The Emerald Isle: Day 2

We woke up Monday morning after 13 hours of sleep (in which Ryan battled and defeated a horrible fever) ready to see the North Coast.  We had a glorious full Irish breakfast at our guest house before we departed for Giant's Causeway.  The weather was horrid; about 39 degrees and pouring down, sideways rain, we were still game for a good time!

The North Coast is rich in both history and beautiful scenery.  We drove all along the coast and visited Dunluce Castle, I love all of the beautiful ruins that you practically just stumble upon.

We had planned to visit the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, but upon arriving and having the door of our rental car blow back with amazing force we decided we didn't want to spend money to be blown about in the freezing rain on a rope bridge!  So, instead, we ventured into the warmth of the Bushmills Whiskey Distillery for an incredible tour.  We also ate lunch at the Bushmills Inn which dates back to 1608, just like the distillery.

We had a beautiful drive south to Belfast where we checked into our lodging and immediately walked around the neighborhood to find my old dorm on Derryvolgie Avenue.  It was so neat to see how much had changed/stayed the same over the past nine years.  We stayed in another great guest house that was in a wonderful location for walking in Belfast.

The Emerald Isle: Day 1

Yes, I am finally recapping our recent trip to Ireland/Northern Ireland!  Aren't you happy?  Here goes...

sunrise over the ocean

We landed in Dublin on Sunday, May 6th at 6:55am.  We had a nice, but fairly sleepless, flight over the pond and were excited to be on our way!  We changed clothes and exchanged some money at the airport, picked up our rental car, and proceeded to drive 45 minutes in the wrong direction!  Upon realizing our printed google maps directions were wrong, we stopped for a Dublin city map.  And then realized that Dublin is the most difficult city to drive around in; most street signs are either missing, in Gaelic, or on the side of a building that you just passed.  We had a very stressful hour or so of driving in circles where I recounted again that I did not have a good relationship with Dublin.  I spent a week feeling lost, lonely, scared, and confused there once and this was rapidly seeming similar.  We finally decided to park in a garage and immediately upon exiting I knew exactly where we were and we walked to our destination: Trinity College!

a building at Trinity

We quickly strolled through the grounds (I found the building I had stayed in, of course) and on to the library which hold the Book of Kells and the Long Room.  You aren't allowed to take photographs there, but we snuck some.  :)

the Long Room, Ryan's personal heaven

By this time, we were starved and took the recommendation of several friends to eat at The Queen of Tarts.  It was delightful, if you are ever in Dublin we recommend it as well!  We had a lovely brunch before heading north to Ballymoney, Northern Ireland for the night.

At this point, fatigue (and what we would later realize was Hand Foot & Mouth disease, thanks Liam) was setting in for Ryan, so I got to drive!  Let me just say that it was a trip!  We were in a manual car and I think the most difficult part was shifting with my left hand, and remembering what to do at the round a bouts!

we didn't die!

We arrived in Ballymoney in the mid-afternoon and checked into our lovely guesthouse, Country Garden House.  We could not have been more thrilled by the quaint cottage and lovely hosts.  They greeted us with tea and wanted to hear all about our lives.  We settled in and drove into Bushmills for an early dinner before going to bed at 7:00pm!

Colorado!

We are home from an incredible week in Colorado visiting family and friends. It is always such a treat to just get to share life with our extended families. If you live near yours, be thankful!

(landing in Denver) 

I didn't take tons of pictures, I was busy enjoying myself, but I did have tons of fun!

(elk in Estes) 

Liam had a great time playing with his cousins and getting loved on by grandparents and aunts and uncles.

(a moose at the visitors center in Estes) 

Ryan and I got to cash in on some grandparent babysitting generosity and spent our first night away from Liam. We stayed in a condo in Estes Park, ate delicious food at the Stanley Hotel and saw, "We Bought a Zoo," (new favorite movie) without rushing to get back to relieve a sitter...divine!

(beautiful drive into the mountains) 

We ate at all of our favorite places: Blue Parrot, Swing Thai, Little Man, Udi's, (new fave) Snooze, and even got to have Barb's meatballs!

(great am cocktails at snooze) 

We even got a little snow while we were there! Liam loved getting hit in the face with snowflakes. We took it one step further and ate ice cream in the snow! So fun, so cold!









Our trips home are always too short, but we are so thankful for our time to visit! Thanks for making time for us, all you Colorado people! We love you very much!

(Grami and Papo love)

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

We just got home a few hours ago from a wonderful, family-filled vacation. Everyone has bathed, Liam is asleep, and the washing machine is already getting a work out. I'm ready to cuddle up on the couch with my husby and a certain schnauzer I missed like crazy! East, west, home is best!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Whirlwind Vacation

We got home late last night from a super quick, super fun vacation!




(best hometown in all the land)
We left Friday afternoon to head to NW Arkansas for a dear friend's wedding that was on Saturday. Ryan's old band, Jackson Waters, played at the reception which made the whole event even more fun for us! It was such a fun reunion of both friends and music. I danced and sang myself silly, and loved every minute!



(love these folks, a lot)
Sunday morning we started the long trek to Dauphin Island, Alabama, where we met up with my older sister's family and some of their friends. We had a blast crashing the beach with them for a few days. Liam got to dip his little toes in the sand and ocean for the first time (pictures to come!) and he loved it!




We got home late last night and have been resting and working on laundry all day.



(sweet baby during a driving break)
The numbers...
Days gone: 5
States visited/driven through: 6
Hours in the car: 28
Jackson Waters memories relived: hundreds
Meltdowns Liam had in the car: 0
Pairs of sunglasses sacrificed to the waves: 1
Snow cone stops: 2
Loads of laundry done today: 5



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Vacation Recap, Parts 4, 5, and 6

(the Hawk family on Grandpa's 80th birthday)

The remainder of our vacation was a lot of fun, but I am getting worn out trying to remember everything we did.  So, I'm going bullet point style!

1. Fish Hatchery
1. cheap, kid friendly, educational
2. slightly horrifying to the girl who hates/is terrified of fish
2. Hike/Bird Watching
1. nice easy hike that Gus got to enjoy with us
3. Nintendo Wii
1. oh those Mario Bros.
4. Stonehill Winery
1. I will never turn down a wine tasting.  However, the majority of these wines were on the kool-aid side so we only found a few that we liked.  
5. Apples to Apples
1. BEST GAME EVER!  Brought Grandpa out of his shell for sure

1. Fantastic Caverns
1. This was one of my favorite things that we did.  These caves were used as a speakeasy back in the day, as well as a concert venue in the summertime.  Such a fun legacy!
2. Lambert's Cafe
1. Home of the throwed roll.  Yum!
3. Old Time Photos
1. This was hysterically funny!  I highly recommend taking old time photos if you have never done it before.

We love love love our Colorado family and it is always such a blessing to just be in the same room with them.  I am horrible at keeping up on the phone (I hate talking on the phone), so the face time is always much appreciated by me!

Vacation Recap, Part 3

On Monday, we woke with no agenda and set out for breakfast in the old town part of Branson.  We had a nice meal and then went to a really cool little shop called Dick's 5 and 10.  We shopped for quite a while and found a lot of really great steals!

(this was one of many things that I had to have)

After Dick's, we went to Starbucks (can't stay away) and had a lovely time visiting, in a great store I might add.  Then we walked around an outdoor mall and did a lot of window shopping.  Marisa and I cooked dinner at the condo for the family and then the kids finally got to go swimming!  :)

Tuesday morning we drove into Arkansas and went to Eureka Springs.  Eureka is one of our favorite little towns to visit.  It's very eclectic and there are lots of cool shops.  Unfortunately, most of the cool shops were closed due to the off season.  From there we went to Prairie Grove to see Grandpa Doug on his 80th birthday!  This was the true reason for our trip.  We had a great time hanging out with Grandpa and we ate at his favorite Mexican restaurant.  

(a very blurry iphone picture of grandpa blowing out his candle with the help of colden and reagan)

Vacation Recap Part 2

(delicious chicken spring rolls)

On Sunday we went to my sister's church and then to the delicious Green Papaya restaurant.  I always love going home and having all of the great food that I miss when I am away.  I'm sure there is a restaurant in Nashville that makes chicken spring rolls and garlic chicken and vietnamese iced coffee, but I'm also sure that I wouldn't like it as much...  However, if you know of a place I should try please don't hesitate to recommend!

We spent the afternoon hanging out with my mom and sister's family then departed for Branson, MO to congregate with the Hawks.  There was a brief stop-over in Fayetteville for Tim's Pizza.  Somehow Ryan had lived in North West Arkansas for 5 years without having the greatness that is Tim's, so it was imperative that we stop!  I love love love their canadian bacon, they use a ground ham instead of sliced and it is wonderful!  

(They also apparently can't swing for real sweet & low, but I try not to judge...)

We rolled into Branson around 9 just as the rest of the Hawk clan was arriving.  We were able to visit for a little bit and then went to bed to get our beauty sleep!

Vacation Recap Part 1

Disclaimer:  This post was supposed to be published last Sunday.  I was under the impression that I could post via email.  Apparently I need more practice since only the photo was posted.  We wound up not having wireless at our condo, hence not posting last week.  

(this is my almost ten year old nephew Austin)

We rolled into Ft. Smith at 5am Saturday morning (I was not exaggerating about those turtles one bit).  We closed our eyes for a few minutes and then went to my nephews championship boys & girls club bball game. The won!  And got to cut down the net which I thought was pretty cool.

After the game, we hung out at my sister's for a while.  Then I helped my niece do her hair and makeup for a birthday party. We had fun primping and being girly. Tori thinks I am so fashionable and asked me what was new in fashion in Nashville. :)  So nice to be thought a fashion guru.

While Tori was at her party, I had planned to cook a lovely risotto dinner for Ryan, my mom, and my sister. However, this seemed more easily said than done after we scoured the shelves for abrorio rice at one wal-mart only to find nothing but plain white rice (in no less than 16 varieties) on the shelves. I called two different local grocery stores to ask if they carried abrorio rice. Neither store had any idea what I was talking about. One store told me they didn't have it before they looked and the other store spent 10 minutes looking and then told me they didn't have that kind of Zataran's. Oh boy.

We finally found some at a larger wal-mart and the risotto was delicious. However, if I ever move back to Arkansas it will be to open a specialty grocery store. I think they need one

off like a herd of turtles!

I am officially off of work for the next NINE days!  I love love love my job, but I need these nine days off pretty badly.  However, we are having some delays getting the show on the road.  Our plan was to rise early tomorrow and I would take the first leg of the drive (no trouble since the latest I have gotten to sleep in the past six days is 6:30 am).  We were going to stop along the way and take our time and eventually arrive in Ft. Smith in time for my nephew's evening basketball game.

As luck would have it, when Ryan took my car for an oil change this morning we discovered that good ole Sabby is on her last leg.  Broken water pump...check.  Bad seal thing...check.  Head gasket about to blow...check.  Total estimate $2500...check.

Thankfully, we know a guy.  Our guy is doing all of the work for less than half of the estimate we got from our normal mechanic.  The only trouble is we may or may not leave tomorrow.

Really though, we will get there when we get there...  

And now I have more time to do laundry and pack and clean!

i think i can, i think i can...

I am psyching myself up for a very very busy week.  Isn't the week before vacation always the worst?  I mean, I am usually pretty busy so I don't think I actually have more to do this week.  I am just so ready for a break that it seems like far more than it usually does.  The good news is; my Monday is over!  All I have to do today is empty and load the dishwasher and make supper.  Wonderful!  

Then I get to open three days in a row, have my monthly meeting with my district manager, go to one super fun birthday dinner, go to my amazing home group, do a lot of laundry, pack for myself, pack for Gus, find out what we are doing with Gus, eat all of the leftovers...and we're off!  

Like a herd of turtles.  

I am so looking forward to relaxing and doing nothing for a few days.  Ahh...  

staycationing...

this summer is the summer of the staycation. we are imploring all friends and relatives to come to nashville and stay at the
...bird's nest b & b...
however, it's a little more bed and booze than bed and breakfast, be forewarned. what can i say, i'd rather go out for brunch at fido or the pancake pantry than make it myself...

over memorial day weekend we hosted ryan's lovely parents and i actually managed to take two days off in a row. we had a blast playing mexican train every night, picnicing at arrington vineyards, taking a drive on the natchez trace parkway, playing with gus, and cooking risotto.







then two of my bffs from my awesome summers working at shepherd's fold came to visit! we also had a blast picnicing at arrington vineyards, watching a sounds baseball game, shopping, laughing, talking, cooking, and consuming wine and popsicles. i love these girls!

back...perhaps

hello long lost readership....
i'm thinking about starting up writing on here again. i have my own computer now so posting should be easier. ry and i are doing well, we're planning our first real vacation together. we'll be going to savannah, ga in a couple of weeks! yay! we both really need a vacation.
stay tuned.