Happy Father's Day :)

Happy, happy Father's Day to all the dads back home!  We were blessed to have Niall's parents up for a wee visit this weekend, so we got to see Benny and take him and mum out for a nice meal at Little Wing last night.  It was a short but sweet Madden family reunion (minus Avril who is in Hawaii for two months!!  We are jealous).

I hope all the fathers have a wonderful day today and feel very loved.  Dad... this post is especially for you.  :)  I miss you a LOT and love you more than you know.  What I wouldn't give to have some of our simple times together again... coffee at Roco's, watching a ball game with you, or listening to you nail all the Jeopardy questions while mom makes her famous edamame beans before dinner!  I get lonely for your company but Christmas will be here before we know it.

Thanks for everything dad, you're the BEST.  I am always looking forward to the next time I can see you and the rest of the fam.

I love you!

xox

boo

If a picture paints a thousand words.....

Then my wife just wrote a novel! If you ask me it's a lazy way to blog. But then again - I'm lazy. Beautiful tactic my love. I shall follow suit.

A few words of introduction though - Erin left me pretty much nothing to write about. So I'll cover the odds and ends I can think of over the last hectic few weeks.

Here is a picture of Erin and I in happier times in California.
You may think she misses it and wants to come home.
But I've offered her Wichita KS, Ann Arbor MI, even Escondido CA!
She doesn't want any of them!

That foolishness won't last long though. It is the middle of June here right now. Right in the midst of our scorching Summer. We had our nicest day yet today. Erin woke excited and fresh and gazed out upon the day:

This was her afterwards:

Yep! Won't be long now. Chula Vista here we come.

Erin played in an all day volleyball tournament with a team called Old School before the Dohm's came. They were called that because everyone was so old on their team, particularly Erin. They made it to the semi's losing 2-1 to the favourites. Erin chose the team not only because her arthritis fitted in but because the jerseys were her favourite colour.

My baby proving that oldies can get UP!

Team talk taken seriously

Our Dirty Duck quiz night scoreboard.
If you look closely you'll see that The Mad Ones did not come last
with a grand score of 29/49.  Walking home - you suck! haha.
Seriously though, we were so pissed (humbled is the word I should use)!
How the heck can a team get 44/49?! Smartphones - thats how!

Ever since I found out the Dohms were coming I had looked forward to bringing Jon here. McHughs, the 300 year old pub on some of the postcards at our wedding, has been a revelation to me this year. It ranks no.1 on my favourite places to eat out in Belfast. And I only ever get one thing on the menu! The volcanic rock 420 degrees cook-it-yourself Sirloin Steak! Sooooo good! The steak comes pretty much raw to your table. You also get brought a black stone on which to cook the steak to your taste. Mound of fries on the side, dollop of garlic butter and pepper sauce and a fat pint of Guinness and you're a happy man.

A happy man

Off on a tangent here but hands up if you remember this extremely fun night on December 30th last year. I can't believe that was our house, you were our guests, we had that much pizza, and I got married the next day!

I know I joked earlier about our weather but gosh, by some miracle right after the Dohms left the Sun appeared. 82 degrees we hit and I finally cashed in that round of golf I had been saving for Jon. It goes without saying that NI's finest golf course was lost on the talents of Steve, Conor, Nick, and I. Self praise is no praise but I've got to say - I hit a couple of humdingers from the tee box. I thought I was a pro with the driver. I wanted to make a video to show off to Jon but kept forgetting. Shame about the rest of my skills though because I finished with a 68 over par round playing only 11 holes after losing a total of 23 balls between the 4 of us. The Hilton Templepatrick won't be allowing us back on their course any time soon.

Sunburn, mulligans, angry 'real' golfers, water hazards, and dehydration all contributed towards what has to be my favourite and most anticipated beer! Oh my gosh this tasted good. It was gone in 2 seconds flat. But there was something very satisfying sitting out in the Sun looking out at what was once a very beautiful golf course (before Steve tore it up) having completed as much of a round as our ball supply permitted. Golf - I could get into that game...

Conor Doherty, Nick Wright, Niall Madden

The greatest beer of all time!

I lied. I did make a video. I was just too embarrassed to post it:

2nd Bi-Annual CCI Invitational

Hike up Cave Hill

Our last day with mom and dad... it was pretty dreary out, but we got outdoors anyway and went on a pretty cool hike near Belfast Castle.  (mom wasn't too fond of the height factor...)

Back in NI with Mom and Pops

We were all in Dublin together just for the day and then we drove back up to Belfast.  On Monday Mom, Dad and Heather went to the Titanic Belfast Museum that just had its grand opening a few months ago.  Tuesday Niall and I both had to work again so they took a bus to Newcastle, a cool town south of Belfast.  Here are some of their photos from that!

Newcastle is situated right on the water with the mountains nearby... kind of like an Irish SB :)

Mom and Dad thought they'd take advantage of the few minutes when the sun came out!

They found a pretty cool hike!

Watch out!!

Let's see... when they got back from Newcastle that afternoon, we all went to Helen's Bay for a walk on the beach and then to the Dirty Duck pub for dinner.  So it was a busy day for the Dohms!

Helen's Bay 

 Dad and Niall exploring the coast

We walked back through the trails instead of on the beach.  It was beautiful!

Niall decided he liked the taste of the juice that our mussels were served in.  By the looks of my face I wasn't very impressed!  :D

Here's Dad with our score card... It was "pub quiz" night at the Dirty Duck.  We entered but came in second to last!!  Oh well, we still had fun.  :)

On Wednesday I had the day off work, and Niall took a day off too so that we could all hang out and take a little trip up to the Northern coast.  We went to Giant's Causeway, Dunluce Castle, Ballintoy Harbour, and walked around the town of Portrush.  It was a great day!

Giant's Causeway

Dunluce Castle... this place is unreal!  Niall and I have been here before but I thought it was still so fun to see.

Ballintoy Harbour... tucked away at the bottom of the mountains near Portrush

candid shot :)

Heather found a nest of eggs!  The momma bird ended up chasing us away...

Well those are the highlights.  The next morning Heather flew home... Niall and I dropped her off early at the Belfast station to get a bus down to Dublin.  I was sad to see her go.  :(  We had a couple more days with Mom and Dad before they headed out as well.  I have a few more photos to post but it's late so I'll get those up soon!