Liam’s all packed and ready to move to college! He’s quite a light packer, this is all he’s bringing (minus the secretary desk and John’s bike). Does anyone recognize the plaid plastic with zipper bag on the right? We still have two of those bags that survived two transatlantic flights!…

Miles attended trapeze camp last week, and like when Liam attended the same camp back in 2011 (for a trip down memory lane, have a look at this blog post http://cndkmen.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/liam-on-trapeze/) there was a performance at the end of camp. Miles did a great job as a clown, a tightrope…

The Thursday night before we left Phyllis and Paul invited us over for dinner (a very tasty curry) and to hang out for a bit. The kids had a great time on the trampoline in the back garden and playing various sports in the green next door. James got dressed…

Our last day into town was very strategically planned. John had found what claimed to be one of the best cafes in the world according to international cafe rating standards. He wanted to go try it. I wanted to visit Marsh’s Library, since I’d never been there before and I…

After dropping Liam and Robert off at Pier Gates, we drove to Powerscourt Gardens and met Phyllis, Isabelle, Issac and James for a really fun afternoon. We climbed to the top of the pepper pot. Wow, six out of eight eyes are closed! Methinks there was a plot… Look how…

Cndkmen hasn’t explored parallel universes before, but what the heck. It’s probably time for some narrative experimentation! Another trip we took from Dublin was 3 days/ 2 nights in Wicklow. Liam and Robert walked along the Wicklow Way, while Miles, John and I stayed in B&Bs and did shorter trips…

We’ve been to Torr Head in all weather conditions now! Usually it’s really stormy and windy, spitting rain. This trip, we had another beautiful day there. We climbed up to the little concrete bunker structure at the top of the hill by the coast, and then followed Robert, who found…

I used to get the nearby towns of Cushendall and Cushendun confused, but since we stayed overnight in Cushendall this time it’s now easier to remember. Cushendall is much larger (still charming and small though!) and after our night watching the World Cup match in the pub, we got up…

Earlier in the summer, the apparently famous but new-to-me bicycle race, the Giro d’Italia, started in Belfast and wove through Northern Ireland ultimately to Dublin before heading to Italy for the bulk of the ride. More about the Giro here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Giro_d’Italia. Lots of the little towns we went through were…

We got up the next day still somewhat shocked by the Germany – Brazil match, but ready to tackle our goals for the day: see some Game of Thrones filming sites, see the Giant’s Causeway and walk part of the Antrim Coast from there to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, and…