A Day at the Beach!

Thursday night we stayed late in Downtown Belfast and got to see the Belfast wheel all lit up.
Saturday was a day at the beach! Myself, Colleen, and Tami traveled out to Portrush where the White Rocks are. The White Rocks are right off the Atlantic Ocean and is located at the very top of Norther Ireland. The White Rocks are made out of Limestone.
To get to White Rocks we had to take a beautiful 2 mile walk on the beach to get there. Behind me is the town of Portrush. It was a gorgeous day but a little windy.
In the distance are the White Rocks
These two dogs reminded me of my dogs! actually there was a Phoenix dog and a Patches Dog (black lab and collie mix). I saw lots of dogs on the beach, these two dogs were going after a ball that their owner was throwing into the Ocean.

There was even a large sand dune, which reminded me of Tawas. There were lots of body-boarders in the Ocean too, catching some waves. Every person had on a wetsuit. It was way too cold for me to get into the ocean, but these kids did not seem to mind, I think they are used to the cold water.

Behind me in the distance is a small little waterfall running down the cliff. White Rocks also has many caves inside of them. Those holes on the sides of the rocks are actually small little caves.

I'm getting ready to explore a cave...
Breathe taking! I just sat on a rock along the shore for about 45 minutes just listening to the waves crash up on the rocks and shore. It was a very peaceful day!





I got my dog-fix today! If you look closely, a golden retriever is climbing the sand dune, going for a ball that their owner is throwing up the hill. Talk about workouts! I saw this dog run up the dune at least 10 times, I'm sure he is exhausted once he gets home.
We then traveled to the Dunluce Castle ruins. Dunluce Castle sits right on a cliff, along the North Antrim coast (just up the road from White Rocks). In the 1700s part of castle actually fell off into the Ocean during a bad storm, killing 3 servants. After that event took place, the people living in the castle decided to move out and moved to a different castle several miles away.Mermaid Cove, is right underneath the castle. if you look closely you can see the tide rushing into the hole.
This is the view from the side of the castle. I would not want to move if I lived here!





Dunluce Castle, if you look at the bottom middle of the picture, you can see the top of Mermaids Cove.

It was a wonderful day exploring more of Northern Ireland. We did lots of walking and were on the Ocean for almost the entire day. It was a great Saturday!

Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge and Giant's Causeway

Today we went to Carrick-a-rede and Giant's Causeway and got to see the county side of Northern Ireland.

These pictures are of Carrick-a-rede, my favorite area of N. Ireland thus far. It is most famous for the rope bridge that suspends over jagged rocks and the ocean. Traditionally fishermen erected the bridge to Carrick-a-Rede island over a 23m-deep and 20m-wide chasm to check their salmon nets. It is absolutely breath taking and I already want to go back.

I faced my fears and crossed this bridge! I was so scared, but it was a rush. And of course the only way to get back is to cross the bridge again, so I actually crossed it twice. It was absolutely gorgeous and I want to do it again :) I'm trying to convince someone from the house to go there with me again!






Giants Causeway
I'm standing along a long rock wall on the way down to see Giant's Causeway.
The Giant's Causeway, is most famous for its polygonal columns of layered basalt (rocks), resulting from a volcanic eruption. These stones are perfect polygons. You can defiantly see God's handwork in these perfectly shaped rocks.

Jeremy & Lachlan OWN

Jeremy ran strong at the Holly XC Inv. The course was muddier than all get out.

Lachlan won his middle school invite. He crushed the field and came in strong. He looked like he could have held that pace all day.

Mav & Phoenix

Mav dog has his leash and is wondering when his mom is going to take him for a walk. I told him it would be a LONG time! JK, I am not that mean...I am heading out the door to throw the ball with him now.

Home Alone

It has been a full week without Heather and I am hanging on by a thread! I went grocery shopping and picked up the essentials as you can see. Not sure where all the food is, but I got enough drinks to last me till Christmas.

A Fun Weekend in N. Ireland

It is our first sunny and hot day in Ireland today! as you can see I'm sporting my sunglasses and a t-shirt.

This is our walk down to Lisburn St. where all the shops are, it's about 1.5 miles away from our house. Today we were feeling very adventurous and we walked all the way to down-town Belfast from our house. We think it was a 4 mile walk, but we were walking for a couple hours.
Shops on Lisburn St. It has really nice boutiques and restaurants.
Lindsey, myself and Rachael pose on Lisburn st.

Queens University. I would like to walk around the campus more and get more Pictures.
On Sunday we traveled to CarryickFergus and visited the Castle there, about a 45 minute train ride from down-town Belfast. It was a beautiful train ride on the way there, and it traveled along the Belfast Locke. This picture was my favorite because you can see cows and the Locke.
CarryickFergus Castle, it is right on the Belfast Locke (it opens up into the Atlantic Ocean).
I'm posing on the Castle wall where a Cannon is sticking out of.
This giant chess set looked like a lot of fun to play with. If my Dad was here I would defiantly have to play him in a match.




Inside the Castle Walls
I'm sitting outside of the Castle that is outlooking the Ocean. I wish I had Benny here with me to pose in some of my pictures :)
I took this picture from the top of the Castle. I just love how every town in Ireland has one huge church and as you can see the Church Steeple towers over all the other buildings.
I really think I should own stock in the Company or earning Endorsements for Mc Donalds. I always seem to find every Mc Donalds no matter where I go. I will say that this Mc Donalds DID taste different from at home.

We started school on Monday so I have a busy week ahead of me. We are planning on going to Giants Causeways on Wednesday, which is right off of the Atlantic Coast.