A wonderful weekend

They don't celebrate the 4th of July here at all, except for a few mentions on the news and radio, but this weekend had all the elements excluding the fireworks. We had sun, family, BBQ and beach. It was perfect.

The Dublin TT's came up. Cousin A is almost 3 and R is almost 6 so they're perfect playmates for O. They chased and played away all weekend. O was a very happy baby running after her bigger cousins. The best part of the weekend was how sunny and warm it was.  This hasn't happened since before we left. Friday we had a BBQ, Saturday we did the same and Sunday we were outside all day playing baseball and just enjoying the heat. Yesterday my husband and I had the house to ourselves with the baby and it was still nice so we decided to go up to the beach after O's nap. It was a little overcast, but still relatively warm. We went to PortStewart, which is about 40 minutes north of here. It's probably the closest beach. You can drive up on the sand, park your car and enjoy the water and sand. However I will say one thing, the beach yesterday was scattered with trash. Now I don't know if this is a normal occurrence, but was kind of gross. O enjoyed the sand and a little bit of the water. I thought Maine's water was cold. Nope. The only thing that would have made this the best 4th of July weekend ever would be if I had my friends from Maine here with us.

The summer is turning out to be busy, which is great because I am starting to get a little stir crazy. This weekend we're headed down to Cork to see Aunt M and her family. It used to be about a 9 hour drive, but with these new modern highways, it takes about 6 hours. We have to drive down to Dublin and then cut across to Cork. It will be the in-laws and the three of us. Hopefully I survive the drive.

I hope all of you had a great holiday weekend. I've been thinking about many of you as you've traveled home to Maine for the holidays. I'm hoping to be back in Maine for July. (fingers-crossed). Here are some pictures of the weekend.

I just love this picture.

Look down the beach toward the end. It was he end of the day, so it was getting quieter and more and more people were leaving.



Looking up the beach toward the town of PortStewart.



Posing and getting me covered in sand

The babe and her daddy.

oíche mhaith

The Northern Coast

On Wednesday we took A & D up to do the northern coast tour. You start at Port Stewart/Port Rush and end at the Bushmill's Distillery. We had decided to do the tour Wednesday because it was supposed to be nicer of all the days of the week. It started out rainy, but the weather people told us that it would blow over and be sunny by early afternoon. However, that wasn't the case. The sun didn't come out until much later by the time we were all exhausted.

Port Stewart/Port Rush are small coastal towns that get very crowded in the summer. Port Rush has a small carnival park in it. A comparison would be a smaller Old Orchard Beach. We did a drive by and then went to Dunluce Castle. I love walking around the castle. It's all in ruines, but it's right up against the cliffs and you can just feel the history around you. After Dunluce we went to Giant's Causeway. It would have been nice except it was cold, wet and rainy. We took the bus down to the rocks, stayed for about 15 minutes and then left and went straight to Bushmill's Distillery. And of course the sun came out as soon as we finished the tour. R and D took the tour because we couldn't take little O on the tour. A and I sat in the small restaurant feeding O chips and hanging out. It was really nice to hang out with friends again. After the tour we went to Coleraine to walk around the shops for a wee bit and then headed home for dinner. Bed time was early that night for everyone.

Below are the pictures from the day. I promise I won't give too much history.

This is looking down on Dunluce castle. It is believed that it was built by an Anglo Norman and then it was occupied by a Scottish chieftain. 



O with her Daddy outside Dunluce Castle. We didn't stop and take any pictures of Port Stewart/Port Rush. But I know we'll be going there in the summer, so you'll see the towns I'm sure



Another view of the castle. If you want more information, you can go to the their website, http://www.northantrim.com/aboutdunlucecastle.htm



The coolest thing about this castle it is built flush to the cliff side. While the last occupants lived their the kitchen fell into the ocean.




The gate house




This is Giant's Causeway. The rocks are made up of basalt and have broken into perfect hexagons. There is a legend behind why it's called Giant's Causeway, but it would be a little too long to right and I can't remember the names of the characters, let alone spell them.



Part of the edge of the rocks.

A look down the coast line.

This is the Bushmill's Distillery. Built in 1608 it is one of the oldest whiskey distillerys. I have done the tour before, but since we have the baby with us, A and I decided to just hang out at the cafe and have a pint and some chips (french fries)

Me and the babe at Dunluce Castle.

oíche mhaith