Choo, choo, choo, Aaaachooooo.

Why do colds always hit me when we have visitors? Typically I was bunged up with the cold this weekend when Neil came to visit. Feeling thoroughly snotty and puffy eyed, I still managed to have a good weekend, albeit with less energy than usual (not that I usually have much energy these days).

Neil arrived on Thursday night, late, as his flight was delayed. We all stayed up chatting till 5.30am, which meant that we were more than shattered for our trip to the transport museum on Friday. Dan decided he'd rather stay at home and enjoy the tranquility of an empty house, so Neil and I collected Barney from school at 12 on Friday and took him to his favourite place in the whole world. (Anyone who meets Barney will invariably be asked within 10 minutes of conversation whether they've been to the train museum or not).

We used to visit the transport museum every Saturday while Jimmie was at drama school. But because of our travels and my pregnancy we haven't been there for over a year now. So Jimmie had been looking forward to this day out for weeks. He thoroughly enjoyed showing Neil around his favourite steam engines. While Neil and I trudged tiredly round the place, Barney ran from engine to engine, full of beans and excitement. It was good to see him enjoying himself and the new adult company. Barney can be tiring, as he talks constantly and really likes adult company, and many grown-ups cant handle more than an hour of him. Although he is totally adorable in my opinion. But Neil got on with him like a house on fire and chatted away to him like they were good mates, so Barney was just in his element.

Friday evening was spent playing Monopoly. Well, I watched as I can't stand Monopoly. But Neil, Jimmie and Annabelle managed two games together. Dan took this really cheesy photo of them posing for a family monopoly board game box. Lol.

On Saturday we were all so totally shattered after two extremely late nights, so we didn't go anywhere or do anything really apart from lounging around. Well, its nice to lounge around sometimes, in my opinion. And since I was loaded with the cold, it suited me just fine. Barney treated both Neil and I to a makeover (the photos of which can be seen here) and we both looked totally gorgeous covered in glitter and lip gloss, as you can imagine.

Barney helped me make some pizza dough and we did a 'make-your-own-pizza' dinner which always goes down a treat. The kids particularly like to chose their own toppings and make their own pizzas. Dan's pizza had so much cheese on it that it weighed twice as much as it should have. All in all it was a good and totally exhausting weekend. I really wished I'd been feeling better as I'm generally a miserable person when I have the cold.

Next weekend Dan and the kids are going to England to visit Dan's relatives. I'm looking forward to a nice peaceful weekend on my own. When they return it will be Barney's fifth birthday.

Metallica, Dublin 2008

It was on our travels in America that we heard that Metallica would be playing in Dublin this summer. I was so excited but really didn't think of booking tickets as I'd just found out that I was pregnant, and had no idea if I would be feeling well enough to go to the gig or not. But that didn't put Dan off. He secretly bought two Metallica tickets for us, while we were somewhere in a desert, somewhere in America (the wonders of the internet, eh?)

So this week saw us trekking down to Dublin for the gig of the year. I spent about 5 days building up to it. Some days I feel fine, but other days I feel so rough that I can barely get out of bed, and I didn't want to be like that at the gig! So I spent a few days getting early nights (I slept for 20 hours on Monday!), eating lots of alfalfa and broccoli sprouts, and generally taking care of myself. And it worked!

Our mate D was also going to the gig so we all drove down in the car together. What should have been an hour & a half drive turned out to be a four hour drive, due to the concert congesting the roads, and lane closures. It took us 3 hours to drive 17 miles at one point. Which meant we missed the supporting bands, and arrived just in time for the last song by Tenacious D. I was a bit gutted at missing them as I thought Jack Black would be very entertaining on stage, but at least we were in time for Metallica.

There must have been at least 20,000 people at the gig. That's a LOT of people, in a big muddy field, mostly filled to capacity with alcohol. Dan was very protective of me in my condition and kept me near the back where I had lots of room to myself. Every time anyone came near me he put a protective arm across my bump, which I found very sweet. Perhaps I should have bubble wrapped myself. D went off to the front of the crowd and got lost in the mosh pit. He met us at the end of the gig (minus his treasured hat which he was proud to say died and was lost forever in the Metallica mosh pit, LOL) looking a bit the worse for wear.

And what about Metallica? Well, I have to say that they were absolutely fantastic live. Seriously amazing. I think I enjoyed the intimacy of the Apocalyptica gig more, but for such a huge audience Metallica certainly rocked the place. They played one of the songs, Cyanide, from their new album 'Death Magnetik', plus a set including tons of my favourites including Enter Sandman, Whiskey In The Jar, One, Ride The Lightning, The Memory Remains, Master of Puppets, and ending with Seek And Destroy. I found the whole thing totally shattering, but was just getting past the pain barrier of standing for so long during pregnancy when the show came to an end. They had a display of fireworks during Enter Sandman, and during the song 'One' an amazing pyrotechnic display of mushroom bombs! Which was very impressive.

All in all it was a great gig, and I'm glad that I was able to stand long enough to enjoy it.

A visit from Neil

This weekend we were delighted to see our friend Neil from Birmingham who came to stay with us for a few days. He's never set foot in Ireland before, so we were more than happy to show him a little of the north. The weather was pretty dismal all weekend (no surprises there) but the sun managed to shine whenever we stepped foot outside of the car.

I picked him up from Belfast City Airport on Saturday morning and took him on a little driving detour of Belfast city, before driving home to Banbridge. We saw some of the murals around east Belfast (where I used to live) and then drove through the centre to see the City Hall, University, etc. Since the sun started shining in the afternoon we decided to make the most of it and took a drive with the kids to Newcastle, Co Down. As we stepped out onto the beach the sun started beaming down for us! Barney, Annabelle, and Annabelle's best friend from school all got totally covered in wet sand, but had a good time digging about on the beach. We then drove up into the Mourne Mountains a bit and stopped at the Silent Valley Dam. You can see all the photos from Newcastle, and the Giants Causeway by clicking here.

Although the weather on Sunday was pretty awful we still took our trip to the Giants Causeway in county Antrim. The coastal drive to the causeway is beautiful, although far more spectacular when not raining. The queue to get into the Causeway car park went on for miles. I've only ever been there in the winter when its quiet, so I was surprised to see it so busy. Despite the rain we still managed to have a walk around the causeway stones without getting wet (except for Jimmie who almost got swept away in the waves!) The sun stayed out long enough for us to explore.

It was great to have Neil over to visit. Barney just thought he was great, and had him tortured playing games of hide n seek. Hopefully next time he will come for a little longer and we can show him some more of the delights of Northern Ireland.

Daddys Day Out

Since its the last day of the school half term holidays, I worked in the shop and Dan took the kids for a Daddys day out. Daddys days out are always full of wonderful precious memories. When I saw the photos I so wished I'd been able to go too. It looked like they all had an awesome day together. Dan seems to have captured some real good shots as well, you can see the rest of them by clicking here.

They all took a trip to Newcastle and spent the day wandering the beaches and sand dunes. Despite the fact that its almost winter, it was mild enough that they didn't need coats! Little Barney spent the entire day picking things up and examining them - stones, shells, seaweed, dead crabs, you name it he found it. The kids always seem to enjoy a free day out in the fresh air so much more than any expensive day out!

Anyway, I cant say too much about it as I wasnt there, but here are some of the best pics...

A weekend away

Dan decided that we all needed a break, so this Easter he took us to Londonderry to stay in a very posh hotel for two nights! It was so nice to get away and we all had the best time. We made no plans at all, we just got in the car and went. But we had great adventures, beautiful weather, and some lovely family bonding time. There is a slideshow of all the photos which you can see if you wish by clicking here. We took so many lovely photos and I just want to put them all on my blog!

Well, our trip started on Friday. In an effort to be as relaxed as possible we got up late, didn't pack until it was almost time to leave, and just mozied out of the house whenever we were ready. The drive to Derry took about 4 hours because we stopped a few times to eat, stretch our legs and admire the view. Some of the scenery along the Glenshane Pass was breath taking, so we stopped to explore it a little. Here are some photos of that. You can click on them to see the bigger photos.












All 3 kids were great on the journey down. When we got out of the car they climbed trees, jumped across streams and burnt off energy, ready for the rest of the journey. We had to stop at a garage to buy duck tape to tape up one of our windows which is falling down all the time, and is going to cost £110 to fix! (I'm happy enough with a duck taped window for that price).

When we arrived at the hotel I was surprised at how posh it was! Dan had managed to get a really good deal for the two nights. I don't know how he managed that at Easter, but we were paying substantially less than most of the people there. And the place was full to capacity. As expected the kids rushed into our room to check it out. They ran into the bathroom, opened all the drawers, exclaimed in delight at there being a TV, and bounced on all the beds. The room was very nice. The favourite spot in the room turned out to be the window where many moments were spent gazing out over Derry City.

On the Friday night we mostly chilled out in the hotel room. Dan brought back some pizzas, which was better than going out for a meal as little Barney didn't have to sit still. We did take a trip to the hotel swimming pool, jacuzzi and steam room, and were provided with lovely matching swimming hats! Yes, I had to wear one too but there was no way any one was getting that on camera.




















Saturday turned out to be a great day, despite our lack of arrangements. We all piled into the car and had a vague notion of heading towards Donegal. We ended up driving along the Lough Swilly coastline and through the mountains of Inishowen. We made various stops along the way at beaches and in mountains, all of which the kids loved. Dan was particularly inspired by the mountain scenery (anyone who reads this blog regularly will know he has a passion for mountains, LOL). Barney was a different child on the beaches. The incessant talker we all know and love turned into a quiet, focused child, who was basically in a world of his own. He was so taken with the beaches that he couldn't even answer questions, as his mind was so deeply engrossed in his surroundings! It made Dan and I laugh, but was lovely to see.

Dan and Barney were the only ones brave enough to paddle in the freezing Irish sea! Even Jimmie thought the water was too cold for that. At the end of the day the back seat of our car was completely caked in sand. Even now I keep finding little mounds of sand around the house, where someone has emptied another sock or shoe.

In between beach stops we drove through the Inishowen mountainous countryside. The scenery here was awesome, although it never looks as good in a photo. We stopped and got out for a walk. As soon as the car doors opened Jimmie and Barney raced up the mountain, Jimmie in the distance with little Barney hot on his heels. We had to run after Barney and I found a smaller mountain to climb with him whilst Daddy and the big kids hiked up the bigger one. Barney and I amused ourselves with our little mountain, and stumbled across some mountain sheep. Jimmie came back down the mountain with the skull and bones of a dead mountain sheep! These items are now taking pride of place in our home. Boys, you gotta love em.

After heading off in the car again we stumbled across a museum, in the middle of no-where! The Guns of Dunree Military Museum, to be exact. The boys (especially Dan) loved all the big canons and guns, and the views from the fort were spectacular.

(In this last two photos you can see our Dan going back to his childhood! The first photo, with the big red gun, he is making horrendous machine gun fire noises, and shooting down passing sea gulls. In the second image (with his arms in the air!) he is proclaiming himself King of all Ireland! LOL, it' so great to see him really relax!)

When we got back to the hotel the kids all said that the weekend so far had been better than they had expected. We'd enjoyed fresh air, scenery and quality family time, and everyone was happy.

Sunday was out last day but we still made the most of it. Dan took the kids back down to the hotel pool whilst I packed our bags to checkout. We couldn't stay in Derry without a walk around the Derry City Walls. So that's exactly what we did. Derry is a walled city. The walls were built in 1613 to defend the city from English and Scottish settlers.

We didn't walk around the entire circuit but we did enjoy a 30 minute stroll.

The walls looked out over the entire city, and were fortified with old canons. I'd like to do the whole walk one day, without the kids maybe.

Here are two photos of Derry taken from the walls. I think it is the bogside? Not sure. Anyway, if you open the larger images you can see the typical Irish murals on the houses, and some of the Irish flags flying. Many of the murals in Northern Ireland have been changed from paramilitary images to historical paintings now, celebrating Irish culture instead of promoting sectarianism. (I've just noticed the pub in the first photo is called Bogside Inn, so it must be the bogside. The bogside is the area where the poorer Catholic families lived after the end of the potato famine - so I read on one of the City Wall signs!)

After our trot around the walls we headed home in the car, stopping at Dungannon Park for a picnic of fruit (we all needed a detox by this point!) and a walk around the lake there.

I still have to do my Easter blog post! I'll get round to it soon. But thats more than enough for now.