Pictures!

All of us in Stephens Green

Bob the builder with Gavin and Tyrone @ Stephens Green!

Storytime with Grandad Devine. Of course they are reading a Pirate story! Both love to sit on his lap and hear him read.

Mandy sitting on a bench at Corkagh Park which is in Clondalkin. We walk to this park a lot, and it is something to tire out the boys. Isn't she lovely? Isn't she wonderful?

Here I am sporting my new cap. Notice the faint shadow of a beard on my face. It will take me 10 years to catch up with Mandy's dad. The green shirt Im wearing was a gift from him. I love the rugby shirts.

This is the Burger King on Grafton Street. It is two stories and we've sort of made a tradition of coming here after Stephens Green. I wont lie, I miss American food sometimes. The boys loved the crowns and wore them the rest of the day.

Gavin and Tyrone acting cute for one picture. Notice the flowers behind them. They have lots of flower beds throughout the park.

Trinity College Dublin was was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I. It is a pretty cool building and we love to see it every chance we get. The college is at the center of town and very close to Grafton street.

Beautiful Weather

The weather here is fantastic compared to what Vegas is going through. The high today was somewhere in the low 60's. When the sun was out it felt like a perfect spring day. As soon as the clouds covered the sun it felt like we were in winter. We went to this park called Stephens Green and it is huge. There are giant ponds filled with swans and ducks. Gavin and Tyrone had a great time chasing all the birds. There was a concert in the park with 3 musicians playing traditional irish ballads. It was fun to sit and listen to them. It started to get real cold so we left before the music was over. Ireland is a wonderful place. I wish I could bring all my family over to see and experience all of Ireland. Mandy's family are great and help make the experience great. We went into town today, Dublin, and I bought myself a cap like John Wayne in the 'Quiet Man.' Well not exactly the same but it is the same idea. I will sport it around while I am here, cause it will be way too hot to wear it in Vegas. At least until the winter time.

Gavin and Tyrone are hanging out with their Grandad. It is funny how they have only met him once, and they picked up right where they left off. Gavin keeps calling him a 'Pirate' cause of his long hair and beard. This is time we will not waste and are grateful to be here!

The Journey has begun!

We flew out of LAX about 4:15 in the afternoon. It had been a long day to that point, but the boys were in pretty good spirits. Both were very excited when they saw the airplane. When it took off, they were giggling and laughing. Soon the joy and experience of being on an airplane wore off and the reality of a 10 HOUR flight set in. Restless and cramped we made our journey across a very turbulent midwest. I prayed through most the flight which I am grateful to say Heavenly Father heard, cause we arrived safelty in Dublin the next day about 10 am. Tyrone puked twice within the last 45 minutes of the flight but I'm not complaining. Luckily he didnt have too much in his belly.

Once in Dublin, Mandy's Dad, Fran, came to pick us up. Gavin immediatly shouts out, "weedad, your teeth are gone!" pointing out the fact that Fran has a missing tooth. Gavin took him by the hand and walked with him through the airport. Both Gavin and Tyrone have been calling Fran a "Pirate" due to his long beard. It has been a lot of fun in the short few hours we have been here. The fish and chips were amazing and I cried heartily as I wolfed it down. We are all still awake, except for Gavin, but we will shortly be going to bed seeing that we are 8 hours ahead of Las Vegas time. The weather here is very nice at the moment. The sky is blue, and there is a mild breeze in the air.

Kung Fu Panda!

We went to see Kung Fu Panda last night with Gavin and Tyrone! It was hilarious. The Matrix like fight scenes together with all the humor of Jack Black, makes this a MUST SEE summer movie. I would go see it again today but Mandy said no.....and we are leaving to Los Angeles. Well we are really excited about getting on the road. The boys really have no idea that anything is different. I think once we see the plane and sit in our seats they will get excited. Both Gavin and Tyrone like rockets and stuff so when the plane takes off I'm pretty sure it will capture their attention. Well Im off to the land that invented green, fish and chips, great futbol games, and a rich culture and land filled with castles and historical sites. We will try to update this in Dublin!

Proof of the Wee Lass!

Here are the ultrasound pictures of Niamh at 21 weeks. In case you can't tell, the first picture is a profile, her face is half turned. The second picture is of her legs and part of her belly. The third is of her arms. She likes to cover her face a lot with her hands and she likes to cross her arms across her face.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Well, today is Saturday and this is the last day to pack and get everything ready for our trip to Ireland. We are pretty much packed, but there is always the last minute stuff; toothbrushes, make-up, underwear :). My dad called this morning and is so excited. He has been decorating his house like crazy for our arrival. He is so excited to see Gavin and Tyrone and to spend time with us. I can't believe we will be there for a month, but we have an itinerary and are doing a little traveling throughout Ireland and over to Scotland. I have a lot of family and neighbors to see also. We are heading to L.A tomorrow, although our flight doesn't leave till Monday afternoon. Lucas' dad was generous enough to offer to drive us down to L.A which saved us some money on tickets from Las Vegas to L.A. We booked a hotel by the airport to stay tomorrow night and then we'll take a shuttle to the airport on Monday. I am not looking forward to going through security at LAX. There was such a long line last time and only when we got to the front of the line, did we find out that there is a separate line for people with kids. I will probably not relax till we are sitting on the plane taking off. We are very excited and hope the adrenaline will keep us going. We will try to update our blog as much as we can along the way.

Abbott Update

This last week was a busy one. Mandy was finishing up her Preschool classes, I had my four days of work, and every afternoon we had some type of activity. On Thursday my brother Jon brought us out to see his horse! The boys loved it.


I had a great time myself, and Mandy, even in her pregnant state took the horse for a ride. This is an activity we could all get use to. Mandy's Aunt and Cousins came into town from Ireland this week for a Holiday. That was fun as well.

I had an interesting experience at work the other night. I was on a traffic stop on the south end of Las Vegas and we had pulled into a parking lot. I approached the drivers side and my partner was on the passenger side. I hear a terrible crash and turn around to see that the passenger side of my patrol car was just smashed into, by a Ford F-250 truck. My partner goes over to check to see if the driver of the truck is ok, and when he does I hear him calling to me for help. I run around the truck and find my partner on the ground fighting with this guy who had just crashed into us. He was drunk and drugged up on something. I jumped on top of the suspect to help pin him down but he is very strong and is starting to stand up. I wrapped my arms around him with all my strength and threw him back down. My partner was able to get one of the hand cuffs on, but the guy pulled that hand away now, giving him a metal weapon attached to his wrist. The guy rolled on to his back looked up at me with two clenched fists and was slowly bringing back his hand to punch me. Before he could hit me I punched him right in the mouth with my fist. It was probably the hardest I'd ever hit anyone cause I almost broke my hand. My knuckles swelled up and so did the guys face. However the fight didn't stop there. He then threw a punch at me with the handcuff which missed my face by inches. I bear hugged his arms so he would stop punching while my partner used his baton to hit the guys legs. Even 10 strikes with the baton did not stop him. Finally I scream at my partner to use his taser. After two, 5 second cycles, the guy gave up. After it was over he was still unhappy and from what I hear he tried to fight the Corrections Officers down at the jail as well. I went to the hospital to have my hand checked out, and all is well. Crazy way to end my work week! My vacation is almost here and it cant come fast enough!