Friday Shenanigans!

Every Friday Neens brother and Sister come up to stay the night...more often than not we end up feeling a bit on the mischievous side so the kids and I have this running bit...we will go to the local Centra and dare Shauna to do something funny at the checkout or in the store itself... nothing disrespectful just a bit of fun...Ant recently bought a Flip camcorder so sometimes he ends up filming said skit, and uploads it to his Youtube account.

On Friday while Neen was asleep on the couch I decided to take the kids as far as the shop for ice cream...we weren't feeling hugely inspired so the nights task was a simple one. Shauna had to simply say to the checkout clerk,

 "I scream, you scream, we all scream for icecream" 

We each chose our ice cream and I went up to the counter to pay, Shauna followed me waiting attentively for the perfect moment to make her move. Shauna stood staring at the woman for the entire transaction...the woman clearly perturbed simply stared back. The minute I stepped away, Shauna very slowly and seriously, still staring at the clerk said  "I scream (pause)...you scream, (pause)....we all scream (pause)... for ice cream"

The woman not laughing or in any way knowing what was going on just stared at Shauna, then looked at me as if for an explanation. I remarked honestly that it was 'A Dare' and we left the shop chuckling!

In high spirits as we walked home the three of us began plotting ....I'm not entirely sure whether it was Shauna or Ants idea in the end, but they decided: If Neen was still asleep on our return I would...wait for it...put on an old Spiderman Hallowe'en costume I have....sit down next to her on the couch and wait for her to wake up! I would then say in costume....to a bemused and sleepy Neen, "I bought you an Ice cream"...Strange I know...but at the time we thought it would be a good idea.

Neen was indeed still asleep so I popped the suit on, crept slowly into the sitting room and Ant grabbed his Camcorder and stood back ready to film Neens eventual reaction. Unfortunately she woke up at the exact moment I sat down...but her reaction was still pretty funny nonetheless...Neen was at first not amused but we made it up to her by giving her the ice cream we brought home for her...in the end Neen even popped the mask on herself as did both Shauna and Ant.

If you'd like to see the now infamous footage on Ants channel click here

Here are another two of Shauna's 'Shop Dares' also viewable on Antony's channel here and here

Sorry Centra!...but kids are only kids for so long! As long as they remain polite, I'm more than happy to go along with a bit o' tomfoolery now and then! : )

Mischief managed...

Lazy Sunday!

As per our usual Neen, the pets and I had a super lazy Sunday... Neen crocheted, I read, drew and pottered around. We also watched a couple of films...Neen and Hope commandeered the couch, while Sora and I grabbed the crochet blanket and set up camp on the arm chair! Sora absolutely adores sleeping under blankets....thought this was really funny...she spent a big chunk of the afternoon asleep on my lap, completely hidden under the blanket...except of course for one fluffy foot which she duly left popped out one of the holes! I had the camera next to me, so I couldn't resist capturing the moment!

This kind of reminds me of something that happened the last night...Neen and I had just finished some dinner and were watching TV in the sitting room when we heard a peculiar buzzing noise. After a few moments Neen identified the source of the hum. A black wasp/hornet was flying around the inside of our wickery, weavey ceiling lampshade...It pretty much already looks like your average hornets nest so I assume he was contemplating moving in...Neen like most doesn't like wasps, so she set off screaming...the wasp seemed pretty happy with himself so at first I said "Lets just leave him for now...if he comes out I'll move him" After a while Neen was still pretty nervous so I thought it was safer to just put him outside. I grabbed a jar, dropped a bit of jam in it and proceeded to catch him. He went straight for the jam and I covered the jar and released him into the cool night air. Well here comes the funny part. Neen still feeling itchy from the close encounter of the sting-y kind had had enough and decided an early night was in order...addressing no one in particular she rushed into the bedroom, turned on the light, scanned the room, grabbed the blanket and muttered "it's a sad fact I have to check the bedroom for the....

As she pulled off the duvet to jump in and was about to say "Cats" she screamed! Sora was in the very center of the bed, and had been sleeping under the thick blanket, since I can only assume dinner time!

Sunderland...The Beach

While in Sunderland, we all bought a day pass and traveled the length and breadth of the town eventually making our way to the beach, it was a pretty murky day, but in truth not too different from the average summers day in Galway. So I happily snapped away! 

The water was pretty turbulent on the day!

I had a near miss taking the shot above! I walked down steps towards the turbulent waters edge, as the tide came rolling in wave after wave I was looking through the camera, concentrating on getting the perfect shot.  Unbeknownst to me while kneeling down a few young teenage kids were sneaking up behind me planning to either push me in or simply shout at me and give me a fright, either way I was likely to end up in the water.  I only found out afterwards that Neen shouted at them warning them off in no uncertain terms...

Pretty lady!

English Beach Side Fish and Chip Shop! Funnily enough, participants of the Reenactment I blogged about earlier were gathered at the beach that day, wonderful site watching a burly bearded soldier, in full 17th century outfit, rummaging hungrily through his coin purse to buy a portion of Fish and Chips!

New Watercolours!!

My sister Genny surprised me yesterday with a new set of watercolours...a Winsor Newton Field Box which I absolutely love! Thanks Gen! : )

Gang Signs, Drop Spindles and Shadow Puppetry...Now that's a party!

Yesterday was my fathers 52nd Birthday! The family all gathered at my parents house for dinner, cake cutting and general tom-foolery!

My sister Genny and wife Neen.

My sister Milo and Genny's Boyfriend Graham.

Genny and Graham drawing.

Neen chattin' to her friend Mel via email.

Please dad, no gang-signs! : )

AAAH!

Genny and Graham makin' shadow puppets!

Playing on the Wii.

Mom crocheting.

Neen and Nanna O'Brien.

Neen teaching my Nanna how to use a drop spindle.

Neen teaching Milo...

Milo made a hat...

Proof I was there! : ) I had a sore tooth....

Night Sky

We arrived home last night just shy of 2am, after celebrating my fathers 52nd birthday. The skyline over our house looked breathtaking so in the shivering cold night air camera and tripod in hand I did my utmost to capture on camera how the sky really looked.

Hope and Sora watched my late night antics from a nearby window.

Sunderland...The Reenactment

On Saturday we went to see a Reenactment of the 17th Century battle of Hylton Castle. It was pretty tricky to get any decent shots of the battle itself as the action was quite far away.

Sunderland...The Pets

John and Melanie had four wonderful pets, all of which both Neen and I absolutely adored. First and foremost there was Jack the cat with thumbs! Yes that's right Jack was born with opposable thumbs and was a real gent.

Whiskey is the second of the furry feline duo, alas owing to the fact that she was in heat during our stay and running around harassing poor Jack like a house fly I don't appear to have a photo of her.

Next up: Scrappy and Foxy the Staffordshire Bull Terriers. absolute sweethearts and super friendly. If you are ever looking for a perfect family dog, I cant recommend Staffs enough! For every ounce of love and attention you give these guys you will receive 10-fold that amount back!

Reading...1984

Reading '1984' by George Orwell. Really great book thus far! I'm about 45 pages in and lovin' it.

Home!

Neen and I are home from Sunderland! Had a really great week at our friends Mel and Johns! I'll be posting pictures and stuff up soon...probably over the weekend! As for now. I'm sitting in the sitting room with Sora on my lap. She is absolutely roasting but seems super happy we are home! Hope is in the bedroom...she missed us too but is still annoyed with us for leaving in the first place! I'm pretty sure this is her way of proving it!

Flying!

Took my camera and went for a fly the last day....super fun. A bird pooped on my cape though!