June 16, 2012
So we are nuts. Yes, it is time for another travel blog by yours truly. This time it will affectionately be called the England Wedding, Guinness, and Neve’s 3 week party travel blog because this is exactly what we are doing, but not in this order. Today is Neve’s (Niamh’s) 4th birthday party (since I’m sitting in the UK I’ll have to do the proper spelling, eh). How we got to this point and why we thought it was a good idea to have a party for a bunch of 4 years olds before a 3 week trip is another story, but we live dangerously at the Marshall’s. This was really the only time we have to actually have a party as Fiona has been planning this since January. Not wonder Niamh keeps inviting people to her party her mother has been planning it for at least the same amount of time – ha. Anywho the vacation started for me when I actually watched some pretty good movies, Take Shelter and Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Take Shelter an interesting movie with a guy who thinks he is going crazy, and the Girl Tattoo movie is just brutal in some scenes but a really well done who done it movie. Back to Neve’s party which is all about butterflies. I liked the party because I was finally going to be able to finish my keg of Guinness with friends and family. A nice send off before going my my pilgrimage back to the mother country of Guinness, Dublin (almost the name of our second kiddie – hahaa). Anywho, Syd goes and tries to pour himself a Guinness and nothing but air. Man of all the time to run out of beer. Geez. Anywho, I accomplished my goal of drinking an entire keg – it only took 90 days and I did have some help. Thank you for those who helped me drink beer. You are welcome to come back and finish off another keg in the future. My father came to Niamh’s birth party and was so distraught that we picked up a 5 gallons Pyramid Hefeweizen ( about 40, 16 oz pints) instead of 13.2 gallons (105 , 16 oz pints) of Guinness. It pretty much took be 90 days to finish the barrel and I think I gained about 10 pounds trying to drink it. I got 5 massive sandwiches (3 turkey, 2 ham) and lots of champagne. The decorations and butterfly wings were really great. Kids came over and people swam for a bit. Busted out the air slide which is nice for the kiddies. Had pizza for dinner. Gave my dad his father day pressy an ultra thin Logitech keyboard for his iPad 3 and a mini boom box to play on the patio. Got an email from him saying he will probably not use his laptop now that he has this Logitech keyboard. Syd recently got one too and thinks it is brilliant. I’ll have to pick one up for little Marky for Christmas then since everyone likes them so much. Gave Darci the pink K750 keyboard to try out. Man I’m good at pimping out Logitech product for family and friends. I’m bummed since I’m in the UK I’m going to miss out on the Logitech garage sale. Was hoping to stock up on some goodies for the holidays. I’ve asked some buddies from work to pick me up some things – so we will just have to see is they come through. So now with the party over it is time to pack and run around like a mad person and make sure we have everything and clean up the house for Tiffany while we are gone. Goodtimes.
June 17, 2012
We did a pretty good job packing last night. Got in the mini van and Fiona says, “Passports”, and I said well they are right where I left them. So we turned around and went back. Got up this morning at 6am because a kiddie manage to fiddle with the Logitech alarm clock and managed to turn it on for 6am. Good thing it went off otherwise we might have just kept sleeping in. Did the pool, Fiona got pancakes, rush around finding other odds and ends to stick in the bags. We have so much crap. Two big bags, two carry ons, Niamh’s art box on wheels (which is cool cause she can sit on it), a princess bag full of food, a backpack of electronics, and 2 mobile couches for the kiddies, also known as car seats. I remember the bungee cords in the morning. To the Rowe’s to see if we can all cram into one minivan. i took out our 8th seat, it didn’t matter. We took 2 minivans. That is how much stuff you have – 6 people, three weeks – 2 mini vans full of stuff.
Happy father’s day, I text my dad, brother, Julius my golfing/Logitech buddy. Tell my dad to pick up the flowers for mom and drop off a load of leftover sandwiches to the Levers, Darci, and Tiffany. SJC airport the curbside drop off was full of bags. We managed to wrestle the car seats and bags into the airport and check them. Got to the gate instead of the lady using the PA to announce to get on the plane she started yelling but no one could hear her. When we tried to get on between the A and B crowd she gave us a dirty look when we didn’t have a claim ticket for our stoller. I don’t understand sometimes they are really nice and just give us a claim ticket on the spot and this time they go mad and told us to go to the counter and get a ticket. Fiona got the worst of it because the lady didn’t use a PA and give us a warning that boarding was going to take place we didn’t put any of our crap away. Anywho, Fiona got a lecture because I didn’t put anything away but we did manage to get on the plane.
Vegas baby. The Niamh, Fiona, and Alan sat in front of us. I took Lawson and sat next to Rowena. I gave Fiona Lawson back pretty much after take off. Then had my complimentary rum and coke. The airplane lady asked me for a picture, I was confused and didn’t know what she was talking about – she wanted a picture of my kids not my license. I pointed to them in front of me as acceptable proof and was granted permission to indulge in my free father’s day medicine at 11am.
Vegas airport is crap. The international terminal is even worse than the crappy domestic terminal. Luckily they are building a new one, but had to get on a bus to the international terminal (6 terminals). There are 3 places to eat Burger King, a sad sandwich place, and Pizza Hut. I didn’t ask Fiona what she wanted so when alan was in the huge long line I asked him to pick up a number one for me and Fiona would finish off what Niamh didn’t eat. Boy was that thinking wrong. I went to the empty part of the terminal and let Lawson crawl around. Before we leave I’m tasked with pick up milk. The burger king line is long, but whatever. I stand there and finally get the milk and am freaking out that we will miss family boarding because of this stupid long line. The plane is an hour late taking off, but we finally are at our seats. A bulkhead row right behind economy plus. Couldn’t figure out how to make the seats go back. Apparently there are two buttons. What happened to the one button? Anywho, we didn’t figure this out until we got off the plane. Needless to say it was a pretty poor flight.However the food was good. The kids meal was the best. Watched bridesmaids with Fiona and then started cowboy and aliens and gave up and tried to sleep on our non-reclining chairs. Stupid two buttons, who knew. Oh, and the Lawson too big for the bassinet thing on the wall. This kid can sleep in any position. He was squirming this way and that every 20 minutes, but the positions he would put himself into and fall asleep just hurt my neck looking at him. Oh, wait that was because of the chairs. Ha.
June 18, 2012
Gatwick Baby. Prior to landing Niamh got a shout out by the nice flight lady that sounded Scottish. They didn’t bring her cupcake. I’m pretty sure the flight attendants ate it and felt bad about eating it and did the shout out instead. Oh well. Happy birthday Niamh you know are officially 4. My decision making skills are on fire so to top off the end of the flight I decide to go through the non-UK line. A pushy Russian woman barges through and cuts in front of me. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t speak English as I tell her I’m not quite sure where she is going as there is a big line in front of me. No response not even a glance back, yup no English. whatever, I’m tired. This is also where we figure out that there are two buttons to recline the seats. Come on man, now you tell me. Geez. We find out from a nice couple with three kids who we ran into at Vegas. The little cards you get to get into the country the airplane lady said we just needed one, the person at the border said we needed 3. WTF man. Another border guy takes pity on us and says all the people are new and they have no clue how to check people in. Apparently he works at a prison. That gives you a nice fuzzy feeling to be checked in by the same guy who works at a prison. Oh, well at least we make it through. The Rowe’s use a self check in process since they are aliens. She get through in 10 minutes, we took about an hour. I get an ear full from Fiona. Yes, dear you are right again and I am your idiot husband. The Rowe’s have the bags waiting for us, but how to get them to the rental place. More carts. Fiona asked me to check on the car to see if it is big enough. It will do, but it is not big enough. It is some Kia hatchback thing. I tell Niamh we are getting her a new car for her birthday. She really likes this car and thanks me for getting it for her. Ah, to be 4 and on your birthday š Alan can’t figure out how to turn on his car. He as an Audi wagon. A nice big car to put some of our luggage! I think we will be getting a wagon from now on in the future or on any trip we go on from now on. Ask for the wagon.
We make it to Joy’s and David’s house. I fall asleep to top gear on the couch around 3pm and sleep till about 6pm when we have dinner. Dinner is farmhouse sausage, chicken, peas, and potatoes. What goes better with this than a Guinness. Nothing. So I have the first of what I hope many Guinness on this trip. It does taste different. They must use Whiskey kegs in Ireland? Guess I’ll find out when we make it there.
June 19, 2012
So now I’m caught up to today sitting here at 6:30am on a couch. I’ve been typing for about an hour I guess. Lawson would not go to sleep so I think Fiona has been up and down checking in on him. Had a nice shower last night in the new bathroom they have here. Very nice. They have an electric switch on the other side of the room that urn off the power to the ‘power shower’. I pulled on it after asking about it and it started working. Fiona didn’t figure it out, but new it worked. Rowena turned off the power which I will attribute it to jet lag or being very safe? Niamh got up a few times which is to be expected. I think today is Niamh’s 4th birthday party of the UK variety. Other than that I think we will be moping around getting over jet lag.
Well I fell asleep on the couch watching Top Gear around 1ish. Fiona mumbled to me to get up which I raised my head and said sure no problem in a minute and promptly fell back asleep. I managed to be somewhat productive and checked my email in then morning, and send over a scanned document to my broker. I did manage to a have some lunch and drank a beer called the Bishop’s Finger – not too shabby. Otherwise I was pretty much dead to the world until Steve, Jane, and Natalie showed up bearing birthday gift for little Niamh. I splashed some cold water on my face and then proceeded to say hello to Fiona’s cousins parents and sibling who will be getting married on Friday at 2:30. The impromptu birthday netted a wonderful dress from Joy and David, and some purple n pink jewelry / headband and some bubbles. Had some nice burgers and finished with some cupcakes. Had some Old Thumper beer which was quite tasty too.
June 20, 2012
Niamh got up three times today, somewhere around 12, 2, and 4. A nightmare, to go potty and have a drink of water, and lastly to say hello. Lawson we had to given some Benadryl to ease him into the new time zone. We gave some to him last night and it seemed to to the trick. He gets up around 10 or 11 and think its his afternoon nap. Seems like he is up now right on queue. Not sure we are going to give him any tonight. Anywho, got up and we went out to have a real picnic and see some horses. The placed was called ‘The New Forest’ and they have wild horses running around. It was great. A lovely time with sunny weather. Off to a pub called ‘The White Buck Inn’ and had a pint of HSB. A little bit more bitter that a Newcastle brown. Stopped by a little town and picked up some ice cream which was pretty yummy – honey something and clotted cream. On the way back discovered the TomTom was busted so stopped in to get a cigaret plug thing. I picked a Garmin USB thing and the darn thing does not fit. Our little rental car has a USB plug so we are able to plug in our USB cable into this and charge up the TomTom! Yeah! So we have to take back the bit that we picked up, oh well. Had a nice dinner of fried eggs, ham, and potatoes with another ‘Bishop’s Finger’. David has a smart Samsung TV and we managed to Skype with my dad tonight as the Tv has a camera built into it. Google TV is dead – too bad. Anywho should probably go get the upset Lawson or try to go calm him down.
June 21, 2012
So no drugs for Lawson last night and he did ok. Niamh only got up about 4 times. Got up around 9am, and puttered around. It rained really hard last night – like a huge downpour. Didnāt do much today but Peter Fox came around around 2 and we drove off to the pub. We went to a place called āThe Brickmakersā which was quite a nice place. We parked right in front. It was raining and damp outside so I had a plowmanās platter (ham, cheddar, and salad) and shared my blue cheese with the fair Fiona and she of course had my pickled onion. Had a great beer at room tempurate called āFather Timeā a golden brown ale; very tasty. Both Lawson and Niamh feel asleep around 4. I had a nice strong coffee and we said goodbye to Peter. He is off to see an author about an Enigma machine, and Alan really wants to go to see the Colossus Computer in Bletchley Park. A pretty interesting story about the Colossus decoding the Enigma machines in WWII. Way ahead of its time and is too bad that the knowledge was lost and Iām sure the computers of today would be better than they are if the technology was commercially introduced.
For dinner has a Guinness and some lamb. The Niamh-verator had some lamb too. Tried some homemade raspberry and vanilla ice cream with some sponge cake soaked in brandy on the bottom – which was sharp like a sherbet. The Lawson went down at 8, and Niamh 9ish. Watched some EURO2012 soccer and shouted at the TV with David.
June 22, 2012
Lawson slept pretty good. Niamh only got up 1 time. I think we are finally adjusting as Fiona and I got up at a normal time too – 8am. Today is wedding day. Fiona, Rowena, Alan are off to the store to pick up more diapers, juice, and washing detergent for all the clothes we are wearing. David had to go back to work today. Iām sitting here with the Niamh watching English cartoons. Who knew cartoons also had an accent š It is around 11 and Lawson went down for his nap around 10. I imagine he will be getting up soon. The Niamh is a couch lump glued to the TV watching this channel called, Boomerang. It is going to be a late night so any rest will be good for her. Will probably have lunch and head out around 1. I took my shower earlier, but have to give the kiddies their baths when the Fiona returns.
Went to the wedding and it was great. We followed the rowes and managed to find the Langrish House about 20 minutes from Fareham. Not too shabby except for the weather. We all hurried and scurried back and forth between the āmanorā and the outside. The wedding had a bunch of bridesmaids including Rebecca and Natalie on the Julianās side. Julian had his best mate who is about 6ā4ā with him which is pretty funny as Julian is only about 5ā4ā so to see them together was pretty cute. I guess they have been friends since they were about 6. Anywho, we all stuffed into a room since it was raining outside, and Hazel wore this mermaid dress (I only know this from the shows Fiona has on, āSay yes to the dressā. She looked great and the common law marriage in England was pretty good. They had the bit about does anyone have anything to say why these two should not get married? They also had a legal bit about knowing they have no other legal obligations that they know of to not get married. Anywho, very good part. The food. The food was great. Salmon salad and a bit of breaded chicken; all very good. The only problem is they only served wine. Poor Tim, he will have the white please. So I loaded up on white wine and champagne and it was a good time listening to the speeches.
Lawson fell asleep on me so I couldnāt take any cake cutting pictures, and the kids were exhausted. Niamh was going full steam with another kiddie about her same age for about 3 hours. Blowing bubbles from a second floor onto the bridal party, running around like a mad person outside. Me freaking out cause she gave me the slip and managed to make it back inside without me seeing. So we left around 8 and got back around 8:30 to give milk and convince Niamh yes she really was tired. She went to bed at 9. Watched some horse racing and since Fiona felt bad since we had to go and not listen to this kick ass band she got me a nobleās finger beer and some chocolates that Peter Fox brought over. Very nice end to a nice day.
June 23, 2012
Niamh slept the entire night. Lawson still managed to get up at a bright and cheery hour. The David, Zeta, Evie, and Orrin were set to arrive in the afternoon. Joy found a nice pub called the horse and jockey which was pretty hard to find as no one could find in in their GPS. Good thing David rememberās directions and Fiona kinda of remembers. They had this little kiddie play area with a jungle gym, see-saw, swings… I had myself an HSB and some meat tips. Not too shabby. Caught up with David and Zeta about their house, and thoughts on Marjorie getting married to the axe murder. It was very good to see them, but probably will not see them for a bit of time since they are coming over to New York. I think New York should be the destination that Fiona and go on this next February? Not sure about the weather – oh well maybe in March or April then? Got some good pictures of the kids running around like mad. Came bad to Joy and Davidās had another beer, old thumper. Had a late dinner and Niamh had bowl full of cheerios since she said she was not hungry, oh hum. Lawson had a bath and pretty much went to bed at 8, and Niamh about 9. Fiona and I got ready for our trip to Ireland. Goodtimes!
June 24, 2012
Fionaās alarm went off at 7am. Out flight out left ar 10:20. We packaged a very small suitcase that we borrowed from Joy and my backpack. 3 days, 2 night of bliss. That means no kids in grown up speak. This also means Guinness for Tim. Had a weird dream about electric bikes and me riding my bike back and forth to work. That means I would actually might get fit š Had to wake up Niamh to let her know we are going. Said good bye. Stopped and got diesel for our diesel car. Stood in sand soak diesel, bummer. Fiona managed to wipe off the mud/dirt from the back of my seat where the Niamh had propped up her feet. Foudn the airport, returned the car, got through security, got on the plane. The plane left 20 minutes late. Stupid one lane run ways. Got to the end of my rainbow at noon. Found a bus for 10 Euros (not pounds) to take us to and from the temple hotel. Yes, it is called the temple hotel since it is next to a temple not because it is a temple. Ah, ah. Room was not ready. Left the small bag, but didnāt do a good job getting stuff out of my bag before we hiked around. Oh, and find this place – that a a treat. Had showers off and on, like it was super sunny so much so you would think about wearing shorts. Then as that thought entered another one just realized a torrent of rain is on out and you had better find a way out of the rain! We did eventually find the place with a bit of help from a tourist shop and a map. Who knew a map would be so helpful š
Met up with Fionaās friend Chris who she met in Salzburg about four and half years ago – I know this because she tells me how said it was not to bring because she was preggo. I think we will have to go back on another EU vacation to this place too in the future as Iāve only heard good things from Fiona, Darci, my parents… pretty much everyone but me. Iāll just go eat some worms. Anyway, Chris swung by and we managed to get to a pub around 2 and this is were I had my first Guinness in Ireland. In fact I had two. My tuna melt was not good nor was it bad. Chris is a nice guy – a lobbist, but I will not hold that against him as he is married to another Fiona. She is due with their kiddie in September. Poor bastard doesnāt know what is going to hit him – ah, the good and the bad. Mostly good, but boy it is a challenge sometimes. Anywho, he was a real champ and pointed out some good places to go and the places to avoid.
Made out way back to the hotel, found out room, chucked out stuff and out we went again. Me wit a lighter pack too boot. Off for more Guinness eh. You bet. I found my 3rd Guinness at a great old traditional pub, Crogans next to Georgeās Street Arcade off Grafton Street. I watched the technique of the pour. They pretty much fill up the glass except for the last inch, let it rest, and fill the last inch up and leave about Ā½ inch of head; a mighty fine pour. Foina this whole time is having smithwickās and is on her third too š Way to keep up with fatty me eh? Yeehaw. Anywho, more exploring and we stumble onto Dublin Castle. It is made up of 4 different time periods – a pretty sad castle but I guess that is what you get when you keep blowing it up? We also found a Disney store. Who knew? Anyway Fiona found some treats for the kids which is good, but I was getting Hungry and the football match was going to be on at 7:45, England vs. Italy. We found a place not too far away called, Sinnotts next to St. Stephens Green and it was a newer pub with food and big screens. Perfect for some game watching. I got a beef burger with cheese and bacon and of course a pint of Guinness. The place was already pretty by when we got there around 7, but managed to sit next to a guy who lives in Cork and Dublin. He works for Pfizer and will be working at Intel in a bit as an engineer. I have a bet with him that Obama will lose this next bid for President. I truly think it will be very close, but Mit will come out on top. We will see, I just hope none of this religious who-ha and birthplace nonsense gets in the way of substance. Anywho, I had another Guinness as the game went into overtime, then a shoot out. Italy won. So sad. If you are keeping count that is 5 Guinness that Iāve managed to consume which is wonderful. We are now back at the hotel. The sheet has this dirty mark on it and is is right on the street. I can hear the cars and the nightclubs with their bass. Iām off to bed to dream about the Guinness tour tomorrow! Yeah!
June 25, 2012
The ‘Temple Bar’ is not a place you want to go if you want a good nights sleep. The bars close at 2:30am and the music is loud. A tourists dream if you are between 18 and 25 and single. . The hotel room is ok. Not good, but not bad – I don’t think I would recommend staying. The sheet had some wierd stain on it, and the windows are crap – single pane that dont keep would sound or weather. If we were to come back there is another section I would rather be in . Fiona woke me up with a thump of the pillow. Today we walked to the Guinness Storehouse. We managed to find it with a bit of luck – they need to get better markers for those who are easily lost š Anyway we made it around 11 and then spent the next 4 hours going through the place. It was great. I was really taken with coopering – a process in which they make an oak barrel. What an amazing and labor intensive process – it took 8 years to become a master cooper and it was passed down from generation to generation. Fiona managed to take about 200 photos of the process. Anyway, I have the secret to the perfect pour. The keg has to be kept at 9C, gas is 80/20 mix, and the regulator at 38 PSI. The trick is to pour at a 45 degree angle at the harp, and the bottom of the harp tilt the glass upright and stop pouring at the top of the harp. Let is settle for 119.5 seconds – I’m not sure they can’t say 2 minutes, but whatever. Then push back on the tap for the last inch – you only want Guinness and no gas for the last fill. this leaves only a 1/4 of an inch of head – ah the tricks you learn. So now I have to get back and adjust all my bits for the perfect pint! Haahaa. We ate at Gilroy’s the guy who did all the artwork for Guinness. Had some soup and salad. Salad had ham at the bottom of it and the dressing had spicy mustard in it – pretty interesting. Goes well with a Guinness. We asked the nice lady if she knew where we could pick up some stuff with the name ‘Niamh’ on it. She suggested a few places, but they both turned up nothing. On the way back from the storehouse we stopped and saw the Book of Kells. 800 AD and the text and pictures in this old book looked pretty darn good. I wonder how much of today’s stuff will last this long? Probably all the plastic stuff which will last about 6000 years š Probably as long as the 9000 year long lease that Arthur Guinness signed to make his beer for 45 pounds. Not too shabby. If someone asked if you want a least for 9000 years for 100 bucks if is probably wise to take it. I didn’t ask what happens if they break the lease – haahaa. So I had a taste of Guinness on the tour and then poured my own. I had another beer at lunch so now I’m up to 7 real beers. We picked up some treats at the Guinness shop so I have something to remember this grand old time.
Off to get some food in town. We dropped off our treats at the hotel. They had done up the room which was nice, but didn’t want a late check out. Check out was tomorrow at 12, but at least they printed out our boarding passes. That was nice of them. I would give this hotel 3.5 marks, and low marks if you just wanted to sleep – ha! Anyway, on the way back to the hotel we past this place with live music that was straight down from the hotel, so we headed back to Oliver St. John Gogarty to listen to two guys sing some Irish tunes on their guitars. I had 8, 9, and 10 Guinness at this place. Met a couple who had been married for 3 months and this was their honeymoon, Walker and Christine, from Texas a college admissions guy and a 3rd grade school teacher. Both very nice and lovely to talk too who where in Ireland a day longer than us. We said good night around 11:30 when I got sick of the American tunes a new person had taken up singing. Back to the hotel to then listen to some rap / bass stuff and people yelling until 2:30 in the morning. Ah, what a day.
June 26, 2012
Fiona got up first again, but this time instead of beat down on the bed to wake me up with a a pillow I managed to hear her shuffling around. Our last day in Ireland, so sad. It was around 9:30 so we decided to make our way to the Jameson Irish Whiskey factory tour. A bit of a hike, but much better signage. Guinness wouldn’t share the barley so they had to source barley out of Cork and Middleton. The process is basically the same except Jamison doesn’t use hops and they go through a triple distillation process, which is very fine indeed. I got picked to be a taster to taste a Scottish Whiskey, American Whiskey, and of course a Irish Whiskey, Jameson. You could really tell the difference between the three and the Jack Daniels was just harsh. The Scottish Whiskey was pretty good as I like the peaty taste, but the Jameson was the smoothest so I might have to have a tasting party of Guinness and Jameson in the not too distance future š Anywho, the guide Lloyd Collins was a riot and provided a much more personal level of giving a tour rather than the automated tour at the Guinness storehouse. After the tasting it was discovered we could order and ship fome reserve whiskey back to Joy’s house and then take it on the plane with us. Not too shabby! It was around 1 when we left and decided to get some grub. We found a place back in the temple area called Farringtons where I had my 11th Guinness of the trip. A nice ham and cheese sandwich with tomato soup. Back to the Temple hotel to pick up the bag and make it to the 747 bus to the airport. got on the bus exactly at 2, and made it to the airport by 2:30. Through security and managed to get on wi-fi. I managed to upload 130 pics from Fiona’s camera in 20 minutes for free – now this broadband folks! This is where I had the last pint of Guinness, number 12, at the airport bar. I’m now on the plane with the Fiona eating a bit of pringles and kitkat and a swig of Coke on our way back to England. Not sure what is planned for tonight, but I’m sure it will involve beer!
Made it back to Joy and David’s. We rented a car and I drove. Not sure what Fiona was thinking, but boy did I enjoy it! Roundabouts are interesting as you have to line up on the outside for going left straightaway or get on inside for going right and try and move over half way through the roundabout. the trick is to drive slow and constantly keep yanking on the wheel to the right so you stay to the right of the lane. Other than that we got an Audi A4 coupe, black. Pretty much exactly the same as what the Rowe’s have, but the coupe version. Had some chicken, veggies, and some cobbler for dessert. Watched a bit of TV and then it was back to the really hard bed. Oh, the kids were a delight to see – both very tired after being run around by the grandparents to wear them out. Niamh was an absolute angel, not. Oh, well, perhaps she will be better today after a snooze. She can’t sleep in the room with the giant bear for some reason, she keeps putting it out of the room. Must put her off somehow, anywho I’m off to sleep now.
June 27, 2012
Alan and Rowena are off by car to Scotland, and Fiona, I, and the kiddies are flying later today. It is like our own version of Top Gear. Who can make it to Edinburgh first the car or plane? I’m pretty sure we will beat them hands down, and we leave at 3, and and it is a 1.5 hour flight. I’m sure I’ll update this later today/tonight along the way.
This is probably the worst airplane ride in history of airplane rides. Not because of the pilot, crew, or plan, but our children. The little man was grouchy and cried the entire time. The Niamh decided it would be quieter next to daddy so she popped over and watched her movie. Not a problem for 20 minutes. Then the plane was landing with the landing gear is down and we have 10 minutes to land and the girl turns into a screaming, crying, bouncing around, frowny monster. She wants to sit next to mommy, I explain we are landing and will be down in 10 minutes. The screaming at the top of her lungs and not sitting in her seat continues for the the entire time which seems much longer than 10 minutes. We land with her sitting on the floor. I attempted to man handle her into her seat about 4 times, Fiona has laser beams coming out of her eyes – to no avail. On the floor wailing. The plane has landed and we are on the ground and she turns into a little human being again. She sits in her chair and we get off the plane. No one is happy. We cheer up a little because we found a cart to put out two bags and two car seats. Hertz gave us a Kia Ceeād, a red one, and we can charge up the TomTom with the USB cable! yeah. it is just starting to rain and is around 4:30. Traffic is awful. Instead of 20 minutes in the car, we are around 40. We made it to Andrew and Marjorieās house around 5ish. The Roweās appear 30 minutes later. The plane is more superior than the automobile, but the children are the same no matter what the transport š
We walk 50 yards down the street to GG apartment which is quite nice. She looks much different than the little round lady from our wedding in 2004. We walk back to the house. I have an Peroni Beer, 3 of them total and we eat some chicken, peas, and potatoes with some fruit and cream for dessert. Gave Lawson and Niamh a bath around 8, and got them into bed around 8:30, Niamh around 9. It is super bright around 10:30 still. I go to bed at 11:30. The sky is a deep purple. Lawson is in the room with us – we have taken over the main master room of the house.
June 28, 2012
The monster has stayed in her room the entire night. Lawson woke up at 7, I got up at 8. Had a bit of toast. The house is under repair, but is a great old house. There is a neighborhood cat, Mitch, that is white and black. I think Iām allergic to cats, I have the sniffs and have sneezed a few times. The house has an odd smell, sort of like cats but also probably because it is old? Might be all the plaster? Iām glad we have a dog. Lawson is taking a nap and we are off the see the ducks.
We saw the ducks. It was raining. We also saw some geese and goslings. It was still raining. Lots of bird poo. We walked to downtown Musselburgh (about 30 minutes outside Edinburgh) and stopped at a place that served breakfast all day. It stopped raining by the time we got to town. I had lasagna which was very tasty. The Niamh had a pancake, and Fiona the penne pasta with red meat sauce. The Lawon got some of Fionaās pasta. On our way out Niamh got a chocolate cat, she had a choice of chocolate dogs, frogs, bunnies, and about 5 other chocolate animals, but she picked out the cat. I got a scoop of vanilla. All 8 of us crowd around a table for 6, but it worked out. Walked through a school park on our way back.
The sun came out as we sat in the backyard, which was weird as we had to put up the umbrella to sit in the shade because it was so hot. GG came over and we all had dinner. A nice hunk of meat with some cooked veggies, very tasty with the 3 beers. We forgot about Niamh and she went to bed at 10pm. Lawson went to bed at 8 which was good. I went to bed at 11. We are off to the zoo tomorrow to see the panda.
June 29, 2012
I got up at 6:30. Fiona asked me to get the boy since she got up with Niamh at night. Ok. Gave him some milk, changed his diaper. Alan got up and found the bread that I was unsuccessful in finding. Feed the boy a banana, a bit of toast, and some cereal. We are off to the zoo today. Iāll take some pics eh.
The zoo was wet. Lots of animals and we had a picnic at the zoo. Everyone was pretty tired as it was all uphill. I did take many, many pics and posted many online. I think the meerkats and panda were pretty neat. Niamh picked up a black bunny at the gift shop, not sure why she didnāt get a panda, but there you go. Had some lamb, potatoes, and some veggies for dinner. We actually got the kids in bed at a reasonable time – 8 for Lawson and 8:30 for Niamh. Found Niamh creeping downstairs and had to put her back in her room. Watched the movie, āEnchantedā and it was as bad as I remember. Went to bed at midnight.
June 30, 2012
Lawson got up at 5:30. Bummer. Fiona got up. She gave him some milk, changed his diaper, and feed him the first course, pre-breakfast. I got up with him at 8 for his breakfast. I feed the two monsters this morning. Bread and butter for the long haired one, and oatmeal rice cakes for the short haired one. I had a nice shower when the Fiona got up, shaved etc as we went out to lunch with Robert and Hillary from South Africa. Robert went to school with Alan. We went to a place called The Old Bakehouse in West Linton and I had a very good cheese burger with grilled onions and stilton cheese. The weird thing is that it also had raw onions on it too – otherwise it was good. Had more italian beer, Peroni. We took GG with us and there was 11 of us having a good time at this place. Fiona and kids (at separate times) when to a neat little bookstore next door and picked up some little kiddie books.
Stopped by Pebbles to see Fionaās great uncleās old house and tombstone. His last name is Lawson so Fionaās grand plan is to get our kid next to the marker with her great uncleās last name. It was a 40 minutes drive back, the kids fell asleep. I pretty much dozed in and out of consciousness on the way back. It pretty much rained the entire way back. We are watching the tennis matches at Wimbledon, and the big EU football (i.e. soccer) match is on tonight between Spain and Italy. My money is on Spain š
July 1, 2012
Fiona has a headache. Bummer. She poked me in my back to get the grumpy one in our room at 6:45 so I got up. I skyped with my brother last night during the tennis match and he is doing well. He is planning a day trip up the weekend we get back. Alan and Rowena left today to drive back to Fareham. They took off around 9am. At 1:30 we (Andrew, Marjorie, me, Niamh, and Lawson) went to the beach. We parked walked on the sandy shore, saw some Jellyās, bits of crab, and had a 99 which is vanilla and a chocolate flake, on a cone. Marjorie and I had the 99 and Niamh had the chocolate on chocolate ice cream on a stick. The Lawson had my empty cone. Got back to the car in the nick of time before it started raining. I was sandwiched to and from the beach between the two kids in Andrewās Prius, it is a very tight fit between the two couches for the kids. We got back at 3 and Niamh is a terror and will not listen, and Lawson Iām not sure will have his afternoon nap. I hope Fiona is over her headache as she had to pin down the Niamh in Niamhās room since Andrewās kid, James, is coming into town. I printed off our boarding passes for tomorrowās flight. The flight leaves at 10:30, so we need to account for an hour of traffic, turning in the rental, lots of walking, getting gas, and lastly getting lost (well not really, Iām not driving anymore). So we should leave between 8 and 8:30. Hope to watch the football match tonight!
July 1, 2012 (continued)
James (aka Jimmy) showed up and we had a nice dinner, lasagna. I had a local beer that was very tasty, Belhaven Best – the cream of scottish beer, in fact Iām pretty sure I had two š Spain won 4-0 against Italy. I saw the first goal which was pretty good. Otherwise, we just gripped about Rowena bitching about her knees and how stubborn she is being by not getting new ones. Pretty dumb that she canāt walk around and enjoy herself and we have to limit what we are doing because she canāt walk. Have to talk to Mark of what would be better one knee or two at once since he sells knees š
July 2, 2012
This was one of the best plane flights. Our two little angels fell asleep on this plane ride. Wow what a difference from the last plane ride. We picked up some champagne for Joy and David to enjoy for dinner. We got in to Southhampton and Hertz had our car, but it had a flat tire. Therefore we got downgraded – WTF? Downgraded? We took a smaller version of the car we reserved, it was a Kia Ceeād but a bit smaller. They had a manual version of the car we ordered. Oh, bother I guess you just canāt have everything go without incident. We managed to squeeze into the smaller car that really didnāt look that much smaller, but once you got in it was a little bit more compact. We had to turn on the radio for the USB input to work on radio – who knew. Alan and Rowena who took off the day before showed up about an hour after us.
I had 3 Guinness of a can as it had been a long time without a Guinness, and we but the kids to bed at a proper time. 7 for the boy and 8 for the girl. The girl however really didnāt do a good job staying in bed and creeped down later to have āmommy tuck me inā. No idea what we are doing tomorrow. Watched a few TV shows called Fawlty Towers and Would I Lie to You before heading off to bed.
July 3, 2012
The Niamh got up around 2 or 3 and I walked her back to bed. The boy did good. Had some breakfast (toast and juice) and Fiona is doing a bit of laundry. Still have no idea what we are doing today, but it is raining so Iām sure whatever it is it will be great.
So we ended up going to Jamie Oliver’s infamous restaurant for lunch in Portsmith. I had one of the best burgers ever. I took the green peppers off it as it was too much, but it was delightful. The beer was an Italian beer that was a light rice beer of america, take your pick, Bud, Coors, Miller it was like one of them. It started with an M and was crisp and clean, just uninteresting, but perhaps this helped with the burger? Humm. Anywho, I paid for lunch as Alan paid for a few meals and wanted to also thank Joy and David for their great hospitality too. Then we went shopping. I toured the Bose store to check out the competition, ventured over to the Nike store. I ended up in the Gap buying a clothes for the kids, and a tea set for Niamh and hot chocolate for me at some posh tea place called Whittard š It was a good time. Headed back to Joy’s and David’s for some cans of Guinness and Scottish Whiskey. Watched some tennis and went to bed at a normal time.
July 4th, 2012
Happy Independence Day! Oh, wait we are in the UK, just another day. This is our last day in the UK, and we have been here a long time according to Niamh. Woke up at 7. Niamh walked in and I waved at her. She went back to bed! I heard the Lawson and got him and checked on Niamh and we waved back at me! So I went down and took the milk from Fiona and feed the kiddie. Fiona packed up the suitcases and off we went to Oxford to see Gordon, Lucy, and Alex, their two year old. It was a rainy and miserable day. It took about an hour and thirty minutes to get to car park, and then another 30 minutes to get a bus into and walk to a natural history museum right in Oxford. This is where we let the kids run around and burn off some energy. Then a walk to town for a bit of lunch. I had a beer called the saint, which I took a picture of Alan holding of course. It was a light beer, it was ok. I had a chicken quesadilla, which was ok. I had to put Niamh on my shoulders and walk to lunch and she grabbed a basket of hanging flowers – I thought she was going to just get a flower but she ended up pulling down like a entire branch of flowers. Geez. That was the last of picking flowers when on daddy’s shoulders. Walked the the church where they were charging an obscene amount of money to walk the grounds so we walked outside the church and watched, laughed, and pointed at the tourists attempting to punt down a little canal that runs around Oxford. This was good fun all the while ducking under trees and putting on/taking off our coats/hats/umbrellas for these 5 minute rain showers. The showers were more like buckets of rain and then it would just stop. Towards the end of day we had some ice cream at a little shop. Very tasty. We said goodbye and hopped on our bus at 3 to race back to Joy and Davids. We arrive at 5:10, due to bad traffic, and you guessed it more rain.
We had dinner with the missing family that Rowena managed to find through ancestry.com, her second cousin on her mother’s side. Pretty neat. Had some great melted cheese on bread that Fiona wants to replicate, and I had a local beer, an ale called Fortyniner from Ringwood Brewery, of the New Forest. Pretty tasty. Anywho, it was 7:15 and the kids are going nuts so we decide to get out of dodge. The people we met were very nice and hopefully we can see them again either in CA or again in the UK. They are going to facebook Fiona š Anywho, another hour and thirty minute drive to the Premier Inn next to Gatwick. We stopped at a Shell station which ran out of cheap diesel, so I paid about an extra 5 pounds for fuel. Bummer. Anyway we pull in and Fiona freaks out because she thinks she left her purse at the place we just ate at, called The George and Falcon, just off the A34. Don’t ask me how they come up with these names. Anyway, Fiona freaks we don’t see it so she calls her parents in a panic they are about 20 minutes behind us – that sucks. I have a receipt with the phone number but she can’t get through. I take a another peek and it is between the car seats in the back. Crisis averted. Boy we are tired. Anywho, we are now at the Inn, Fiona has had her glass of wine, we have blocked the front door with out pack n play, and Niamh is sleeping with Fiona on the double bed. Hey, we have slept on twin the entire time why ruin a good thing š Anywho, I am having my last UK Guinness from the bar down stairs, but am going to go to bed now. Pictures will be up when we get as we only have 30 minutes of free internet here.