Month Two - August

Ben had several 'firsts' during the month of August.  He got to meet his youngest cousin, Noah, he went on his first road trip to Atlanta, Georgia and started smiling.  Of course, his main objectives in life remained as sleeping and eating.  During August, Mama and Ben had their first overnight alone, too, as Matt had drill.  They survived - and Ben even began smiling in recognition of Mama's face.  That makes sleep deprivation worth it.  Mostly.

 Tired, little man

 Look at Mr. Skinny Legs testing out his new reading chair.

 Hey Mama!  

 I mean, this face.  

Daddy, I'll go to drill with you!

One of Ben's favorite activities was discovered this month - getting in the shower with Daddy. It was suggested to us to shower with Ben to help with bonding.  So Matt would put on his swim trunks and hang out with Ben in the shower.  Ben absolutely loves it!  He usually falls asleep because he gets so relaxed and it's so warm in the shower.  Ben, at this age, isn't in love with baths - we think because he gets chilled.  

He also has begun to love his puppies.  Truly, he has no choice in the matter.  They're either licking his face, laying next to him or curious about him in general.  Sweet Honey thinks she's his mommy.  It's pretty adorable.  Sugar is still pretty apprehensive, but does show interest.  And then there's Nigel.  He loves Ben, but doesn't really care about him until he's crying - and then he'll come see what the matter is.  

Month One - July

Month One of Baby Ben brought lots of guests, love, cuddles and sleep deprivation.  The transition home from the hospital was very smooth - in large part to Ben being a pretty easy baby.  The day after we came home, Ben had his first pediatrician appointment.  It was basically a visit just to look him over, address any questions we had and provide the doctor any information we had about Ben's birth and family history.

So tiny in his car seat.  And no, he did not ride with his neck like that.  And yes, we buckled him in.

Before we stopped off at the doctor's we ran in to where was board the dogs and dropped off a hospital blanket of Ben's.  We were told it was good to let the dogs get used to the smell and that makes for an easier meeting.  Following the doctor's appointment we went to Target to pick up some more things Ben needed (hello, everything!) and settled in at the house for the afternoon.

 Snuggle Time!

How about more snuggles!

I picked the dogs up later that afternoon and Matt stayed home with Ben for some Man Time.  The dogs were WAY excited when I got there so I was a little nervous they'd be too crazy when we got home so we put Ben in his cradle so they wouldn't be rough with him.  We still weren't sure how they'd be and we wanted to make sure they slowly got to him.  Once they realized Ben was in the crib they were so curious and sweet with him.  I think it was love at first sight.

We were absolutely showered with love from the moment Ben came into our family.  We had packages at our doorstep everyday for an entire month.  We had neighbors and friends bring us dinner.  We even had neighbors we had never met before wanting to bring us dinner.  We had two showers within three weeks after Ben was born.  It was just so, so sweet to have so many people love Ben immediately and just so excited to welcome him to the world.  It made us even more excited to have him part of our family.  

Family was also so excited to visit and spend time with him.  Ben was able to meet the majority of his family within the first few weeks of his life.  He's a pretty lucky dude.

 First Family Holiday - 4th of July

 Hi, Meme!

 My first bath

 It's more Lawsons!

Who's more uncomfortable in this picture?

What's In A Name?

So, while we waited for Ben for four years, it took us about just as long to come up with a name.  We could not agree on anything.  Nothing.  Matt likes family names - I don't like naming babies after family members.  Matt like historic names - I think they're old-fashioned.  I mostly like girl names - Matt mostly had boy names picked out.  It was a nightmare.

So I decided to buy a baby name book last fall after we had officially listed our profile with the adoption agency.  My thinking was, "Matt and I have never come up with names we agree on.  We might not get a lot of head's up when Baby Lawson comes along so we need to at least narrow it down".  So we highlighted names in the book that we each liked and then looked at the overlap.  There wasn't much, but we had narrowed it down.  

The one thing we agreed on was middle names.  I compromised and said that we could do family middle names.  Matt's family for boy, my family for girl.  It seemed fair.  Unfortunately, Matt wanted to use his paternal grandpa's name - Archibald.  Heck no.  I was not going to allow my child's middle name to be Archibald.  So I bargained with Matt.  One day I suggested Archer.  I explained it still paid homage to Archibald without being so old-fashioned and dated.  He loved it.  I loved it.  Relief.

So fast forward to when Ben was born - we had a for sure middle name, but only had the first name narrowed down to two names.  We were 99% sure of what his full name was going to be, but we thought maybe we should see him first and make sure he looked like his name.  Whatever that means.  I brought the Baby Name book to the hospital, just in case, but when we saw him he was totally a Benjamin Archer.  And really, the name is da bomb.  That name could be President some day.  So many people have told us what a strong name it is and we completely agree.  It's not trendy, it's not weird or unique, but a solid, strong name.  

Now technically and legally he is not Benjamin Archer yet, but he is absolutely Benjamin Archer to us.  We cannot wait for the day the adoption is finalized and he belongs to us!

It should be noted that when I spoke with Ben's mom on the phone the day he was born, she shared with me what she had been calling him.  Immediately after sharing his name with me, she was very clear - she told me that this would be our child.  She wanted Matt and I to treat him as if I had given birth to him and name him what we would name a son that we had on our own.  I mean, really, she is just the most amazing person for being able to articulate that.  She picked a beautiful name for him and part of me wanted to incorporate his birth mom's name with the name we chose for him.  Our hesitation was 1) she said to name Ben as we would have named any other baby and 2) two middle names can be messy and a hassle down the road.  We decided it was best just to keep his birth mom's name a special name she gave him and have his legal name be what we chose for him.

The Day Baby Got His Name

We woke up the next morning at the hospital tired (obviously) - but we were excited to see what the day was going to hold.  We were told that he would either be discharged late that night or the next day.  Typically, babies aren't discharged until after birth mom is discharged because that is when she signs papers to relinquish parental rights.  So we anticipated doing a lot of snuggling with Baby Boy (still not named at this point - well, to us he was, but no one else knew) and waited to see the doctors and social workers later that day.

Hi, Dad!

Birth mom consented to Baby Boy being circumcised before leaving the hospital.  This was a huge blessing because legally we couldn't make her agree to it, but it would have been an enormous headache doing it after being discharged.  The pediatrician we were going to use does not do that procedure in the office so we would have had to find a urologist.  This was much simpler.  And it was just another example of Baby Boy's birth mom being such an amazing mom to him for the first nine months of his life.  She just did everything in his best interest and we couldn't love her more for that.  Baby Boy was taken away for about 30 minutes while they performed the procedure and then he was with us the rest of the afternoon.  The doctor later came in and said that Baby Boy was very healthy and doing great.  He had some minor concerns that he might have club foot, but that we could see an orthopedic doctor for a consultation, but chances are he was just smooshed in his birth mom's belly.  A few weeks after coming home we went to that appointment and ortho said his foot looked perfectly fine and there was no reason to be concerned.

Mom snuggles

A few hours later the hospital social worker came in to share some really good news - the doctor approved of Baby Boy being discharged that night since he was doing so well!  We were so excited that we would be able to take him home so quickly.  Our adoption case worker would meet us at the hospital later that afternoon to sign all the paperwork and we could bring the sweet boy home.  We were thrilled.  Meanwhile the hospital provided Matt and I a celebratory dinner like they do with all new parents.  We were so excited and surprised they included us in that!  It was so nice for them to see us as new parents even though we hadn't actually had the baby.

Steak dinner!

After we had dinner together, our adoption case worker came in and we went over so much paperwork.  Normally this is done ahead of time, but Baby Boy came fast and furious.  We caught the hospital notary just before she went home.  Once all the papers were signed we started packing up.  The hospital sent us home with lots of formula and diapers so we wouldn't have to stop anywhere on the way home which was really nice.

Now there was some apprehension of bringing the baby home before birth mom was discharged because she has until she is discharged to change her mind.  So technically we brought Baby Boy home before she relinquished her rights, but she gave every indication she was going to follow through and we had very little to be concerned about.  And, of course, our case worker called us the next day to let us know that, in fact, birth mom signed her rights away so that was one hurdle we didn't have to worry about.

In the car for his ride home!  This picture cracks us up because he looks nothing like this anymore.  We always joke we brought home a different baby because he looks nothing like his hospital pictures.

The drive home was spent calling and texting friends and family to let them know Baby Boy's name.  Benjamin Archer.  Matt drove us home and I sat in the back seat with Ben telling Matt to slow down, don't follow so close, etc.  It was pretty late by the time we got home so got settled as much as we could and started life as a family of three.

Baby Day, Part Two

Once we arrived at the hospital we decided to leave our overnight bags in the car and just take in our essentials.  We went to the welcome desk, they called up to the social worker and she met us down on the first floor.  As we took the elevator to the maternity floor, she told us procedures and protocols for staying on the maternity floor and how to get on and off if we needed to go anywhere.  Once we got upstairs, we received our name badges and bracelets and she walked us to the nursery to meet Baby Boy.  As soon as we walked over to his bassinet I immediately began sobbing.  He was just the cutest, sweetest thing wrapped up in his swaddle blanket, he had his hat on his head and he was just sleeping so soundly.  It was just so surreal that we were looking at our little guy after just learning about him not even 24 hours prior.

I mean, Come On!  That face!  Those lips!  

The social worker told me I could hold him and I asked Matt if he wanted to hold him first and he said that I needed to.  I started to pick him up and as soon as I did, the social worker remembered I needed to wash my hands first.  She was so excited she had gotten frazzled!  So I had to immediately set him down, wash my hands and then got to hold him again.  He was just so sweet and tiny.

Ben loved mealtime!

After a few minutes I set him back in the bassinet and we brought him to the room where we were staying.  The hospital called it "the bonding room".  It was a hospital room without the hospital beds and monitors.  It had a couch, chairs, futon and TV.  It gave us plenty of space to spread out and not feel claustrophobic and gave us some privacy.

Immediately, he stayed with us in our room and we began taking care of him - feeding him, diaper changes and cuddles.  They came in every so often just to check his vitals and see how we were doing, but otherwise, we were his parents.

Cuddle time!

That evening was spent feeding and changing him about every four hours or so.  We were able to Skype with most of the family so they could see him because at this point we were unable to send photos since birth mom hadn't terminated her rights yet.  After we got all our phone calls, texts and Skype calls in we got ready for our first night with Ben.  All in all he went super easy on us - slept and ate, slept and ate.  He went four hour stretches sleeping and would fill his belly, get a diaper change and fall back asleep.  It was a very good day.

Baby Day, Part One

The morning of June 30th, I "woke up" around 6 a.m.  I didn't really sleep that night so I'm not sure I really had to wake up, but either way, I got out of bed around 6 a.m.  Matt had an early flight that morning so that he could land in Pensacola at 11 a.m.  Shortly after getting up, letting the dogs out and taking a shower, our neighbor texted and asked how I was feeling, if I needed anything, suggestions of the essentials to buy on my shopping trip later that day.  Her and her husband were in the same situation as Matt and I about 3 years prior.  They found out about their son the day before he got them so she knew exactly what we'd need and what could wait.  The plan was for Matt to land, meet me at the Target in Pensacola and we'd do our baby shopping together and enjoy our last day as a family of two.  Ha, ha...

At around 9 a.m. that morning I received a phone call from our social worker informing me that Baby Boy was safely delivered the night before at 9:29 p.m.  He weighed 6 lbs, 15 oz., 18.5 inches long and was very healthy.  Both Mom and Baby Boy were doing well that morning.  She told me that there was a change in plans if Matt and I were willing.  Nancy, our social worker, was still unable to come to the hospital until the following day, but the hospital social worker, Sandy, was going to set a room up for us so that we could go to the hospital later that day, meet Baby Boy, and stay with him in our room until he was discharged from the hospital.  Holy cow, yes!  Yes, we would love to see him later that day and yes, we would love to be able to room with him until discharge.  Matt had a very big surprise when he got off the phone.  I sent him a text to tell him to come home instead of meeting and Target and if he called I would explain.  He was completely on board, but in all honesty, I think he became nervous-excited.  It was happening so quickly!

In the meantime, I spoke with the hospital social worker and got everything set up for our stay at the hospital.  I also met our social worker from our previous adoption agency to get our portfolio from her so that our new social worker could give it to the birth mom so that she'd have it if she chose to look at it.  I packed our overnight bags for our hospital stay, dropped off our dogs for boarding and waited for Matt to get home to head to the hospital.

When Matt got home, our eyes were as big as our heads!  We couldn't believe what was happening because we had waited so long and yet - everything was happening so fast!  We left the house, grabbed drive-thru lunch and drove to Target.  We picked up the essentials - diapers, wipes, a car seat, a few onesies and sleepers and an outfit to bring home Baby Boy.  I refer to him as Baby Boy because at this point in the process Matt and I had a name picked out, but we weren't telling anyone.  There was a couple reasons for this:  1) It was the one thing Matt and I in the whole process - we didn't get to do a pregnancy announcement, we didn't have a gender reveal.  The name was the one big thing we got to share in all of this.  2) Birth mom still had the opportunity to back out.  We didn't want to tell everyone the name, start referring to his as this person only to have birth mom change her mind.  We wanted to be sure that he was ours before naming him.

After we left Target, we drove to the pregnancy resource center that I volunteer at.  The director there said she'd install our car seat for us so that we knew it was put in correctly.  They were also so sweet and put together the nicest diaper bag (one less thing I had to get!) and we just love that diaper bag.  The drive to the hospital was about an hour to an hour and a half drive.  It was so bizarre to think we were driving to go see our son - we tried to act normal, but the entire drive we talked about what he looked like, what we were going to do, what we needed to get later that week, etc.  It was the longest and fastest car ride I've ever taken.  But once we got to the hospital, we got to see Baby Boy right way...

Baby Eve

On the morning of Monday, June 29th, Matt flew out to Orlando for a surprise branch visit to one of his branches in the area.  Normally, I take him to the airport so that I can run errands in town, but that particular flight was earlier than normal so I opted to sleep in and Matt drove himself to the airport. Thank goodness...

9:00 a.m.
I woke up that morning to a text from my neighbor:

Amy: Hey, I'm at swim lessons with Seth (her son - who also happens to be adopted) and there's another Mom who works with a local adoption agency and they have a birth mom due in three weeks that hasn't been matched with a family.  Are you interested?

Me: Yes, probably!  Does she have anymore information?  Can you give me her contact information and I'll give the case worker a call to find out more.

10:45 a.m.
Meanwhile, Matt was on a plane so I needed to wait until he landed for his lay over to see what he thought.  This mom was working with a different adoption agency that we had been working with and I wanted to make sure Matt was on board with the information I had been given about birth mom and baby.  We both decided that it was worth finding out more information about so we agreed it would be okay to call the case worker and inquire about more information and what it would look like to switch adoption agencies.

1:00 p.m.
I speak with the case worker and she confirms all the information about mom and baby that had been given to me.  She informs me that she will be visiting with birth mom in two days.  We decide that she should take our adoption portfolio to birth mom so that she can see a glimpse of our family and decide if we would be a family she'd consider for placement.  Case worker and I agree that I'd drop off the book the morning of the visit and that we'd go from there.  I update Matt of the plan and we are cautiously optimistic.

4:00 p.m.
Case worker calls and informs me that she has just gotten off the phone with birth mom (she was calling to confirm visit and also tell her about Matt and I) and that mom has been hospitalized due to high blood pressure.  Doctors were telling her not to eat so it was assume she might be delivering baby later that evening or following day via c-section if her blood pressure doesn't stabilize.  Case worker asks if I'd be willing to call birth mom later that evening to introduce myself and for the two of us to get to know each other a little better.  I tell her I'd be happy to do so.  I immediately get off the phone and tell Matt of the new plan.  I strongly encouraged him to get a flight home ASAP because it was very possible that a baby would be coming later that evening and he needed to be home for this.  We also came up with a list of questions we would like to ask the birth mom since this might be our only interaction with her.  Admittedly, this post makes the whole day sound very matter-of-fact and like a business transaction.  It was anything but that.  At this point we had been waiting years for a little baby and after awhile you still hold onto hope, but you don't allow yourself to get excited about anything.  However, when I was asked to talk to Ben's birth mom, it was kinda the tipping point for me.  I needed Matt home right at that moment because I felt an enormous amount of pressure and responsibility to articulate how we feel about her (utter, utter love, amazement and appreciation) while at the same time present ourselves honestly and hopefully in a way that she would want us to parent her child.  It had been such a whirlwind day and the gravity of what could come of this conversation overwhelming.  I made Matt pray for us before we got off the phone and I told him I'd call him once I had talked to birth mom.

6:00 p.m.
I organized my notes and set up an area in the office so that I have everything in front of me that I might need.  I wanted to eliminate any distractions so I put the dogs in the bedroom so that they wouldn't bark, whine, etc. and I could focus on the phone call.  I plugged my phone into its charger and called birth mom right at 6:00 p.m. She answered right away and we began talking.  It's so bizarre, but it was such an easy conversation.  It was truly like talking to someone I had known my whole life and we were just catching up with each other.  I began by telling her about Matt and I and how we came to the decision of wanting to adopt.  I told her about what life looked like for us, our families, what our plans were for children.  During this time she asked questions, I asked her questions and it was just a very free-flowing, easy conversation.  There were no awkward pauses.  No judgement.  Just two people working towards the same goal - to provide this baby with a future and family.  We spoke for about forty-five minutes and when I got off the phone with her, I knew with every ounce of my being that this was our birth mom and she would be having our baby.  I called Matt and told him that speaking with her confirmed it for me - we were getting this baby.  We talked about what the two of us had spoken about and Matt agree - we were on board.

7:00 p.m.
I left a voicemail for case worker telling her that I had spoken to birth mom and if she liked us we would want to move forward with this match.  I asked her to call us back to let me know what the next steps were.

7:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
During this time we decided to let our families know that there was a good chance a baby would be coming our way in the next few days.  My family happened to all be together at my aunt and uncle's house because my cousin was in town so I had my brother put me on speaker phone and we were able to tell everyone at the same time.  It became so loud... no one could believe it!  When we told Matt's parents we were over Skype and they were just as shocked.  We told everyone we'd keep them posted as we heard news, but as far as we knew at that point Baby Boy would be born that night or the following day and we'd still go to the hospital on Wednesday as planned.

9:30 p.m.
Case worker calls and said that she spoke to birth mom about thirty minutes prior and she wanted us to be Baby Boy's adoptive parents.  She also informed me that she was having a c-section done that night and should be happening as we spoke (later I found out that was exactly true - he was born at 9:29 p.m.).  Birth mom originally wanted me there for the birth, but since it was an emergency c-section I was unable to make it to the hospital in time since it was an hour and a half drive.  Case worker said that since she was unable to go to the hospital the next time we would still plan on meeting her at the hospital on Wednesday to meet Baby Boy.

Matt and I stay on the phone for awhile, but I immediately move into full-on nesting mode.  I had 9 months of nesting to fit into 48 hours (or so I thought) and got busy doing laundry, vacuuming, and straightening up the kitchen.  I considered going to Wal-Mart that night to get things, but I decided to get the house clean and organized first and get some sleep and would run all my errands the next time.  Yeah, like I was going to sleep a wink that night...

So Long, Ireland!

Our flight back home wasn't until the afternoon so Matt and I decided not to waste any time and we chose to fit in one last stop before heading to the airport.  We went back and forth with where to go, but we ultimately decided on Monasterboice.  It was a bit unique to the area, we had already seen so many castles and we thought since it was self-guided we could take as little or as much time as we wanted.

Round tower and High Cross

Ireland loves itself some high crosses and round towers.  They were everywhere!  But the high crosses as this cemetery were so pretty.  This cemetery was a mix of old and new graves and ended up being quite the tourist spot.  Shortly after we arrived two big tour buses arrived and several groups started walking around.  Luckily, we got there just in time to get some good pictures without too many people getting in the way.

Leaning Tower of Pisa - just kidding!  I took a crooked picture.

Muiredach's Cross - this particular high cross - was the main attraction to the cemetery.  It depicts Bible stories on both sides.  The reason for this was to educate those who were unable to read.  This cross was essentially a picture book on a cross to help the illiterate learn and know the main stories of the Bible.  It's amazing how clear the pictures still are and how easy it was to decipher what story was being conveyed.  Considering it was carved in the 10th century, the craftsmanship is amazing.

 Can you figure out what stories these two scenes are?  Yup!  Adam and Eve on the left.  Cain and Abel on the right.

What about this one?  Moses smiting the rock to obtain water for the Israelites.

Some of the other stories shown were the last judgment, the crucifixion, David and Goliath and the Three Wise Men.  Altogether, twelve stories were shown.

Just as we were about to leave, I happened to looked down and guess what I saw - clover!  I hadn't seen any the entire trip and was so glad to be able to see it while we were on our way out of Ireland.

We went to the airport after leaving Monasterboice and dropped off our Skoda.  It was a good car to put up with Matt's terrible shifting.  For being such a small car, we had plenty of room and it did a great job getting us from Point A to Point B.

The look of relief that he doesn't have to driving a stick anymore.

We had an amazing vacation and we both agree we'd go back to Ireland in a heartbeat.  There are places we'd like to spend more time and places we'd like to go to that we weren't able to on this trip.  We had no idea what was in store for us when we got back home, but we are so glad we scheduled our vacation for when we did and came home refreshed.

Rub-A-Dub-Dublin!

Our last full day in Ireland was spent in and around Dublin.  Matt and I wanted to make sure to explore the city, but we knew going into it, it was not going to be our favorite part of the trip.  To Matt and I major cities are all the same and offer many of the same things.  But we did want to hit the highlights so we bought tickets for a tour bus which brought you around the city to see what you might want to visit and you can hop on and off as you wish.  That was definitely worth it because even if you didn't want to spend time at a particular attraction you still were able to see it.

Our first stop off the bus was to see St. Patrick's Cathedral.  You're not able to go through all of it, obviously, but what you do get to see is beautiful!  When we arrived there was a choir from America singing in the front and you could hear them all the way in the back of the church because the acoustics were just that incredible.

Our next stop was at my request.  I enjoy learning about crime and deviant behavior and Dublin has an old jail that you're able to tour.  Back before it became a museum, it housed many political inmates and was where solitary confinement was first used.  It now operates only as a jail, but you are able to see the individual cells, the chapel, where the inmates did their exercise and even where the firing squad would do their executions.  

 Prison cell with the door closed

Most cells had a window to look out of - view from the courtyard

Those were the two main stops of the day.  We wanted our last full day to be leisurely since we had such a full trip.  We enjoyed a late lunch, did some shopping and just walked around the streets.  It was a nice way to end the trip.  Here are a few more sites we saw along the way, but for the most part, we just took the sites in and savored our last moments in Ireland.

 This is the Irish President's home

 The one and only Guinness.  We did not do the tour as Matt went on it on a previous trip and I do not have any interest in beer.  I will say it was a very popular stop so it was on most people's list of things to do.

Trinity College.  We walked around the grounds and felt really old.  Thirty-somethings do not belong on college campuses :)  Seriously, though, it really was beautiful and worth a stop.

That night we went back to our Bed and Breakfast and packed for our long travel day back to the US!

Finishing Up Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland was definitely a highlight of the trip for us.  It was less crowded and seemed to have lots of unique attractions to see and do.  Don't get me wrong - all of Ireland was beautifully green and blue - but, Northern Ireland was more laid back and we enjoyed to get off the beaten path.  On our way out to Belfast we made our way to one last castle of the trip.  And this one was probably the most complete/well-preserved castle we saw on the second half of our trip.

Dunluce Castle was built right on the shoreline and the furthest side of it was actually built off the cliff.  When we were in the visitor's center, they said that back in the day when the castle was actually being used, part of it fell off into the ocean because of it being so close to the edge.  It had a few people in that portion of the castle, too, and they went along with it.  A lot of people ask why none of the castles, churches, etc. had roofs on them.  They actually did have roofs when they were built/used, but they were made of wood.  Wood deteriorates a lot faster than stone so that's why they are missing.  In the case of churches/abbeys/etc., Oliver Cromwell removed the roof so that the inhabitants would leave.  Pretty tricky.

From here, we left for Belfast.  It was about an 1.5 hour drive to get to the city.  Once there, our first stop was to see the Titanic Museum.

Belfast is where the Titanic was built to set sail.  The museum had several floors to it and talked about the company who built it, the labor conditions, what went into building the ship and, of course, the aftermath of the tragedy.  I think my favorite part of the museum was reading mini-biographies of the passengers of the ship who died and who survived the crash.  

 Replica of Titanic

 Life boat

 I'm the King of the World!

You may or may not be able to tell, but this is where the Titanic sat while it was being built.  They have the markings of the ship's outline so you can get a perspective of just how big the ship was.  Also, the corners/height of the museum was built to show how tall the ship was.  Spoiler alert:  it was enormous.

After we finished up at the museum, there were a few prehistoric, natural sites we wanted to stop at.  These weren't popular tour stops, but kinda cool nonetheless.

 Giant's Ring - prehistoric burial site.  They also had chariot races around it and the entire site looks like a grassy race track.  

Farm from the 500s.  They would hide down underground for protection and you can still get down there.  

Proleek  Dolmen - another ancient tomb.  How on Earth did they stack all these tall, heave stones?  Sidenote: Legend has it if you make a wish, throw a rock on top of the dolmen and it stays, your wish will come true.  Unbeknownst to either of us, we both wished for the same thing and guess what arrived 3 weeks later?  Moral of the story: if you really, really want something, fly to Belfast and get a rock to stay on top of this thing.  Ben is proof :)

That filled our entire day so we just drove to our next bed and breakfast and called it a night.  Tomorrow - Dublin!

Adventure Day

Our only full day in Northern Ireland consisted of adventure and doing as much as we could squeeze in.  We were both looking forward to many of the activities planned in Northern Ireland so we got an early start and began with Carrick a Rede Bridge - or, Rope Bridge.  It's a bridge made out of rope that leads to a small island.  Back in the day fisherman would put up and cross this bridge in order to get to better fishing.  Now it's not used for that reason - just for people to say they crossed it and to get to some good views.

The day we were there there were 25 mph winds which made the bridge sway a good bit while we were going across.  The day before there were 45 mph winds and they actually had to close it down for safety reasons.  

Again, this was something I wanted to do and Matt just kinda went along with it, but I think he enjoyed it as much as I did.  He's not a fan of heights, but I think it's worth it once you get to the other side.

 A sigh of relief - it was quite windy!

That's Scotland out there in the background.

After we got our adrenaline rush for the day, we stopped over at another castle down the road called Kinbane Castle.  This one was pretty far down the mountainside and I thought I was going to die getting to it.  I was completely exhausted after all the uneven steps, but it was very pretty once we got to our destination.  And now I have thighs of steel because of it.

 See that pretty waterfall on the side of the cliff?

See how high we are over the castle.  Yeah, that's how many uneven steps we had to go down and then back up.  Oh, dear.

The next stop of the day was to see Giant's Causeway.  This was one of the first things we knew we wanted to do when we were planning the vacation.  It's a shoreline of the North Atlantic and it's filled with thousands of hexagonal-shaped pillars lining the coast.  It's just so bizarre to see and crazy how it formed this way.  They believe it's how the lava cooled on the rock and that's why it's shaped the way it is, but I think that's speculation.  Anyways, it's not man-made which makes it a pretty incredible sight.

 Here's a close-up of what the pillars look like.

Aerial view of a section of shoreline.  You can see how pixalated it looks because of the shape of the stone.

I'm so glad our Bed and Breakfast was just across the street and we were able to see this natural phenomenon.  We hiked up a mountainside after to get these aerial shots.  We considered not doing that because we were so tired from the morning hike, but we were so glad we did.  We made it higher than the birds were flying!  The views were awesome!

The final stop of the day was Bushmills Distillery.  It was just a 10 minute drive down the road and we were able to take a tour of the plant.  It was neat to get to see the step-by-step of the process of making whiskey - even if I don't have any interest in drinking it!