9 nights in Ireland

I know that we are extremely behind on our blogging - mostly my fault as I'm the one not working these days! We have been busy this summer and wanted to update our latest trip to Ireland. It was a fabulous trip and here are a few shots (down significantly from the 500+ pictures taken!) and a quick itinerary of where we went - basically all around the country!

No trip to Ireland is complete with a few pints of Guiness - and here is one of our "artistic shots."

Cameron and I at Croke Park in Dublin to watch the Cork vs Donegal Gaelic Football match. Cork won by a landslide! Go Cork!! (My grandfather and our hosts, Michael and Ashling, are from Cork!)

Ashling, Cameron & Michael - drinking their Guiness at halftime

After a weekend in Dublin and a night in Cork with the O'Riordan's, we drove our BMW (yes - we were upgraded!) along the west Cork coastline to Kenmare where we had a lovely dinner and then spent the night at our first B&B. The next day we set off around the Ring of Kerry - a peninsula on the west coast of Ireland. We ended the day in Doolin and saw the famous Cliffs of Moher - truly fascinating.

Along the Ring of Kerry

Staigue Fort - one of the largest pre-historic ring forts

One of the cliff views on the Ring

It was incredibly windy - Cameron's not wearing a puffy jacket - it just looks like that due to the wind!

The Cliffs of Moher

In Galway, Cameron got his haircut at "Healy Barbers." Seemed appropriate as we couldn't find a "Healy Pub."

We did find this pub and many new friends - with whom we shared more than a few beers! The Craic was great! (pronounced "crack" meaning fun in Gaelic)

After sleeping off a fun Thursday evening in Galway, we got on the road and drove to Belfast in Northern Ireland. We met up with our friends Erika and Scott, and they took us on a Black Cab Tour of Belfast. Now, this wasn't your typical sightseeing tour - rather he took us all around the "hot" spots in Belfast, namely the conflict areas. Shankill Road (Protestant) and Falls Road (Catholic) are separated by peace walls which were erected to minimize intercommunal sectarian violence between Protestants and Catholics.

Here's us and our guide (a non-sectarian Catholic)

Cameron, me, Scott, & Erika in front of one of the Catholic murals

Cameron writing our name on the "Peace Wall"

Cameron on the steps of the Giant's Causeway -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant%27s_Causeway

We ended our trip back in Dublin, where we took a bus tour of the city and two tours - Trinity College with the Book of Kells and Kilmainham Gaol (Jail), both of which were fascinating for different reasons. We ended the night on a Musical Pub Crawl, where we had two musicians play and tell us about Irish music and the various instruments. Unfortunately we couldn't stay out late at the pubs they recommended for more sessions, as we had a 6 AM flight the next morning!

The "Trinity Blue" clock - which is not sky blue, as there is no such thing as a blue sky in Ireland (except for maybe 3-4 days a year!).

Kilmainham Gaol - where many of the leaders of the Irish revolution were held and some executed.



Our musical tour guides

Troika Rides in Sergiev Posad

This past Tuesday I went with a group of girls from the AWO out to Sergiev Posad, a town about an hour and a half outside of Moscow. It is famous for the monastery, however, we will have to return to visit that as we were busy the whole day with only a quick 10 minutes left for the monastery.

We started out with tea and blini's (think thin pancakes) at Sveta's. She runs a bed and breakfast out there and helped me to organize our trip for the day. Then we headed out to the forest where the troikas met us to carry us deeper into the forest. It is amazing how beautiful the snow is out there - the pollution of the city hasn't gotten to it and it just glowed! It was also a beautiful sunny day albeit a bit chilly (10-20 degrees F). We rode the troikas into the forest where our friends had a campfire set up for us complete with hot dogs to roast and champanski and vodka to toast!

We took turns riding the troikas and just sat around the fire trying to keep warm and chatting.

After the rides, we headed back to Sveta's, where she has a full traditional Russian meal for us. We started with cold appetizers of cheese, blinis, and fish. Then the borsh (which I did try, but unfortunately I still didn't like it! Although everyone else raved about it!), and some sort of stew.

It was a fun traditional Russian afternoon and I'm so glad I've got the opportunity to experience things like this now that I'm not working!

View into the woods - an amazingly clear day

Our two Troika's (traditionally they are sleighs pulled by 3 horses - we forgot to ask why we only had one horse pulling each sleigh)

The girls around the campfire

In the Troika

Claire and Jeff visit the Motherland

Claire and Jeff came to visit us on a last minute trip - and were even able to get visas in a 24 hour period! We have never heard of that in our entire stay over here - must have something to do with the Swiss.

They chose the coldest weekend we have experienced in our 2 winters - it never got above 20 degrees F and hovered around 0-10 most of the time!! But, they got a beautifully sunny weekend and to experience true Russia!

We had a great time and loved catching up with them! Thanks again for visiting!

On the Kremlin bridge with the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in the background

Claire "checking" Jeff's passport on our Cold War Tunnel Tour

Home for the Holidays!

We had a wonderful time at home for the holidays this winter. We were even able to spend an extra few weeks there due to Cameron's visa issues!

We were continually busy while we were home and loved catching up with friends and family.

My parents' 40th wedding anniversary was this past August. So, we threw them a big party in December when I made it home!

Karen & Dennis, August 24, 1968

Catherine and Doug arranged a horse drawn carriage ride through Fort Worth to look at the Christmas lights! What fun - even in the freezing cold!

Rocking at Guitar Hero - World Tour!

Tea with the Healy Girls

Kristin, Tara, and I at the Texas Tech - Ole Miss Cotton Bowl game - unfortunately the Red Raiders could not pull off a win, even though I did wear RED!! (the UT hat was a must as it was a sunny day and it was the only hat I had in Dallas!)

Cameron, Gary, and I ventured out to Phoenix to watch the Longhorns win the Fiesta Bowl! Hook 'em Horns! We were fortunate to meet up for lunch with the "Tri-City Tailgaters." Thanks again Adam for lunch! Sorry y'all missed it!

Gary bought the girls a swing set for Christmas. He, Doug, and Cameron took on the task to assemble it over a cold weekend in FW! At least it warmed up on day 2 of the build!

Uncle Cameron with Bailey and Chase

Dinner with the Hickey's and Friou's

AWO Party at the Spaso House

Each year after our annual craft fair, which I think really should be called an art fair - it's more artisans and such selling their goods, the AWO (American Women's Org.) has a party at the Spaso House, the residence of the US ambassador. We thank our contributors and have a reason to get dressed up and have some wine! As I was on the Craft Fair committee this year, as treasurer of course, I even got recognized during the speeches. Who knew I'd be famous in Russia?

We had a great time this year and followed it up with dinner with a group of our friends.

Me, Meghna, Amber, & Carrie
(Meghna & Carrie's husbands work with Cameron as well)

Hook 'em Horns!

Dinner at El Gaucho

Thanksgiving in Moscow

Last year I got no Thanksgivings, so it only makes sense that this year I should have two! As we are in Russia, where they don’t celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving, Thursday was a work day. A work day which happened to be my last day in the office. Unfortunately Cameron was in Budapest this year for a conference, so I was on my own. One of the groups that I lead over here is called Moscow Meals, just a group of girls and their significant others (or not) who eat out on the 4th Thursday of each month. So, I planned November’s dinner to be a Thanksgiving dinner at Starlite Diner (think Denny’s but much more expensive!). They had a Thanksgiving menu which included Turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie! My group dwindled down to 5 of us the evening of the event, and was very international – including a Northern Irish, Canadian, Mexican, and only 2 Americans! Even though they ended up running out of pie and didn’t bring our turkey for an hour after our soup, we had a fabulous time.

Thanksgiving at Starlite Diner
Me, Cara, Paola, Erika, & Ashleigh

Then on Saturday, we celebrated Thanksgiving again over at my friend Lindsey’s place. It was an afternoon full of familiar favorites, including Mary Ellen’s sweet potatoes and a homemade apple pie! Lindsey and I spent Friday night making the pie – I did the easy part of peeling the apples and let her do the hard part of the made from scratch crust and lattice work! We rounded out the evening with a few Bailey’s after the Guitar Hero sessions.

Thanksgiving Pie at Lindsey's

Lindsey & I

Lindsey, Amber, and I