The BIG 2nd Anniversary...after only 8 years!

I know, this post is way overdue. The point is, I am doing it. I am going to confess to a bit of cheating - I am mostly going to copy this verbatim from my journal. These are my personal thoughts - I am not posting this to win a Pulitzer. Ok, here goes.

Happy Anniversary! February 29, 2008
What an unexpected day. Last night we drove into Derry. We stopped at the B&B in Rick Steve's book - one of the few good things about the book - the other being current prices and open hours. The B&B is called Saddler's House. It was a nice place - tiny lou - but it was close to the wall. The people were SO friendly. The gentleman who met us; showed us around, asked us about where we're from, told us places to eat, etc - he was very chatty. Then we went to Flaming Jack's (hehehe) for dinner. After dinner, we walked all around the wall of Derry - it was so nice. Just me and Bryce on the wall - looking over the city. When we got back to the B&B, the woman came out and asked us about our dinner - etc. They were so nice. This was the first place with hot chocolate in the room (everywhere has tea in the room) - and kit kat's!

This morning we woke up snuggling - Bryce was so sweet. We ate breakfast with an American woman from PA and a Scottish guy. They had LOTS to say. We were planning on walking round Derry to see some monuments, shops, etc - but it was SO rainy and cold, we decided to try out luck moving on. It rains about everyday, but it's usually stop and go - sun and clouds - wind and calm. So, we hoped it would calm, stop raining, and we could walk around the other things we wanted to see. We made it to Portrush and realized the weather was getting worse. We stopped at a coffee shop that had sandwiches and Internet. Bryce was so disappointed in the way the day was turning out - he had so wanted to get me flowers or SOMETHING ... It was fine. It's nice to know he was thinking of things - Oh, he thought about going on a boat ride, too, but the weather was too nasty. After lunch he tried to get me ice cream at a treat shop but the man didn't have the ice cream because he thought it was too cold - and it was! But I love good ice cream :)

We went to Dunluce Castle and got blown into the ocean along with the servants and dinner in the 1630's.

(Here's the story: This castle is built on an island with a bridge out to it. One night during a terrible storm, the edge of the cliff where the kitchen was - fell into the ocean along with several servants and the nights dinner.)












(Here is a picture of Bryce holding onto his hat - which, although it is very tight, it felt like it would blow off - on the bridge to the island bit of Dunluce Castle.)

















(Here is a picture of me pretending that I am sitting in a beautiful bay window on a spring day reading a book. Did I mention it was freezing out?)


It wasn't rainy, though.













We decided to move on to Giant's Causeway. It was SO crazy windy and rainy that we spent several minutes in our car before it got blown over (you saw how little it was in earlier posts, right?) and we moved into the info center :) There we filled out and sent postcards. We finally decided to brave the wind since it wasn't currently raining. WOW! What an adventure. We got blown down the trail, into the rocks and into the ocean :)

Really, the wind pushed us down the trail and it felt like it was going to take my feet out from under me! It did start raining and with the wind it drenched my whole backside. After we went thru one particularly scary pass, I thought we should take some photos and work our way back up. So we did - try to to take some photos.

(As you can see from the waves, it was a bit windy)

It was so scary and windy - I slipped once on the rocks and got muddy and wet - but I was alive:)





(Basic story about the Causeway: The legend is that the Giant, Finn MacCool, was building a trail across the ocean to Scotland to his love. The geologic perspective is that when all this basalt cooled, it formed these crazy, almost hexagon shaped, columns. Pick your favorite story to tell people. Note in this picture how the shapes of the rocks are extending in a path out to the ocean.)

(Also, note the foam on the rocks.)




(I like to call these pictures: camera one and camera two. I was sitting on these columns that I was attempting to climb over - and yet trying to take some good pics. I was so nervous because of the wind that I kept just firing off shots so I could hurry and get down and safe. I just love how these turned out. First the waves in the background are getting blown backwards because of the wind. Second because in the first frame the wave is just reaching the columns and in the second they are having their second big crash. Beautiful. Too bad I was too scared to enjoy it at the time ;)

Some of the foam from the waves blew up into my mouth a couple of times - eww! We were now back on the path (the one pictured here) and getting pelted in the face with rain flying at 100 mph - OUCH - luckily Bryce grabbed my hand and we were able to push up thru it together.

Once the wind and rain subsided a bit - I started to laugh. "Happy Anniversary!" I said, "This is a romantic walk along the beach!" We had a good laugh at ourselves.

We went back, soaked thru to our skin, and drove to the Carrick-a-rede Bridge just to check to make sure it would be open the next day. The sign said it opened March 1st so we are praying there isn't too much wind.

We went to a restaurant in Ballintoy that also had a B&B. We sat next to the heater to warm ourselves. While we were eating, a group of guys, who apparently had just gotten off work - some kind of construction it seemed - came in and started playing pool and having a pint of Guinness. A man sauntered over to the jukebox to pick some songs. After several minutes of serious contemplation, a Tina Turner song came on! I couldn't believe it! Maybe he pushed the wrong button. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Next song: "Complicated" by Aviril Lavigne! This was too much. I was trying not to laugh and wondering if his comerades were going to come raz him or even beat him up for what he was playing - but they didn't even seem to notice! I got out an old recipt and started writing down the songs he picked. It got better. After some techno and that one song - "I wanna stand with you on a mountain..." - my jaw dropped to the floor.

"You raise me up" by Josh Groban! Who is this guy! I kept waiting for a Lisa Loeb song next. When I finally got my turn at the jukebox, I saw there wasn't any Lisa Loeb - maybe that was why. I was able to play "Sweetest Thing" for Bryce. I think this is one of "our songs" because of the "blue-eyed boy meets a brown-eyed girl" line. Love it.

We went up to our room (beware gorey details;) and got into our jammies and snuggled under the covers. We talked about fun memories and things we love. We watched a program on TV about a little region in Ireland. These cute little kids were telling folktales, acting out Viking stories, and singing traditional songs. It was so fun!

I do love my Bryce. He tried hard today - because he loves me. I love that he tries. I love that he likes to snuggle with me and say nice things to me. I love that he sang "I love you in the morning" to me this morning in bed. He is wonderful and I'm glad he is mine forever.

I Wanna Be A Ballerina When I Grow Up

I don't know if any of you remember this commercial - but here is a remake.

These are my girls dancing to their new movie: "Barbie in the Nutcracker" (thanks, Mom!)

That's one for the blog ;)

Share keeps calling me lately to keep me updated on our coming schedule. I am flying to Utah to see her run in the 1/2 marathon (way to go, Share!) and to play for a few days. To my friend Karen, I have two words - Scrapbook Expo. :D Ok, but really, the point is, everytime Share calls to update me on what else she has recently planned, I tell her a story about Eva. I guess Eva is just too sassy lately.

Before I tell you what she said, I want to tell you a bit of background. About a million years ago, my sister had a nasty basement apartment in Rexburg, Idaho. In this apartment, were found a few girls who lived there, a cat who lived upstairs but figured out how to get downstairs thru Share's closet just to jump on her in the night, a cat beating stick, and an ugly green refriderator (to name a few). Whenever someone said something particularly funny or noteworthy, they would write it on the side of the fridge -no explanation, just a quote. Our friend Mark had a great desire to have his words immortalized on the fridge. One night, probably too late to be night anymore, he said something really funny. As we are laughing our heads off, he says, "Is that one for the fridge?" Who knows what he said first - but, this quote was even better and went on the fridge. I think that is the only one I even remember.

After telling Share a couple stories, she said, "That's one for the Blog" - in the same way we'd say, "That's one for the Fridge." So - here's Eva's quotes for the blog.

Mom called to tell me she loved me and then Eva wanted to talk to her. After handing Eva the phone, I noticed that she had grass and stuff in her hair. I said, "Eva, you have stuff all over you."
She held the phone away from her ear and mouth and whispered, "Mom, I'm on the phone. Don't talk to me when I'm on the phone. Okay."
Betcha can't guess where she's heard that.

While at McDonald's tonight, Share over heard me say to Eva,
"Don't lick carmel off the table."

I can't remember what other funny things have been said lately - help me out, Share.
If any of you have any funny quotes you wanna share- Bryce or anyone - remember, "that's one for the blog."

Platform 9 3/4

So, If you know NOTHING about Harry Potter - you won't get this. First of all, I didn't read Harry Potter til we moved here to Santa Fe. Actually, I didn't read them - I listened to them on tape because I drive all over the place. So, in London, Harry is supposed to go to platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station to get on the Hogwart's Express. Since I finished the books just before we left - I had to go to King's Cross Station when we went to London.

When we left Ireland, we were pretty ready to go home. All we had planned to do in London on our last day was to go to Jane Austen's house and King's Cross Station. It took us all day to get to Jane Austen's house and back. We took trains all over the place and that night when we finally got back into London, we took the tube to King's Cross just before going to our B&B.

By the way, as the story goes, Harry has to run his cart into the platform to get thru to the wizarding world. Here I am on my way into that world.

Overall, the last London bit of the trip was a bit uneventful. However, when we got up early to catch a few trains to the airport, we were graced by this beautiful sunrise. This was a good way to say goodbye to our trip and to start our journey home.

Driving in Ireland

Hello! Finally, my first real story about Ireland. Thanks for being so patient ;)

We flew into London and spent a day there - walking all over town with our luggage - trying to find the National Gallery and then go see Les Miserables (yeah!). It was fun, but we sure were happy to get to our hotel in Nottinghill. The park just over the street looked just like the park in the movie Nottinghill. Should have taken a picture - but I was so tired. I did say "whoops-a-daisys" like 50 times. The tube ran under our hotel - but I was too tired to notice. The next morning we ate breakfast then worked our way to the airport. Whoa - we had no idea how long it would take! When we arrived at the airport we had 45 minutes to get thru security and to our gate on the other side of the terminal before it left us. You know those movies where they run to the plane...that was us.

Once on board the plane, the stewardess started talking and her accent was so strong - we were excited to hear more of that in Ireland :) When we arrived at the airport, we went to get the rental car. Their computers were down so it took a while. One super good thing was that we also rented a Garmin to help us get around - that was fun and occasionally annoying. (It didn't have the street that Bryce's aunt lives on, so it would get really annoying when we would get close..."recalculating"). We walked out to where the car was and where we were planning to meet back up with Bryce's aunt and uncle to follow them to their house. We got to the car and we were staring at the door. It didn't have a key hole. The key didn't have a button to unlock the car. We were just so confused staring at this locked car and useless key. Finally, I said we should try the DRIVER'S SIDE. The right side of the car had a key hole. Wow. This will be an adjustment. Wait til we start driving on the road - yikes!

See how happy he was to find the right (correct) side of the car?! Notice how tiny this car is. Good thing. The roads in Ireland are SO tiny. You can forget about a shoulder.

The speed limits here were insane. The roads are narrow, windy, and not very well kept - did I mention there isn't a shoulder? Rarely is there a sign to warn you about an upcoming curve. The speed limit was generally 80 km per hour (about 50 mph - but it feels like 80). We saw a huge Semi turn off down this road that was the size of one lane, whose speed limit was 100 kph! Bryce's uncle Steve said that he felt like the speed limits were a challenge. "I dare you to go this fast." Bryce thought it was more like a goal to try to reach once before you die.

Here's a little video to give you an idea of what it was like. Remember that our car is tiny (and this was a pretty decent road).

We saw several funny road signs. Well, I thought they were funny. I was getting pretty silly after spending lots of time on the road. This was one of my favorites:

I don't really know what it means...I guess the road is getting smaller...If so, that doesn't calm me. Another one I got a kick out of is "Hidden Dip Ahead". I often imagined a not smart person hiding behind a rock fence or a bush just waiting to jump out in front of us.

This was a classic sight. We were driving along this little back road with Bryce's aunt and uncle, when we saw this. Bryce's aunt slowly brought up her camera and snapped a picture - perfect. This should be a postcard or a some other "typical sites in Ireland" advertisement.

I hope you enjoyed this, my first installment of Ireland. Please remember to check Bryce's blog for some pics and stories - I can't do them all.

Happy St. Patricks Day!!

We Found It!

Ok, so here it is. It wasn't too hard to find the end of the rainbow...actually. We were just driving along the wrong side of the super skinny road and there it was. It was only the second day in Ireland. So we stayed here. Well, actually, we stayed at the hostel part, not the B&B - this one just made a better picture.

I have tons of stories to tell and tons of pics to share...and tons of work to do! I am planning on taking some time this weekend to do laundry, unpack, and write some blog entries. Sorry - you'll have to wait a bit longer so I can do the trip justice. See Bryce's blog for some stories in the meantime :) By the way, before you notice it for me, I look the same in all the pictures. Most of our time was spent outside in the wind and rain - therefore, I was wearing my coat. So, look for some differences. See if I'm wearing a hat or gloves, glasses or contacts, jeans or hiking pants.... Doesn't this sound fun?

I know, you are all on the edge of your seat.

We are going to find the end of the Rainbow

Just so you all know, we are leaving today to go to Ireland. Well, technically we are going to London for a couple days and then to Ireland - but the ultimate destination is Ireland. I am not sure yet how things will be working out - Internet wise or other - but I wanted to let you know why I may not post for a while.

We fly out today - the 8 year anniversary of when we were endowed. We will be in London a couple days and then in Ireland through our SECOND anniversary (Leap Day)- then back to London for a couple more days. We fly in Saturday night (on March 8th, my Mom's birthday - Happy Birthday!). So, don't expect too much while we are gone - but expect to see TONS of pictures when we return.

By the way, did I mention that I have never been out of the US and Canada? Well, this IS exciting.

Don't worry, Bryce has his passport ;)