The Moys come to visit!

At the end of March, Jess, Derek, Cameron, and Morgan Moy came to the island - yippee! They flew into Dublin and took the bus over to Belfast at the beginning of their trip, arriving mid-day on a Friday. I met them at the Europa bus station and we took a MPV taxi back to the house. Jubin, Watson, and Jamieson got home from school/work/childcare shortly thereafter and the fun ensued. I simply cannot imagine 4 boys of such different ages (11, 6, 5, 1) getting along any better than our guys did. They played outside themselves and with the neighborhood kids, they played inside, they went to Jumping Clay together, they explored the science center (W5) together, they slept in one bedroom together (we put the double bed in the teeny bedroom for Jess and Derek and a blow-up bed and single bed in the bigger bedroom for the 3 boys), and on and on. Cameron is an absolutely amazing young person - he is exceptionally patient and mature and compassionate - all I can say is WOW!

We were in Belfast for the weekend. Friday was for recovery. I walked the Moys down to our little strip of shops and to the tow path to look for seals, but other than that we laid low, visited, and played.

Saturday, we took a taxi down to St. George's Market, which is a huge farmer's market - fresh seafood and fish, meats, cheeses, fruits, veg, breads, flowers, etc... along with an assortment of gifts. There are also many food vendors, so we ate lunch down there (crepe anyone?). After lunch, the boys went to Jumping Clay where they made Mother's Day gifts (who knew Mum's Day is on a different day in the UK?) while Derek and Jubin had a drink next door at Conor Bar. Jess, Jamie, and I relaxed/napped at home. That night, Bob and Kath came over for dinner and brought an amazing trifle - yum! So lucky to have such amazing cooks as friends.

Gotta love Jumping Clay...Need someone in the Lansing area to open one!!!

Sunday am, Derek, Cameron, and Jubin went to the Titanic Museum (http://www.titanicbelfast.com/). They said that it was really good - lots on info about the City's history, ship-building, the linen industry, and of course the Titanic, which was built in Belfast. However, not for young kids.

The Titanic Museum is the cool-shaped building across the water. Pic taken from W5.

The rest of us met them down at the Odyssey in the Titanic Quarter. The younger kids played on the bouncy house/slide and the many cars in the main part of the Odyssey while waiting for the rest of our group and then we went to the science center that is in the Odyssey. W5 (who, what, where, when, and why; http://www.w5online.co.uk/) is an amazing science center - huge, lots of room to explore, and materials for all ages (Jamie and Cameron both had things to do!). The only disappointment was the cafe - nothing very exciting to eat for lunch. But, some of the kids favorites? Water play (M and W), building your own vehicle (C), the train area (J), and the 3 exhibits right as you walk in are quite fun (huge marble ball rolling on water, shadow display on wall, and hot air balloons). It also has amazing views of the City. Why is it, though, that places like that are so invigorating for kids but seem to completely sap all energy from adults? Seriously - we old folks were all soooo tired while there....

Morgan and Watson in the water play area of W5 - shooting balls.

Sunday night, Jess and Derek dined and stayed in City Centre for their date night. Woohoo! Unfortunately, a lot of shops and restaurants here are closed on Sundays, but they said that the hotel was amazing and they seemed happy with their time together on Mum's Day.

On Monday, we picked up our 2 rental cars and headed north to the Antrim Coast. This was our first time going north of Belfast and it was a great trip. We took the coastal route and stopped a lot along the way. Map here: http://goo.gl/maps/0bkhP. Our first stop was at Carrickfergus Castle in Carrickfergus. As you can see from the pix below, this castle has been kept up quite well. Jubin stayed with Jamie in the car napping, poor guy, but the highlight for the kids seemed to be the huge shoots and ladders game upstairs.

How cool is this? Room-sized shoots and ladders!

The view from the castle of the Carrickfergus harbor.

We next grabbed picnic supplies at Sainsbury's and headed down the road to an AMAZING playground. I didn't get any pix of it this time around, but check out the info here: http://www.carrickfergus.org/news/item/404/council-opens-new-state-of-the-art-play-park/ and my next blog post. This place is huge, has a zip line, areas for each age/stage, etc... Absolutely brilliant! I sooo wish that there was a playground like this in the Lansing area. We stayed here much longer than we had anticipated, it was so good.

Ok, back on the road, we made it next to the town of Carnlough where we stopped for snacks and a quick stretch of the legs. We then continued up the coastal road, oohing and aahing over the beautiful scenery.

Carnlough harbor

Next stop? A pull-off parking lot (Magheracross) between Dunluce Castle and Portrush. Such amazing views!

Portrush is in the background.

Dunluce Castle is on the middle hill - see the ruins sticking up?

Finally, we made our way to our 2 rented apartments in Portrush. They were right across the road from the Sea and had amazing views (25 and 34 Kerr St through TripAdviser). But, we totally could have stayed in just 1 unit - they were both plenty big for us all (not advertised that way, too bad) and there were no towels, the heat was confusing in one of the units, and the beds were pretty uncomfortable... Oh, and there was no way to make coffee and since it was off-season, none of the coffee shops were open until late! I don't think that any of us would stay in those units again. Portrush is a mix of a town. There is a branch of Ulster U there, it is in an amazing location with beautiful rock sea views, sandy beaches, surfing, and the like, but it also has sort of a seedy feel with lots of arcades and cheesy tourist shops. The location of the rentals was great for views and being able to walk to get dinner, but the town isn't super easy to drive in and out of to see the nearby natural sites. And, we found out the hard way that many, many places are shut during the off-season. So, I don't think we would stay in Portrush again. Anyway, after settling into our rentals, we had a really tasty and reasonable priced dinner at Ramore's Wine Bar (although Jubin was quite annoyed at the set-up...you have to go place your order at a counter) and then dessert back at our place before bed for all.

Tuesday, we went to Giant's Causeway, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, and visited another great, albeit smaller, playground, this time in Ballintoy. Giant's Causeway is a UNESCO World Heritage Site just north of Bushmills - it has about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns from ancient volcanic eruptions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant's_Causeway). Unfortunately, Watson didn't feel much like hiking that day (grumpy at the bottom of the hill)...so, he and I didn't explore as much as the rest of the group and returned to the visitor center for a snack. But, it was still super cool!

They 'big boys' with their audioguides.

Jamie asleep in his backpack - on this trip we realized that
he has gotten too heavy for us to carry him in this pack anymore... Sad!

We next had lunch at the Causeway Inn, right next door to Giant's Causeway. It was a quaint, traditional place. The food was good but not great, and the service was slow, so I'm not sure we would return there, but it was what we all needed at the moment. Next stop? The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrick-a-Rede_Rope_Bridge) near Ballintoy. To get to the rope bridge, you do a really lovely 3/4 mi hike (each way) that has amazing views. Then, you cross a rope bridge that historically was used by fishermen to get to an island that has even more amazing views (and used to be a great place to fish for salmon), including of Rathlin Island and all sorts of birds nest in the cliffs. The island itself was closed for the off-season (see my next blog post for more about the island), but it was a great hike (minus Watson's continued hiking grumpiness) and we had great weather!

Watson was great at the bridge. He said that he was disappointed because he thought
that it was going to be much longer. I was fine walking the bridge, except when I watched
Watson walking in front of me - he wasn't even looking where he was putting his feet! :)

Can you see all of the birds in their nests in the cliff - look for white.

This is one of the few pix I got of Derek - he somehow managed to steer clear of my camera most of the time!

After a visit to the nice, brand new play park in Ballintoy (our 4 guys really like playgrounds!), we went back to Portrush. Jamie went to bed while we searched for dinner takeaway (that's what they call take-out here). Lots of the places we tried were closed (off-season), but eventually we ended up with Indian for the adults and pizza for the kids and full bellies. The Moys then visited the arcade before bed while the Cheruvelil's hit the hay.

Wednesday morning, we divided in order to conquer. The Moys went to the Bushmills Distillery to do a tour (more about this in the next blog post). Unfortunately, young kids aren't allowed on the factory floor (liability), so Cameron and Morgan had to hang out in the lobby while Jess and Derek took the tour. But, they really enjoyed the tour and were able to get a bottle of reserve (only sold there) with a custom label for a whiskey-loving friend back home. Meanwhile, the Cheruvelils went to White Park Bay  (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/white-park-bay/). Of course, Jamie fell asleep in the car on the way there, so we had to split up again. Watson and I went down to the beach first and then Jubin went after we returned to the car. It is a bit of a hike down to the beach (steep and not short), but it is an amazingly beautiful beach. The wind was really strong that day, so we didn't stay down there that long. But, when Jubin went down, he found some caves, so we made plans to return during our next trip north.

We met the Moys back in Bushmills, grabbed lunch at a local eatery right at the traffic circle (nothing to write home about, but fine), and then went to our last site of the trip: Dunluce Castle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunluce_Castle). This ruin is really amazing - it is a big castle right on the edge of a seaside cliff. They have a really nice audio guide for adults and a different one for kids that is set up like a scavenger hunt. The 'big boys' had a lot of fun with it. If we visit this place again, I want to do the hunt with Watson!

The 'big boys' doing their scavenger hunt.

Jamieson thinks anything that looks even a bit like a phone is a toy for him!
And, certainly didn't want to be left out of all of the fun...

You can also walk down ~100 steps to get a view from
below of the castle, the sea, and a cave

After our castle tour, we jumped in the cars and drove the inland, quick route back to Belfast (only about 1.25 hrs). Of course, we had never done this before and we went through City Centre during rush hour and took a wrong turn on 1-way streets (when Jubin really had to pee!), but...live and learn, right? That night, Jubin and I went out to dinner at Shu Restaurant (http://www.shu-restaurant.com/) for our date night. The food was REALLY good - fresh, interesting, tasty...yum! This was just our second night-time date since last July, so we were really appreciative of the time alone together. We even opted for a walk home in the rain rather than a taxi ride to have a little more time to talk. Lovely!

Wednesday morning, Jubin and I took our kids to school and childcare and the men dropped off one of the rental cars at Enterprise. I walked with Jess and her boys up to Jumping Clay so that Cameron could get some clay to take home and we grabbed cappuccino and treats at Black Bear Cafe (best in town), then a double-decker bus back home (we couldn't have them in Belfast for a week and never take our bus!). Then, about lunchtime, Jubin drove the Moys to Newgrange to see that really cool megalithic tomb (see my previous post from when our first Lansing-area friends visited). They ate at the really good cafe there and then Jubin left them at the Drogheda bus station to head into Dublin for the Republic of Ireland leg of their trip.

We were sad to see the Moys go, and Jess reported back that Morgan and Cameron asked why they couldn't just spend the whole trip with Watson. We are so glad that they came to visit us!