2023 Irish Trips

Back doing some Irish Trips again this year, Bobby and Glenn this time. This summer there was visits to Funtasia, we went on our bikes for cycles to the park, skate park, the village, trips to Phoenix Park (for some Military exercises…๐Ÿช–), Motocrossing, Mountain Biking, we managed to build some Legos, there was even a birthday party thrown in there…

Head over to the Irish Trips page to see some of our 2023 adventures…

It’s all Mountain Biking…๐Ÿšตโ€โ™‚๏ธ

Lot of Mountain Biking happening this summer, it’s taking over the Motorbiking… We’ve been to the GAP a number of times, as well as a trip to Ballinastoe track, it’s been great…!

The kids are loving it (especially when we get the uplift service in the GAP…), not that they don’t like cycling uphill… who doesn’t…๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ.

Summer, Bobby, Skye and Angel, all doing great. I think some of them might need some new/better bikes soon, with the jumps and tricks they are doing… there’s even been some trips over the handlebars once or twice (Summer and Bobby…๐Ÿ˜‰).

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Bobbyโ€™s 8th Birthday…๐Ÿฅณ

8 already, where do the years go… he’ll be an old man soon…๐Ÿง“

But let’s enjoy the younger years while we can, and that’s exactly what we did. Off to the Ninja Dome it was this year, aka Bounce and Beyond. Foam pits, gladiator games and some really cool VR games…๐ŸŽฎ

Great location to let 20 kids run wild…!

Fairy Castle… Again…!

Really…?

Yes, only 1 week later, but this time we took a straggler… look who came with us. No, your eyes are not lying, that is Alice you see…!

Imagine that…

But, will she make it back down…๐Ÿค”

Marley to Fairy Castle in under 3hrs…๐Ÿค”

Who said it couldn’t be done… well it just was, by 7 year old Bobby and Glenn…๐Ÿฅพ๐Ÿšถโ€โ™‚๏ธ

And in the lashing rain no doubt…๐ŸŒง

Been a while since we did this one, and I seem to remember it took over 4 hours the last time with the girls… and this being only Bobby’s 2nd hike this year…

Big things lie ahead for him…!

We did get drenched though…โ˜”๏ธ

We’re back Baby…โ›ฐ๏ธ

Back hiking that is…

Well over a year now since the last one, but we’re back with a bang…๐Ÿ’ฃ๐Ÿ’ฅ

Bobby wants to train to try get ready for the epic 6 hour hike that Tori, Casy and Glenn did a few years back. Not sure if he’d be able for that, but we’ll see how his training goes…

Tenere Heaven

Yamaha Off Road Experience in Wales was a must for this year, and what an Experience is was…!

2 days of Tenere Bliss over the Welsh mountains. Great bikes, great food, and great bunch of lads…

Really enjoyed this trip, will definitely be planning a trip back in the future for the next level up in riding ability.

The Knot is Tied… Finally

Alice and Glenn Finally Tie the Knot…!

It only took 20 years, so we supposed it was finally time to take the plunge and got married. Vegas was the venue and what a time…๐Ÿ‘ฐ๐Ÿคต

A small enough wedding party in attendance, but everyone else able to watch live at home as it was streamed on the web. Very emotional, for lots of reasons, but well worth the wait.

From Vegas it was off to the Caribbean for a 2-week cruise… what a trip…

Will post some pictures over in the Wedding Gallery

Babies, Babies and more Babies…

So after Carlos’ twins (Danny & Dean) at the start of the year, we then had Bobby in August, and now we have some more news of another Baby…!

We won’t name who it is just yet but it is exciting! More kids for the camping trips in the coming years, keep it up girls… ๐Ÿ˜‰

Will update soon…

Halloween 2015

Spooky… ๐Ÿ˜ˆ

This year Tori decided to go as a Hobo-Clown, but she had a companion, Bobby. He was a skeleton, but he had “No-Body” to go with…!

Some great costumes this year, plus there were some amount of kids trick-or-treating, seems to be very popular again nowadays.

Some pics:

 

 

Nicole and Philip get Married

This is really putting the pressure on me now, I’ll probably have to be next!

Anyway, they managed to tie the knot and it was a great day. Leixlip Manor House and Gardens was the venue and all went off well, except for the weather, but that didn’t stop everyone enjoying themselves.

My job on the day was not only to try and embarrass Nicole, no, I also had the job of Best Man so had to be on top form to perform my duties. I’d like to say that also went off without a glitch, but unfortunately we had some technical issues mid-stream, that’s all I’ll say on that, (Angel…!).

Anyway, I did manage to embarrass Philip quite a bit, and also got a bit in to make Nicole blush too!

We have a great video here that we managed to show on the day – Philip Falls

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More pics here…

Tori’s 12th Birthday

 Another year has gone by and this year Tori got more than her usual birthday presents, she got a new baby brother! Bobby was born just three weeks before Tori’s birthday. But that’s not to say we would forget about our little princess, no, this was as good a birthday as ever.

Tori and 15 of her family and friends all visited JumpZone in Sandyford. A vote took place for the venue, Tori giving all her friends the decision between JumpZone and Awesome Walls, the results were a resounding JumpZone. Great venue though, the kids get to jump up and down for an hour straight, great for wearing them out.

After there it was off to our favorite Pizza restaurant, Pinheads Pizza ๐Ÿ™‚ Antoine was on hand with the Notorious 32-inch Pizza along with heaps of chips and chicken dippers all topped off with some Oreo Milkshakes, hmmmm…

She also got some tickets to go and see Dynamo… magic…๐Ÿง™โ€โ™‚๏ธ

Camping 2015 – 2nd Trip

After only camping for 1 night on the annual camping trip this year, we decided we would have to do another night. We had a great idea of finding a new spot, one close to a river so the kids could jump in for a swim and we wouldn’t have an 8k hike back to the camp site.

Well it sounded like a good idea at the time, unfortunately it didn’t work out that way. After heading to a spot we know where the kids could jump into the water, we couldn’t find an appropriate spot to pitch the tents there. Then it started to get late and driving somewhere else to look for another spot just wasn’t going to happen, so we decided to head back to the the regular spot.

Thankfully that spot was ready and waiting for us to arrive. However, when we did arrive we got some news regarding the area, we were told that this bit of forest had been given to an archery club and soon it would not be available for us to camp there again ๐Ÿ™

So next year we really will have to look for another spot, we’d better start early!

Anyway, the 2nd trip was another bit of fun for the kids, we made them sling-shots and let them practice on the trees and beer cans. Some good shots they had! They might need is because one day we might make them hunt for their dinner!

They are getting that bit older now though so I don’t know how many more years they will want to keep coming camping. We’re going to have to work on getting some new kids aren’t we, it’s just as well Alice is pregnant isn’t it!

Some pics of this trip

 

Camping – 2015

So after being infected with a nasty flu for over a week, the annual camping trip was approaching fast, and Tori wasn’t going to take no for an answer! We decided to leave it this year until Saturday to go instead of Friday night. Anyway, we got ready and headed down on Sat.

This year we did the compulsory hike in the opposite direction, we headed from the campsite over the mountain to Loch Tay. We even managed to see the set for the show Vikings! The weather turned then though and we had to call in the emergency services to come and collect us (Philip in Dermot’s 7-seater!). That was going to be the sing of things for the night, nothing but wind and rain all night!

This year we also got a new axe, deadly ๐Ÿ™‚ Check out some of the pictures and you’ll see Tori swinging it.

Anyway, seeing as though we only camped for one night, we’ll have to plan for another trip before the end of summer.

Watch this space…

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More pics…

Tori and Casey make their Confirmation

It’s hard to believe, but we’re at that age already! Tori and Casey (as well as Evan and Jamie), have made their confirmation this year. The next big thing now is secondary school, scary!

Tori, Casey and Evan were all confirmed on different dates, but all had a great day. No matter how much you say you’re not visiting people all day, it still never works out. We only managed to sit down to our dinner that night after 10pm! Tori wasn’t worried too much though, not with her big wad of cash…๐Ÿ’ฒ

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More pictures here…

Christmas 2014

Another Christmas is upon us already, the years are just going by faster and faster! I don’t know if it’s just because we’re getting older or if God is speeding things up because he has other plans!

But it’s a great time of the year, especially for the kids. Tori got some really good presents, as did the rest of the kids. This Christmas also brings the 1 year anniversary of when I proposed to Alice (Christmas 2013), thankfully she said YES ๐Ÿ™‚

Here are some pictures of Christmas morning:

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Vegas Baby

Dec 2014 – Vegas Baby…

My first time going state-side and Vegas was the destination. We went for Alice and her Dad’s birthday, a 30th and 60th, great trip, would definitely go back.

After all the shopping was done we managed to get in a tour to some of the History channel shows like Counts Customs, Tanked and Pawn Stars. Really enjoyable as I always watch these shows. The girls didn’t join us for this, they wanted to go shopping, again!

We also got to go and see David Copperfield’s last show of the season, brilliant. And we managed to go to a car show for a private car collection, what a collection!

Will put some pictures up in the gallery also.

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Irish Trips 2014

2014 didn’t see to many trips around Ireland, however we did manage to get in a trip that Tori and I have been wanting to do now for a while, Wexford in a Mobile Home ๐Ÿ™‚ We managed to get a week in Curracloe and had a great time. The weather was great most of the week and with being so close to the beach we couldn’t have asked for much better.

There was myself, Nicole, Casey, Tori, Angel and Skye, and we were joined by Alice and Philip later in the week. A lot of people to put up in one Mobile Home…!

A great typical Irish holiday though, there was trips to the beach, running to get in out of the rain under trees, barbeques in the evening (some also in the rain), we even managed to get a bit of surfing done. Angel and Skye had a great time too at the beach running up and down the sand dunes. Has to be one of the best beaches in the country.

My ma and Charlie went down a few weeks later in the season and didn’t have such a nice time. Some of the worst storms they have ever gotten down there awaited them…! She might not go back too soon.

See link to pics here under Summer 2014.

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Jordan M’s Debs

So Jordan had his debs this year, all grown up now, time for him to get a job I think and start paying his way! No, it’s off to college for him now, after that he can pay us back ๐Ÿ™‚

He and Gina looked really well and I believe they had a great night.

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Alice’s 30th Birthday

Well it’s been a long time coming (30 years in fact…), but the day finally came and Alice celebrated her 30th birthday a couple of weeks ago. She really had no idea that her mam was planning a surprise party, she thought she was going to get away with a night out with the girls. However there was work going on in the background to get a night to remember setup. Her friends managed to get her to Murray’s bar on the night where the rest of her friends and family were waiting to surprise her. It turned out to be a great night and I think Alice was really happy with the outcome.

On top of this was all the great presents she got for her birthday too, perfume, clothes, money and even a trip to Las Vegas, how lucky is she…?

Lots of photos over in the gallery, see link under Summer 2014.

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Skye, Greg & Tori’s Birthdays

Lots of birthdays this year, it seems like everyone in our family had one at one stage or another ๐Ÿ™‚

Three that we captured on camera were Skye’s, Greg’s and Tori’s. They all had nice cakes and Tori managed to get a new (well maybe not new), but a re-vamped bike, see pics below, you wouldn’t think this was a Kawasaki would you…?

Still some more birthdays to go this year though, including mine ๐Ÿ™‚

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Tori’s 11th Birthday

Another birthday, another year!

11 already, crazy. Seems like only a couple of years ago was her first birthday! I remember it well, all the family and friends up, the bouncy castle and the barbecue out the back garden, now it’s 10 years later…!

She always deserves all her presents though, the best little girl in the world ๐Ÿ™‚ So this year, surprise surprise… she got a new bike…! Check it out below. Oh, and a Princess cake… well she is still a girl… ๐Ÿ™‚

 

Philip’s 35th Birthday – no, not more bikes…!

So it seems that I am not the only one to get motorbikes as presents on my birthday, Philip got this lovely Triumph for his birthday from Nicole this year. There was a good story behind it too, Philip had his eye on this bike for a while but the shop had told him they could not sell it to him as the original owner was taking it back. However Nicole had secretly arranged with John to get the bike for Philip. What a girl…

She got the bike dropped to the house while Philip was in work and then rang to get him to come home for his lunch. A nice surprise was waiting in the garden for when he arrived!

Here’s the bike –

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Camping 2014

Another Great Camping Trip done for 2014…

Didn’t seem to be as many people this year, however still a great Trip. All the usual activities like Hiking, Swimming, the kids collecting firewood, Midnight Walks, cooking Bears for dinner, all the usual stuff. This year we also brought the mountain bikes so the kids had something extra to do during the day. Not that they would be board though, there’s always plenty of great things for them to do like collecting firewood, sawing the logs, cleaning the camp, all that exciting stuff!

We did get some nice weather for it though, luckily!

I have put some pictures up in the usual place, link on here.

Oh, and I’m always telling the kids that there is Vampires and Wolves our there in the forest, but for some reason they never believe me. Well now we have proof, see the pictures below we managed to get.

Blood Sucking Vampire

There’s Vampires out there…

Sneaky Wolf

I can’t believe no one noticed this!

Ducati 1199 Panigale Ride

OMG……!

Went for a spin on one of these last week and was blown-away. Ducati Dublin organized an extended test ride for anyone interested. They only had one 1199 available and I managed to get myself booked in for that for the first session of the morning . What a machine, but at 23K it would want to be…

I was glad to find out that the spin was going to be one I am quite familiar with ๐Ÿ™‚ Out through Roundwood, over to Laragh, then up over the Wicklow Gap and back through Hollywood and Blessington. Total was over an hour and a half out on the bike. Best test-ride I have ever took… ๐Ÿ˜‰

There was a total of eight of us on the run, a couple of 1200 Multistradas, a Monster 900 & 1200, as well as a Hypermotrad 821 and a couple of 899 Panigales. It was some sight to see all of us going down the road together.

Now for the 1199 details!  1200cc, 195bhp, 165kg dry (193 with a full tank), Quick-shifter Gearbox, ABS Brakes, and a whole lot more…

What a bike, but to top it off the one I was ridding was only out of the crate, which the Ducati test pilot kindly informed me when he warned me not to break it! I looked on the clock and there was only 12 miles done on it. 12 miles on the clock, 12 miles on the engine, 12 miles on the tyres, 12 miles on the brake-pads, just what I needed to hear right before heading off for a spin over the Wicklow Gap at half 10 on a Saturday morning! All I can say is “Thank God it wasn’t raining… ๐Ÿ™‚ ”

All went well anyway and I have to say, I had never ridden a Ducati before and had been told they were an awful ride, stiff and hard to control, unreliable and generally not a nice bike. I can report however that this bike was none of these. The ride was smooth as anything, the quick-shifter gearbox was so seamless, engine braking was a joy, and the handling was spot-on.

I would love to some day own a Ducati, but at over 23k for the 1199 Panigale this may be a while off…

This should tee me up nice now for my planned trip to the Ron Haslm Race School in Donnington Race Track next month. Will post an update about that then.

Tori’s Gymnastics 2014

So after all the training this year, Tori managed to qualify for the National Finals in Limerick, but she did it in style! Tori got a Gold in her Floor routine after getting a score of 12.0…!

We’re off to Limerick in April for the Finals so hopefully she can bring home the Gold then also…

Good luck Tori ๐Ÿ™‚

Oh and she also took part in the Stepaside St Patrick’s Day Parade before we went off to Bray for the carnival, busy times these days…!

 

Mountain Biking 2014 – The Start…

Well we took up mountain biking as a hobby this year, always wanted to give it a try and I’m glad we did. Great fun. Helps if you have experience on bikes in general and with the MotoCross experience we have this makes it that bit more suitable.

So far we’ve only being getting to the Ballinastoe track, and maybe an outing or two in the Phoenix park, but Ballinastoe is a great track. Some really nice fast-flowing bits as well as a few technical bits also. Some great little jumps round the course too.

The kids have also liked getting out. Casey, Tori and Jordan M also got new mountain bikes this year, plus all the gear to go with them for safety, you have to be safe doing this!

Well here’s looking forward to some great outings this year on the mountain bikes. Won’t be forgetting about the MotoX though, will try to get a bit of this done this year also.

See below some vids of the latest outing in Ballinastoe –

Italy Snowbaording/Skiing 2014 & Nicole’s Birthday…

Finally, we got back on the slopes this year!

After a three-to-four year break we finally managed to hit the slopes again this year, and boy did we hit them ๐Ÿ™‚ what a trip. Italy, La Thuile was the location, a nice little resort with everything very close by. It snowed every day with great dumps of fresh powder. Great Snowboarding conditions, not so great for skiers. But considering most of our group were Snowboarding (except for Alice & Jordan L), that was fine by us!

Casey and Tori decided to learn to Snowboard this year and they were actually really good at it. Plenty of falls, trips and bumps, but that’s all part of the fun ๐Ÿ™‚

It’s amazing how quick it comes back to you after not doing it for three or four years, it was like we never missed a year. Some great areas covered and some great speeds reached. The GPS was tracking us at up to 60kph, and 1km done in 1min & 37secs!

Below are some links to some of the runs we did, and some pics & videos. Looking forward to the next Snow trip already…

Pictures –

On Pics page under 2014 – Italy Ski 2014 – La Thuile

We also celebrated Nicole’s 35th birthday while we were there, Happy Birthday Nic…!

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Maps –

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/442884521

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/442884614

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/442884318

Videos –

Kids:

Adults:

Silverstone 2013

MotoGP:

What else can I say except for “Excellent”…

First GP I’ve been to and what a race. This actually turned out to be the best and closest race of the season so far! With the Pole going between Lorenzo and Marquez a number of times on the Saturday, eventually going to Marquez. What a Sunday it then turned out to be.

Marquez goes out in practice and crashes, dislocating his shoulder before the race. That didn’t stop him in the race though, it was close at the front for the whole race between Lorenzo, Marquez and Dani. With only a lap to go Marq takes the lead and the battle between him and Lor begins. Lor retakes and so does Marq. Then, on the final corner, Lor gives one final move to make it stick and takes the win by hundreds of a second to Marq, and Dani only 1 sec behind also…!

A little further back Rossi was having his own little battle with Bautista, swapping places a number of times on the last few laps, but with Vale finishing the victor of that battle for 4th. This has been the case for the last few races with Vale fighting it out for 4th with Alvaro, each time winning the battle. If he can just get a bit further up the field now earlier in the race, maybe these can be battles for the podium.

Anyway, all in all it was a great weekend’s racing, can’t wait to go again. Alice also really enjoyed the weekend of racing just as much as I did. I never seen her so interested in a race ๐Ÿ™‚

Snowboarding:

As well as racing we also managed to get an hour on the slopes at Xscape in Milton Keynes. Or at least I did anyway, Alice just watched! It felt good to get back on the board and with some fresh snow underneath. Can’t wait to get away to the slopes again soon…

Thanks for a great weekend Alice, looking forward to the next one… ๐Ÿ˜‰

Some pics posted here under “Summer 2013 – Silverstone MotoGP 2013”

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Tori’s 10th Birthday

10 already, where are the years going! No more single-digit birthdays now Tori…

Well a nice surprise was waiting for Tori on the morning of her birthday, she got tickets to go and see 1-D in Croke Park next year. She’s a lucky girl…!

Not only that but she got brought out with her cousins for her birthday, and her mam brought her out and bought her lots of lovely new clothes, and to top it all of Nicole and Philip got her a new iPad Mini!

How lucky is she???

Pics in the usual place here

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Ireland Trips 2013

2013 saw another year for Tori and Glenn to spend some great time together. We spent two weeks in July and another two in August doing various activities. So another year of visiting Irish locations/attractions, that’s 5 years in a row, we’ll really have to get away to another country or two next year!

Anyway, the weather was very kind to us this year, at least for the first couple of weeks I was off with Tori. We had temperatures of over 30 degrees…! That called for a few trips to the beach. We actually got to the beach three times in one week, that’s not a common occurrence during Irish summer holidays.

Anyway, this year also say trips to the circus, Butlers Chocolate Factory, MotoCrossing in Wicklow, the Carnaval and a few days stay in a hotel in Tullamore. The hotel in Tullamore was great, a real family-friendly place.

I also managed to get out for a couple of spins on a couple of really nice Saturdays, on the road bikes…:)

We will probably try to do some more Irish trips next year, but will also try to get away to another country then too.

Some pics of these trips posted in the gallery. See this page and under Summer 2013 – Irish Trips 2013.

 

MotoGP Silverstone 2013

Well I have always wanted to go to a GP and thanks to Alice, this year we are ๐Ÿ™‚

Alice surprised me on valentines with a trip to Silverstone for the MotoGP! The tickets only arrived this week. So in two weeks time the dream will come true when Alice and I will be track-side for the race.

Can’t wait, thanks Alice…

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Tori’s Gymnastics

Tori competed in her first competition in her current gymnastics club last Sunday and her group finished 1st! Tori got great scores, for Floor she got xx out of 12 and for Vault she got 10.8 out of 11…! What a first competition.

She has now been selected to move up two grades in the club, this means treble the hours per week. This will also mean many more trips out to Leopardstown for Alice, but I’m sure she won’t mind ๐Ÿ˜‰

Roll on Rio 2016 … ๐Ÿ™‚

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Camping 2013 (Trip)

Well there goes another year of Camping done and dusted, and another great trip…! And compared to the wash-out we had last year, we were blessed with the weather ๐Ÿ™‚

It all started on Friday (as per normal) and lasted until Sunday afternoon. The kids all had a great time as usual, we brought them to do the annual swim in the “freezing cold” stream. We also did the “compulsory” hike back from the swim to the campsite, well most of us did ๐Ÿ˜‰

So that wraps up this year’s camping trip again, I hopefully won’t have to sleep rough and kill my back for a couple of nights again until next year…!

Some pictures in the gallery. Go to the gallery links page here and under “June 2013 – Camping 2013” click on the link to the gallery.

Camping 2013 (Preparations)

This has been a much anticipated trip, seems to be all the kids can talk about for the last few weeks! With the disappointment of the weather last year – remember here – we are all hoping for a much nicer time this year. Checking the forcast and it does seem like it will be a little better anyway ๐Ÿ™‚

Either way we are ready to go now (see below), so we’ll just hope for the best. Will post an update after the trip…

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Santry Races 2013

Well this week it was off to Santry Races for Tori, she got picked and qualified to race in the 400 meter relay for her school. She had been practicing a 100 meter stretch out our back wile getting ready for the race. An impressive time of 17.01 secs was the best time posted in training.

We don’t know what time she actually got in the race as the times were not taken, but overall her group finished 4th…!

We’ll have to try and make sure she gets picked for the individual sprint race next year ๐Ÿ™‚

Some pictures here under May 2013 – “Tori’s Dancing Competitions and Running”

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Another Motorcycle Show…!

Well not really, but there was some bikes there on show ๐Ÿ™‚

This was a fun day out organized by the Vespa Club of Ireland. It was all in aid of St Joseph’s School for the Visually Impaired Children, and what a good cause. They put on a really good show for all.

Some pictures on dropbox here – and some more pics here under May 2013, “MotorBike Shows 2013”.

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Motorcycle Shows 2013

We’ve been to two great Bike Shows so far this year, the RDS Motorcycle Show in March and the VJMC Classic Bike show in May. The RDS show was the same as previous years with lots of entertainment for all the family, as well as all the latest and greatest from each manufacturers for this year.

The VJMC show was more-so just about classic Jap bikes, which was not surprising give that the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club ran it…!
This was a good show also however for talking general bikes. There was quite a few beuatiful bikes on show. My favorite bikes are actually 90s Jap Sports Bikes, so I really was in my element there ๐Ÿ™‚

Tori also had a great time at each show and we got some good pictures. I have posted the link here, see link to “Motorbike Shows 2013” under May 2013.

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MotoCross and MotoGP 2013

The MotoCross season kicked off last week (our MotoCross season that is), and it just so happened that it started the same day as the MotoGP. Two of my my favorite sports starting on the same day, what’s the chances!

So after a great day out MotoCrossing with the girls at the private track, it was then home to watch the MotoGP. And the first race of the season surely didn’t disappoint! Who said Rossi was finished? I have been saying for the last two years that it was the bike, it has to be the bike… And what happens as soon as he gets back on the Yamaha, he blows away the competition. Had he not had that run-on in turn one he would have surely won the race. After getting back into the grove after that mistake he had to then chase down the leaders from 7th place, nearly 8 seconds behind! But that didn’t stop The Doctor, he was lapping a second a lap quicker than Lorenzo who was leading the race! Roll on two weeks time and the COTA!

So back to MotoCross, we must try to get the girls out a bit more this year. They really enjoy getting out on the bikes. Plus, we now have a CR125 to use as well, so no reason not to be getting out.

Will hopefully add some nice pictures of MotoCrossing this year…

Tori’s Freestyle Dancing

This year has been filled so far with Tori doing her Freestyle Dancing. She has already taken part in four competitions with some really good results. She has managed to finish 2nd & 3rd in two of these competitions, with some 5th and 6th places in the others.

There’s lots more scheduled in the coming weeks and months, she is sure to be kept “Dancing” off her feet for the foreseeable future. And this added to the Majorettes, Gymnastics, Running, Motocross, plus she wants to start swimming, I’ve never known a busier child!

Good luck in your next competition this week Tori…!

Some pictures here under May 2013 – “Tori’s Dancing Competitions and Running”

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Christmas 2012 brings a surprise

Another Christmas passes by and yet another year to look forward to. However this Christmas was a little bit different than others, as well as all the usual exchanging of presents, Tori getting up to see what she got off Santa, Alice surprising Glenn with all his presents and visa-versa, there was an added twist!

Glenn got down on one knee and did the deed, he proposed to Alice…! And she even accepted..:) So now I just have to start saving for the next 10 years to pay for the wedding that Alice wants…:(

Can’t wait until next year to see what surprises might happen…

Majorettes 2012

It’s been another great year in the Majorettes for Tori and her group, they have had some really good results. They have had a couple of 1st and 2nd places to add to their tally.

Keep up the good Dancing girls and roll-on next year…!

Tori’s 9th Birthday

Well Tori turned 9 this week, where does 9 years go…! It was a trip on the Viking Splash this year (she even got to drive it!) and then on to TGI’s. We managed to get a great day for it. She had lots of her friends there to make it a really Happy Birthday.

I hope you enjoyed it Tori…:)

We have put some pictures up from the day, click on the link for Tori’s 9th Birthday under April 2013 here.

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Tall Ships Dublin 2012

What a great display this was, the quays were buzzing for the whole time the ships where there! We visited on Sunday and got a chance to get on a couple of the ships. Tori & Casey really enjoyed meeting the sailors, see some pictures below from the day.

To see some more pics go to this page and click on the link for Tall Ships 2012 under April 2013.

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Ireland Trips 2012

Another couple of weeks spent this year in July visiting Irish attractions for 2012. Alice joined us for a few of them this year, we thought that was only fair, seeing as though she still had to work.

We saw trips to the circus, the farm, horse riding, Funtasia, cooking classes for Casey and Tori, the Wax Museum and some others. Zorbing and Aqua-spheres in Corkagh Park was quite fun, not for Alice though, she was dying with a hang-over :lol:.

See some pictures here, under Summer 2012 see Irish Trips 2012.

And here are some out-takes from the videos we took during the trips…

Camping 2012

Camping is now done and dusted for 2012…

Another great year, however the weather wasn’t so on the first nightย :(. The rain was torrential, setting up camp in that was no fun. Luckily enough we got one tent up quick enough and kept it dry for the girls to stay in that night. But we did wake up Saturday morning to nice sunny weather so it was all good from there on in.

That made it good for the annual swimming venture as well. Although the water was still freezzzzzing…!

The regulars still did the walk back to the camp-site, with the same sissy regulars, no names (“Hem Jordan Hem”)… And what a great afternoon it was as well for the hike.

I think all had a good time, here’s looking forward to next year.

Some pics here, under Summer 2012 see Camping 2012.

And some video below.

Dublin City Racing

Well there wasn’t too much actual racing on the day, but still it was a good show, apart from the weather that is…!

The noise from the F1 cars is just deafening, you can feel it right through your body as the car goes past. Some other good displays with the motorbike and little cars with motorbike engines. There was one crazy guy that got out of the car as it was still power-spinning, and then had to get back into it…

All in all it was a good day.

See below some of the videos we took on the day.

MotoCross 2012

It’s been all go with MotoCrossing for the last few weeks, with new clubs (Leinster Offraod Club), new tracks (Kilcullen and Broadford MX tracks), Tori getting a new bike (see pics below), and the girls really getting into the spirit of it! Now Casey and Tori have the same bikes, KX65s…

Tori got her new KX65 a few weeks ago, see video of her surprised –

 

The lads haven’t been getting to do much though, it won’t be long before the girls are faster than they are…:wink:

Billy and Jordan (Wade) competed in the MX race at Broadford in the Leinster Offraod Club race series last Sunday and didn’t do too bad. Jordan on his new YZF250 and Billy on his YZ125, both in the same class. They finished about mid-field or better in both races, well done lads…! There is some video footage of the races below.

The girls need to get as much practice as they can over the next couple of months if they want to be ready for the grass-track races that Leinster Offroad Club have planned for later in the summer.

Come on girls…:thumbup:

Here are the kids races:

And Jordan & Billy’s races:

The rest of Billy and Jordan’s races are here:

New indoor BMX Track – Dublin

Well a new BMX track has opened in Dublin and the girls love it!

Casey and Tori got to try it out last week and had a great time, I even had a go myself. It hard work. There was a few falls with grazes and bumps, but not enough to stop our girls, they will definitely be going back again during the Easter holidays.

Forgot to bring the Camera this time but will bring it next time and will post some pics & vids up when I do.

Rock on girls, you show them boys how to do it…!

Masters Of Dirt – Dublin

Masters Of What??? – MOD – that was the response…

Great show, would recommend anyone to go and see it. Loads of action all the way through. MotoX Bikes Flipping, Whipping and Tricking, BMX bikes doing the same, Quad Bike Jumping and Flipping, and even a Skidoo Backflippingย :-o (I know!).

Alice got us great seats, well done ALice. Great views of all the tricks (and the fuel girls blowing fire…:shh:)

Willย definitely be going next year when it comes back, great way to spend a Saturday night.

Some vids below…

 

 

Tori’s Gymnastics Show – The Victory Centre – Nov 2011

What an amazing show:

This was a variety show and boy was there variety! But I really think the gymnastics was the most outstanding…!

The show was on for about 3 hours, but I just shot the gymnastics parts. The video shows a bit of another act just at the start for a min, but then the gymnastics starts.

Video of show…

Majorettes finishes for 2011

Well it’s been a busy few weeks for the girls in the Majorettes, two competitions in four weeks! But not has it just been busy for Tori, Alice and some other mothers have also been busy getting ready to compete. Yes, the mothers when into both competitions as well!

I have to hand it to them, they are very brave and done very well, congrats girls and well done. They even came 1st in both competitions…

All finished now until next year. I wonder will the other groups put together mothers groups???

Here are the videos of the dances and trophy presentation – Mothers vidsKids VidsTrophy Presentations

You can see all the trophies Rialto won in the October competition. Didn’t do as well in the November one, but in fairness they didn’t have a lot of time to prepare. Some of the other groups didn’t do the Oct one so had plenty of time to get ready for Nov.

Next week now we have a gymnastics show, it doesn’t stop!!!

Birthdays 2011

Obviously we all had birthdays this year but in our house we had some good ones. Recently Alice, Tori and I celebrated ours.

Alice = 27 (getting old…)
Tori = 8 (where does the time go)
Glenn = 30 (still feel the same as I did when I was 21 though!)

Alice celebrated her birthday in style and had a few drinks with her friends and that, Tori got to go roller-skating in the roller-disco with a couple of her friends, and seen as though it was a special one for me (big 30) I got something really nice ๐Ÿ™‚

See pictures below. Can’t wait for next year’s birthday to see what that brings…!

Alton Towers

Went to Alton Towers last week and it was great. We spent two days in the Theme Park and one day in the Water Park. Probably couldn’t have managed any longer though, all that screaming and head spinning! Really good trip though.

The kids loved it. Will have to bring them back again though when they are big enough for the more extreme rides ๐Ÿ™‚ But they did manage to get a go on some really good ones, 13, Sonic Rush to name a couple. But Oblivion had to be the best for me. See it in the vid below, the one with the big drop…!

See here for pictures. Under 2011, Alton Towers 2011.

Irish Trips 2011

Well it has been another crap summer with the weather and all, but we still managed to get in some Irish Trips. Although not as many as the last couple of years, but we made up for that with our trip to Alton Towers!

We did go a couple of places here though, Funtasia Water Park, the Sea Safari out over Dublin Bay, Wicklow to a Trampoline Camp and a few days out on the bike for trips to the beach and the carnival in Bray and that, and we managed to get a little bit of hiking in too, even if it was on the bike!

We managed to enjoy our summer anyway so can’t complain.

I’ve put together a short video of the places we got too, see below. And there are some pictures here under 2011, Irish Trips 2011.

Camping 2011

Another year of camping now over and done and all went great again! Not as many came along this year, but it was still a great trip. Although a few more did arrive on day two. The weather could have been a little better but that didn’t stop our kids wanting to go swimming :crazy:.

The kids really enjoyed all the activities and they really loved collecting the firewood, 5 times a day :lolno:. There was trips, falls, tears and feasts, best camping trip so far…! The Bear Beef went down a treat with most.

Here are some pics, see under 2011, Camping 2011. and here’s a short video below.

Tori’s Communion

Well Tori made her communion last week and it was a great day. She looked like a real Princess. We visited losts of the family and it went really well. Casey, Jamie and Evan also made their communion too, and they also looked like Princesses and Prince…!

Some photos here, see under 2011, Communions (Tori, Casey & Evan).

New York New York

Well Alice had her visit to New York this year. They actually had nicer weather there than we did here. We were snowed in while they had sunshine…!

Got some nice presents brought back though :D

Some pics here, see under December 2012, Alice’s Photos.

Tori’s Gymnastics

Her first competition in the gymnastics. We didn’t get placed in the top three this time, but we did get a trophy for working the hardest all year.

Well done Tori. And Casey, Kelly, Jamie and Carly who also done great…:thumbup:

Lapland Trip 2010

What a great trip…!

Would recommend anyone thinking of going to definitely do it. Well worth every penny. I think we might even go back again some time in the next couple of years. Great to bring Tori to see the big man in his home town.

Action-packed trip from the time you arrive until you go home. From snowmobiling to husky sleigh rides to reindeer rides to ice slides and quad bikes, just brilliant…!

See some pictures of this trip here, see under December 2010, Lapland 2010.

SnowTastic…!

Some very early snow this year! Must be the most snow I have ever seen in Ireland. We have actually gone on Skiing holidays and had less fresh snow :roll:.

Hope we get some fresh snow for the Christmas aswell…!

See our video of some snow fun the other night.

Halloween 2010

This year proved very lucrative indeed, Tori came back with hoards of goodies! We will be eating them for the next 3 months.

We had witches, devils, clowns, pop-eye, Freddy Krueger and even Bob Marley this year. I remember the good old days of a black bag around you and a bit of coal on your face…!

Fairy Castle Hike – “Girl Grills” got a new member!

Jessy-Jordan…!

Well Jordan joined us this week, much to our supprise, and he didn’t even moan (that much) about the hike. I think he actually even enjoyed it.

See pictures below of the kids having a rest on the Wicklow Way on a Troll Bridge. Jordan is in the background trying to get a drink from the stream. Pitty he didn’t see the dead dear floating just up streem, he he he…:shh:

3-Rock Hiking with “Girl Grills”

Well it has been a while since we were hiking but at the weekend we got back to the lovely dirt! Tori, Casey and myself done one of our favourite hikes, 3-Rock. Tori and Casey got a chance to try out the new hiking poles, they worked a treat! The girls think they are the business with them. No fear even going through the Dark and Scary Forest of Murderers… M:14

We then moved on to the Forest of Fairies, but that was a walk in the park for the girls with their new hiking poles. There was also lots of climbing on the rocks of course…!

Maybe we’ll try to get out again this weekend.

Another MotoCross Post!

It seems to be all we are doing lately, but the kids are really enjoying it. With the girls getting to go out the last two times, it was the boys turn this time, but the girls came along too and enjoyed getting a lift. The boys are getting better and better, with the odd mishap that is. See below pictures to see what I mean…:lolno:

Our nice little “Private” track is coming along great. It got a little tore up yesterday with the help of a certain KX250…:twisted: We will have to be getting the boys to the proper tracks though if we ever want them to place anywhere in the races, but for the girls this track is perfect. And during the winter while all tracks are closed, I’m sure we will use this a lot. Just as long as we keep it hush hush..:shh:

Girls MotoCross

Well until now its always been the boys that got to do the biking, but not any longer! The girls have been getting time on the bikes and are now into it, full swing…!

With Tori getting here new 50cc and Casey using the 65, they are really enjoying it. We will have to see if any other girls in the family are brave enough to give it a try… :shifty:

Tori’s 7th Birthday

As Tori turned 7 on Saturday, we saw a new addition to the family. See picture of the little one below! But the presents didn’t come easily, there was work to be done in finding them. It was a treasure hunt Jack Sparrow himself would have been proud of. Tori and Casey had to put on their thinking caps to figure this one out. On the treasure map there were coded messages, spoof treasure finds and clue after clue that eventually led to the booty.

Well done girls, you are now honorary pirates…

See more pictures here. See link for Birthdays, there’s loads of them.

Brand New to this site…

This page is brand new to this site. It gives better management for updating the site. The rest of the site is still the same and can be accessed from the usual links bar at the top of the page.

Anyone interested in posting here can request an account by sending me an email.

Look forward to the ease of management this addition will bring…!

MotoCross 2010

We’ll I warned that we were going to make a come-back, and last weekend we did! We got the kids warmed up two weekends ago at an “un-disclosed” location, just to give them the feel for the bikes again after been off them for a while. Then over the weekend we got them to the brand new Dublin City Motocross Track…

Ireland Trips 2010…!

We are begining to make this a yearly thing now! After having a great three weeks of visiting places around Ireland last year, just myself and Tori, we decided to do it again this year. We did take Alice along this year though, and she even got to meet the King of Tory Island! We had a great time surfing, horse ridding, go-carting and lots more…!

See more pictures here, under August 2010, trips 2010.

Fathers Day 2010 Rally Driving…!

With thanks to the girls it was off to Monaghan again this year to brush up on our rally driving skills. Last year seemed like a distant memory. But once back in the driving seat it was back into action again. This year saw the addition of the Porsche 911 Carrera s – What a great day…!

Irish Trips 2009

In 2009 I decided it was time for Tori to get to see some of our beautiful country. In a three week period we traveled to all four corners of the country. We first headed south to Cork where we visited Fota Wildlife Park, brilliant day mixing with the animals. That week we also headed east to Bray and climbed up Bray head to the cross. While out there we visited Sealife and got to see feeding time for the piranhas and sharks…!

We then headed to the top of the country and visited Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and The Giants Causeway. You don’t get much more north than that! At least not in Ireland anyway! This was then followed up that week by a trip out west to Co. Mayo and a short hop on the ferry over to Clare Island where we stayed a couple of nights. The great Pirate Queen Grace O’Maley once ruled this Island and the ferry (The Island Princess) was named after her.

We also took in a visit to Westport House Gardens & Adventure Park while in Mayo. During this three weeks we also squeezed in a trip to Viking world down at Christ Church (haven’t been there since I was a nipper), a trip on the Viking Splash tour, Buggy World in Kildare to drive buggies and bikes, a couple of the Dublin museums, the National Aquatic Centre and some other places. If we keep going like this we will have every attraction in Ireland covered in a couple of years…!

We have some photos in our Gallery, go to this page and under August 2010, see link for Trips 2009.

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