Co Donegal, March 2011

We slipped over the border to Co Donegal a couple of times. Rossnowlagh has a lovely beach and its only about 20 minutes drive from Kesh where we’ll be retiring to.

Fermanagh March 2011

A typical day over in Fermanagh…sunny, lots to do and nice people..(only joking – it’s not normally that sunny)…there is so much to do and I genuinely believe it is the most wonderful county in the United Kingdom…

We started out taking the kids to see the new lambs at a family friends farm…

Then we went to Castle Archdale, a country park by Loch Erne. Its staggeringly beautiful with lots to do. First off, we fed the ducks at the moor side

Then to the visitors centre..that has so much history behind it. During WW2, it housed crews of seaplanes that patrolled the North Atlantic to protect the convoys from America. Prior to that it was a stately home of the Archdale family…the grounds and buildings are magnificent.  Although the main house fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1973, the rest of the complex remains and has been restored..

We had a lovely picnic there…and all that good country air completely trashed the kids that night

St Patricks Day, Enniskillen

We took a weeks leave to go back to Ireland and see our family and our new house.  Again Sharon’s sister Denise looked after us like royalty, and nieces Laura and Elaine pampered us and really made us feel at home. Thanks to the Armstrong's for that xxx.

We were lucky enough to be over for Paddys Day this year…especially so because Enniskillen had reintroduced the Paddys Day parade through the town.
The kids loved it…we went with Laura together with her son Matthew, Denise and their brother Stephens kids Alex and Dillon, and Elaine….so all in all, a nice little group of going down to see Paddy arriving at Enniskillen on the boat and walking through the town.

Now the parade was a bit random…there were trucks going down there that got me wondering….like one with concrete pipes on, a fleet of unmarked white vans, a completely unusual gathering of a trike, followed by a knight galloping on an imaginary horse then an old VW Beetle…I got to thinking what Paddy would actually make of it…..

Anyhow, have a look at the pictures……

Trip to Whipsnade Zoo

We went to Whipsnade Zoo on 8 March 2011 which was an inspired choice as the weather was fantastic…and all the kids were actually on their best behaviour.
Emily really had one thing she wanted to see at the zoo; the penguins. She has a lovely song she learnt at nursery about them…
…Hannah’s favourite animals were the giraffes and gorillas, while Lucy really slept through it all……bless