11 hours!!!!

Yay for a full night's sleep!!!!

Hazel went to bed at 8:30 last night and slept all the way through to 6:30 this morning! I am so excited!

Isn't my little redneck too cute??? That's our post-swim-after-our-birthday-party outfit. Mommy, with all the other things getting packed and going on, forgot to pack an outfit for changing into after getting into the pool. So we improvised. The dress is one of mommy's tank tops, it's Hazel's sweater and hat. I think this outfit is a winner!

When it rains it pours....

Well, we're well into week 2 of nonstop drama. If it's not one thing, it's another. But that's OK, I guess it keeps me on my toes and praying.

Monday morning, Hazel and I got up, drove Brett to work, and came home to get ready for Mom and Tots at 10. Well, I accidentally fell asleep while laying Hazel down for her morning nap, which means I didn't get into the shower until 9:40. YIKES!!!! Well, it turns out that it was a good thing that we were running late, otherwise, we would have missed the phone call from our travel agent, saying that our trip was canceled and we needed to come in right away and reschedule. Apparently, the airline we were flying from Belfast to Crete (a Greek Island) was the airline that just went bankrupt. Nice.

If you look to the right side of the screen, at the top of the page, you will notice that we currently have less than 2 weeks before we leave. Which means that when they called, we had 15 days till our vacation. *sigh*

So, long story short, we have spent the past 2 days in Belfast, at the travel Agent's, trying to figure out what we can do to change the package so we can still go on vacation as planned. Our options were VERY limited. Basically, we could keep our original package, only fly out of London (do we live near London? no, we live near Belfast or Dublin...London lies on another ISLAND) and it would cost us almost $1000 more. Sounds like a deal, doesn't it?

NO! Geeze.

Next option was to pick another option that our Holiday Company (Olympic Holidays)--not the Travel Agent--offers for the same time frame. Which was 2 hotels, for more $$ with less stars and CRAPPY reviews. No thanks.

The last option was to get a full refund from Olympic, and reschedule the vacation for another time. Which wouldn't be until next year, and we were hoping to get another vacation in Europe in next year before we move home....

So, in other words, this sucked. Bad.

When Hazel and I went back to Belfast yesterday to figure out if we'd have more options if we adjusted our package options, the nice lady at the agency found us one more hotel option.

Have I told you how amazing God is? How he blesses us every day?

The last option was a room at the hotel we originally wanted BEFORE we scheduled our original vacation. It's at the Blue Marine Hotel on Crete. The reason we didn't choose it before was b/c it was very expensive to fly out of Belfast to Crete and stay at that hotel. However, because that airline went out of business, and they were the only carrier to fly out of Belfast to Greece, and now, no matter what we do, we have to fly out of London, it turns out to be almost exactly the same $$ for the better hotel that we wanted to begin with!!!!

So, after all our stress that the trip might be lost for good, it's back on!

One drama down....many many many more to go....

GIVE ME MY MONEY, YOU B&*TARD!

So, we have new neighbors. They're fun. (Note the sarcasm)

We aren't really sure when the quiet foreign (we think Russian, maybe?) guys moved out and the meth/coke/pot/heroin crazies moved in, but what we do know is that it's been colorful here for the past week or so.

The first of the Crazy Family we noticed was the little blonde haired boy who (I think) lives there. He was cute at first, and now I firmly believe he's the inspiration for the small boy in the Omen. His past times include pounding firmly on our patio doors and/or our front door, playing kick ball in the small courtyard (occasionally kicking the ball toward the GLASS patio doors of the homes that surround the courtyard...one of which is ours). Did I mention how cute he was?

Then, thursday morning, Hazel and I were patiently awaiting the arrival of our lovely Tesco delivery, when someone knocks on the door. It was 10 till 8, a little more than an hour early for Tesco, but I thought, hey, the delivery guy's been early before. So I look out and see a guy in a loud yellow tee, so I leave the chain on, but open the door. He smiles a very crooked smile at me, and tells me he's run out of gas (we pay-as-you-go for our natural gas in these townhomes for things such as the stove, water heater, etc) and was wondering if I had a light. Then he holds up.....


a joint.


Yes, that's right. He wanted to know if I had something for him to light his Marijuana with. I politely said no. He introduced himself as Billy, shook my hand and left.

Weird.

Since then, on a daily basis, the Crazy woman living there has screamed (loudly and with their front door open) at everyone who walks through their door. If she wasn't slurring her words, she'd be screaming so loud you could hear every word. It is absolutely ridiculous her volume. The most colorful was today. She decided that whatever guy was just at her house, owed her money, and apparently he wasn't going to give it to her. What followed was easily 15+ minutes of "Give me my money, you B&*tard!" over and over again, at the top of her lungs.

To make matters worse, every person who walks out of that house looks all cracked out. My heart just breaks for that little boy.

We have just made the decision that either THEY leave, or we do.

I'm looking at a house next Monday....

Popsicles make it all better

Today was kind of a lazy day here in the Davis household. Brett got up early with Hazel, letting me sleep another hour (have I mentioned how I love and adore the most amazing man in the world?). Then I got up, let him get ready to go and play tennis with Matt Rodriguez at the Tennis Club. He left around 11:30 not too long after I got Hazel down for her "morning" nap. She got a good nap, and woke up around 1, full of energy. We played and chased each other around the room and goofed off, then I decided to check something on the computer, so she wandered around touching each toy she owned. Cute.


Then she decided she wanted up on the couch. Now, she's been climbing up on the couches for about a month now (which is what prompted the living room rearrangement), so she's pretty good at it by now, actually, she's pretty good at climbing ANYTHING at this point...anyway, I'm not really concerned about her getting up there, it's being up there and getting back down without injury that we're currently working on.


Well, today, as she was lifting her Right Leg as high as her little hips would allow it, she lost her footing on her Left Leg...it slipped right out from under her. And it wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't fallen face first on the side of a box, and bit her tongue. Screaming, crying, bleeding. I ran over and hugged and cuddled and held her as close as possible, but she was very upset, and rightfully so! I would cry if I bit my tongue hard enough to make it bleed! So, being new at this mom thing, and realizing she should have ice on it, but knowing she's not going to do anything to a frozen rag or an ice cube but play with it, I gave her a popsicle (or Lolly to you Irishmen/Brits). We found some all natural pops with coconut milk and pineapple puree, and she seems to love them. So, after one popsicle, all injuries were forgotten...I even got a hug and a kiss!


Frowns and a whole popsicle.....


Going...Going...Gone!!!! All Better!

Our Crazy weekends!

OK, so I'm really behind on what we've been up to. Here's a run down of the interesting things....

Last Saturday (the 13th) we dragged poor Granny up to the Northern Coast to see the Giants Causeway and Dunluce Castle. It was just the most gorgeous day, so we wanted to take advantage of it!

Granny at the highest point of the Causeway stones....

Granny walking down to the sea among the stones... Daddy and Hazel waiting patiently for Granny and Mommy to explore....

We decided to take the Coast Road home, and on our way back, we drove by some cool ruins. In a moment of spontaneity, we stopped to see what they were all about!

It turned out to be an old friary. So neat. Kind of creepy, not really sure why I felt they were creepy, but there was just something "not right" about it. It was still really beautiful there, though.

There were a ton of really old tombstones...some of them so worn away with age that you couldn't tell what they said...Most of the graveyard was old and unkept, much of the ground had caved in over old gravesites, pulling the stones to the side with them.After exploring some, we decided to head back to the car and get home so we could have dinner... we took Granny to Mama's Indian Kitchen (formerly Tamarind) to introduce her to Indian Food. Plus, it seems to be Hazel's favorite food, so we thought it only appropriate that we have her favorite on her Birthday! We called it a night after dinner, with all the exploring, we were full and exhausted!

Fast Forward to this weekend

With Granny safe and sound back in the States, we didn't really think ahead to what we were going to do this weekend, so Brett asked around at work, and, after some good suggestions from his co-workers, we decided to drive to County Fermanagh to see the Marble Arch Caves. Oh, my, goodness. They were GORGEOUS. You get to take a tour through the caves (it's the only way to go through them). Lead by our wonderful and patient tour guide, Warren, Brett, Hazel, and I, along with 2 other couples walked through the woods, down the side of a ravine, and to the mouth of the caves. Once inside, you get into a little boat, and take a short 5 minute ride through the beginning of the cave. Let me preface by saying that it isn't advisable to take a 1 year old on a tour of Caves. Now, we weren't doing anything dangerous. No climbing or spelunking (sp?) or anything, but she was less than thrilled to have to sit still in the boat, and walking in the dark was NOT her thing. There really wasn't anything for her to see and be excited about. God bless Warren, though, for being so patient with us. In an effort to keep her from talking or yelling (who knew your voice echos in caves :-P) we let her walk with our assistance, which meant we lagged behind much of the time. And if we weren't lagging behind, we were trying to keep Hazel from out talking Warren. It was really neat, though, and we plan on taking anyone who comes to visit. I wish we'd taken Adam and Lindsay as this defenitely would have been their kind of siteseeing!

Us, getting ready to embark on Cave Exploring...ignore the hair, it's getting cut this week...The mouth of the caves...
Inside the caves...


I highly recommend the caves if you are ever in Ireland!


Then we headed back toward Enniskillen and decided to stop at Florence Court House and Gardens. I could live there. It was just incredible. We drove in the main gate and through a couple of acres of land before turning the corner and seeing....the house....

(that's Hazel and I sitting on the front porch)

In my dreams of what a grande home in Europe should be...this is it. And the land surrounding was just acres upon acres of trees and open fields and sheep. Yes, Sheep. We had to drive very slowly to the carpark to avoid hitting any Rams or Ewes just lazily grazing about. I apologize for the lack of supporting pictures, but my head was not quite wrapped around picture taking yesterday....We bought house tour tickets and then decided to walk the grounds....

There was the Cattle Yard and the little alleyways leading back to it...The really cool old carriage in the carriage house...But the house itself just blew me away. This is a picture of the South 2/3 of the house... And this is the North 1/3 which contained the room we started our tour in called the "Colonel's Room"...

We only got as far as the library (which was the 3rd room after the Colonel's room and the foyer) when Stinky Bojangles decided to blow out her diaper in the stinkiest way possible, so we cut our involvement in the tour short in order not to gross our fellow tourists out....I was so bummed, I really wanted to see inside the rest of the house, but such is the life of a mom, right? Besides, we live here, so there will be ample opportunities to come back...
Anyway, the best part of the whole day was just walking and spending time with the 2 most important people in my life....I'll get many more chances to take pictures of houses and caves and castles, but how many more times will I get to take a shot like this....

Another day in La-La-Land

So, it's Friday, already! I can't believe it! I need to clean and such, but right now, at 8 am, I don't feel like it. So I thought about knitting, but I really don't feel like doing that either. I got in a huge fight with mom last night, which I hate, so I just kind of feel like sitting around being depressed all day. It's been one of those weeks, so I feel as though I have no more energy for anything today. I should walk with Hazel down to Mom N Tots today, but we'll see what I get to.

I sound like the worlds biggest pity party don't I?

I really don't mean to, I'm just, ya know...blah :)

Death of a mom....

Happy Birthday Hazel!!!!! yes, I'm aware I'm 6 days late, but it's been a crazy week....better late than never, right? The weekend was wonderful...we traveled around the northern coast with Granny on Saturday and then Sunday we got up early and had Ulster Fry (gotta introduce Granny to everything!) then got back and got ready for the party!

I bought Hazel a little pink dress, pink fairy wings, a pink tiara, and a princess wand....

We had cake... Friends... Presents.... Lotsa food.... It was a good time! Quick, though. We were setting up and clearing out all between 12:45 and 2 when they kicked us out. Then we went swimming with Michelle and her daughter Beth, Nicola and her son Alistair, Marina and Emma, Sarah and Isaac, and Granny....God bless Daddy, he took all the aftermath of the party home while we played. He's the best Daddy, ya know?

At the end of the day, I was exhausted. We all went home, got ready for bed, and I believe for a brief few hours I was clinically dead...well, atleast until HAzel woke up the first time during the night....