I realise my wife has yet to fill you in on the details of our trip save for a few hundred photos. There are some funny stories that go along with them so I'm sure she will make sure to eventually fill you in. For the time being I am working her to the bone. She is now one of the longest serving members of the Soul Food team and definitely the most dependable worker. She routinely gets 5 shifts per week for a total of 30 hours - sometimes more. I promised her, while she is not pregnant and before she goes to California, that if we work hard now she will be rewarded handsomely. All that to say - pardon her tardiness.
One of her many committments has been Queens Volleyball club. Favourites to win the league, this talented, diverse, athletic team were flying through the season. Top of the league with only one blip in the record (a 3-2 away loss to their closest rivals Craigavon Aztecs back in October). It all came down to the wire last Wednesday. Aztecs came to Belfast for the final game of the season. The winner that night would win the league. Not only would this pit the two best teams against each other, but the two best players too. Chloe Walkingshaw and Erin Madden.
I'll save the spiel for another time. It was a nail-biter though. Queens won the first two sets. Aztecs won the next two. Yet another 5-setter! I will tell you that both Erin and Chloe were voted MVP. Fitting. Want to watch? See if you can spot me at the scorers table.
And some highlights (Erin is no.3 hitting outside):
Now back to the holiday snaps:
Well would you believe after all this uploading it is 11:30pm and now, yet again, I do not have time to write the stories!!!! Son of a....... Where does the time go?!
You'll have to excuse us. Busy times here in Belfast. Soon, we promise.
It is Tuesday 23rd April. I just got back from a weights session and look what my wife had in store for me:
And that's just the main!
I had a starter of warm goats cheese salad with pear and walnuts. So healthy and so good. What did I do to deserve this woman?! The reason everything is so healthy is because I've been watching my weight of late. Sounds weird, I know. But our strength and conditioning coach has decided to enter me into a weightlifting competition this weekend. It olympic-style where you pick the weight up from the ground and throw it over your head.
This...will not be me
More like it!
Why is this an issue? Well my weight category was meant to be 187 lbs and under. This wasn't an issue. I've been 184 and below all year. But now that I know I need to be under 187 I've suddenly ballooned to 190! Crisps, chocolate (which I don't even like), candy. I can't stop. People on a diet must be so miserable. I feel your pain.
But the kindness of my wife does not stop there. She serves all her meals with love:
Awh.....
Okay, okay! Now that I have nauseated you all I'll stop.
Our softball league has started back. We've played 2 games and are undefeated so far which is made all the more special because in our first game we beat last seasons champions. That felt good. It really is fun to play a sport with Erin. It is co-ed. The only bummer is getting constantly shown up by my wife. My ego takes a bruising anytime we take the field as she is hitting homers for fun while I am concentrating all my efforts on making the bat contact that darn ball. Nevermind that throw of hers!
My ego has also been taking a battering from university this semester. It is way harder than last year. There is this one module that I just cannot get my head around. I have been so busy with that and work that it's small wonder this blog has been so neglected.
If it weren't for Erin's cheesy latte messages to me I'd never get through my classes!
Although, she's not always so such a good study aide....
But she is a hard worker, I'll say that much. I've been working her to the bone lately. Regularly getting 5 shifts a week, practically managining the place, and coming home to look after what is essentially a 2 year old - I'm useless.
She is very sociable with the locals - she knows more Belfastians than I do!
It's all taking it's toll on her though. Perpetually exhausted.
It was Mother's day back in March - and dad's birthday too. They came up and we had some fun together one weekend!
Obligatory Maggie Mays Milkshakes
We took them to our new favourite breakfast jaunt - Harlem cafe. I ordered the girly vanilla latte as usual and of course they though it was for mum. So I had to drink out of this! How embarrassing?!
Hey, SB kids who are too cool for vacation, we are getting some nice weather and we've recently cleaned out our spare room. This is a limited offer as eventually we will just move back to CA and you all will miss out on a cheap trip to the Emerald Isle.
It's waiting for you - now taking reservations.
Did anyone hear what I got Erin for her birthday? Maybe she'll tell you. Here is a teaser though:
Enough from me. I promised I would let Erin do the interesting part of the blog - our Spain trip. So she has all the cool photos. Enjoy. Adios.
Hello hello... well, Niall just passed me the computer because he is done with his part. This thing can be quite time consuming-- Evan, no wonder you haven't updated yours in about 8 months! :)
Loads of people have been asking about the Spain holiday, sorry for the delay in putting some photos up. We took some cool shots that we have been wanting to share with you, it's just been crazy lately so we haven't gotten around to it until now!
Niall and I flew into Malaga and drove straight to Granada where we met up with Tony and Fiona. As a brief side note, I'm sure many of you will notice that in most of the photos we are wearing pants and sweaters! :/ I must say we got a bit unlucky with the weather... but we still had an amazing time and saw so many cool things.
Our first full day, Monday, we had booked tickets to go see the Alhambra, an Islamic palace complex built for Muslim "Emirs" before the Reconquest of the Catholic Monarchs. It was pretty impressive and very interesting to listen to our tour guide tell of the customs and stories behind it. We took loads of pictures, but I'll just put a few here!
Afterwards, we enjoyed walking around in Granada and just taking in the sights. We strolled up and down the "Carrera del Darro," and then explored "El Albayzin," a special old neighborhood on a hill that is facing Alahmbra. We walked up to the "Mirador de San Nicolas" to get a better view and hear some musicians playing. It was a spectacular day!
We finished it off with some "tapas" from a local hotspot...
Ok, I have to be honest and say it is really late here and after uploading all the photos, I don't have time to write everything about them here now. BUT, here are some pictures for now and tomorrow I am going to go back and edit this post so that I can write about them! I have some funny stories too... also I have more shots from our last couple of days so keep checking. Adios for now, enjoy!
