Another weekend come and gone...

This weekend was a busy one!

Saturday we stayed home and rearranged the living room as the couches needed swapped again to provide more sitting room and I needed to get a hold on the huge pile that is my knitting crap. It's taking over. So Brett and I cleaned and rearranged and then Matt and Jenn came over that evening for packet chicken and creamed corn casserole. We had a great time! We played Monopoly (the one that uses credit cards and not cash) and just generally hung out.

Sunday we got up and headed into Belfast (Holywood, actually) to the Ulster Folk Museum. I was dreading it to be honest, I just wanted to be lazy, but Brett really wanted to go, so we went. It was so cool. It's very similar to Conner Prairie in Fishers, IN (for those of you who've been). And it's ENORMOUS. There's a rural area that goes on for ever (it says it's 60 acres), that has little working farms and cottages to explore, but we stayed in the main town, which was really cool. The cool thing was that all the buildings in the town were authentic structures that had been moved from elsewhere and refurbished as much as possible. You were able to see the different homes in the town, all kinds of shops, there were 3 churches, a school, a coal yard, a bank, a printer's, the town market and courthouse, stables, a pub, and the list goes on. It could have easily occupied half a day IF you didn't have kids with you, and IF you didn't hang around and read all the details about each stop. We only made it through about 1/2 of the town but plan to go back now that we know where it is!

The Dressmaker's Shop

The DispensaryThe Hardware ShopLabourer's House*notice the hotwater bottle on the bed (it's the round ceramic bottle)Inside the Presbyterian Meeting HouseThe Carpenter's WorkshopKelly's Coal YardThe 300 year old roofing beams in the roof of the print shop (the attic is the 'Reading room')
The back part of the town...Right to left....The Court/Market, The Printers/Reading Room, RIC Barracks/The old Rectory, The Pound Forge (side corner)

The Church of Ireland

The Courtroom

It was really cool to walk around, Hazel walked around most of it and was worn out by the end of the first 1/2 and VERY cranky, so we decided to come back when the weather warms up so we can see more of what it has to offer!