Sooz's and Ollie's Wedding

Time for new year's resolutions ... besides the annual beat the flab resolution I've also decided that I really should work on maintaining our blog so here goes! It's been 6 months since Suzanne's and Ollie's wedding in Bordeaux. Anthony got some great photos .. way too many to post here but here are some of the best including a great photo of Anthony looking very happy!



It's amazing how Suzanne is the 'shining bride' in this photo .. literally radiant!



My my Anthony, you do scrub up nice :) !!!



Some of the Meagher clan enjoying the sunshine, Terence and Marie, Shiela and Anthony's folks!




The happy couple ... buy ollie, I think the flowers are for Suzanne!

St. Patrick's Day Clonmellon and Other News

Once again, it's been quite some time since I have updated our blog. I've been distracted with some of my other web activities ... not least Stephanie's site The Rock Hut which has undergone quite a few transformation since it started but is taking off pretty well now. We spend quite a lot of time working on that and trying to find new ways to improve it.

Since I posted last, we've had the Clonmellon St.Patrick's Day Parade ... which unfortunately was a bit of a washout this year. We tend to hang around for it ... support the community and all that but it was really freezing this year and it seemed to effect the turnout. Anthony didn't bother to come over at all and my folks went off early leaving me to all alone to cheer on the 559 tractors that seem to appear for it every year! Seriously, it was quite short but it's a small village and as you can see from the photo the kids got into the spirit of it. They all managed to get on the St. Paul's gfc float and enjoyed the craic.


Also, news I forgot to post ... the kids spent the last four or five months preparing for the Brownstown variety show. All the trips up the the draughty prefab on cold wet winter nights paid off when we finally got to see them perform on the night. Aaron dropped out two weeks before the opening night ... just wasn't for him, I guess but we wished he had stuck it out ... just to see him singing cute little songs on the stage. Emmet did great and was surprising shy up there given that he is such a motor mouth in normal circumstance. Robyn seemed very relaxed. All the kids did brilliantly. It was a good night. You can see Emmet in the photo, looking as sweet and angelic as I have ever seen him!

We're all looking forward to Suzanne and Ollie's wedding in Bordeaux. We're planning to squish in a family trip to Biarritz .. maybe spend a week there before heading up to Bordeaux for the big day. I've been really keen to see Biarritz for quite some time now so it's a good opportunity. Beside, Ryanair and flying there so it'll be cheap enough to get the six of us over there. It's also time to start thinking about our summer hols. Didn't like The Algarve too much so portugal is definitely off the list for a return visit. Maybe something a bit more exotic ... Chile or New Zealand would be great. I'm sure we'll keep to usual form and in Meagher fashion it'll all be a last minute decision and a last minute booking!

My Clay Modelling Efforts

Just around Christmas time I decided I'd give clay modelling a go ... new year , new hobby and all that! I got inspired by some of the fantastic jewellery I saw made from polymer clay. Anyhow I put clay modelling stuff on my christmas list and Santa delivered. Let's just say it's not as easy as it seems. I decided to copy a model we bought in Beunos Aires made from epoxy [photo on the left ... in case you weren't sure!]. I don't know if the stuff I'm using is epoxy or not. It dries pretty quickly so you've got to work fast and when you don't have the skills that's a recipe for disaster. Anyhow mine was looking good. I left it to dry for a day and then I picked it up to admire it and what happened it was you see in the picture above [mine is on the right!!]. It fell to pieces. The kids were all very sympathetic. I was really disappointed. I've been searching ever since on the net for clay modelling tutorials but can't find anything worthwhile. Any clay modellers out there, help me ... please!

Since this effort, I've tried to model an evil octupus baby that Stephanie sketched. Seemed esay when I looked at it on paper .... but alas ... another disaster.

Great Rugby keeps the Meagher's Happy

We've had a couple of rugby outings over the last month or two and we couldn't ever have known when we went to the RDS to watch Leinster play Munster on New Year's Eve what fantastic rugby they would throw up in the Heineken Cup. Anthony, Aaron and myself were exhiliarated watching Munster thrash Sale Sharks and then Leinster play the same quality of rugby in their win against Bath.

Hope more of the same is to come. If anybody ever hand any doubts about Brian O Driscoll never getting back to the player he was before his injury, they will only have had to watch his match against Bath. He got man of the match and deserved. His skill was amazing! Wouldn't it be great if we had a Leinster Munster final .. though I wouldn't know who to support. I love to watch Munster play.

Anyhow, Robyn has started to come to matches and that's a shot of me and Robyn in Eddie Rocket's in Donnybrook ... just before the trip to Funderland. She seemed to enjoy it and Stephanie too! Big surprise!

Aaron and Anthony have their own Rugby tackling thing going on in this shot. I like this photo a lot and below is Emmet in a photo with the Leinster mascot .. Leo the Lion. Aaron was obessessing over getting the Leinster team players autographs but Emmet want Leo the Lions, which he got on the back of some chocolate wrapper he found on the ground!

Aaron hasn't been up to Athboy to play in quite some. He keeps asking to go back but we feel he has taken on a bit too much. Sometimes he seems really worn out and doesn't know when to stop.

Mp3's, Music and no Broadband in Clonmellon

Stef expressing her unabounded happiness at us having found the cheapest and best mp3 resource on the web ... www.mp3search.ru! Our amazon buying days are over. We can get all the latest CD's for 80 or 90 cents ... unbelievable. On my wishlist ... the latest Scissors Sisters, Divine Comedy, lots of Coldplay, Juliette Turner ... oh, too many to mention.

The only downside is the broadband issue. Will Clonmellon ever get broadband? Some of Steph's songs are over 10mb. We got Robyn the lastest Pussycat Dolls but Anthony had to download it elsewhere. The day Clonmellon gets broadband will be one of the happiest of my life!

Adam was in there with Stephanie in this photo but we edited him out .. sorry Adam!! Anyway, we hear Adam's got his own blog now!

Family Trip to Paris

We surprised the kids with a trip to Paris in the New Year. Aaron has wanted to see the Eiffel Towers for quite some time now and Stephanie has wanted to see just about anywhere that's not Clonmellon, so we organised four days and stayed in the Marais district ... a bit more upmarket than what me and Ant are used to. Boulevard de Clichy and the surrounding red light district was the area we stayed in last time. Got to say it has great character and we enjoyed it ... was disappointed with the Moulin Rouge though, thought it would be so much bigger.

Anyhow, this trip with the kids was entirely different. Very very romantic, ice-skating under the amazing hotel de ville was an experience I'll never forget. We ice-skated too on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. The kids loved it. As you can see from the photo, the gruelling 1 and half hour flight proved too much for the boys!!! They slept right through it!

I made everybody take a trip to the Catacombs. What a yik experience but I loved it. Seven million dead bodies from the 1700's stacked in chambers where the walls are made from skull and leg bones .. bizarre! Apparently some disease coming from the cemetary was killing lots of people in the surrounding area so they exhumed all the bodies and relocated them to old quarries. The air in the place is damp and it stinks so badly but it tests your nerve. We came across an American woman crying to be taken back because you've got to pass through a large maze of underground corridors to reach the bodies. Unfortunately, Aaron was sick when we came out but thankfully it wasn't the experience. He'd just been harbouring a bug, which he passed onto Stephanie. Thankfully it was only a 24 hour thing and nobody else got it... big sigh of relief!

Another thing, just as we all stepped out to the top of the Eiffel Tower, a siren went off with an announcement for everybody to calmly move to the nearest exit and evacuate the 'building' for safety reasons. Had a bit of a heeby-jeeby moment being 1000 feet up and everything ... was quietly panicing as we gathered up the kids. Pictured a boeing747 crashing into the top of it or something. But as we were .. ahem ... calmly making our way down we noticed others going up.... which was odd! We approached a security guy and he said it was 'just a mistake' .. too late for the old guy who threw himself off the top! Just kidding .. everybody did remain calm but what a stupid cock-up! By the way .. that's Aaron and Athony at the foot with the magnificent tower in the background. Oh yeah, my advice .. only visit the tower at night. Everytime we go to Paris, I only go the see the tower at night. I saw it once during the day and was totally disappointed but at night it is spectacular, glorious and awe-inspiring.

A snowfall in Clonmellon

What a nice shot of the boys in the snow. Haven't been in Clonmellon too so long so I haven't witnessed many snowfalls but it seems when it does come, it barely covers the ground and goes away after a few hours. I remember when growing in Dublin snow fall inches think. Anyhow, the boys decided to take their go-cart to the shop but Aaron soon realised that pushing that thing in the snow with Emmet on the back was some challenge. I helped push some of the way but eventually we had to ditch Emmet off the back and follow Aaron in the car .. stopping every now and again to push him along .. lesson - don't ride your go-cart in the snow!

Boys Birthdays and Christmas

The boys had a double birthday celebration ... almost 40 kids in total so we rented out the community hall, though it was frezzing being late Novemeber... and pretty miserable too. I wanted to have the party at home. It's far cosier and easier for me to enjoy but the kids didn't seem to care. They loved the bouncing castle but it was like casualty ward. With so many jumping around and Stephanie's group playing rock music full blast, it all seemed manic! NEVER EVER EVER AGAIN!

OK Christmas next. We take a traditional Christmas Eve annual photo ... the one on the left wasn't quite as posed as we'd have liked but there you have it. Our four kids anticipating Santa! Yep, I love Christmas eve and this christmas we were actually organised enough to be able to enjoy christmas eve in. No running out at the last minute for stuffing or more wrapping paper. Maybe it's the start of something new ... a far more organised meagher clan!

Oh yeah, and underneath that is a photo of the guys at Funderalnd. We went on New Year's Eve after we watched Leinster play Munster in the RDS ... and win after a pretty boring match that turned quite thrilling in the end. Of course, the usual trip to Eddie Rocket's after a match had myself and Anthony a bit worried when we all jumped onto the rides ... we were sure somebody would vomit and for while it looked like it could be Anthony but everything stayed where it should so there was no flying vomit! I know ... yik!

It has been such a long time.

Oh my God. It has been three months since I last posted ... guess I've been a bit distracted and also very busy. Anyhow, Halloween, kiddie birthdays, Christmas, trips to RDS to watch Leinster play and our visit to Paris have all passed without getting a mention in our family photo blog. I'm really slacking!

First Halloween, which I find way more fun than Crimbo .. though there's always the last minute rush to get costumes together with us. Robyn dressed up as a nasty school girl, Aaron went as a werewolf and Emmet was some kinda goul! Stephanie's way past the trick or treating phase so she just went to Halloween YAMO with her buds .. though some of them were scary enough in their own right.

Most Recent News

I'm still working [very slowly] on a fantasy portrait of Robyn ... don't think she is too pleased with how it is looking but it's all practice and I really enjoy the digital art! I've got plans to make it almost lifesize when it prints and put a big yellow satin gown on her ... I saw a similar image recently and was inspired by it! I'll post my progress as I go!

The kids have all taken up their winter activities again ... swimming in Kells on Monday followed by practice for the community show, Soccer on Wednessday, Rugby on Thursday, Robyn practices for another show 'Score' - and they all head out to GAA practice on Saturdays ... then there's rugby and soccer matches on the weekends! So the kiddie taxi service is in full swing.

Aaron scored a winning goal for Athboy Celtic on Sunday but even the kids agreed it was pretty dismal play from the team!
We're all [including the girls] heading down to a family day organised by Leinster Rugby in the RDS this weekend. The players will be there to sign and there's activities organised for the kids plus a match played at the end of it all ... so we're looking forward to that ... should be fun!

Anthony and I have resolved to keep walking but the weather has been so bad lately that we've missed almost three days. We're clocking up about 4 miles a day and hope that's enough to shed a few pounds.

Both Stephanie and I have fallen in love ... with James Blunt! Not the guy ... just his music ... though he aint half bad looking [that's him in the photo!] He played on Parkinson the other night and his voice and his music are really really different. After bombing out for the last six months on Scissors Sisters, I'll be happy to chill with James for the next few months .. we eagerly await amazon to send his latest album [Back to Bedlam] to us QUICKLY and then Stephanie and I will battle to see who gets to hog it for the first week! She's bigger so she might win !!

The Kids in Portugal

We took hundreds of photos in The Algarve. I'm sure the computer is about to burst. We really need to do a clear off. I reckon we have welll over 2000 photos sitting on the machine right now!

The kids had a fantastic time ... lots of days spent by the pool! Aaron managed to push me in while in my clothes! It was one of those moments when I wanted to throttle him but with so many eyes on you ... you've got to pretend to see the funny side! No, really! I took it in good spirits ... but got him back many times over ... while chanting something like " Think you'll push me in and get away with, huh? Think you will, do ya, do ya!" !!

Can't say anything in the Algarve was particularly memorable. The beaches were great with huge sandstone cliffs and massive waves! Surprisingly, one day on the beach was enough for the kids ... all those topless women must hav put the boys off!

Guess It's Time For Some Holiday Snaps!

It's only been two weeks since we got back from Portugal but the month away from Clonmellon seems to have unsettled us ... though Anthony and I both have oodles of work to catch up on we don't seem to have gotten back into the swing of things just yet! Anyhow, I didn't get much of a chance to post about the holidays or even pop some photos up!

The experience in Argentina was definitey unforgettable! Anthony liked Buenos Aires so much that he applied for a job there the day before we left! Guess we're impulsive people! I guess what struck us most was quality of the service, the mind bogglingly-cheap prices and the standard of the food! We had a couple of dud meals but for the most part the food was astounding. Unlike here in Ireland, people in the service sector over there take pride in their job and it makes the whole experience really nice! We met some lovely people and a few with strong Irish connections. Apparently the Irish went over to build the railroads during the 19th century but then the famine struck Ireland and many of them had no desire to go back. So the Argentinians are quite fond of us Irish!

I enjoyed the arty feel to the place. After the country crashed in 2002 it seems many people turned to crafts, using their hands to make products that they could sell directly. Gives a good indication of what happens when capitalism collapses .. I think Karl Marx would have had a lot to say about that scenario! Anyhow, the range is really impressive. Most are sold through Ferria [fairs or markets] and one of the best parts of the holidays was browsing all these unusual products. We bought Stephanie the most grotesque 'rocker' statue. It was so horrible, I felt we had to have it! There's a lots of street performers too which give a lot of character to the place.. especially in the more 'arty' San Telmo area. Everybody was really impressed with the two in the photo above. But it's amazing how the stimulus-reponse method works so well. I reckon they did quite well since they only moved when somebody dropped in a coin .. the shot above just captures the guy moving after I dropped some peso's in the bucket! I think these guys are pretty much a part of the San Telmo scene since we've seen them in some of the tourist brochures! They were fun!

On the down side, the economy is still struggling with really high levels of poverty. Every night truckloads of people would arrive from the poorer areas on the outskirts of the city to go through people's bins for rubbish that could be sold on for recycling. It was sad to see since many looked like they might have had a fairly ordinary life at one time. Kids jump onto trains juggling or trying to sell trinkets and stuff. On the other side, there were plenty of signs of new development and improvements. The up and coming are of Peurto Madero was one example. It looks out from the quays arcross to the cities financial distric and was a lovely place to spend the evening ... plenty of nice restaurants and a pretty 'marina' feel to it!

The architecture was amazing. They call it the Paris of South America and the funny thing was Anthony and I spent the day in Paris before we travelled so I was a bit sceptical as to whether anywhere could be a match for the real deal! That said, the architecture in Argentina was fantastic. It all had the buzz of Paris but Buenos Aires is not polished enough to ever match the French capital. Buenos Aires however has its very own unique character and charm. I think I prefer it to Paris. It's certainly cheaper! I love the very South American buses! What I hated was their love of .... toffee. Toffee in everything ... toffee cakes, toffes crepes, toffee everthing! We gave up looking for that perfect pastry after day three! I HATE toffee!

One Week Count Down to South America

Despite being a bit rattled by the two recent plane crashes, we're really looking forward now to our trip to South America next Thursday. Have some seperation anxiety about being so far away from the kids but then we look at photos of Buenos Aires and think, hey... can't wait to get there. For me, Buenos Aires will be the higligth. It's a magnificent city, the Paris of South America, more European that Latin American in archeciture ... wide avenues, boulevards, terraced cafes. We both love Paris and are hoping Buenos Aires will grab us in just the same way and who knows ... if we really like it, maybe we'll just come back to collect the kids!! I'm also really excited about seeing the small town of Colonia de Sacremento in Uruguay ... a beautiful town designated a UNESCO heritage district and full of old colonia flavour and charm. We're hiring scooters there to get around ... should be a laugh!

The photo above is of avenue 9th de Julio in Buenos Aires, thought to be the worlds widest street with 9 lanes on each side ... better read up on the safe cross code [who's old enought to remember that?]

Aaron clowning about

Aaron had me bent over with laughter when he decided to dress as a clown and do some antics around the kitchen. You can just see Anthony in the background there oblivious to what was going on around him. It's so unlike Aaron to be spontaneous and let go but when he does he sure is funny!

Robyn's Now Infamous Sleepovers!

Robyn loves her social life. Hardly ever a weekend goes by without her having her friends over for a sleepover. This is some of her gang, Luara, Shannon and Jessica.

The Boys in Phoenix Park

The boys, last week, by a small lake we discovered in the Phoenix Park. It had a family of ducks, including the cutie babies, who entertained us for quite some time.

Day Out to Bettystown ....

The kids had a day out to Bettystown with their Nan and Grandad last week .... the costa blanca of the the Northeast Coast !! They all had a ball swimming among the murky green seaweeds and eating sand sandwiches!! The weather was super and the water must have been warm because they swam until near 6 o clock.


Robyn tried her hand the the wall of death ... a huge climbing thingy that Aaron scrambled up like a spider after its prey. I'm told Robyn managed to get half way and Stephanie and her friend Anna managed the first two rungs .... ah well girls ... it's all about effort!!


Steph and little bro enjoying the rides