Ireland



We finally had a visitor from the States come stay with us for a few weeks.  Joslin, a friend from Lake Hills Church in Austin, came to check out Brighton.  Joslin also wanted to go to Ireland, but she didn't really want to go on her own.  Being the nice person that I am, I offered to join her for a long weekend in Ireland.

On Friday two weeks ago, Joslin and I took a train to Gatwick to catch a flight to Cork, Ireland.  When we landed in Cork, our plane taxied past a private jet on the runway.  The jet had a red carpet leading to it with men in uniforms lining the red carpet.  As our plane was parking, a line of black cars pulled up in front of the red carpet.  Unfortunately our plane pulled up and parked on the other side of another parked plane that blocked our view of THE QUEEN as she was departing from her historic visit to Ireland.  It was a pretty exciting start to our Irish vacation.

We rented a car in Cork (I drove since I was the most used to driving on the left side of the road), and then we drove to our B&B in Kenmare.  On Saturday we set out after breakfast to explore the Ring of Kerry.  Unfortunately, the weather was cold and rainy, so we did not get to get out of the car as much as we would have liked.  The Ring of Kerry is about a 110 mile circular route around the Iveragh peninsula in the southwest part of Ireland, and it is spectacularly beautiful (even in the rain).  The roads can be very narrow and winding, but fortunately there were not many other cars and only a few tour buses that can clog the road during the busy summer season.

Killarney National Park.

Cold and Wet Day.

When we returned to Kenmare (almost 6 hours later), Joslin and I went across the street from our B&B to check out the old church and graveyard that our bed and breakfast was named after.

Our Bed and Breakfast in Kenmare.

The View from the Back Porch of our B&B.

Warming Up with a Little Irish Whiskey.

The next day, Sunday, we set out to explore the Ring of Beara.  The Ring of Beara is a 121 mile road around the Beara Peninsula.  It is a little less traveled and touristy than the Ring of Kerry and perhaps even more dramatic.

This Was the Type of Single-Lane Road I Drove On All Day.

When we got to the town of Glengarriff, we stopped and took a short ferry to Garnish Island.  This small island is known as an island garden of rare beauty with plants and trees from around the world.  The island was privately owned and the gardens were created around 70 years ago, and it was left to the Irish people in 1953.

View From the Ferry.

Seals on the Way to Garnish Island.

On Monday we drove from Kenmare back to Cork, and we stopped at the Blarney Castle just outside of Cork.  The Blarney Castle is of course known best as the home of the Blarney Stone.

This is Me After I Kissed the Blarney Stone. 
You Have to Lie Back Upside Down to Kiss It - That Guy Was There to Make Sure I Din't Die.

View From the Top of Blarney Castle.

We stayed in Cork our last night in Ireland, and we watched President Obama address the Irish people in Dublin.  He was definitely a hit, and it was actually quite nice seeing an American get such a nice reception and positive press for a change.

Sadly, we didn't have any celebrity sightings at the Cork airport on our way home.  Obama left Ireland a day ahead of schedule to avoid the Icelandic volcano ash cloud, and luckily, we were able to beat the cloud home to the UK also. 

Ireland was absolutely beautiful and the people are incredibly friendly.  I can't wait to go back, and hopefully the whole family can join me the next time.

Sutton's 13th Birthday

It is hard to believe, but we have a teenager living in our house.  Sutton turned 13 on May 13th. 

Sadly, Sutton's birthday fell on a Friday, so she had to go to school on her big day.  Her friends made her day special though by giving Sutton a cake at lunch.  In our house you get to choose what you want to do for dinner on your birthday.  I always root for people to choose going out to eat, but unfortunately, Sutton wanted me to make Pulled Pork Chalupas.  I also made her Nana's chocolate cake.

Sutton had a birthday party on Saturday, the day after her birthday at One Church: Florence Road.  Our house isn't big enough to comfortably hold all the girls she wanted to invite, so we had the party at our church.  There is a room downstairs at Florence Road called the Vault that we use for youth activities on Friday nights.  After receiving some grant money, the space was transformed last year into a really cool youth hangout.  There is a room with comfy chairs and couches, two flat screen TVs, a wii and an Xbox Connect.  There is also another room with a pool table and a ping pong table.

We decorated the space with bunting, balloons and signs, and we served sodas, snacks, candy and pizza.  Sutton wanted cookie cakes for her party cake, and they were a hit with her friends.

We made Sloane the official party photographer, and Sutton was kind enough to let Sloane hang out with her and her friends.  Keith and I made ourselves scarce by staying upstairs most of the party.

It was fun getting to meet most of Sutton's new friends, and we were pleased to find out they are a really nice group of girls.  They also seemed to really like the youth space at our church, so we hope some of them will want to come back and hang out with Sutton at a youth event sometime.

Easter and One Church Brighton Launch

I can't believe it has been almost two weeks since Easter.  We have had so much going on (like Royal weddings and Bank Holidays) I almost forgot to blog about the perfect Easter weekend we had.

On Good Friday, we got up early (for a day off) so we could participate in a Walk of Witness.  I am not sure just how common these walks are (our minister Dave had never been to one before), but we decided to go as it would be a good opportunity to try something new.  Our church joined with some other churches in the Preston Park/Fiveways area to walk the neighborhood in observance of Good Friday. 

It was a really strange event actually.  Good Friday and the observance of Christ's death is a pretty solemn time, but parading around town looking like a bunch of really sad Christians isn't really the best way to attract others to the church.  We weren't supposed to talk as we walked the streets carrying a large, wooden cross, and we all felt like we were supposed to look really sad too.  I am not sure our church will be participating next year (we probably won't be invited back as we were a little too loud and "happy"), but I am glad we went this year to see what it  was all about.

In the evening on Good Friday, we had a service at Gloucester Place.  It was a really nice service led by Dave where we observed the death of Christ as well as the "death" of Florence Road Baptist Church and Gloucester Place Baptist Church.

Saturday was the only day all weekend that we didn't have church activities planned, so we had a nice day at home as a family.  I spent most of the day cooking our big Easter meal.  The girls, Sutton especially, had been upset because we hadn't eaten any holiday meals at home on the actual holiday.  Never mind that I had cooked up a big Thanksgiving and Christmas meal; they didn't count in her mind because we ate them both the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas.  She was again upset that we were eating our Easter meal on the wrong day, but it was the best I could do.  Because we don't have anything like HoneyBaked Hams here in the UK, I had to actually prepare a glazed gammon.  We also had black cherry jello salad (thanks Gran for sending black cherry jello), deviled eggs, potato casserole, green beans and crescent rolls.

On Easter morning, we woke up early, rolled out of bed and headed down to the beach for a service at 7:00am.  To be honest, I wasn't sure I was going to make it to this service because it was early and we had a long day planned, but I am so glad we all went.  Many people from One Church (more than I expected actually) came down, and we all spread out our blankets on the beach.  There were also hot coffee and hot cross buns.  We sang some songs together, listened to some "characters" from the Bible describe their encounters with Jesus after His resurrection and watched some of the crazy guys in our group jump into the FREEZING sea. 

After the service on the beach, we went home and got ready for our regular church service.  It actually was so much more than a regular service though because it was Easter and the official launch of One Church Brighton.  We had a very celebratory service where we commissioned our new Leadership Team and church teams.  Dave also had us each write our hopes for our new church on a piece of paper, and we attached these papers to helium-filled One Church balloons.  Then we all went outside and released our balloons together.  It was a really great sight, and it felt like a proper launch then. 

To top off a great service, we had a hog roast outside on the grounds of the church.  Our Social Team did an amazing job setting up a festive atmosphere with bunting, tables of food, drinks, and even a candy floss (cotton candy) machine.  It was so much fun and a wonderful way to celebrate Easter and One Church together.

We had to leave the hog roast a little early because we wanted to get to the seafront to see The Passion of Christ.  This play was put on by mostly local volunteers, and it depicted the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  There were about 2000 people at the event, and it was a really moving experience.  The guy that played Jesus was really good, and apparently that is what he does for a living.  My favorite parts were when they reenacted the feeding of the 4,000 by passing out bread to the entire crowd and when Jesus actually rode in on a little donkey (that donkey was so cute and Jesus had great balance by riding him with his hands outstretched the whole time).

 

I think that was the longest Easter I have ever had, but it was so amazing.  I was a little sad at the beginning of the weekend because I really loved celebrating Easter at Lake Hills and spending the day with the Larson family, but it ended up being a really nice weekend here at our new home with new friends.  Sadly, we didn't have an Easter Egg hunt this year (they don't really have the plastic hiding eggs like we have at home), so I had to pull out an old Easter picture to reminisce.  Seriously, how cute is this?  Miss those Larson kids!

Keith's Job

Several people have asked how my new job is going, so I thought I was overdue for another blog post.  I started work as Legal Advisor at FDM Group Ltd on April 6 (www.fdmgroup.com).  Since I was out of an office job for about seven months, it was quite difficult to get back in the swing of things, but here are the highlights of my first few weeks.

Keith's First Day of Work

First of all, FDM is located in Brighton so I can actually walk to work.  Coming from Texas which is too big to walk anywhere, that’s pretty cool huh?  Well, that’s what I thought . . . until I pulled my hamstring trying to out walk an eastern European looking woman on my first day of “commuting” to the office.  So, Lesson #1 learned:   There is no pride lost in stretching before heading out the door in the morning for my rather difficult 15 minute walk.
Secondly, I have welcomed back a great friend of mine called Carnation Instant Breakfast.  Some people know that beginning when I was in elementary school, my mom got me addicted to the creamy, chocolaty breakfast drink.   When we moved to England I quickly figured out that you can’t buy CIB over here.  Fortunately, we have nice family members who have regularly supplied a stash to allow me to support my habit.  For you to get a grasp of how much CIB has been a part of my life, I estimate that I have consumed almost 10,000 CIB packets!  I figure to pass the 10,000 mark sometime later this year.   Lesson #2 learned:  Don’t allow family members to drink CIB when it is on short supply.  Lesson #2a learned:  I don’t have a problem, I can quit whenever I want.

Third, my face hurts.  I hadn’t shaved on back to back days since we moved here in August.  Since I am half Lebanese and, therefore, can look like a terrorist in about 36 hours, having to shave every weekday is quite an adjustment.  Lesson #3 learned:  Don’t buy cheap shaving cream.

Lastly, one unexpected and rather enjoyable benefit to working so close to home is that I can walk home during lunchtime to meet Michelle while the girls are in school.  I’m sure some of you might know where I’m going with this (especially the men), but you know what that means I get—that’s right, I get to eat leftovers for lunch.  Lesson #4 learned:  Each week all couples should try to eat leftovers at least three times during the noon hour and a few times in the evening . . . if you know what I mean.

Oh yeah, and one other thing—work is going fine.

Keith

Easter Break

Sutton and Sloane have had the past two weeks off for their Easter break, and the weather has been absolutely beautiful the entire time.  It has been sunny and relatively warm with no rain in sight.  Sadly, Keith started his new job just about the time the girls got out of school, so we have hung around Brighton and tried not to have too much fun without Keith.

The girls spent most of their first week off hanging out with friends on play dates, sleepovers and even a birthday party.  I even talked the girls into helping me clean the church one day (fun vacation, right?). 

We were supposed to go with our friends the Houses to Hever Castle before they left for Spring Harvest, but Sutton had a birthday party to go to so we postponed our day-trip until the next week.  Instead we went into town with Julie and Michael to one of our favorite places - Krispy Kreme.  After our doughnuts, we wandered around town doing a little shopping.  We made it home just in time to get Sutton to her birthday party.

Because we had so much fun at the beach before, we went back last Sunday after church.  It was definitely more crowded, and we had to go down further closer to Shoreham.  I took the girls back again last Tuesday, and it was perfect.  We took a packed lunch with us and stayed the entire afternoon.  I am not sure who enjoyed it more, the girls or Lucy.

 

On Wednesday, we went to visit Hever Castle with our friends Michael and Julie House.  Hever Castle is the childhood home of Anne Boleyn, and it has amazing gardens.  It is about an hour away, so we left in the morning and made a day of it.  Once again, we had beautiful weather, so we enjoyed a packed lunch on the beautiful grounds.  The Houses have a really nice camera that Sloane some how commandeered from them, so she was the "official" photographer for the day.  I think Julie told me Sloane took around 200 pictures.  At least she was entertained, and she didn't break their camera.  Now Sloane wants to buy her own camera, so she is checking out Gumtree for good deals. 

I did finally get that daffodil picture!

We have had a super-busy Easter weekend, so I will have to save that for another blog post.

Heat Wave Weekend

The Argus, our local paper, reported yesterday that we were having a mini heat wave.  This totally cracks me up because the high yesterday was 55 degrees.  I guess it does feel like a heat wave compared to the cold, dreary winter we have had, so whatever you want to call it, I like it.

It was so beautiful yesterday we decided to (finally) go to the beach for the day.  We packed a picnic lunch and headed down to the beach around noon.  The sun was shining, so even though it was only in the 50's, it was warm enough to lie in the sun and catch some rays.  After lunch, the wind picked up and it was a little chilly, but at least it wasn't scorching like a day on a Texas beach.  I could have stayed there doing nothing all day.

This morning I got up early and went with my friend Julie to watch her husband Michael run the Brighton Marathon.  Three guys from our church, Michael, John and Ron, were all running the marathon for the first time, so we went to support them all.  This is the second year for the Brighton Marathon and about 15,000 people ran.  Unlike most of our spread out point-to-point races the marathon here was a lot of out and backs in a pretty condensed area, so it made it easy to see our friends a lot during the day.

The highlight of the marathon for me happened before the race even started.  While Julie and I were at Preston Park (the starting line) before the race, I saw a man in a suit with an ornate gold chain around him.  I asked Julie what in the world that man was wearing, and she told me he was the mayor.  I had to get a picture with the mayor, so I sort of inched over by the mayor while Julie snapped a quick picture.  Unfortunately, the mayor's "handler" busted Julie, and he asked her if she had taken a picture.  We both thought Julie was about to get her camera confiscated, but instead he asked us if we wanted a proper picture with the mayor.  I was all over that, and here is the best picutre ever.  This one might be a framer.

Michael ran a great race, and he finished right around his goal time (which was excellent considering how hot is was today).  To celebrate we went with Julie and Michael to dinner at Woodies which is an American diner.  Even though Michael was the only one who earned it, we all stuffed ourselves full of burgers, fries, onion rings and Jones Sodas.  It was the perfect way to end a great weekend!