Our Weekend in Portrush

This last Friday we got a phone call from one of our friends asking if we'd like to join herself and a group of others on a trip up to Portrush (a very touristy city on the Northern coast).  Of course we said yes!  So we packed our bag and up we went!  The last update on this blog was of the North coast in February.  The weather then was cold, windy, and wet.  But this past weekend we had sunny, warm, and dry weather conditions!  It really was perfect out.
Saturday was chuck full of "firsties" for me.  I started them off with this:

My first time on a ride (I managed to hold my lunch!)

Then we went to a white-rock beach and we did this:

Me climbing my very first sand dune

I was very happy when we made it to the top!

Then we did this:

While watching our friends do this:

And we finished off the day with a walk on the beach:

On Sunday we went to Port Stewart and Bill and I walked around (and around, cause I got my left and right mixed up and we went the wrong direction for a couple of miles).  And then we met up with our group and watched them do this for a bit:

(Scuba diving lessons)

Then we went here to "crab fish".

We didn't catch any crabs (hardy-har-har) because Bill broke the line on the first attempt.  All in all, we had an amazing weekend with some really cool people!  I'm very thankful for the beauty of the land and the friends that God has blessed us with in our time here.

Much love to you all,

Katie & Bill

The North Coast

Long overdue, but here they are!  Our pictures of the Northern coast of Northern Ireland.  And aren't they beautiful?!  It was our first time seeing the ocean, and I can't wait to go back.  I could go into poetically describing the way the wind blew and the waves crashed and the air smelled... but that's a little too cliche, isn't it?  

Above & Below:  Giant's Causeway

Above & Below:  Carrick-a-Rede 

At Carrick-a-Rede there is a wee rope bridge that the local fishermen of days past would have used to get to a tiny fishing isle.  I, being not a fan of heights, did not cross.

Much love to you all,

Katie & Bill

In With The New!

Okay.  So finding time to work on this blog has proved harder than I thought.  A quick update: 1) Bill and I took a trip up to the North shore the first week in Ireland.  Pictures to come!  2) We then took a short vacation to Barcelona.  Again, pictures to come!  Why Barcelona?  Why not?!  No, we had a mix-up with our visas and Barcelona was the solution to our problem.  Long story.  3) We are back home!  That is, we are back at our new, five month home located in Dungannon, Northern Ireland!  Pictures below!

 Our backyard above.  Our front window view below.

And look, no snow!  We do experience a lot of rain, but it's not day after day, or all day, or heavy rain for that matter.  Just drizzles.  The pictures don't do justice to how beautiful it is here either.  Again, more pictures (hopefully better ones) soon to come!
Bye for now!  Hope all is well, and keep warm over there!  Much love to all,
Katie & Bill

Out With The Old...

Test run... as well as a farewell to MN.  This is my parents' property.  Part of it anyway!  I love that as we are leaving the great Northern state, winter decides to make its appearance.  This is highly sarcastic of me.  If I could change one thing about MN it would be to remove winter altogether!  But it is beautiful.  Cold and windy, but beautiful.  

 And these are our cows!  I love watching them, but am absolutely terrified of the beasts!  If you look closely, you can see one of the younger of the bunch, a steer from this fall.  Ouch.  I was there for the day of his... ahem... banding.  I didn't watch, but you can imagine...

And this is part of what we are leaving behind.  But it's not the land that we are tied to, it is the friends and family.  They will be greatly missed in these next five months, but what a reunion we will have when we return!