The STEN Olympics!

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When I opened the curtains in my room this morning I was met with an amazing view! Mountains lined the horizon and were all covered with clouds on top. Stunning. Steph, Carol (Steph's Mum), David, Nick and I headed up to the hotel for breakfast. Even though we were there in plenty of time, they had started clearing everything away but they were lovely and set us up in the bar area (of course we joked about starting the day at the bar!). To our delight Brid arrived with Charlie and it was so exciting to see them both.

After breakfast we all drove up to a lookout that wasn't far from our accommodation and took some scenic shots before driving Steph to "the home place". There we got to see Brid's Mum (Pauline) again as well as meet her brother Bob and his kids Michael and Paddy. Brid gave us a tour of the place - it is so beautiful! I think the house itself is 100's of years old and is so lovely. Pauline is very chuffed with her garden and you can see why! They have had the hottest summer for quite sometime so she was worried all the flowers would die but she obviously did a great job as the grass was very green and the flowers were blooming. After saying hello to everyone we then drove into Tipp town, as I had a hairdressing appointment and the others wanted to shop for the STEN (Stag and Hens) Olympics that were planned for this afternoon.

I was very happy that this hairdresser has the same products my hairdresser at home uses and because Russ had given me the recipe for the concoction to colour my hair, they were able to match it. Yay! So nice to be able to have my hair washed and conditioned and coloured. Carol also seized the opportunity to have her hair washed and dried while the boys were on the search for an off licence. Eventually we were all done and we headed back to our lodge at Aherlow House for a quick change and then Alex came to collect us and we were off back to the homeplace for fun and games.

What a fantastic afternoon! Brid's family organised the whole event and it was so much fun. We were divided into Team Bride and Team Groom and Brid's sister-in-law Laura was the face painter and general decorator. Laura is married to Brid's younger brother Thomas and they have two little girls, Amy and Zoe, who will both be the flower girls at the wedding. We got to meet four of Brid's five brothers and their partners - Sean and Anne (and Adam and Ellen), Bob and Summy (and Michael and Paddy) and Micheal (who lived in Melbourne with his wife and two kids who weren't able to come). Ellen is Brid's bridesmaid - she is 16 and has been a huge help to Brid in organising so many things. She is an absolutely delight, as are all the family, and we all had so much fun together. Bob played the role of MC and I suspect he has a sweet spot for his sister as thanks to his 'interference ' we seemed to score very well against the boys haha. The weather was beautiful - blue skies and sunshine. We had a BBQ for dinner and also got to meet other relatives as well as several of Alex's friends. Julie arrived (from Hong Kong) after driving for most of the day from Wicklow so it was great to see her too. We all agreed it was a fantastic afternoon/evening and the family really made us feel so much a part of it all. Just wonderful.

After declaring Team Bride the winners ?? it was time to head off to the local pub - which just happened to be within easy walking distance to the home place. Although, having said this, these are country roads and as such there are no footpaths and the tractors, trucks and cars seem to whiz along without a care. We made it to the pub and turned a quite, cozy little spot into a place filled with chatter and laughter - oh, and singing! Guinness was had, and had and songs were sung and everyone enjoyed getting to know each other. We didn't head home until around 2am and there were still a few people going, including the bride and groom. Seems the arrangement was that the pub stays open as long as there are people wanting a drink! Ah, gotta love the Irish ?

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