Bikes have become a big part of our lives over the last few years. Ryan’s an avid fan of pro cycling; for me it’s been more a case of practicality and preference for getting around  but I have to admit I’ve been drawn into the sport more and more lately and we’re both keen to go on a biking holiday some time soon. Anyway, Cambridge is the perfect place for bike lovers of all varieties and we’ve both been enjoying the freedom of not owning a car this last little while. But Aoife, I hear you skeptics say, how on earth do you manage your weekly shopping? And what about those times when you just have too much to carry back from the office for your little basket to handle?

That’s where our super duper, incredibly sturdy,  wonderfully eye-catching bike trailer comes in! Daniel and Alicia (our very good friends from Richmond), thank you for making our lives not only so much easier but just far more entertaining all round with this fantastic wedding gift. We made a little video of the grand return from our first shopping adventure with the trailer to share with everyone; we really should make another video of us taking the trailer around the supermarket with us because that’s where we really come into our own. I have to say it draws a fair amount of attention but mostly the good kind and mostly from little kids. We’ve also transported a surprising amount of furniture, a couple of pretty big duvets and a large picture frame without too many hitches.

So ends the first in our series of wedding present profiles. We will be writing more over the next few weeks about each and every one of them and no doubt there will be more bike trailer tales to tell very soon.

P.S. The video will be up a little later today hopefully – technical difficulties.

We’ve had so much fun with all our visitors so far this summer and we’re looking forward to plenty more over the next few months. Uncle Pat was first to come up and stay with us in June before he headed back to Vancouver after the wedding. We had a couple of great evenings sitting out on the patio, finishing off the delicious Pineau we brought back from our honeymoon in France and just catching up and reminiscing about our days in Kippure.

Mum made it over for a long weekend in the middle of July and it was great to get to spend some time together relaxing, biking and punting around Cambridge. It was the first time any of us had ever punted on the river before; we got off to a bit of a slow start thanks to the lack of any advice from the punting pros in the rental place but we soon caught on and made it up to Granchester meadows, just south of the city, for a very tasty picnic.

We took the opportunity while mum was here to have a bit of a housewarming party; it was also the smoker’s debut but I’ll let Ryan tell you more about his pride and joy once he’s finished slaving over our website. Let me just say though that you haven’t lived until you’ve tasted pulled pork from a homemade smoking machine.  A nice piece of fish will be next I suspect.

Ashley, Allison and Kelly stayed with us on stage 2 of their first big European adventure (stage 1: Dublin; stage 3:  Amsterdam).  Ashley and Ryan worked together in Domino’s a few summers ago and they’ve kept in touch ever since. Not only did the girls taste the sumptuous pork while they were here (leftovers, I worship you), they relished in our snail feast (snails fresh from the back garden, prepped in the cosiest of snail homes) and got to see plenty of Cambridge and London too. Snails will be back on the menu very soon girls so plan your next trip over accordingly.

Our crazy triathlete friends Clare and Greg drove down from Edinburgh for the weekend and ended up staying for the week we were all enjoying ourselves so much. More punting, bike riding along the river Cam, a visit to Ely Cathedral and lots of good eating were the main highlights. Oh and in between all that, Clare interviewed for two jobs in London and was offered both of them straight away. Nice one Clare (go Eurostuds!). There’s also some serious talk of us all going to see the Tour de France together in a camper next year – watch this space.

We have one day left with a very special little visitor who has taken to the couch and our laps like a duck to water. April, our neighbour’s cat, is adorable; she’s blind as a bat but it doesn’t stop her from getting in to every little nook and cranny of our kitchen and living room. Her brother Tiger, beautiful and very elegant, occasionally stops by to say hello but he’s a bit on the cantakerous side and has a tendency to wander off for days at a time. April just wants to be held and loved; and we’ve been very happy to do just that.

What a mix of visitors. Anyone else fancy a sojourn in Cambridge?

It’s been over two months now and we’ve been a little on the quiet side, just taking it all in really.  We had the time of our lives during our wedding and we want to thank each and every one of you for making the day and the whole week such an incredibly special experience.  Looking around the stone circle at the faces of the people we love and who love us made us feel so celebrated and supported; and that’s something that will stay with us forever.

We’d like to keep everyone up to speed on what’s happening in the all-new (Brophy) Haney household so make sure to check back often for updates.  A huge thank you to everyone for all of the wonderful wedding gifts! We haven’t been able to open all of them yet and will have to wait for our next trip back to Dublin to pick most of them up, but we will start posting some photos, stories and videos about them very soon. If you haven’t seen it already, check out Jake’s blog post about the wedding week – it really captures it beautifully.

In the meantime, we’d like to introduce you to our new home in Cambridge.  It definitely feels like home now; we’ve done a fair bit of furniture rearranging, gardening, plenty of cooking and we’ve had quite a few visitors to stay already so I think it’s fair to say we’ve made our mark. The house was furnished already which has its advantages but also its disadvantages, particularly in the crappy couch department. Mom sent us some great couch covers to help fix that problem though and the living room is so much cosier now!

We live just off Mill Road which is a pretty international part of Cambridge; there are lots of small independent food stores, cafes and restaurants and plenty of great pubs. The pub food is really good in our area. One of our favourite local places so far is the Kingston Arms; they do a mean venison stew and their sausages are out of this world. Mostly though, it’s been so good to have a garden to grill out in and build our very own smoker…..more on this later, promise.