hate it.  Traveling with kids is right up there with having pruney fingers for me - it makes me want to vomit and cringe and punch the nearest person to me right square in the face.

Here's why.

We finally made it back to our house down here to Orlando around 9:30pm or so, and to say it was a long trip would be an understatement.  The entire trip back to Florida was plagued by inconvenience and misadventure.  I-75 was under construction and, at times, at a complete stand-still.  With two screaming kids in the car, this was awesome.

After a few hours on the road - losing about an hour and a half in idiotic traffic - we finally got to the Detro Metro Airport.  It had been a long, long weekend, and the girls were exhausted, and, as can be expected, the plane ride back was excruciatingly bad.  Nevermind the fact that, taking into consideration they were so tired, we had to carry both girls through the airport while somehow juggling two toddler car seats, a stroller, and all of our suitcases.

Good times.

But let's backtrack, here - I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's back up to the day of my brother's wedding...

We had taken it relatively easy Friday night, as we did have to look our best for a wedding and all in the morning.  I got up before everyone else, and decided to watch one of my all-time favorite movies, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.  Eventually, we threw in a few boxes of pastries from Clare's Cop's and Donuts and chased it down with a few mamosas.  Breakfast of champions.

I'll spare you the details of the actual wedding and reception, as there was a lot that went on and it can probably be summed up best with pictures.  Seeing how my dad has already posted a ton of pictures from that night, I'd advise you to check out his website Here.

A couple last thoughts on the weekend, however:

1.  Never engage in a conversation with any of the guys that work on a party bus.  He's gross, and every story he's got to share isn't worth sharing unless you're a mondo perv.  You're going to walk away from the whole thing feeling like you just contracted Hepatitis.

2. Next time you have to give a speech, use a PowerPoint.  They seem to work out quite well.

3.  Don't contract my child to be a Flower Girl unless you want to see her underwear.

4. Label everything you own.  At all times.  Sunglasses, liquor, suit jackets, etc.  Ton of stuff lost this weekend.  I'm not happy about it.

4. Traveling with kids sucks.  Let no one tell you otherwise.

Slainté,

- Brian

Houghs, Assemble!

Hey players.

So I started school this week with students.  Nothing too crazy - they're all really, really small compared to my kids last year.  Seem like a decent enough bunch, though.

But I'm not here today to talk about work.  Nay, readers - I'm here to detail to you the course of events that led the Houghs to Michigan this weekend.

First of all, before I get started, I'd like to provide you with a link to my dad's website, where he was good enough to post a bunch of pictures up from the weekend.  There's a lot of supplemental pictures on there that I didn't post here.  Saves me a lot of time.  Click Here.

_________________________________________

Here we go.

My younger brother, Chris, decided to get married on the weekend I went back to school.  Not necessarily my preferred weekend to take three days off of work (and drop $2,000), but what the hell - I'm the Best Man, he's my brother, and, in the end, that's more important.

So we flew out of Orlando on Thursday morning, setting off on what would be one hell of a long day of travel.  I'll spare you the gory details, but you can imagine how awesome it was traveling with a 3 year old and 1 1/2 year old (pfft...).

 

Boarding the O.I.A. Terminal Tram

 
En route to the O.I.A. Terminal, via the Tram


 
We're on a TRAM!!!


 
Bat Out of Hell


 
Hanging out, 8am...

 
Killing time in the Terminal...

 
SPIDERS!!!

 
Settling in before take-off...

 
En route to Michigan

 
Tray tables = endless fun.

 
The Care Bears... yes, again.  This time in a plane!

 
Descending into the scenic paradise that is Detroit, MI...

 
Enjoying Michigan a Ford Fusion, drivers and common sense along the I-75 corridor


 
Entering the Mid...

As could be expected, we were thoroughly exhausted by the trek but nevertheless excited to be back in the Glove.  By car, by shuttle, by monorail, by airplane, by bus, and finally by rental car, we finally reached Clare, MI around 5:30pm.  The Houghs established headquarters at my Dad's house, where dinner, our siblings (with significant others/families), and good weather greeted us:

 

Our rental - 2011 Ford Fusion

 
 

 
Cornhole and shenanigans in the backyard

 
The Cannonball and Blake (and some handsome guy)

 
Walking on grass that doesn't hide fire ants and snakes (and stab your bare feet when you walk on it) was a rare treat for our girls...

 
The Cannonball

 
Yours Truly and Godzilla


 
 Aunt Annie and Cannonball attempt to destroy the infamous McNeilly Pond Bass


Oh shit, it's the Care Bears!  Again!!


 
Utilizing the room in my dad's house that's used twice a year...


 
The Basement... on Holidays, one can find the Houghs here.

Congratulatory cigars from a cigar shop on Orange Blossom Trail I frequent...

 
Rowley and Cindy

 Slainté

Bride and Groom (as of tomorrow)

 
Wouldn't be a Hough Family hoe-down without this...

 
...or this.

__________________________________

On Friday, while Yours Truly and the rest of the Borthers nursed hangovers, Kris and Alayna accompanied Lyssa and Cindy to some pedicure joint in town.

 
Morning after, poolside...

 

The Hough Toes get some attention...

 

Who knows why she keeps making this bizarro face...

 
I don't know what this is... some of you chicks out there probably do.

 After the Pedicures, Kickin' out Ya-Yas with Nana

Afterwards, later on in the afternoon once the girls had napped, the entire extended Hough clan traversed over to Pettit Park for Abby's Blessing (we had a similar ceremony for Alayna two years ago, up at the Sanford Community of Christ campgrounds waterfront).  Once again, John and Jann Wolf were good enough to conduct the ceremony, with me and Kris' moms reading verses.  We wanted to keep things short, so we were able to save Abby's soul from eternal damnation within thirty minutes.

Not too shabby.

 
Abby

 
The masses assembled


 
Alayna and Annie

 
In our family, Uncles have to wear green shirts.

 
Preparing to save infant's soul from the fires of Hell...

 
Grandmas

 
The Blessing

Us with the Wolfs



 
The majestic Tobacco River

Following Abby's Blessing, we followed some of the siblings over to one of Clare's cornerstone establishments,  the Dairy Phil, for ice cream, before heading over to the Clare Methodist Church for Chris and Jenna's wedding rehearsal.  Both Kris and I grew up with this place, so it was cool to haul the kids over to scarf down some sugar in order to ruin their dinner later.  But, what the hell... we generally come up to Clare for Christmas.  Who the hell wants to eat ice cream in subzero temperatures?

Nobody I'd want to associate with...

The Hough girls try out the Phil's ice creamery.

 
Fans

 

 

 
Watching McEwan gridlock

 
Marcy (Kris' mom), Abby and Kris

Fortunately for everyone involved, the Wedding Rehearsal took nowhere near as long as Kris and I's rehearsal five years prior.  Of course, Chris and Jenna were having a smaller wedding in a much smaller church, so I guess they didn't need to worry about as many logistical hang-ups.

Thank.  God.

 
Alayna with Grandma and Papa John

 The Hough Clan.  Enjoying themselves.

 Naps.

 The Cannonball did not want to stay still for any of this.  This came as a surprise to NO ONE.

 

 The Wedding Wild Cards...

After wedding practice, we got to hit up yet another famous Clare establishment for the rehearsal dinner - Buccelli's Pizza.  If God Himself slung pizza in some sort of a holy pizza contest where deities were allowed to enter and compete, he'd definitely earn himself a big, shiny silver medal when up against Buccilli's.  After all, he's God, right?  I bet his pizza would be awesome.

 
Best. Pizza. On. Earth.  I will duel anyone who says otherwise.

 
...I'm serious.  If you have some lame opinion about world's best pizza that in any way, shape, or form that contradicts mine, provide me your mailing address and I will come and I will fight you.  To the death.

 

 

Kris and the girls, about to head to Midland with Mom and John

Having consumed 3,000 calories or so in a single seating, I accompanied my fellow borthers and groomsmen to a series of liquor stores for provisions and then set up our pre-wedding headquarters back at Dad's.  Meanwhile, Kris took the girls to my mom's house in Midland in order to help them prepare for the morning's bound-to-be-horrifying task of doing Alayna's hair and making her put on her Flower Girl dress.

I cannot begin to describe how happy I was to not be a part of that process.

 
Back in the Basement...

 

Borthers



 
The briar calabash Chris gave me for a Best Man gift (a much-appreciated gesture, as I never made it out to the Smoker's Club on this venture - something I always try and do while traveling back to Michigan).


 
Who wouldn't want to marry this guy? Am I right, ladies?

- Brian