Saturday:
All of us had a lie in (slept in) and awoke to clouds and rain. We had originally planned to visit the Giants Causeway, but after seeing the weather, we decided to try for tomorrow. For breakfast, Gillian and Adam cooked us an amazing, traditional Ulster fry. The spread included fried soda bread, fried potato bread, sausages, bacon (not American bacon, but thick bacon that looked more like ham), and fried eggs. It was absolutely delicious! Once our stomachs had settled, Gillian and I went into town to go shopping, Mom and Dad lounged, read, and watched TV, and Adam took Stephen, Peter, and his friend Cliff kayaking down a river to Coleraine (the same town Gillian and I were shopping in).
After visiting a few shops, Gillian and I went to a really cute coffee shop. The lower level is a shop with a few cute clothes, jewelry, books, home goods (like a mini Anthropologie), and stairs which lead to a coffee shop upstairs. We had a long chat while we had our coffee and scones during which the sun came out, bringing a little sunshine and warmth.
After tea, we finished shopping and Gillian tried to call Adam to see what they were doing. He didn't answer so we drove to the car park by the river to see if his van would be there. Sure enough, his very-hard-to-miss van was there. We had no idea when they would show up, but we decided to walk down onto the docks just to see if we could spot them. You couldn't really see too far up the river, so our timing would have to be impecable in order to catch them. Our timing was impecable. Sure enough, a minute after we'd walked onto the docks, we spotted a few specks of kayaks making their way toward us. Tired yet still having fun after kayaking for 5 miles, the boys landed (after tipping peter into the water first).
They decided to drive back upstream to ride the jet ski, so Gillian and I set off to visit a vacant parking lot. This is the parking lot I learned to drive their stick (you shift with your left hand) and surprised myself by actually doing quite well! I didn't stall and managed to switch gears pretty smoothly. The only time I did stall was when I stopped while the car was in second gear. I even drove awhile down their street on the wrong side of the road! There were two things I really wanted to do while in Northern Ireland: Jet ski and drive on the left side of the road. Check and check. :)
That evening, we had Chili con Carne over white rice and garlic bread for dinner. David McFarland came over as we were watching Top Gear, then Adam, Gillian, David, Stephen, and I drove into town to rent a movie. We picked one out, made a quick stop at Tesco's, then spent the rest of the night eating Bannoffee (really good dessert with banana and toffee) and watching our movie.
Sunday:
Since church's don't start until 11:30, we slept in again and awoke to pouring rain...even worse than yesterday! After church we came back to the house...still pouring rain. But rain or shine, I was determined to see Giants Causeway. Gillian and Adam, once again, made an amazing meal of pizza, mac n cheese, chips (fries), and garlic bread. We finished off the Bannoffee for dessert, then bundled up in our rain gear and headed out.
Giants Causeway was beautiful! It was quite a stormy day, but I think that just added a dramatic flair to the whole event. We walked down along the rocks, then up along the cliffs to get a better view. The wind was actually the craziest part! I think thats the strongest wind I've ever encountered. It was a struggle just to walk against it and you could almost "lean" against it. :) We found a little trail that led us back to our cars and we drove home.
It was at this point that I started to feel a little bit unwell. My ear was starting to bother me and I just felt tired so I excused myself from night church and went to bed. Unfortunately, it turned into a full-on earache (infection?) and even after medicine, my sleep wasn't the best last night. :(
Please pray for me over the next few days. We have two flights. The first flight is in a couple hours and will be a hopper flight from Belfast to London (but because of the pressure, it could be excruciatingly painful...) and tomorrow we leave London to fly directly to LA.
I'm really looking forward to landing in sunny California and seeing everyone again! :)
See you all soon!!!!!!!!!!!
PS. The title was a saying we heard a British commentator use during a golf match. lol
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