Interesting...

I came across this quote today and I thought it was VERY interesting, especially given the current economic path we as a country are on.

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931 – 2005

What are your thoughts?!?

Ireland Itinerary

Hello Everyone!!

Here is a map of our upcoming trip to Ireland! It is now under 1 month till we leave and we CAN'T wait! We have been busy reading books and doing a lot of research on-line to try and get as much "irish knowledge" as we can before we leave. The map outlines where we will be driving and the towns that have the yellow dots are where we will be staying overnight. Here is a little preview of what we have planned

*Day 1: Arrive Dublin and drive to Galway (3 1/2 hours) Spend day in Galway

*Day 2: St. Patrick's Day in Galway, parade, shops, pubs, all around fun and shenanigans

*Day 3: Leave Galway, drive to Cliffs of Moher, stay the night in Adare at the Adare Country House (http://www.adarecountryhouse.com/)

*Day 4: Leave Adare, drive Dingle Peninsula, stay the night in Castlegregory at The Shores Country House (http://www.theshorescountryhouse.com/)

*Day 5: Leave Castlegregory, drive to Blarney, Cork and stay the night in Cashel at The Ladyswell House (http://www.ladyswellhouse.com/) our room has a view of The Rock of Cashel from its window (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_of_Cashel).

*Day 6: Leave Cashel, go to Wicklow National Park (featured in P.S. I Love You), Glendalough and stay in Dublin

*Day 7: Dublin, Book of Kells, Guinness Tour, St. Patrick's Cathedral

*Day 8: Dublin

*Day 9: New York City, we actually have a 20 hour layover here so we will have enough time to spend almost a full day in the city!! We are hoping that my brother and sis in law will be able to drive up from Connecticut and meet us for the day!

Valentine's Day

Hey, all! I don't write often (this is Sherri, BTW) but I thought I'd let you all know what we did for Valentine's Day, because it was GREAT!
Valentine's Day for us began Friday night when I got off work. We went out to dinner at The Cattle Company, a steakhouse here in town. They have a fantastic "dinner-for-two" deal where you get an appetizer, two entrees (including salads, main dish, and two sides), and a dessert for less than $40 total. We both had the New York steak, baked potatoes, and steamed veggies. We had SO much food left over, though! It's crazy how much food you get for less than $40. We've decided they should call it the "dinner-for-four" instead of "dinner-for-two!"
After dinner, we went to see "Seven Pounds" in the theater. What a great movie! Very moving!
On Saturday, we hung around the house in the morning/early afternoon, then went to church. After church, we came home and made our own Valentine's Dinner. Here's the menu:
Appetizer: Crab & Shrimp Stuffed Mushroom Caps
Entree: Side Salad, Filet Mignon, King Crab Legs & Snow Crab Legs w/ butter, and Twice-Baked Potates
Wine: Zaca Mesa Viognier
Dessert: Heart-Shaped White Chocolate Dream Cake
Yummy, eh?? After dinner, we watched "Ghost Town." Also a cute movie.
So, that was our Valentine's Day(s). It was our 6th V-Day together, and they just keep getting better and better!!
We hope yours was just as good!

IRELAND!!!!!

Hello Everyone!

So we have some pretty exciting news!! We are going to Ireland next month!! We booked our tickets today and we will be gone from March 14 - 25!! We found an amazing deal on airfare ($700 round trip from Anchorage to Dublin) that we could not pass up! We have been wanting to go on vacation for some time and had been planning on going somewhere this spring when these fares opened up!

Also, we will be there for St. Patrick's Day! How perfect is that?! We are flying into and out of Dublin but we will be spending St. Pat's day in Galway. We are driving across the country from Dublin to Galway and then making our way around the southern coast of Ireland back up to Dublin. I have already made a few of our lodging reservations for our trip. We really want to experience a more authentic Ireland so we are going to be staying in a lot of B&B's, however in Galway we are staying in a more traditional hotel that we got an amazing rate at and in Dublin we are staying at Clontarf Castle, originally built in 1172! We figured if we are in Ireland we may as well splurge for a couple of nights in a castle, right?

Anyway, I am sure we will post more as we get closer and our itinerary firms up.

This will be our first time in Ireland so if anyone has been before or has any ideas or suggestions please let us know!