Daniel and Meghan's Wedding!

Brendan and I flew home to Colorado on July 15th for my sister Meghan's wedding! We had quite the adventurous flight there. Brendan bought our tickets separately to use our mile points for one of them. When we got to the airport at 8am, it ended up his ticket never processed. So the lady checked me in before trying his ticket again. She couldn't get it... SO we had to step out of the line and call customer service. Ends up the lady who sold Brendan his ticket made a mistake and Brendan had to buy more miles on the spot in order to get his ticket. BUT by that time the counter for our flight closed because there was only 30 minutes to get through security and customs. Wasn't gonna happen. So we had to go to the customer service who switched our flight from the 10am to N. Caroline - Colorado to the Pennsylvania - Colorado flight at 11:30. They were able to pull my suitcase and we headed to the gate. The plane was late. Left at 12:30 instead only to arrive in PA with a thunderstorm - unable to land. The pilot need to re-fuel so we landed in Baltimore, but because the plane was bigger then what the airport normally supplied, it took an hour for them to get the right tools together in order to refuel the plane. By the time, the pilots had maxed out on the time they were legally allowed to fly... Baltimore, being a smaller airport, had no pilots who could fly our huge plane. SO another hour passed while the airport moved things around in order for the plane to park diagonally to  get the step up to the plane so we could de-board while we waited for 2 hours for the re-placement pilots. We went and got a drink... and dinner... re-boarded and arrived in PA just as the last Denver flight was leaving for the night.... I was actually impressed with US Airways. They had a team of people ready with connection flights for people who could still "make it". As for us, we received a hotel voucher and two $10 meal vouchers as well as flights for the next morning. I thought it was funny... stupid people who can't just go with the flow... as the airport cannot control the weather, bothered me. Really.... we will get there, relax and consider the adventure!

 Tired.

 Mexican food. And beer. Was a must. 

The ticket counter when we finally got back to PA.... getting our new connection flights. 

Anyways, we got in on Thursday and I was hosting the "Hen Party" as they call it in Ireland. I bought flower headbands which I see all around town. Not necessarily a Hen Party thing, but I thought they were sweet and something we don't really have in the States. I also got all the ladies a Claddagh charm. We all went and got our nails done and then had dinner at Crepes & Crepes in Cherry Creek. Lovely evening. I was exhausted.

Me and the Bride (Meghan)

Rachel (Meghan's 7 year old daughter... and bride's maid)

Aimee, our youngest sister

The mother's of the bride (Yvonne) and groom (Louise)

And me! :)

The wedding was in a park up in Boulder, Co. So we stayed the night at a hotel. Brendan got a free night through his points at a Holiday Inn... it was SUCH a nice hotel. King sized bed. Best rest I've had in a while.... 

Got up early that morning to go on a coffee run for the bride. Boulder, being, well, Boulder... there was NOTHING open. I remembered there was a Starbucks on Pearl street (Brendan and I lived in Boulder for 3 years when we first got married... I miss it. Love it.) Anyways, I went there. As I am going in a man yells at me " Don't go in there! It's terrible coffee!".... that's Boulder... :) No, so I still went. Talking to the barista, I told them I was on a coffee run for the bride, and they wrote this on the mug AND gave it to me for free. SOOOO kind! Love ya Starbucks!

The wedding was beautiful. Simple and sweet. 

Me and the Best Man. Good times. Lets get this party started. 

Maid of Honor self-y. It's a must. 

The bride's maids :) Me and Rachel. 

The bride and daddy. 

Afterwards, Brendan and I took Rachel for the week. We went home and crashed. Got McDonalds, watched a movie in PJs, and ate chocolate pound cake compliments of my Grandma Sharon. Went to bed at 8pm. :) Sunday night we brought her to see Pixar's, "Inside Out". Very cute, but perhaps not my favorite Pixar... Monday we brought her to the Parker Water Park. Very good park! There's two slides for bigger kids (Rachel could go on the red slide but was too small for the blue one). Then there's a big water playground. Rachel mostly enjoyed playing Marco Polo with Aunt Hannah and Uncle Brendan. We were able to talk her into going down the red slide... and for being so brave, we got her ice cream. It was a good day. Brendan wanted to move to Parker and Rachel didn't want to leave. Monday and Tuesday I was busy working on my film project for my Masters/Thesis --- which will be in the next post. :)

Brendan's Parents Visit Ireland

Brendan's parents, John and Cindy Greene, came out to Ireland in mid-June. Brendan was able to meet up with us the second week. 

My favorite coffee shop :) Il Valentino

 We took a Ferry over to the Isle of Man. Our first ferry! Very fun. 

Our hotel in the Isle of Man. 

The first night, we walked around town and went to the Manx Museum.

I just loved the houses. Very beautiful!

The first thing we did was to go to the Manx Museum. It was good to go and get a good idea of history of the Isle of Man. 

Because, it was interesting....

The TT race... lol Boys. 

A beautiful hotel in town...

Because, I had to... :) Miss great grandpa George. 

                        We rented a car and drove around the whole island the very first night.

Our first stop was Port Erin. 

Because, I had to have a picture of one :)

Driving around the island was very beautiful. A week before we got there, there was this big motorcycle race called the TT. The padding on the side of the road as well as the mile markings were all still up... SOOO Brendan "may" have tried to drive our silly little rental car as if it were a motorcycle... He may have gotten some air at one point.... Yeah, he was enjoying himself... 

We stopped in Peel for dinner and saw Castle Peel ... sadly from a distance because the area was closed. It looked like it was have been a great tour... maybe we will have to return some day.

 This is the padding on the side of the road for the TT.... It was all over the place. 

 We even drove by the grand stand :)

The next day we drove over to up to Laxey to see the big water wheel. Evidently, Brendan's mom has relatives who were miners from the Isle of Man so it was neat to go see where they might have come from. 

We then drove up to Rushen Abbey. One of the oldest monasteries on the island. 

Because, it was funny. 

We then drove down to Castletown, and tour Castle Rushen. My first castle tour!!! Afterwards, we took a plane back to Dublin. 

The Castle's defense.... they'd shoot arrows and throw things down these holes and drop the gate with spikes.... 

LOL!

The next day we rented a car in Dublin, and drove down to Wexford to see Hook Lighthouse. It is the oldest working lighthouse in the world. 

The builder had visited Italy and studied the architecture. He used what he learned to make the lighthouse. The arches taken from Roman architecture is the reason the lighthouse has lasted so long. 

There were fossils on the rocks near the lighthouse. Very cool. 

Lastly, we drove to the beach where D-Day was filmed in Saving Private Ryan.