Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall...

Just a quick recap...

View from our balcony when I arrived in January...

...with Spring came a bit more green on the trees.

Summer was lovely; everything was in bloom and this photo was taken at about 9 pm!  The days were so long.

... Autumn has arrived and all the leaves are changing colors.

Only one more season to go and then we're homeward bound.  :)

Hi everyone...

Just a little update to say hello and check in with you all.  It's a Sunday evening and we just had our daylight savings-- so even though it's only a quarter past 6, it feels like it's almost bedtime!  It's been completely dark outside for about an hour now.  Winter is definitely upon us-- the last couple of days have been SO chilly!  Niall keeps warning me that it's not even November yet, which makes me a bit nervous...

Life here is going well.  Our Sundays are typically very relaxing which is always nice!  With our summer softball season over (our games were on Sundays), and neither of us ever having to work, we've gotten into our own little routine whenever we're home in Belfast on a Sunday.  It's starts with church at CFC which both of us are still really enjoying.  Then we usually go to:

I persuade Niall to take me here every weekend.  It's a big indoor market that is on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings.  I enjoy looking at all the artsy fartsy booths while Niall is lured in by the good food!  Today he got a crepe filled with bacon and maple syrup.  He also recently discovered that the best hot chocolate ever is sold here (I can attest, it's pretty amazing!).  There's live music too, so it's nice to just get a coffee and sit and relax for awhile.

Volleyball is going really well for Niall and myself.  We're both undefeated after the first week of league play.  :)  Here's a photo of my team after winning our first match:

There's only 12 of us players in the photo, but there's a lot more at practice.  It was a bit difficult at first because at our first training session, there were FIFTY FIVE girls there!  And we only had one court to play on... it was a bit crazy to say the least.  Since a few weeks have gone by now, the numbers have decreased so it's a bit more managable for our coach Sarah (who is also from the States).  We have 2 training sessions a week-- Monday nights is for more advanced players only, so it's nice playing with other girls who have some prior volleyball experience.  I'm just so grateful that I get to touch a ball every now and then!  I love it and can't wait to play some beach with Heather (who apparently is a local studmuffin down at East now) when I get home.  :)

Anyway, what else?  It's been the usual business here on Ormeau Road.  Work is great for both of us and Niall is still plugging along with his Master's program.  Oh, some exciting news!  Marie and the kids are coming up from Bruff this weekend for a wee visit... so Niall and I are really looking forward to that.  Speaking of Bruff, Niall and I were there for a couple of days after we went to Tony's wedding in Cork about a month ago.  It was so wonderful!  I hadn't been able to get down for a visit since I was there in February, so it had been awhile.  I never got a chance to put up the photos, so here are a few shots from our time with them...

Playing games with the cousins.

:) 

my three little Irish kids are all grown up!

Lucy... always photogenic :D

Lucy and I had a good laugh over this... they put up a sign on the Noonan's passage!  So it has a name now... Lane 51602  :)

Okay... to finish off this post here's a video that I took in front of the Noonan's house before Niall and I headed back up to Belfast.  Thought it was pretty funny :)

Bye for now!

France

Hello All!

Well I’m back to reality and in the swing of things again.  I returned to Belfast from France last Friday evening and I must say it feels good to be home!  It was a wonderful 8 days away and I really enjoyed my time with “the trio” (as mom, Katie and Janine came to be known) and Miss Taylor Payne.  Interesting fact—as I write this, the trio are on their way home!  Probably somewhere over the Atlantic…

Anyway, I will try and recap a bit.  I flew into Paris on Thursday the 4^th, making my way through the city to the trio’s apartment with some well-written directions from Taylor on which trains and metros to take.  As I walked through the courtyard of their apartment complex and up the first flight of stairs, my heart was fluttering!  I was so excited to see everyone.  I could hear the trio talking from outside their door before I even took a step inside.  :)  Taylor was looking after her wee French kids when I arrived, so she met up with all of us later that evening.

The next few days in Paris flew by.  Taylor showed us some of the many sights, my mom, Katie and I went to Versailles, and we all got a kick out of renting bikes and riding along the river Seine.  In between all the tourist attractions, we enjoyed simply meandering through streets crowded with cafes and full of people sitting outside sipping espressos.  You could sit and people watch for hours!

Flying into Charles de Gaulle airport

Janine was our France expert!

No explanation needed!  Katie got us to try out this weird spinning thing.

Apparently lovers put their lock on and then throw the key into the river!

The next few photos are from the day that my mom, Katie and I took a train to see the Chateau de Versailles... we were a bit bummed because it ended up being a rainy day so we didn't have as much time as we would have liked to explore the gardens (SO massive, you could have walked around for hours!)... but oh well.  It was still amazing!  So impressive to think that we were able to walk around in the place where Kings of France once called home.

And a few more from Paris...

You could see the Eiffel Tower from the street we stayed on!

Opera House

Sacre Coeur

Trying roasted chestnuts

Janine took a photo about every 2.5 seconds, so she was always playing catch up!

Our last night in Paris, mom and I got locked out of our apartment!  Long story.

On Monday, I left with the trio for the Southwest of France.  We took the TGV from Paris to Bordeaux.  The train ride was over three hours, so we all had some time to catch up on postcard writing and enjoy the scenery.  I was surprised at how quickly we went from being in the middle of a huge city to being surrounded by the green countryside, with little houses and towns scattered here and there.  Even though we hadn’t booked anything ahead of time, we were able to find a nice little place to stay in Bordeaux with a kitchen and all!  We rented a car in Bordeaux and from there we saw some amazing little villages—I was so impressed.  I had never been to France so I didn’t know what to expect, but I totally loved it!  There were times when we all felt like we were in a fairytale.  Our first day we went to Saint Emilion, a world heritage site with history going back to prehistoric times!

Leaving Bordeaux

THE TRIO

Katie's find-- fresh figs

Some local wine and planning for the next day.  Mom makes a great lamp holder  :)

Ok, these photos are taking forever to upload and I feel like I need to wrap this up.  I know when I started this post the girls were in a plane somewhere over the Atlantic, but by now they're probably somewhere over the U.S.!  Here's one more bunch of photos from our last couple of days.  More amazing villages, and then I headed back up to Paris on my own to spend one more night with Taylor before I flew home to Belfast Friday evening.

another world heritage sight... prehistoric!

One of the lovely little places we stayed

La Ville de Sarlat

Duck for dinner!

Our next stop, Domme

La Roque

Last day with Tay.  We took the dog for a long walk...

Bye Paris!

Ok, I probably put up way too many photos.  I can't stare at the computer any longer so I'm going to stop there.  Hope you all enjoyed them... really excited that the next time I get on a plane, it will be headed for LAX!  :)

:)