Bank Holiday Weekend in Louisburgh (AKA Paul's 30th Birthday Celebration Part 3!)

This past weekend was a Bank Holiday weekend, so we headed to Paul's parents in Louisburgh on Friday afternoon for a relaxing weekend. We celebrated Paul's birthday with his family and a homemade chocolate cake!


The highlight of the weekend was seeing our completed foundation! We will let it sit until spring, and have no definite plans for moving down to Louisburgh, but it was great to see this step completed!

Rome! (AKA Paul's 30th Birthday Celebration- Part 2)

Last weekend Paul and I flew out of Dublin airport bright and early (well, actually, it was still dark and early!) to Rome. By the time we arrived at our hotel in the city it was late morning. We caught a hop-on, hop-off tour bus, and drove past all the sites, stopping at the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. On Saturday we spent most of the day at the Vatican- we took a tour through the museums, saw the Sistine Chapel, climbed to the top of the cupola of St. Peter's Basilica, and explored inside the basilica. We hoped to go to the Colosseum too, but we couldn't get near it due to a demonstration of some sort. We flew back to Dublin on Sunday after a jam-packed weekend!

Paul enjoying our first lunch- delicious pizza


At the Trevi Fountain


Self-portrait with the Pantheon dome


The Colosseum


Paul at the top of the cupola of St. Peter's Basilica

Paul's 30th Birthday Celebration- Part 1

Paul turns 30 this Thursday the 14th of October, and this past Saturday night we went out with friends in Dublin to celebrate. It was a great time!

Cheers to Paul!


Mike, Amie, Jean, Sean, Matt, and Me


Paul and Me


Laura, Matt, Paul, Sean, Me, Dermot, Mike, and Amie


Sean, Dermot, Paul, Mike, and Matt


This weekend the celebration will continue- we're heading to Rome early Friday morning and will be back to Dublin Sunday afternoon. And, there will be a third weekend of celebrations the weekend after that- it's a Bank Holiday weekend, so we'll be heading to Louisburgh to see Paul's parents.

In other news...

I just have to brag a bit here. Paul and I went out with a friend to play a round of par-3 golf last month, and on the 18th hole we all teed off, but the green was behind a bit of a hill. We thought Paul's ball was on the green, but when we got up to it, we couldn't see it. We looked all around the green, then I decided to look in the cup- there it was! A hole in one!

This past Saturday night one of my friends hosted a "Bridesmaid Dress" party- it was girls only, and we all wore hideous bridesmaid dresses! It was a lot of fun, but the decision was made on the night that no photos would be posted online!

Well, I think that's about all the major news from the past month! It's good to be caught up on here!

Visitors!

My college friend and roommate, Meghan, and her husband, Josh, visited us on their round the world travels! They arrived in Dublin on the 16th of September. They spent the weekend with us and we did a few tourist things, including a bicycle tour of Dublin. Check out the nice helmets!



Meghan and Josh headed up to Northern Ireland for a few days, and we met them in Louisburgh at Paul's parent's the following weekend. Josh did some surfing, we went to a Gaelic Football match and celebrated PJ and Bridget's 31st wedding anniversary by going out to dinner. Meg and Josh headed down to Galway for a night, then came back to our place in Dublin on Monday to fly out to Iceland early Tuesday morning. We had a great time! Thank you so much for visiting!

A Day at the Zoo!

Way back on Sunday the 5th of September Paul and I spent the morning at the Dublin Zoo. We hadn't been there in about 8 years, and they opened a new African Safari last year, so it was a lot of fun. Check out this guy- he looks kind of bored!



Over the summer a penguin was kidnapped out of the zoo overnight and taken into the city centre in a duffel bag in a taxi! We think this may have been the guy- he looked like he wanted a trip out again!



And, last but not least, Paul with the elephants.

Trip to Minnesota

I got back to Dublin Tuesday morning after ten full days in Minnesota. I was able to see nearly all of my extended family and lots of friends. I stayed with Margo and Justin in the Cities most of the time and made a trip to Floodwood, Duluth, and North Branch. It was a jam-packed 10 days- we went to a Twins game, hit the outlet mall in Albertville, and ate our way through the State Fair! Here are some photos!

Margo and I with Kirby at Target Plaza before the Twins game


Me, Justin, Mom, Jara (my cousin's foreign exchange student from Germany), and Margo. Dad wasn't able to make it- he had to stay home and take care of a sick cat!


A quick trip to Canal Park in Duluth with Benjamin, Courtney, and Carly


Love Duluth!


I spent the night in Duluth with Molly, Matthew and Dave- it was great to meet you Matthew!


A visit with Jessica, Piper, and Isaac (Isaac was too busy on the swing set to have his picture taken!)


Dinner at Sara's house in North Branch with Sara and Heidi


Me with Jarett and Connor


Both sides of my family got together at my cousin's house- thanks Travis and Sonya!


Me and Margo at the State Fair



I went back to work on Wednesday and have been getting back on Irish time slowly! Paul made a quick trip to Louisburgh yesterday and will be back this evening- he was talking to a few people there about different things for putting in the foundation for the house, so hopefully that will be started soon! Have a good rest of the weekend everyone!

Bank Holiday Weekend

This past weekend was a Bank Holiday weekend, so we headed down to Louisburgh for the long weekend. On the way, we stopped in Castlebar, where one of my high school classmates was spending the night! She has been working in Belfast, but our paths haven't crossed until now. To think out of 40 students, two of us are on the same small island 4,000 miles from Cottonwood, Minnesota!

Paul bought a fishing rod and he and Dermot went fishing off of a pier on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday they had no luck, but on Sunday the Mackerel were nearly jumping out of the water. At one stage, Paul had a fish on the line, and a seal came out of the water and grabbed it off of the line!

Dermot's catch

Paul's catch

Holy Mackerel!

Long time, no post!

Well, the summer is flying by, and I really have no excuse for not posting. We haven't done too much out of the ordinary since our cruise at the end of May, but we just seem to be busy with everyday things. Work has been really busy for me, but the days fly by, which is nice! Some of the things we've been up to so far this summer:

-Weekends in Louisburgh, enjoying the country!

-Stayed with some friends in Kilkenny and took in the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival over the June Bank Holiday

-My 30th birthday (June 23). I told Paul I didn't want any big to-do, so I thought just the two of us were going to this restaurant in town for dinner on the night of my birthday. When we arrived, there was a table with about 10 of our friends there! I was totally surprised and had a great night.

-Saw Irish comedian Dara O'Briain at Vicar Street in Dublin- here's a clip of one of his bits that Paul and I can relate to quite well!

-I'm doing golf lessons once a week during the month of July. It's been a long time since I've golfed, and I'm really enjoying it again.

-Saw hypnotist/mentalist Keith Barry at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, and I was one of about 20 people to be hypnotized on stage- an interesting experience! He has a new show on the Discovery channel in the States, and I would recommend checking it out. He's really good!

-Barbeques, going to the cinema, hitting the gym, and enjoying the nice weather (well, June was nice- July, not so much!)

-Counting down the days until my trip to MN! I'll be over August 19-30!

A Wonderful Surprise

At 2:30 last Tuesday afternoon, I got a phone call from Paul while I was at work asking if I wanted to leave the next morning for one night in Barcelona, then a 4-night Mediterranean cruise. Um, yes! Turns out one of his suppliers takes 30 couples (good customers and their significant others) on a cruise every year, and we were first on the wait list when somebody couldn't go at the last minute. I asked my manager, and she said, "Yes, yes, yes, go!", so I quickly rescheduled all my patients for the next few days, then spent the next few hours running around getting travel supplies, packing, etc. The couple who dropped out were supposed to fly from Belfast, so we had to make our way to Belfast by 4:45am Wednesday morning. We flew to Barcelona, spent the day and night there, then got on the ship last Thursday morning. It was amazing!

While in Barcelona we walked around the city, including this market

Enjoying some of the fruit from the market

Boarding the ship, Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas

We departed Barcelona on Thursday around 5pm, and when we woke up the next morning we were in Toulon, France- a main naval base for France.

View of Toulon from our balcony

On the promenade in Toulon

A view of our ship

Friday night was the formal night- Paul even rented a tux on board!

On Saturday we arrived in Ibiza, an island off of Spain, and the ship was docked there overnight. On Saturday we spent the day on the ship and took in an ice skating show, went ice skating, played mini-golf, saw a singing and dancing show, and spent time by the pool. Paul and I got up early Sunday morning and explored the Old City of Ibiza.

The main pool area

Mini-golf- we tied!

At the top of the Old City of Ibiza

Streets in Ibiza

Ibiza harbor

We arrived back in Barcelona early Monday morning, headed to the airport to fly back to Belfast, and got back to Dublin in the afternoon. It was a fantastic vacation, and I would highly recommend a cruise!

View from the bar where we had pre-dinner drinks on the last night

Our dining room for dinner each evening

Sunrise over Barcelona harbor

One last view of the Mediterranean!

Marie and Brian's Wedding

Our reason for spending the week in Louisburgh was Marie (Paul's sister) and Brian's wedding this past Saturday the 8th of May. It was a spectacular day!