Summer 2016 in Belfast

Today is the first day of Autumn, the Autumn Equinox. And suddenly, summer feels like it was a long time ago. We had a hectic, fun-filled summer in Belfast.

It wasn’t particularly warm; we had plenty of wet days, but on dry, sunny or merely drizzly days, we took the opportunity to go out and delight in some Summer fun. My nieces were over from Brittany, staying with their grandma (aka my mum) for five weeks, and as usual, we cleared our schedules as much as possible and enjoyed ourselves. On the day they arrived, we went shopping in Belfast for a journal to record their Summer 2016. They took lots of time carefully choosing the right journal, and, as it turned out, there was a lot to journal about. There were visits to the cinema to eat popcorn and watch the BFG, Finding Dory and Swallows & Amazons. Their favourite movie was Swallows & Amazons, which we saw just before they returned to Brittany.

We took excursions to the beach at Crawfordsburn and our old childhood haunt, Ballycastle, where we used to stay in a caravan and spend every summer day on the beach. As you’ll notice in the photos, we all take building sand castles seriously here!!! Arches, turrets, and villages are outside the castle walls, battlements and moats. On sunny days, we couldn’t resist the lure of the delicious honeycomb ice cream from Mauds Ice Cream parlour…

A visit to the Folk Park on Donkey Day was essential – I mean, who does not love a donkey? And there were lots and lots of donkeys. The old farms, villages, cottages and shops are lovely to walk around. All have been moved from their original location in Northern Ireland and carefully rebuilt, giving us a glimpse into our past heritage. We couldn’t resist a visit to the old-fashioned sweet shop and sucked lemon sherbets and pear drops as we wandered along narrow country lanes…

There was the annual trip to the Zoo. And to W5 at the Odyssey, where a vegetarian dinosaur stood on Tara. Luckily, she recovered quickly from the ordeal! Another old favourite is the Ark Open Farm near Bangor—there are many animals to interact with. Tara was asked not to pick up the pygmy goat kids, but it was tricky if you stopped. They practically jumped into your lap! Technically, they were supposed to be in a pen with their mother. Still, as small, experienced escape artists, they crawled beneath the gate and wandered around, introducing themselves to all the visitors. Another favourite at the Ark were the alpacas.

Between the visits to Groomsport, the Titanic Centre, Bangor Pickie Pool and Pizza Hut, Summer 2016 became a binge of Harry Potter. Maya, Tara and Grandma curled up on the sofa on wet days. She disappeared into the mesmerising world of Harry Potter as read and brought to life by Stephen Fry in JK Rowling’s final four books of the series… and the girls became walking Harry Potter encyclopaedias of knowledge.

As we enjoyed the privilege of spending time with Maya and Tara and seeing how they’ve changed and grown up in the last year, I found myself wishing that my brother was still here to enjoy being a part of the lives of his exceptional daughters.