Catching Up

So, I'm two months behind! I'll try to get caught up on our happenings for the past several weeks (in a few posts!) In mid-November, one of my sister's good friends, Amanda, came to visit. She had been working in Germany since the beginning of the year and made a quick trip over to the Emerald Isle before heading back to the States in December. We spent some time in Dublin, then drove west to Galway and Mayo. We enjoyed beautiful scenery and lively pubs!

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.