Our Outings

We packed as much as we could into the six full days that Heather was here. On Tuesday, Elise and I took her to the "mums and tots" group here where we played with other toddlers and meet other mommies. On Wednesday, Heather, Elise, and I took the bus downtown and did some shopping and sight seeing of the City Hall, the Welcome Center, and St. Anne's Cathedral. On Thursday, we all had the day off to celebrate St. Patrick's Day by watching the parade.

After the parade, Heather and I got the chance to visit Belfast Castle and then we hiked to the top of Cave Hill. The Hill and trail overlooks all of Belfast. It was chilly and windy but the view was well worth the climb.

Here we are at the top!

On Friday, we visited the Ulster museum and the Botanic Gardens.

At the museum they had a 3D show about the planets, stars, and cosmos. The kids loved it, especially the cool looking glasses.

On Saturday we took our favorite drive up Torr Head Road to the North Coast. The weather was perfect for taking pictures. The temperature was chilly but it was clear with no rain so we were happy.

Some of the wildlife along the way.

Hanging out at the Giant's Causeway. This was our second time there but our first time going down to the Causeway all at the same time. So, we were excited to get family pictures of us all climbing the rocks. Elise slipped and fell in one of the little tide pools after 3 minutes of being down there. So, Cam took her back up to the car to change her because we knew she would freeze with the wind whipping through the rocks. Oh, well we managed to get one picture of all of us there at least.

The kids discovered coins stuck in between the rocks right here. They would have spent the rest of their days scavenging them out if they could have, pretending to be pirates.

From the Giant's Causeway we headed to the seaside town of Portrush. This town is known for it's amusement park during the spring and summer season. It has a great sandy beach in which we walked along and the kids played in the sand a bit. We ended the day with a great dinner at Coast Italian.

The sunset over Portrush.

On Sunday, we took Heather to one of the churches we have attended while here in Belfast. After church we took the Belfast City Bus tour. The tour gave a brief history of the city and took us along the murals on the peace wall. This wall used to divide the city between the Protestants and Catholics.

This is a mural of Bobby Sands, the leader of the 1981 hunger strikers.

Queen's University in Belfast. After our history tour Heather and I ended our day at a cozy Starbucks and had a lovely chat. It does a soul good to have a sister chat! Heather left bright and early Tuesday morning and is safely back in her home in the States. It was hard to say good-bye but knowing that we will be home soon made it a little easier. Thank you Heather for an amazing visit and building life long memories!