Friday, March 30, 2012

Traveling to Belfast


Hi Everyone,

Today we traveled up to Northern Ireland to the city of Belfast.  This is where we will finish out our trip and this is also where all of Shannon’s dancing will take place.  We are staying the Fitzwilliam Hotel right in the heart of the city.  That’s what Belfast appears to be, a city, similar to Dublin, but on a larger scale.  Our hotel is fabulous, I would highly recommend it if you are traveling to this region. 

Today was a travel day for us.  As we drove north up the main highway, we saw some beautiful landscape.  Erin actually said that she now understands about Ireland's forty shades of green.  The hills, mountains and valleys were simply breathtaking.  We drove straight through a region that is recognized as a ‘Decorated Region of Beauty’.

Upon arriving in Belfast, we got right down to the business of dancing: checked in to our hotel, walked to see the dancing venue, had a great dinner, stretched and settled Shannon down early for the night. 

Shannon dances tomorrow.  She will be competing among the best in the world.  There are 143 girls in her competition from all over the globe, as far away as Australia.  Send her all of your positive vibes and well wishes, it is going to be tough!  We wish her all the luck in the world!!!!

Stay well, Sharon

Thursday, March 29, 2012

A glorious day in Ireland


Hello Everyone,

Erin wants to send a great big ‘Hello’ to Ms. Capone and her friends in her class and everyone back at Bee Meadow School!  She is having a great time over in Ireland.

Shannon says ‘Hi’ to everyone at MJS, all of her friends and teachers. She is loving the trip!!

We want to wish Austin a Happy Birthday today.  We hope it was terrific. 

Today we started our day off with a trip to Newgrange.   It is the best known Irish passage tomb, with the most impressive highly decorated Entrance Stone.  This massive earth mound covers a single tomb consisting of a long passage and a cross shaped chamber.  It was so fabulous to see it and extremely interesting to hear the history about it.  

We had a delicious lunch at Fitspatrick’s Pub.  We met friends and enjoyed beautiful weather and delicious food.  This was our second time at the pub, we went to this restaurant last time we were in this area.  It was so great that a second trip was well worth it.  It is at the foot of the Coolie Mountains. 

In the afternoon, the girls went to a practice session with their coach and the adults got to have some more fun.  We went to a town called Blackrock.  It is on the coast of the Irish Sea.  It was a quaint, little coastal town.  Michael and I decided to check out the water and it was terrific.  We also went into a pub with a great waterfront view and enjoyed some local spirits. 

After picking the girls up, we finished our day with friends out for dinner back in Dundalk. 

We are having such a terrific vacation.  Tomorrow we head up to Belfast and we cannot wait to see that part of Ireland. 

Enjoy some more photos of our time in Ireland. 

Sharon 













Wednesday, March 28, 2012

First Day back in Dundalk

Hi Everyone, and Greetings from across the great pond,

We are now in Ireland!  As I write this blog it is 9:15 pm local time and 4:15 in New Jersey.  We had a terrific day and we are exhausted.  The travel day is always so long,  We left Newark airport on Tuesday night and we are just going to bed now for the first time since then and it is Wednesday night.  (And sleep on the plane is a minimum)
















I took some great photos throughout our first travel day.  Starting with some in Newark airport.  We traveled over on the plane with good dance friends and our day continued with some of them.  When we landed in Dublin, we headed straight up to Dundalk, County Louth.  Shannon had a dance class with her coach.  While she was at class, Michael, Erin and myself did some sightseeing around Dundalk.  It is such a great town.  You will see us in a field at the foot of the Coolie mountains, looking out at the Irish Sea, then in town, Erin is at a beautiful flower shop eating ice cream.  We went to St. Patrick's Cathedral, the Library and the County Museum.  At the end, Erin was getting tired and as you can see, Michael was helping the cause by carrying her.  We took pictures with our dance friends and coach.  At the end of the day we had a fabulous meal back at the Windsor Pub.  We had eaten there last year and it was just great, so we decided to repeat our visit.  The weather today was absolutely fabulous and we hear that tomorrow will be great too.  So long for now, its time for bed.

Sharon

Monday, March 26, 2012

Off to Ireland for the 'Worlds'

Hello Everyone,

We are off to the Emerald Isle again.  We leave for Dublin tomorrow to start another adventure.

This time, Shannon is dancing in the Worlds!!!!  The 'Worlds' Irish Dancing competition is the highest level of dance competition.  She will be competing with over one hundred other girls in her age category from all over the world.  She will be dancing her solo on Saturday and she will also be competing in a team competition on Monday.

We fly into Dublin and head straight up to Dundalk, Ireland for some practice time with her coach from Ireland.  She will be there for three days and then we will head to Belfast, Ireland.  This is our first time in Northern Ireland and we are very excited.

Look for a new ' blog post' everyday  for an update on our trip.

Stay well,

Sharon