San Jose

Hey All!

It's that time of year again so to avoid Northern Ireland's cold damp Winter we've decided to head back to the States for another 3months!!!

This time we'll be staying in San Jose, California which is just 45mins south of San Fransico.

Aaron is already there - He had to fly out for almost 3weeks before Christmas for Training/working so he's ready to start right away in busy season (Jan - Mar)We didn't think it'd be fair on the kids taking them on more long flights so I stayed home with the babies!I'll still get a 3month holiday in the new year while Aaron has to work.

Make sure you all keep in touch via email /bebo and leave us lots of comments for our blog!!!

Chloe playing at Stormont Park

Our Last Weekend in DC

Aaron, Graeme and Peter Bell got a sightseeing bus tour around DC on Saturday morning. It was very busy in the city this weekend because the Cherry Blosom Festival has begun!!!

The Ennis family then went to PA for dinner with the Kearns family.

We've got to know the Wayne, Natasha and their family well over the past 3 months so it was nice to spend our final weekend at their house.

On Sunday we went the Malvern church again, it was sad to say goodbye to all the friends we've made!

Heidi

Just what was Heidi doing?

St Patrick's Day in NYC

Flying high

Chloe admiring the view in Georgetown

New York

Got the haircut at last!

How did it end?

Brutal as it was, Heidi employed the use of visual aids to send the message to Graeme!



Graeme thought a romantic horse ride in central park might woo the lovely Heidi!

Heidi at the Reflecting Pool

Which man is missing from this photo?

The lads

Heidi took this one. Why can we only see Graeme's sleeve? Rumour has it that Graeme cannot appear in a photo without Heidi!

The girls

Graeme and Heidi looked very cozy as they strolled along The Hudson

Graeme and Heidi could not be separated during their weekend in New York

A week with Heidi Evans

Heidi, also from pwc Belfast flew into Dulles int airport on Saturday 11th March.

Leona and I met her at the airport since the boys were away skiing for the day.

Saturday evening Heidi was tired after all travelling so she just stayed in for an early night, after scaring her tourguide (ME) with the weeks to-do-list!!!

Sunday morning Graeme, Leona, Heidi, Aaron, Chloe and myself all went to Malvern Free P church. After lunch we drove into Phili and saw some sites, the liberty bell, liberty hall etc.

Monday, when all the workers were away Heidi and I got the metro into DC so we could start working on her to-do-list!!! We began into the mall, and saw all the war memorials and the Lincoln Memorial. We then saw the White house and White house visitors centre. Just before lunch, police cars closed of the street next to the white house and out came the president in his black car along with around 5 police cars, 5police bikes, an ambulance and some black jeeps.

Long awaited update

Well folks i'm finally getting around to updating our web page, sorry it's taken soo long I've been neglecting it a bit. Oops!!!

We've been doing lots of exciting things since the last update as you can see from the photos below.

Weekend with the Kearns family.

The last weekend in February we left Mclean early on Saturday morning and drove for 3hours to the Kearns' house near Phili. That day we went to Lancaster county to see an Amish house and then to Shady Maple - this was Aaron's favouriate part of our stay. Shady Maple is a huge carvery style resturant with a massive gift shop in the basement. No-one left there hungry!!

Rita's house in Pittsburg

On the first friday evening in March, Leona, Graeme, Aaron, myself and Chloe travelled to Rita O'Malley's house for the weekend. We didn't arrive until 1am and so were all very tired!!!

The next morning Rita took us out for breakfast - it was lovely!!there were omlettes, crepes, potatoes and of course a full Irish breakfast. We then headed for the country to spot some Amish people (and their buggies). That evening we ate in a nice resturant and went up the incline which gave us a great view of the city and of course the pwc building which just happens to be the tallest building in Pittsburg. We all went to church on Sunday morning which was very different to anything we'd been used to(not like the Free P's)!!! Sunday afternoon was spent with Rita's parents who cooked us a lovely dinner- it was great CRAIC!!!

Skiing at Liberty Mountain

Leona, Chloe and myself went into Georgetown fot lunch and a look around while the boys (Graeme, Lochi and Aaron) went skiing!!!They all really enjoyed the slopes - Lochi even snow boarded down the black run!! Saturaday was a very sunny and hot day so when the boys arrived back we could do nothing but laugh - Aaron with his burnt red face minus 2stripes where the sunglasses had been, Graeme with his white head from wearing a hat and Lochi the Aussie who should have had more sense in the sun!!!

Chloe having fun with her friend Jane

Sightseeing in Philidelphia

Weekend skiing at Liberty Mountain

Weekend at Rita O'Malley's in Pittsburgh

BACK HOME ALREADY!!

Well I finally arrived bcak into belfast city airport 16hours after leaving washington, of course with my track record at customs it meant that there were a few wee probs along the way, nothing major though! The guy at passport control in Heathrow I dont think believed that it was me in the photo, he had a good look!

Washington is the best place i have been to on my hols hands down. Everything is so much bigger and better there. Firstly arriving to the snow was great, trust me we dont know what snow is over here! It was great fun in the snow, Aaron was at the usual tricks of pelting the biggest snowballs and of course Rachael and I got rolled. Just like old times really! Chloe was loving the snow too, shes so cute, and has a laugh just like her dad! Maybe that aint such a good thing??

I think Rachael, Chloe and I covered serious miles when we were seeing the sights, Rachael should really become a tour guide because she knew all the best places to go see! Thanks for that! The sights are amazing, you really have to go to appreciate them, especially the mall and capitol hill. The White House was really impressive too! Only thing is that the security staff at most of the places are physco's! Dont ever cross them! All the sights and museums are free entry which was great, Northern Ireland has definately some catching up to do.

A lot of time was spent eating, maybe not a good thing in my case but the food over here is just mad. No half portions here! We ate in some really nice places! American people are really friendly though sometimes its a bit annoying when you just cant be bothered talking to them. Of course everyone loved Chloe because she always had a smile for them!

Shopping over there is brill, we went to an outlet mall kinda like junction one but ten time bigger and better. Got some great bargains! We also went to see Disney on Ice. which cost hardly anything and was brilliant, we also went to a basketball game to see the Georgetown Hoyas play West Virginia, really good fun to watch, americans take it so seriously.

Thats just a wee bit of what we got up to. i would be writing all day if I tried to put all it in here. Have a few photos i will put on later at some point! Aaron be warned!!! Talking of Aaron, he has such an easy life over there, i dont think he should be telling people that he is working in america, more like having a holiday!!! Anyway thanks Aaron,Rachael and of course Chloe for having me over, it was an experience i wont forget. See you all soon xx

Chloe looking cute!

Aaron was sporting some lovely baby blue fluffy gloves for the occassion - he's grateful to his mother-in-law for these!!!lol

LAURA SANDS HAS ARRIVED

After spending some time in customs, Laura was eventually allowed into the country on Saturday afternoon around 5pm.

We went staight to our apartment and showed Laura where she would b spending her nights - on the sofa!!!

We then headed out into the snow with Leona and Nesbitt (another pwc employee working in San Jose) to the Galleria for a chinese and later back to our's for a dvd.

Sunday morning we were supposed to leave early and travel to PA to Malvern church but because of the snow storm we couldn't make it. The church service was actually cancelled due to the snowy conditions.

Instead, Leona, Nesbitt and us went to Great Falls park for a walk and to look at the river. After that we also went into D.C. a had a walk along the Mall which was lovely in the snow.

IT'S SNOWING!!!

I've been waiting for it the whole time we've been here and it's finally arrived!!

It started snowing around lunch time on Saturday and didn't stop until Sunday 9am so we got about 1 foot of snow!!!

Unlike N I everything didn't come to a stand still - we went to the park and they even had cleared the snow any from the paths in the Great falls park!

it's snowing