Dublin Bike Black Market

Well I learned tonight that a bike black market exists here in Dublin! Here is the very low down...
Two weeks ago Richy comes home is all "Joanna where's me bike?" and I'm all "Richy love I've no clue!" The bike had been chained to the front gate that surrounds our house. After checking around we came to the conclusion that the bike had been stolen. How RUDE!

Well tonight Richy was running to the store and finds his bike chained to another bike in front of our house.....very strange. Where is the world did it come from? Richy turned into a little Private Investigator and after knocking on our upstairs neighbor's door, we realized that a friend of the neighbor also thought the bike was his.......

The dude upstairs is all "oh no that bike is mine....I bought it two weeks ago from a man on the corner for 20 Euro!

What a small bike world huh?! Anyway Richy got the bike back after a colorful exchange with a few of the neighbor boys! It ended well and both sides were laughing in the end!

School Days! ahhhhhhh

Yesterday I got all dressed up, packed my lunch, had Richy take my picture and headed off for my first day of school! : )

Now into my second day of classes, I'm amazed at how interesting I'm finding my course! While some classes seem a bit far off from what I've been doing, others really combine my love for design and technology. Thing are a bit unorganized with the college, but I think that is somewhat normal for the first week! Lots of sitting around waiting for people to figure out whats going on! I'll be happy when I'm in a routine with everything! The Class I'm enjoying the most is Visual Communication which is basically graphic design with a little web design mixed in!

Strange to be out of the professional world, but hopefully I'll be gaining new skills to make me more marketable when I'm all finished!

Just a nice picture!

Yesterday the sun was shinning and it was quite warm so Richy and I explored a new beach! I thought this was kinda cool! The little dog just followed the horse everywhere!

Redundant!

So redundant means something over here! First person besides Richy's or my parents to tell me what and how it applies to me wins!!! The winner can send Richy and I a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese! We watched Juno tonight and I'm thinking it sounds good, plus Richy has never had it! OMG!!!!

A little pic of Leah and I being "redundant"!

Mortons meet the people of Madden!

After Belfast we drove 45 minutes to Richy's hometown. A little place called Madden! There was a charity football match on. A team from US of A was playing some of the local heroes! After the match and some fabulous food at the McCuskers we headed to a dance and party at the local football club! Great night! I was happy my family truly got to experience the Irish hospitality and culture! It was by the way a late night! Jane and Terry left at about 2:30 am and us crazy kids were home by about 3:30 am the party was still going on when we left! (you have to have great concealer over here)

More Belfast and Dad's Birthday!

The birthday boy with his new favorite beer!


So obviously there is more to see and do than visit the troubled part of the city! We saw where the Titanic was built...made me want to watch the movie again! ha! We ate in Belfast's oldest pub! Mom and Leah were taking pictures of their food cause they said it was so Irish! Dad found a new favorite drink! We really had a fantastic time in the short time we were there!

Belfast

So after horrible weather but good fun on the north coast we made our way to Belfast! After a fun night out in Belfast we decided to do the bus tour of the city first thing!

Part of the tour takes you to the parts of Belfast where there were lots of problems during "the troubles" Literally one street would be very loyal to Great Britian (Protestant) and then one street over would be very loyal to Ireland (Catholic).

It is quite interesting to see and I don't know if it is just me or not but you can feel the tension when on those two streets. I'd never like to find myself on either street I know that for certain. This is when I truly see the importance of keeping religion and state seperate.

There is actually a huge fence that separates the two neighborhoods. They close the gates on the weekends and then open it again for the business week on Monday.

To the North Coast

After some quality time in Dublin we headed north to the Giant's Causeway! We met Richy's parents along the way and had a yummy lunch! ( and a pint or two! )

We had fun even though we had the worst weather! Leah thought she was in Alaska!

Family Trip to Dublin

A pretty day in St. Stephens Green!


Out to the pub for some traditional Irish music!
This is Mom in the restroom. This is funny because the restroom was a unisex restroom so the men's was on one side and the women's on the other and then sinks in the middle. Nothing like a family trip to the toilets!

Dad and Molly Malone! Dublin's Tart with the Cart!
Here we are getting a good start to our day at the Guinness Factory!
Richy finally gets his duck from his duck hunting experience in Arkansas!


Yes that's right! Leah, Mom and Dad came to stay in Ireland for a week! We had tons planned and I think at the end everyone was completely knackered! It is hard work being a proper tourist!

Richy has a Birthday!

So August 28th was Richy's golden birthday! Yep 28! Older and definitely wiser.... To celebrate the day of Richy's birth we spent the good part of a long weekend! Thursday night out for dinner with just the two of us! Friday out with the Dublin crew! Saturday out with the Armagh crew! We spent Sunday with Richy's family! Needless to say Richy's birthday wore me and my liver out! Great weekend though! : )

they have arrived!

Hi there! Lots to catch up on but I've no time because....my parents and Leah just arrived in Dublin! fixin to go meet them at their hotel! Should be a good blog next week you can see what we got up too! So exciting!