The Emerald Isle - (the Final) Part 3

On to the final leg of our trip - DUBLIN!

We got into Dublin on a Friday afternoon after taking a bus and a few trains.  The night before we left Lisdoonvarna, Abby just happened to see on her brother Neil's facebook that one of Neil's friends, who is also a boy that Abby babysat many years ago, Marcus McKeough, got last minute tickets to the Notre Dame (American) college football game.  Marcus is no longer the little boy Abby used to babysit.  He is a proud member of the Air Force and stationed in the UK (Thank you Marcus for your service!!).  She made a comment on the status that if he heard of anyone with extra tickets that we would be very interested in them.  Luckily Marcus saw this and told us that the guy he got his from had 4 tickets and still had 2 available!  Marcus gave Abby the contact information to get in touch with the person with the tickets and she sent him a facebook message right away asking if he still had the 2 tickets available.  Every hour or so (well, actually every 20 minutes, but we were so exited about the prospect of getting tickets that it felt like hours) during the train ride to Dublin, Abby checked her facebook to see if there was any response.  Just before we arrive in Dublin, we heard back from the guy with tickets and he confirmed that they were ours if we wanted them.  We almost jumped out of our train seats with excitement!  We arranged to meet the guy at The Gresham Hotel in downtown Dublin that night to pick up our tickets

We eventually made it out to Bray and checked into the hotel where we were staying.  We had a seafront view room, overlooking the Irish Sea.  The hotel itself was a bit disappointing, but the views were spectacular:

There was a cross on the top of this hill and Dan was able to zoom in and get a pretty neat picture.

This was the view from our room on our first morning!

After checking into our hotel, we decided to take a short walk around Bray and got a bite to eat.  After relaxing for a bit, we then went back into Dublin to do some exploring.  Our hopes were to meet up with the Garys, but we got a little bit mixed up and went to the wrong hotel.  They were staying at The Maldron and we all figured out too late that there were 4 hotels by that name just in Dublin!  At that point we figured we might as well walk around the city a bit.  We got out our trusty map and checked out a number of shops.  The big "tourist" shop was called Carroll's, and as it was a chain, it had a number of stores throughout the city.  We thought it might be good to pick up some ND Emerald Isle Classic shirts or sweatshirts to wear to the game, but when we went to the shop, they only had baby and children's sizes.  The gentleman there said every Carroll's in the city was sold out of ND adult gear.  The Fightin' Irish American fans had definitely stormed the city!  We heard from several sources that more than 25,000 Americans had come over to see the game.  At least 4 different locals told us that they had never seen so many Americans.

Later that evening, around 9:00 pm, we met up at the Gresham to get our tickets.  Once we had them in hand, we were so excited and could barely contain ourselves.  Yes, of course we had hoped that we would be able to score last minute tickets, but we thought that the chances of that happening were slim to none.  About 30 minutes after our arrival, Marcus came and got his tickets as well, and we found that our seats were next to his.  Marcus pulled up a diagram on his phone of where are seats were, and from the picture, it looked like they were pretty good!

After getting our tickets we chatted and had a few drinks with Marcus.  We wanted to stay longer and catch-up with Marcus, but the last train to going to Bray left at 11:28pm.  If we weren't on that train then we would either have to stay in Dublin or pay for a taxi to take us all the way out to Bray.  We hopped on the local tram, called the LUAS, to go to Connolly station where we would catch the last train to Bray.  We had taken this trip a couple times so we were confident we would make it, but this time the LUAS went right past Connolly station without stopping.  We weren't sure what was going on but by the time we realized we missed the stop we were far past the station.  Time was running out to catch the last train to Bray and we started to get stressed.  We got off the tram and got on the next tram going back towards Connolly station.  The LUAS stopped about 300 yards from the station.  We had less than 5 minutes to catch the train.  We sprinted around the corner, across the street, down the block an up the steps to the station.  A quick look at the departure board and we ran to the platform and straight on the train.  Just after we got in the train the doors closed behind us.  We thought we were so lucky!  As the train started rolling we suddenly realized...the train was going North and we needed to go South.  It was the wrong train!  We were gutted.

We got off at the first stop and took the next train going back to Connolly station.  Unfortunately, the last train to Bray was long gone.  We arrived back in Connolly station and went out front to hail a taxi.  We found a taxi that would take us to Bray.  It was a 40 minute taxi ride and not cheap, but it was the only way to get home.  The worst part was that Abby strained her Achilles tendon during our sprint to the train station and it would bother her for the next 3 weeks.

On Saturday morning we woke up and got some breakfast in the hotel restaurant and were SO excited for the game.  We were going to try and meet up with the Garys again before the game but we weren't able to so we made plans to hang out with them later that evening.  We took a train to the area where the game and we got off.  We were walking down the road and it was almost like being on the ND campus - the energy was incredible, we could smell barbecues in the air and there were ND fans EVERYWHERE!  We haven't heard so many people speaking American English since we lived back in the States.  It's a small thing, but hearing so many familiar accents made us feel at home.  Another great part of the walk around was the Navy personnel and everyone's respect for their service.  We constantly saw people walking up to mid-shipmen, shaking their hands, thanking them for their service and asking to take pictures with them.  Navy was the 'enemy' of ND that day but the respect for the men and women who chose to put their lives on the line for us transcended all competition.  No one can ever thank them enough for what they do.

We came here to The Bath pub where we planned on meeting up with Marcus to grab a drink then walk to the stadium.  The place was packed and we thought it would take us FOREVER to find him, but low and behold, just as we were walking indoors, he was walking out!  For old time's sake, we had to take a photo of Abby and Marcus, when she babysat him, he was quite a bit smaller than he is now:

We then decided to walk to the game - we were so excited and still almost could not believe we were actually going.  We really lucked out with the weather (we actually were very fortunate weather-wise for the entire trip) - it was sunny and comfortable.  On our walk to the stadium, we had a magnificent view, as Aviva Stadium is a very cool architectural structure.

On our way into the stadium, Dan snapped this photo, thinking this is the closest we would get to the field...

We finally made it to our seats and they were INCREDIBLE!  Notre Dame dominated Navy with a final score of 50-10.  We thought we could attempt to write about the game, but agreed that the photos would be a better way to describe it.

The spectacular view from our seats!

Loved the Irish, American and Emerald Isle Classic flags all together.

We couldn't have been happier!

There were a number of very cool tributes to the Navy and everything they do to serve and protect our country.

Thanks to Dan's awesome zoom on his camera, we were able to get some great shots of Brian Kelly on the sidelines:

Because we had such great seats, we were able to get some up-close photos of the teams in action.  Check out ND's shoes!

Of course, we had to snap a photo of the Irish Guard.

This little fella tried to run out on the field dressed as a leprechaun but the ushers caught him and escorted him back to his seat.  He couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 years old!

CHEER, CHEER FOR OLD NOTRE DAME!!!!! Final score: Notre Dame:50 Navy:10.

After the game, we had finally arranged to meet up with the Garys in a small town called Dalkey just south of the stadium.  There were throngs of people so we figured we wouldn't be able to find them at the game and would just meet them in Dalkey at the pub.  We got on the metro and were waiting for it to leave when low and behold, we look out the window and see the whole Gary clan walking by!  We ran out of our train car and caught up with them at last.  Abby was so excited to see Michelle and to catch up.  We rode with them out to Dalkey where we joined them for a drink at Flanagan's pub.  The decision was made to go there because the owner of the pub is best friends with a neighbor of Brianne (Michelle's sister) and her husband Joey back in Chicago - small world!  We hung out there for a bit and just enjoyed ourselves, our friends and Dan even made friends with some of the locals.

 

Best friends reunited - couldn't be happier!

This is Sean one of the locals Dan met and his dog Buddy.

After a few drinks at the pub we went with the Garys and their group to a restaurant right around the corner for some good food and good fun.  We had a great time catching up with the entire Gary family - Abby has been friends with Michelle for years so it felt like we weren't just friends, but family as well.  It was amazing to have the opportunity to enjoy our friends and family from home and we loved every moment of it, wishing it didn't have to end.

Abby with the Gary family.

Just having a little fun!

Poor Chad was getting tired.

Abby and Melissa, Michelle's youngest sister.

The time finally came where we had to say our goodbyes to the Garys.  It was very sad but we were so thankful to be able to spend time with them.  We are so lucky to have such amazing friends.  Here are a few parting shots we took of them as we were waiting on the opposite side of the train tracks:

Don't ask.

Always smiling Michelle - Chad is trying to look tough.

Happy to be in Ireland!  We were so sad to seem them go...

Final waves good-bye - a fun bunch!

We finally arrived back in Bray late that evening.  It was a clear night and we knew our trip was ending the next day, so we walked along the shoreline for a bit, just soaking it all up.  We both agreed this was the best vacation we'd ever taken and were so sad that it was just about over.  

We returned back to our hotel exhausted but happy and content after an amazing day.

The next morning we woke up and went into Dublin to do a bit of shopping for gifts for a few people.  We walked around a bit here and there but we did not spend too much time in the city.  After we found all the gifts we wanted, we took a bus to Dublin Airport.  We can say this much - we did not want to leave at all.  We had such an amazing time (clearly, since it took 3 long blog posts to detail our trip) and would DEFINITELY recommend Ireland for anyone even remotely thinking about a vacation in Europe.  It was definitely one of those trips that we will never forget and will tell the story to our children some day.

Well, that is all for now.  We hope you've enjoyed our Ireland trip and are maybe even thinking about going there now yourself.

We love and miss you all very much!

The Emerald Isle - Part 2

 The first two days in Ireland were an adventure with the Hillary family.  The third day we struck out into the Irish countryside on our own.

Read 'The Emerald Isle - Part 1' to see what we did the first two days in Ireland.

Thursday morning we got up early and had a great breakfast prepared by our hosts, Bernie and Ollie, at the Lisdoon Lodge.  We walked into 'downtown' Lisdoonvarna ready to catch an early bus to the Cliffs of Moher.  Our plan was to take a bus to the Cliffs, spend a few hours there, and then take another bus to Doolin for the afternoon.  But we waited at the bus stop and the bus never came.

We figured out that the bus we were waiting for doesn't run after August 24th, just under 1 week before; and the next bus going to the Cliffs that stopped in Lisdoonvarna didn't arrive for another 2 hours.  You can walk through the entire town of Lisdoonvarna in a couple of minutes.  We knew there wasn't going to be enough to keep us entertained until the next bus arrived, so we decided to walk.  There were signs indicating our general direction and we had a map.  We figured the best idea would be to follow the route our bus had taken 2 days earlier when dropping us off in Lisdoonvarna.

The roads are about as wide as the average car is long.  Many roads are even more narrow.  When two cars come upon each other, one driver has to find a small spot to pull off the road and let the other driver pass.  It can get even trickier going around a blind corner if the cars are speeding.  Needless to say we stayed vigilant on our walk.  Along the way we came across a couple asses who seemed to take an interest in us.

We walked about 3 miles to The Tweed and Woollen Centre - a great stop if you are interested in authentic Irish sweaters, but be ready to pay for the authenticity.  Down the hill from The Tweed and Woollen Centre is the coastal town of Doolin.  (A 'JTB' for ya: The McGann's, O'Connor's, and McDermott's pubs in Doolin are known to have some of the best Irish music in Ireland).  And another 3 miles past the town of Doolin is the Doolin Cave.  It was a tiring walk, but as it was such a beautiful day, we were lucky to get some great photos.

We arrived at Doolin Cave and ordered some lunch in the cafe while we waited for the tour prior to ours to end.  When it was our turn, we felt so lucky because we were the only two people on our tour so it felt like a tour made just for the two of us.  Our tour guide, Jim, took us 250 feet below sea level to the base of the cave.  Before we went down into the cave, however, we were required to wear these hard hats for safety purposes:

 Once we had the required safety gear in place, Jim took us to the belly of the cave and it was pitch black.  We felt a bit like we were spelunking in the Bat Cave for a bit.  We knew we were in the open area of the cave but that was about all we knew.  Jim told us he was about to turn the lights on and we would see a magnificent sight - he was certainly right!  Hanging from the ceiling of the cave was what is know at "The Great Stalactite."  It is the largest free-hanging stalactite in the Northern Hemisphere, measuring 23 feet long.  It was so incredible to see!

      

Jim concluded our tour and we were all set to walk back to "downtown" Doolin when he told us that he did not have another tour for 30 minutes and that he would be more than happy to drive us into the bus stop in Doolin where we could catch the bus to the Cliffs of Moher.  We said that was not necessary but he insisted, advising it was the least he could do. We gladly accepted the offer and jumped into his car for the quick ride to the bus stop.  He dropped us off and made sure that the bus actually stopped there before heading back, as he said he did not want us to be stranded and have to walk even more.  We checked the time table and let him know that the next bus was coming in 35 minutes and he wished us well in our marriage (we told him we are engaged, getting married next summer), telling us we were very well matched.  We thanked him for his kindness and tried to pay him, but he refused to take anything.  We waved to him and he was back on his way towards the cave for his next tour.  We sat enjoying the beautiful day and the sunshine when no more than 10 minutes later, who comes driving back down the road but our tour guide Jim!  He rolled down his window, told us that his last tour of the day was cancelled and that he would drive us to the Cliffs.  We told him we did not want to inconvenience him at all but he assured us that it was on his way home, so we got back into his car.  It was such a great ride because he gave us a bit of history about the area on the ride, so not only was he a tour guide of the Doolin Cave, but our own personal local area tour guide as well.

Along the way to the Cliffs, he pointed out the tower below and told us the story that it was once part of a castle and that the coast below was where the Spanish Armada was wrecked.  The 10-15 sailors/soldiers that survived the shipwreck went to the tower where they were captured by Queen Elizabeth I and then were marched to Lisdoonvarna (the town where we were staying) where they were hanged.  It was such a surreal story and especially surreal knowing that the grounds we stood on were a very rich part of history.

Shortly after stopping for those photos, Jim dropped us off at the Cliffs.  We again thanked him for his kindness and generosity and wished him well.  He is definitely someone we will never forget.  If any of you ever go to the Doolin Cave, ask for Jim to be your tour guide and send him our well wishes.

When we arrived at the Cliffs, we were immediately awestruck.  The Cliffs of Moher are such an incredible place that even these photos below will not do it justice.  The Cliffs stand about 650 feet above sea level and on a clear day such as the day we went, you can see for miles and miles.  We were so lucky and blessed with such beautiful weather that day.

There is a wall which you can climb over to walk along the edge of the cliffs with no gate to prevent you from falling.  Also, Jim told us on our ride to the Cliffs that taxis are not permitted to take anyone to the Cliffs alone after sunset.  This was very saddening to hear, and seeing these signs made us really realize how lucky we are to be so blessed in our lives, and also reminded us to be very careful.

That being said, we were very careful when taking these photos:

The Cliffs of Moher were probably one of the most magnificent natural wonders we will ever see in our lives.  As mentioned before, these photos really do not do them justice - they are absolutely breathtaking!

After we had walked along the edge of the Cliffs, we headed back and got some dinner in the cafe and then waited for our bus to take us back to our last evening in Lisdoonvarna.  We got back to the Lisdoon Lodge Guesthouse where we were able to speak with Bernie and Ollie about our check out time the next day.  As we were leaving quite early for Dublin the following morning, they allowed us to check out and pay in the evening and Bernie told us that they would wake up a bit early to make sure we had some breakfast before leaving.  We packed up that night and sure enough, when we were leaving in the morning, Bernie and Ollie were already up.  Bernie asked if we would have some light breakfast before we left and we told her we would love to, but we were running a few minutes late and had to catch the bus in town.  She told us to go ahead and sit down, that Ollie would drive us to the bus station since it was raining.  We obliged and when we left, thanked them profusely for their hospitality. They were amazing hosts and we would definitely recommend the Lisdoon Lodge Guesthouse for anyone staying in Co. Clare.

Well folks, this is where The Emerald Isle - Part 2 ends.  As we mentioned, there was so much to see and do and tell everyone about that we've had to split the blog into a few parts.

Stay tuned for Part 3 - DUBLIN!

We love you all and miss you very much!

The Emerald Isle - Part 1

It was such a great trip with so many interesting adventures that we split the blog into a couple parts.

The Emerald Isle - Part 1

About 3 days before we left for Ireland Dan's cousin gave him the email address of a relative who still lives in Ireland.  This relative had not heard from anyone in Dan's family for years and Dan didn't know if she even used that email address anymore.  Not really sure what kind of response he would get, if any, Dan emailed his relative in hopes that she would have information on the location of his great grandfather's home in Co. Clare.  Not more than 24 hours after emailing her he got a response in which she provided the names and phone numbers of several relatives who still live in Co. Clare.  One of those relatives was Breda Frawley, Dan's 3rd cousin.  It turned out they were just as eager to meet old relatives from the States as we were to meet them!

We arrived in Cork, Ireland on a Tuesday morning.  While waiting for our train from Cork to Ennis Dan called his cousin, Breda, who lives in Ennis, to see if she would like to meet us at some point during our stay in Co. Clare.  Breda was excited to meet us and offered to pick us up from the Ennis train stop and bring us back to her house for tea.  We weren't expecting such open hospitality from someone who had never even heard of us until 2 days earlier!

After a 2 hour train ride we arrived in Ennis and Breda was at the station waiting to greet us.  She drove us back to her house where we talked, ate, sipped tea, and learned about each other and the Hillary family.  We also met her husband Pat, a retired mason, who is helping one of their sons cover a cement wall in traditional Irish stone. (A 'Juicy Tid Bit' for ya: Government laws state that exterior cement walls must be covered in traditional stone so as to preserve the historic look/feel of Ireland...at least in the area where Breda and Pat live this is the law).  Before we left Breda and Pat, one of their sons, David, stopped by.  He heard that a cousin of his was in town and he wanted to meet us.  After a few hours spent with distant family who made us feel like long lost siblings, Breda drove us to the Bus station and we got on a bus towards Lisdoonvarna.

We spoke with the bus driver a little bit on the way, making sure that we knew which stop would be Lisdoonvarna so that we didn't miss it.  He asked where in Lisdoonvarna we were headed and we told him Lisdoon Lodge Guesthouse, a small B&B just outside town.  It was a bit rainy and he offered to drive a little bit out of his way in order to bring us closer to the B&B so that we wouldn't have to walk as far in the rain.  We thanked him for his kindness and after a short walk from where he dropped us off we arrived at our lodging.

Lisdoon Lodge Guesthouse

The Irish countryside view from our room

The next morning Breda picked us up from Lisdoon Lodge and drove us to Kilfenora.  Kilfenora is the town where the Hillary family went to church for generations.  We saw the original church of Kilfenora Parish; where Dan's great grandfather, William Hillary, was baptized.  Next to the old church is a cemetery where Dan's great great grandparents, Joseph and Anne Hillary are buried along with Dan's great Aunt Mary Kelly (Hillary).  (A 'JTB' for ya: it is common in small towns/Parishes like Kilfenora for the family to own one burial plot where several family members get buried.  When a person dies, they place the coffin on top of the coffin(s) of the people buried before them; one coffin collapses into another and family members are buried on top of one another.)

The old church of Kilfenora Parish and cemetery where Dan's great great grandparents are buried

The gravestone of Joseph and Anne Hillary

The headstone reads:

Erected by 

Jeremiah Hillary, Doon 

In loving memory of his father 

Joseph who died 13th March 

1929 aged 80 years Also 

his mother Anne who 

died 20th Feb 1924 aged 

84 years

R I P

Next, we met a couple more of Dan's family members in a pub near the church.  We met Joe Carroll, who would be Dan's grandpa Hillary's first cousin, and Joe's daughter Noreen.  Joe is 84 and still sharp as a tack with an impeccable memory.  Joe told us all about the Hillary family origins: how the Hillarys came to live in Co. Clare, how they became Bog farmers, and what became of the brothers and sisters of William Hillary (Dan's great grandpa) who stayed in Ireland.  We even got Joe on videotape, which was a really big deal for the family.  Joe is known for his memory and for telling stories of the family history, but he refuses to speak on videotape.  Joe's brother, Father John Carroll, once tried to get him to talk about the family history on tape, but as soon as Father John pulled out a video camera Joe wouldn't speak and actually left the room.  Lucky for us, Joe thought we were taking pictures of him instead of videotaping.  We didn't intentionally deceive him.  We actually didn't know about his aversion to being videotaped, and we thought he knew what we were doing.  Afterward we found out that we were the first people to get him on tape, but his kids were happy to have a recording of him so we didn't feel too bad about the misunderstanding.  After some tea, apple pie and a nice chat about the Hillary family history it was off to see the old Hillary property.

Joe brought us to the land where the Hillarys farmed Bog and raised their family for generations.  We saw the house where Dan's great great grandpa, Joseph Hillary, was born; also where his great grandpa, William Hillary, was born and raised until he was 23 when he left home for America.  The original house has since been redone, but we were able to go to the exact spot where the house stood.  The house is located in an area called Doon and sits atop a hill that overlooks Lake Lickeen and hundreds of acres of rolling Irish farmland.  (A 'JTB' for ya: Lake Lickeen provides drinking water for all of Co. Clare.)  The Hillary family may have been poor Bog farmers, but they had a million dollar view from their front porch!

The (now re-modeled) house where the Hillary family farmed Bog for generations

Dan's cousins (left to right): Noreen Talty, Breda Frawley, Joe Carroll, Dan Hillary

The view from the old Hillary farm.

After seeing the old Hillary home, Joe brought us back to their farm in Miltown Malbay.  The Carroll farm sits just 300 meters from the Atlantic ocean and has been in the family for more than 300 years.  We met Joe's wife Nellie, their son Michael, and Michael's children Joseph, Geraldine, and Nuala.  Joe and Nellie are retired and their son Michael now runs the farm.

While we talked, Michael called up his sister Frances who owns a B&B in Killarney.  Frances has a fairly extensive written history of the Hillary family, especially of William Hillary.  Frances was able to tell Michael who Dan's grandpa Hillary married and who Dan's Dad married and what number great grandchild Dan is (he is the 125th great grandchild of William and Margaret Hillary).  Dan was really excited about all of the Hillary history Frances had and she offered to mail us copies of everything.  The Carrolls also had a picture of Dan's great grandpa on their mantle.  It was a picture taken in 1972, which was the last time William Hillary, at age 92, visited Ireland before his death in 1977.  This was the first time Dan had seen a picture of his great grandpa.  It was pretty special.  (A 'JTB' for ya: August 22, 1972 was declared "William Francis Hillary Day" in Grand Rapids, MI in honor of his service to the city.)  After a wonderful day spent with the Hillary family it was time to go back to Lisdoonvarna.

Left to Right: Noreen Talty, Dan Hillary, Joe Carroll, Joseph Carroll, Nellie Carroll, Michael Carroll

That night we went into 'downtown' Lisdoonvarna and watched a local Irish band, The Coelan Band.  It was a quiet night in town and we were the only people in the bar for the first hour they were on stage.  We think our waitress told the band we were from the States because the first 5 songs they played were about leaving Ireland to travel to America; then again, in this part of Ireland a huge piece of history involves emigration to the States. (A 'JTB' for ya: over 112,000 Irish men and women left Co. Clare between 1850 and 1880 in search of a better life.  For a comparison, the current population of Co. Clare is just over 90,000).  The band was great and we wanted to stay later, but we had a big day planned the next day so we called it a night.

Downtown Lisdoonvarna.  Don't drive too fast you might miss it!

11 months out of the year Lisdoonvarna is a sleepy town in the hills of Co. Clare.  But during September the 'legendary' Lisdoonvarna Match-Making Festival draws thousands of singles from around the world in hopes of meeting their perfect match.

Hundreds of years before the Match-Making festival, Lisdoonvarna was famous for its mineral waters which were said to have healing powers due to the naturally high levels of Iron, Calcium, Magnesium and Sulfur.  You could smell the sulphur near this spa.

The next day we went to Doolin Cave and the Cliffs of Moher, but that will be in the next post...

Stay tuned!

Love,

Abby and Dan

IRELAND - T MINUS 1 WEEK!

The title again says it all - 1 week from today we will be in Ireland!  We are so excited for this trip and it will be great to see the country that was home to so many of our ancestors.  The first few days of our trip will be spent on the west coast of the country in County Clare.  We will be staying at a cute little B&B in a small town called Lisdoonvarna.  The plan is to rent some bikes and explore the countryside.  Our main destination to explore on this leg of the trip is to find the former home of Dan's Great Grandfather.  We know about where it is so fingers crossed we will be able to find it!  We also want to make sure we see the Cliffs of Moher.  After a few days spent in County Clare, we are taking a train to Dublin where will be staying at an old castle turned B&B.  Notre Dame plays Navy on that Saturday and we have a request in to a friend of my Dad for tickets.  My best friend and Matron of Honor Michelle Morrow and the Gary family will be in Dublin for the game so we plan on meeting up with them as well.  We likely will not know until the last minute if we will have the tickets, but there is a chance we will be able to go!!!!

In other news, it is now less than 1 year until our wedding and we've decided to start working out some more to be fit for that.  In the process, we're coming to realize that we really enjoy running!  It was unseasonably warm this weekend (90 degrees Fahrenheit) and very humid, but we stuck to our plan and got in a short run both days.  Yesterday, we officially signed up for an 8k run at the end of October to benefit cancer, so we will definitely keep everyone updated on our progress with that.

So much for promising to update more often!

Well, the title of this post says it all...apologies for not updating sooner.  The time just gets away from us and before we know it, a month has gone by since we updated the blog!

Since we've been back in Amsterdam after our amazing trip home, we've been keeping ourselves busy with our day-to-day stuff, along with planning trips and exploring the city more.  About 1-2 weeks after we got back here, we decided to bite the bullet so to speak and we bought bikes!  We are now "official Amsterdamers."  The bikes here are by no means fancy - we both have pretty much the same bike.  They have 1 gear, no hand breaks and we sit pretty upright on them.  When we got them, Dan told me that all he could think of was the music from The Wizard of Oz as Mrs. Gulch - aka the Wicked Witch of the West - bikes along.  The only thing missing is the basket on the front!  We haven't taken pictures of the bikes yet (sorry, this post will also be a bit lacking on photos), but when we do, we will make sure to post them.

For Dan's birthday we went to the Ziggo Dome for the Paul Simon Graceland concert.  One word: AMAZING.  It was such an incredible concert and we had an amazing time!  Our seats were in the front row of the 2nd ring, so we could see very well.  It was such an awesome experience, and when Lady Smith Black Mambazo from South Africa came out, it was breathtaking!

We also had a visit from my dear friend from Aquinas, Clara Yee and her friend Deb who works in the Peace Corps.  While we only got to see them for 1 day, it was great to be able to visit, as I hadn't seen Clara is probably about 5 years!  We took a walk around the shopping areas with them for an afternoon, and luckily the rain held off that day.

Our trip to Ireland is coming up at the end of August, which we are VERY excited for.  We will try to find the house where Dan's great-grandfather grew up and then for the 2nd half of the trip we will head over to Dublin and hopefully catch up with the Gary family - Michelle (Gary) Morrow is my Matron of Honor and best friend, so that will be amazing.  Notre Dame plays in Dublin the Saturday we are there.  Unfortunately we were not able to get tickets, but we hope to maybe tailgate and then will probably try to find a pub that is showing the game on television.

In other travel news, we have booked our flights for our trip at Christmas!  Destination: BERLIN!  We've heard so much about all that Berlin has to offer and have researched the "Christmas Markets" that will be all over the city while we are there.  We figured if we are not able to come home for Christmas, we might as well take a nice vacation!

To all of our Weatherhead family - we missed you all SOOOOOO much this past week at reunion!  We will be watching for photos and hope everyone had a blast.  It was rather sad this weekend knowing that we were missing all of the festivities.  However, Dan made a good point that at this time next year, we will be home for reunion and then our wedding will be right around the corner!

Well, that is all for now...we love and miss you all and are always open for any visitors!

Home Sweet Home

A HUGE thank-you to all of those who made our trip home so special!   We have arrived back in Amsterdam safely and are getting back into our routines again.

We had such an amazing vacation back home - family, friends, fun and lots of beautiful weather!  Our 2 weeks were very busy and went by far too fast.  We had a fantastic time at Abby's cousin Jill's wedding and were so lucky to be a part of Jill and Derek's special day and wish them lots of love as their married life begins.  It was a great opportunity to see as many of the Weatherheads as we could as well.

Speaking of weddings, we were able to get quite a bit done for our own wedding while we were home (many people have asked, so we figured we'd give an update).  We are starting to get more excited for our big day, even though it is still more than 1 year away.  We have been so blessed with help from our moms especially, but also for the willingness of our friends and family to help with the planning, since there is only so much we can do while abroad.

A few fun things from when we were home aside from the above mentioned wedding (which was a BLAST):

-Dan had his first experience driving a riding lawn mower while mowing the LaVoies' yard and loved each minute of it:

-We got to visit with all of our Grandparents - many thanks to all of them for everything they have done and for all of their support!  We wouldn't be where we are now without all of their prayers.

-We had our engagement photos taken.  It was a great experience!  However, it was a very windy night and the gale force winds caused the sand on the beach to put a bit of a damper on our comfort level.  On the bright side, we are sure the photos will turn out great AND we were nicely exfoliated by the sand pelting our skin!

- We were able to spend a few days at Dan's parents' boat in Grand Haven.  There's something so comforting and relaxing about sitting on the boat and feeling the rocking of the waves during the day and while sleeping.  After being away from the boat for so long, it did take a few hours to get our "sea legs" back though!

- Finally, many thanks to all of the below people for making the time to see us during our visit (aside from those previously mentioned):

     *Our welcoming crew at the airport: Grandma Rita, Aunt Sarah, Aunt Denise

     *Denise and Blair Dame

     *Mary and Chris Overbeek

     *Meg and Mike Novi

     *Mark and Jodi Richhart

     *Michelle and Chad (and Baby Brayden) Morrow

     *Aly and Nick Dondzila

     *Our colleagues from the Booking.com Grand Rapids office (special thanks to Kim Dryer and Ken LaRoche for organizing)

Last - but certainly NOT least - major thanks to our parents and immediate families for making our stays so great (and also for giving us places to stay!)  We are so blessed to call you family and you all made this vacation so incredibly memorable.  Words cannot express our gratitude for all the support each and every one of you has shown!  We love you all! 

LaVoies (Mom & Dad, Nate, Molly and Neil): 

Feel free to make up your own story of what is going on in this picture...

Hillarys (Mom & Dad, Monica & Bryan): 

This photo was taken for a campaign brochure for Dan's dad, who is running for re-election for Kent County Probate Court...RE-ELECT JUDGE HILLARY!

No comment necessary.

Thanks again to everyone!  We'll keep you all updated on our journey and are so glad so many of you are able to follow us.  Keep the comment coming - we love them!