Yea for visitors!

So this week has been a VERY busy one! Fun, but VERY busy!

Brett, Hazel, and Ikinda laid low last weekend to clean and rest up for Monday. And, boy, am I glad we did!
Hazel and I dropped Brett off at work at 7:15 Monday morning, then drove straight to Belfast International Airport to pick up Halle and Shawn! Their plane landed at 8:05 and with traffic, we barely made it in time! Once we were squared away and everyone was fit neatly in our car, we headed straight to Bushmills to see the Giant's Causeway (see the link below). This time, however, Hazel and I walked down to the Causeway with Halle and Shawn, but we opted to walk back UP the shorter flatter direction...I think Halle and Shawn thought I was a wimp until they did the hike themselves! Halle told me once they met us at the top that she didn't blame me for not wanting to carry her to the top of that!
From there, we realized that none of the adults had eaten yet, so we went into a local pub/resturant near the Causeway called "The Nook" and set down for lunch (it was 11:30) only to find out that only tea/coffee and scones are served until Noon. Sigh. So we all drank our tea/coffee...shared Hazel's scone...then set out to find food.
The weather was very cloudy and it looked as though rain was iminent, so instead of rushing off to eat (the bits of scone held us over) we drove over to Dunluce Castle. It was fun to walk around the old castle ruins again, especially with someone who'd never seen it before!
After Dunluce castle, we all decided it was definetly time for lunch, so we drove over to Bushmill's Distillery to check out what they had in ways of food! Lunch was good, it was cafeteria style, but good rich Irish food that filled you up. I sent Halle and Shawn off to the tour (they don't allow anyone under the age of 8 on the tour, and for good reason Shawn and Halled said) while Hazel and I finished up lunch and headed off to the car. By then it was 1:30 and I was EXHAUSTED from all the walking..plus H and I had been up since 5, so it was time for us to nap! We both snuggled together in the back of the car and slept until around 3 when Halle and Shawn came out.
THEN :) we decided to take the more scenic route along the coast home...which is longer, but defenitly more to experience. On the way back we came across Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, which Brett and I haven't been to yet, but we had all the time in the world to go see it and Halle and Shawn only had about 24 hours...so we stopped to see what we could get into! It was really cool, but quite a hike (God bless Shawn, he carried Hazel most of the time). Once we got to the bridge, and I saw what it was like, I opted to sit to the side and let the other 2 go while I watched Hazel. THERE WAS NO WAY I WAS TAKING MY BABY GIRL ACROSS THAT THING. Scared me to death when I finally did cross, leaving Hazel with Shawn (once they'd gone and come back), that thing is really unstable, and very very high above everything. At one point the rope hand railing gave a bit and I screamed, making myself look like an idiot. Oh, well. It was really beautiful and I am so glad we went! Now we need to take Brett!
After that, it started to rain and we were all very tired, so we headed back to Larne to get Brett and have dinner. Dinner was good...we went to Mattie's Meeting House in Cairncastle, then we all came back and relaxed.
Poor Brett, that night, with it being so warm in our house, plus with Hazel and I snoring in tandem, he didn't actually get to sleep until 4 am, and had to get back up again at 6 for work. I felt so bad. Bless his heart.
After I took Brett to work, we came back and took a little nap, then headed off to Carrickfergus with Halle and Shawn so they could see the castle, we had breakfast at Papa Brown's in Carrick first, then they toured the castle and by then it was 1 and we still needed to take them into Belfast. We got to Belfast, parked, and because it was pouring outside and it would slow them down with us tagging along, we pointed them towards City Hall and Hazel and I hung out at the mall. We agreed to meet up at 2:30 (giving them exactly an hour to see what they could of Belfast) so they could get to the airport in time for their flight back to London. We got them there at exactly 3:15...right on schedule and Hazel and I headed back to Larne to wait to go get Daddy from work! It was a crazy 2 days, but wonderful!
Since then, H and I have kinda laid low around the house to recover, but we're going with Michelle and her little girl, Beth, to Belfast shortly. For no other reason other than to have a little adventure for the day!
In other news, if Hazel's top front teeth don't come in soon, I fear her drool will flood our apartment. It's actually cause for concern, this flooding of our house in drool. :) And she's working really hard at walking...we're hoping she'll be walking by the time we get to the US in August!
Well, I should get ready for Belfast!
Will post again soon!

It's 9 pm...do you know where your children are?

Because mine is still up and FULL of energy.
Here's her and Brett goofing off...

Busy new week!

So it's been a fabulous week so far...well, save today, but one's bound to have a crummy day or two here or there.
Monday, our friends Matt and Jenn came over for haircuts... and they were sweet and were willing to watch Hazel for an hour while Brett and I went to look at a house for rent in Ballygally. So we had dinner, ran to Ballygally, then came back and did haircuts. Busy day and busy night!

About the house. So, living in our fabulous townhome has, of late, become less than fabulous. We're very outgrown in this place. Poor Hazel really has no room to move about...especially as we have no yard or not even really a patio. Just a lot of brick and rock. Plus, as we are very excited to have everyone come visit, we feel really bad that there's no where to put anyone. It's cramped here with just the 3 of us!!!! So, I've convinced Brett to let me see what there is available in Larne by way of furnished 3 bedroom rentals! I looked 2 weeks ago at a farmhouse just outside of town. So neat, it's a remodeled...kinda...and just very rural Ireland, which, in of itself is pretty cool. However, not really realistic for a family with a small child. So we keep looking. Monday morning, however, I looked at 2 more properties with the same real estate agent. The first place was nice. It's a townhome in an old remodeled Hotel just outside Larne...very similar to where we live, with a few extra perks. And way out in the middle of the boonies...then dear ole Mark took us to property #2. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. It looked like a 95 year old Interior Designer with dimensia decorated the place and smelled like someone rubbed cats all over whatever surfaces would permit it. Hmmm...not for us. So by that afternoon, I was excited about the Hotel and ready to commit! But Matt had called on Friday about a house that was coming up for rent near them in Ballygally, so I thought, what the heck...might as well give it a look-see. And we did. And we love it. And I've totally forgotten about the hotel.
Our new house has a back yard, a driveway, a large kitchen, 3-4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths! Room for everyone! The house is still under remodel, and has quite a bit left to do, but we've got 60 days left here, so we're in no hurry. Hopefully, though, we'll be able to move in mid July. Here's to hoping!
On the Hazel front, she's growing by leaps and bounds. She's crawling like a pro, standing up like she's always been able to, and started walking along furniture. Needless to say, we purchased a safety gate. I think she's trying hard to get her top 2 teeth out as she's just been a grouch lately, but I can't even imagine hwo that feels, so we power through.
Here's a new video of her!

Very Busy Weekend!

Hi everyone!

This weekend has been very crazy! Brett got home about 3:30 on Friday. And we just relaxed, which was good as Saturday kicked our behinds!!!!!!!!

We got up early Saturday morning and did our usual morning routine...played with the Nut, breakfast about 7am, play some more, then naptime at 8. Brett stayed up and watched the Ireland vs New Zealand Rugby match that started at 8. Hazel and I slept until 10:30, got up, got ready and headed out the door at 11:45. We decided Friday night that we would choose the town of Bushmills as our adventure for the weekend. It was a gorgeous day out, sunny and warm. So off we went! We got to the Giant's Causeway at about 1pm and it was busy. There were tour buses and people EVERYWHERE, but it was to be expected as it was simply beautiful out. We headed straight for the Causeway, and chose the shorter route down...our first mistake. The path was paved and easy, and we thought we'd take the bus back to the top...the Causeway sits at the bottom of a cliff....it's actually the "beach" and jets out into the Irish Sea. But when we got to the bottom, our brains must have been clouded by the beauty of it all. We took lots of pictures of everything...even shorty sitting on one of the hexagonal (is that a word?) stones---

it was sunny out, can you tell?

Here's a picture of some of the rocks. There are just hundreds and hundreds of rocks that look manmade, but are actually the result of Volcanic activity!

Cool, huh? I posted all the pics we took on our Walmart site, so let me know if you need an invite to view them! We took 121 throughtout the day, which is entirely too many to put here!

So after playing on the cool rocks for a while, we decided to head back to the top. Now, whether it was becasue we hadn't eaten, or because we had too much sun, or maybe the view just peaked our curiousity, or (more than likely) just out of sheer stupidity, we decided that this...was the preferred route to the TOP of the cliffs. Carrying a 19+ lb child, her stroller and diaper bag. Yah, I know NOT intelligent. Notice that this picture is taken at the TOP of the cliffs looking down. Obviously we made it...barely. Let's just say, when we take this trip again with any one of you visiting, Hazel and I will be taking our butts back up on the bus. With all the elderly folk who can't do the 1/2 mile+ trail and 4 billion stairs to the top. Either that, or anyone who visits and wants to work off all the greasy food they eat here by carrying Hazel to the top is more than welcome to her! I need to look into getting my fat tush to the gym....I say that as I sit here eating Shortbread cookies dipped in Nutella (a chocolate and hazelnut spread for those who haven't experienced the fabulousness that is Nutella...you can get it at Wal-mart...run and buy some, dip some animal crackers in it...get fat with me ;-) ).

Once at the top we got ourselves some sandwiches and water, then headed off to Dunluce Castle which was just up the Coast from the Causeway. It's the remains of a Castle that was built somewhere in the 14th Century. It's just beautiful. (But then again, this is Ireland, what ISN'T beautiful?) The remains are preserved enough as they are to see actual parts of the castle.

and that's only part of the castle! When we entered the castle, there were people doing Musket and Archery demonstrations...pretty nifty....

and just lots of cool things to walk around and see! There we lots of old Chimneys still standing and most of them had daisies growing out of the bricks which just made it all seem that much more magical...

So Pretty. Kinda puts you in awe over how God can put life and beauty into anything...even things we let fall into ruin!

Well, I should get going for now, but I'll post more pictures and stories tomorrow!

Love to you all!

Worst Movie EVER....be ware...Cloverfield spoiler...so don't read if (for some reason) you still wanna see it...

So I forgot to mention that Brett and I downloaded a movie last night to watch after H went to bed. Brett has been jonesing forever to see the movie Cloverfield, so we rented it off I-Tunes and turned it on after H was asleep! Let's just say the most postivie thing about that movie was that it was only an hour and a half long. It's supposed to be scary and blah blah blah, I LAUGHED through every scary part. And you guys know how I deal with scary and gory.
So, if you haven't seen Cloverfield, don't bother unless you want a headache. The entire movie is shot by one of the characters through a personal camcorder, and there's no fluidity to the picture. You never REALLY get a good view of each character, or anything that's going on. 90% of the movie is them running, which you can only imagine what the cinematography during THAT was like. Plus, you know the old saying about how every group of friends has that one person that no one really likes and is kinda whiny and no one's really sure how they became part of the group, but you can't imagine life without them? Imagine THAT person as the camera man. He whined throughout the ENTIRE movie.

So here's the spoiler part.

EVERYONE dies. Every one of the main characters dies. Well, except one, and you never find out what actually happens to her after she gets on a helicopter and flies away. And that isn't even at the end, so it doesn't finalize anything. You spend the whole movie thinking you'll get to know what was going on, and you never do. One of the main characters gets bitten and then gets sick and explodes, but they never say why. Is it like in Aliens when a baby hatches? Or is that just a side effect of getting bitten? No one ever comes on after and explains whether it was a seacreature, an alien, a dinosaur, or what, and whether or not they defeated the creature. And the ENTIRE premise of the movie is the main character wants to go save his hurt girl friend. So they save her and at the end, they both die.

DUMBEST movie EVER. EVER. And the critics gave it a rave review! Talking about how it's so realistic and well thought out...blah blah blah. Realistic if you never look at the horrible computer graphic creatures. I could do a better job. Not really, but wow. They. Were. Bad. And the scene in the tunnels where the creature babies attack the main characters, I think it was supposed to be really gory and scary but I laughed my head off. I couldn't stop.

Now, if you've seen the movie and loved it, please don't be offended. But would you please email me and explain to me what I missed that made it good? SEriously. I won't make fun of you for liking it, but I really really wanna know why you did.

If you haven't seen it, don't. Rent Blades of Glory instead. It's equally stupid, but atleast you'll get a laugh that was intentional....

Busy week!

I can't believe it's Thursday already!!!! It's been a fairly uneventful week. Hazel is feeling MUCH better and seems to have replaced her ickiness with energy! She's started saying "Dada" Tuesday and since then has realized that she can make distinct syllables vs baby sounds. She's talked non-stop!

Tuesday we went to Mom & Tots group in the am, and then went into town for a little bit! Nothing exciting there, I did some research at the Co-operative travel agency on our trip to Greece later this summer...now we just have to make a decision on where we want to go! And when for that matter! We thought August, but it seems we can save quite a bit of $$$ if we go in September, so we'll see! I didn't get any lunch that day, so just before we headed off to get Brett, I got a cup of Ice cream, and Hazel got her first taste! She loved it! I know it's a no-no b/c of all the sugar involved, but once in a while I figure won't hurt. Brett took H and I out to dinner Tuesday night. We went to Mattie's Meeting House in Cairncastle (just north of Ballygally). It's an inexpensive meal and I got to have my garlic chips (which is a new obsession!). Hazel, got to try her first tiny bite of chicken...which she's not sure about...her first Green Bell Pepper...which she LOVED...and she tried Balsamic Vinegar for the first time (I dipped a tiny tiny corner of her toast in it). She was CRAZY about the BV. Straight BV, no oil...if you know about my vinegar craving during my pregnancy, you won't be surprised! I asked the doc if that was OK and they assured me that a tiny bit every once in a while is actually good for her. But we're supposed to stick to clear vinegar as the salt content is pretty non existant. So no more BV, for Hazel, but I can give her the clear stuff...wonder if she'd like cucumbers in vinegar? She seems to love all the components, so we'll see! So Hazel had a lot of firsts on Tuesday!
Yesterday was our Breastfeedingsupport group. Not very exciting, but we did get Hazel weighed and she weighs 19 lbs 5 oz!!!!!! She's gained 1 lb in 3 weeks dispite being sick and all her crawling! Daddy says we need to figure out what we're doing to make her grow so fast and stop it! Between you and me, I think it's breaking his heart ;-).

Well, that's all for the moment! I'm going out for my mom's night tonight, so maybe something exciting (not bad exciting, though) will happen and I'll get to tell more tomorrow!

It's a new week!

I can't believe we're the second day into June already! Hazel will be 9 months in 11 days...that's CRAZY! Which, now that I mention it, is exactly what she is driving me today. She is in to EVERYTHING and crying constantly. If I thought she didn't feel good, or something was wrong, I wouldn't be going nuts. However, she is just throwing a fit about everything. She's mastered pulling herself up and is a big fan of pulling up on the couch, but then screams and screams once she's there! So I sit her down, and she pulls herself up again. Then screams. Today is an ugly endless cycle......
The toe and the Creepy Crud seem to be better today, which is fantastic. Neither are still 100% but they will be soon, I hope!
Well, I will post later once I get shorty to nap and I get some chores done...maybe I'll take my craziness out on my house....