Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.
We visited these three (very cool!) tourist attractions on one day...
: Dunluce Castle
: The Giant's Causeway
: The Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge
It was a very busy day!
These pictures are all of the Dunluce Castle. One of my friends on Facebook said that it looked like Lilah was the princess in a fairytale when they saw the picture above. She certainly acted like it was her own castle! She kept finding little nooks and crannies and squeezing herself into them telling us they were her bedrooms, etc!
Here's a little bit of the history behind the ruins of this old 17th century castle...
"Dunluce Castle is a now-ruined medieval castle in Northern Ireland. It is located on the edge of a basalt outcropping in County Antrim (between Portballintrae and Portrush), and is accessible via a bridge connecting it to the mainland. The castle is surrounded by extremely steep drops on either side, which may have been an important factor to the early Christians and Vikings who were drawn to this place where an early Irish fort once stood." (Read more about it here.)
I have so many childhood memories of this beach. I remember biking up to it on my own, not that I ever really swam in the ocean, because it is simply FREEZING and Northern Ireland doesn't get a lot of swimming/beach weather, unfortunately! But I loved to come up here and just sit and think.
Lilah was ecstatic to get to the beach and start collecting stones and shells as soon as she stepped onto the sand. Well, that was before she saw the white rocks that had many little caves and clefts for her to hide in and make into little homes, in her imagination. Baba wrote her name in the sand and that pleased her to no end. It was a wonderful start of our trip around the coast. All in one day, we visited Whiterocks Beach, Dunluce Castle, The Giant's Causeway and The Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge. It sure made for a busy day and I have far too many pictures to throw into one post, so I will be separating them out over the next few days!
We decided to take a little time away to explore the North Coast this year. It's been a lot of years since I was here and I have a lot of happy memories vacationing here with my family. I really wanted to show it all to Lilah and let her experience the things I did as a child... even though it's December, rather than July! To be honest, sometimes the weather along the coast could be worse in July. We enjoyed a balmy 12 degrees today!
This afternoon we arrived in Portrush. It is very much a little seaside tourist town, however there wouldn't be a lot of tourists staying at this time of the year. We stayed in a little Ramada hotel on the waterfront, it was really lovely. The shops and restaurants are more run down than I ever remember them; I guess it's just a sign of the times and how things have aged.
Nothing says Christmas like a wee spot of shopping in Belfast!
Tonight was the last night of the annual Christmas Markets, but we missed them this year, we were about an hour late. Unfortunately they had already started packing up.
Not to worry, there are plenty of shops in Belfast, so we weren't stuck! We went to the Disney Store and Lilah had her own purse, she made her first purchase, ever! A rapunzel doll. She was extremely excited about buying it herself. And when she sets her sight on something, she absolutely does not waver!
We're all packed and ready to go!
We were supposed to leave at 3pm today - flying: Ottawa, Newark (USA), Dublin. But our Newark flight was cancelled and we're now leaving at 5pm - flying Ottawa, Frankfurt (Germany), Dublin! This could get interesting...
I don't know what made her decide on the name "Wally"... but literally, within a second of me reading the page (in the 'elf on the shelf' book) that said, we needed to name him, she blurted out... "WALLY!"
Oh the exitement and fun of finding where he is and what he's up to every morning, it's almost too much for our little 4 year old! To be honest, her excitement for Christmas, Ireland, chocolate, presents and all the other festivites that are going on right now is just crazy over-the-top! In fact, she can hardly stand on her two feet for any length of time! She's either hoping or jumping or giggling or singing or chattering nineteen to the dozen! Oh 4, what a wonderful age!
Anyway, she has been getting a good laugh out of Wally and his crazy antics! Her best line was when she saw Wally dancing with Barbie, she exclaimed "OH! They must be getting married!" Heh! I can't wait to see her face in the morning when she finds him in a bit of a predicament on the toilet while having a pee, along with helping himself to copious amounts of toilet roll. Oh yes, and I put some blue food colouring into the toilet water too! Heh! Okay okay, I admit, I'm having as much fun as she is!
Three years ago today, in Guangzhou - China, a beautiful little 18 month old girl walked into our lives... And every single day since, we've thanked the Lord for blessing us with this incredible girl.
This evening we went out for Thai food with the couple we travelled to China with and their beautiful girl Amelia. We have a super bond with this wonderful family and we look forward to our yearly tradition of going out together on the day we became forever families. (Unfortunately we missed this tradition last year because we were in Ireland)
Today we told our Lilah girl all about the day we met her, the day we became a family. Her favourite part of the story was when Baba told her how she'd burped and spit up on him! Heh! At bedtime I read her the story book, "I Wished for You" - it is a fabulous book. In fact, if you're looking for an excellent adoption story, this is the one to buy. Afterwards, when she said her prayers, she turned the story around to fit herself and said "I wished for a family, thank you God for sending me Mama & Baba." Of course I choked up, I am choking up again just typing this.
We've been so incredibly blessed. Lilah, you've filled our hearts to overflowing.
[ the flickr set is here ]
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Amelia's Mom took some pictures with her phone at the Thai restaurant!
Look at the mess of those beautiful faces!
"Jesus, Joy of the Highest Heaven"
I love listening to this song, I could listen to it all day.
I can't wait to buy the CD in Ireland and teach Lilah it.
album: Joy! An Irish Christmas
artist: Keith and Kristyn Getty
A little yet-to-be-named elf arrived into our house in the wee hours of the morning, along with a Christmas present that Santa couldn't carry all the way to Ireland because it was too heavy!
I can't wait to see her reaction to the elf and his responsibilities! Have you ever heard of the elf on the shelf tradition?
lilah: "How old are you Baba?"
baba: "40"
lilah: "OH! I don't even think I can count up to that number!" (laughs)
After getting a new game one day: "I think I need to read the constructions!"
Helping me unload the dishwasher one day: "I'm always running around after you, putting away my dishes!"
"Eat up your main course, that's what they say in Canada. In Ireland they say, Eat up your food!"
"I would like to put a chair in the tent. Would that make sense?"
"It's a raining day Mama, that's what God sends us. Right?"
baba: "It's time for bed Lilah."
lilah: "Don't interrupt me, I'm playing!"
"The boy stumbled, that's exactly what the book says! I know that."
After spilling something one day: "No deal. Right Mama?" (She always uses the term 'no deal' instead of 'no big deal'!)
"The car will be warm and I will be certainly hot!"
