Summer Excitment

Irish summer is upon us and today has been slightly sunny, windy, bright, dark and of course a bit rainy. I actually think summer was here for a week in May and then left beyond the odd day of sunshine here and there.  Beside the uncontrollable weather things here are great, little Amelia isn't so little as she has just turned 1 year old.  This in turn means that I am yet another year older as our birth days are only one day apart.  Remembering back to a year ago at this time we were just waiting for her to join us and she nearly did on my birthday but it wasn't meant to be.  Two days later she decided to say hello and changed our lives forever.

In a short while we will be traveling back to Canada to visit the family and I will be attending my old buddy Gord and Kara's wedding.  This will be our second trip this year after visiting at Christmas and this will be Amelia's second flight.  Hopefully the flight goes well,  regardless it will be great to be reunited with everyone back in Canada and to spend some quality time.

Amelia seems to be learning new things every day, last weekend she started clapping her hands and before that pointing and waving.  She has been walking for a while now but only within the last week has had the confidence to walk off on her own.  With the Olympics starting and in the spirit of the games she starting walking on her own around the house today doing laps, not just a few like 20 in a row. Check out the video of her in action.

We have an Aupair minding Amelia and they get on really well.  It has been great to find someone we can trust and rely on.  So much so that Niamh surprised me for a night away at a fantastic hotel just outside of Dublin for my birthday.  Jana and her boyfriend Bruno came over to mind Amelia so we could have the first night on our own since she was born.  It was a nice treat, although we were both glad to get back to her this morning to a happy toddler.  We also try and get out once a week for "Date Night" which is great, recently we went to see Snow Patrol and Florence and the Machine in concert.

Jana and Amelia

Niamh, Garnet and Stephen at Snow Patrol concert

We  recently had our first joint birthday party.  The Higgings/Gallagher's came along with a few friends over to the house.  A bit of lunch and cake for all and Amelia seemed to enjoy the company and attention.

Night out with Johnny

Playing a bit of touch rugby

Some other things going on over the summer, I have been to Edinburgh a few times for work and on one trip managed to catch up with Johnny my old Sanjuro training bud.

We had a good catch up over a few drinks and some fantastic conversation about life in London.  Later in the evening we managed to call a few people in far away lands who we don't get to see as much anymore.  Managed to get a photo of the night but the camera wouldn't focus.  The thing is I am not sure if it is the camera or us who is having troubles focusing.

I have also been trying to keep reasonably fit over the summer and played some touch rugby.  I have been playing for the past 3 summers and each year feel I am getting a little bit more aware of the game and how it is played.  I usually play basketball through the year and will go back to that once touch is over but it is nice to get for a run around outside when the weather is decent.

Lastly I am just in the process of purchasing a new bike.  I managed to sell my old Habana Custom Scooter which did me well over the years but just wasn't getting any use recently.  I bought a Merida Speeder T3 through a bike to work scheme so I should only pay 50% of the bike in the end.  Looking forward to getting it out on the road as I still haven't got the paper work sorted just yet.

That is all from me, hope to post another update in a month or two once holidays are over.

Much love.
G