Week in Review: Irish Lads, Two Birthdays and The Babylon Bee

Happy Friday!!  Let's go back to a week from today when our favorite Andrew turned 20!  

But Colleen, why is he drinking a beer at a pub on his 20th birthday?  

Because he's in IRELAND, that lucky lad :)

Their Ten Day break started on his 20th birthday, so he and Smiles flew from Vienna to Dublin to meet up with Smiles' dad who had flown in from America to spend the break with his son (and his "other son" since Smiles and Andrew are practically brothers at this point).  Good thing I sent him that raincoat and some wool hiking socks for his birthday gifts because he needed it!  He also got a travel bible and a journal because he asked for them to use on his trips.  Be still my heart.  And how cute is he in that Irish cap?

They travelled all around Ireland, but Andrew really loved his time in Donegal (he called my dad while in Letterkenny since that's his hometown) and wasn't too fond of the city of Dublin.  What can I say, he's always been a country boy at heart:  

The Temple Bar is in the spirit(s)

A run in Dublin

For the second half of the week, they flew to Scotland!

Andrew said they did the best and hardest/craziest hike he's ever done in Scotland:

Happy birthday buddy, we hope this year is your BESTEST YET and we are so proud of the young man you've become and love you more than you can ever know!

Meanwhile back in Massachusetts, Phil and I went to a pro-life dinner in Boston with some friends, where the owner of the Babylon Bee was the speaker.  He was awesome.  The Babylon Bee writes satire and hilariously points out how crazy our world is, because if you can't laugh at it you just might cry.  He spoke a great deal on the freedom of speech, and how his company was blocked from Twitter for a time so Elon Musk called him up and told him he was going to buy Twitter to allow free speech on that platform.  And he did to the tune of $44 BILLION.  I guess free speech does have a cost ;)

The back of my head

Friends + Seth Dillon + Us

Maggie (16) went to visit Providence College, not officially, just to see her favorite cousin who is a freshman there.  They even went to a Women's Volleyball game, so fun!

Speaking of volleyball, Maggie has three games this week (two at home), and Eamon has three (all home) games this week:

My girl

My boy

They also had a food drive as members of the NHS, and they each had to bring in 40 pounds of food which gets donated to the local soup kitchens.  Being the great dad he is, Phil went out and bought 80 pounds of food for them to bring in.  I would have made them do it themselves.  Good cop, bad cop.

Eamon and his girlfriend, weighing the donations

Declan (10) had basketball tryouts this week, and he was verrrrrry nervous even though everybody makes a team:

Where's Waldo Declan

Xander (13) and Brendan (8) had their first swim meet of the season on Sunday, and I was able to capture Brendan's first race ever - a 100m medley relay.  He was the anchor leg and his team won!

The focus

Xander did well for himself too, winning the 100m backstroke against 13 and 14 year olds.

And last but certainly not least...today is Phil's 44th birthday!  

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my bestie for the restie, my heart, my better half, my best decision ever.  You work so hard for our family in your roles as Theology Dept. Chair at the high school, Director of Religious Ed at our church, and running the Ice Cream Cottage.  You never complain and you are such an involved and loving husband and father.  Saint Philip indeed.  I hope we can celebrate you in between everything else on this weekend's agenda, but I know you'll be happy even if we can't do too much.  You're just that type of guy and we're so glad you are ours.