That was a pretty good postseason party

Originally uploaded by waymorefunner.

This was my counter this morning following Saturdays fantastic PFFL HURL JWFFL postseason bash.

The description will be short and sweet, but I just got back from an amazing week long vacation in Ireland. My 359 pictures can be found here, and there are probably 600-700 more coming from Dave & Erin’s and Sohui’s camera.

Thanks again to our tour organizer, driver and guide Gordy — we never would have seen as much as we did without him.

Quick impressions on Ireland:

• It’s beautiful! Water, green grass, sheep, cattle, even the rocky landscape — it’s all stunning.
• The people are incredibly friendly - the most offensive people we met on the trip were from the US
• Belfast is growing, Dublin is a metropolis, and the country towns are quaint
• It was super safe - I can’t remember a single moment where we didn’t feel completely comfortable

Some stories you’ll have to ask me about:

• Delayed in Chicago
• The Hertz rental car fiasco
• Sohui’s rough first travel day
• Galway Races - Go Hard Rock City!
• Flat tire
• Gordy’s friends — all hilarious and friendly
• 3 meals at Kelehans
• Horseback riding in Ardara
• Traditional Irish Music night in Ardara
• Gordy’s family — his mom, dad, nephew and dog — again, some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet
• Dunluce Castle Ruins, Bushmills Distillery, Giants Causeway, and the Rope Bridge — all in one day
• Belfast Hop-on, Hop-off bus tour
• Ned’s
• Dublin

This video is from Ardara — traditional Irish music jam session — they were wonderful:

Pictures

So, we’re in the beautiful Pewaukee home of Kay’s “aunt” and “uncle” prior to Kay and Chris’ wedding. Conversation turns to eating contests, and specifically the legend that it is impossible to eat six Saltine crackers in one minute.

Erin was nice enough to raid her parents cupboards for some crackers and the challenge was on.

Tim went first and failed. I also failed — in capturing his attempt on video using my phone.

Brian went next, and you can watch his attempt here:

After Brian, it was the ladies’ turn as Kelley, Nicki and Kay’s cousin Claire took on the crackers:

Finally, Chris, his brother Mark and Garrett made a run of it:

Today is my mom’s birthday. She’s 60, which would seem like a lot if I didn’t realize I was over halfway there myself. She forwarded us the article below today, which is a pretty great story about some awesome stuff my mom is doing to help the families of soldiers killed in Iraq. Yep, that’s my mom — she’s cool.

Happy Birthday Mom!

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