http://www.CoyleFamily.com The Show Everyone's Talking About en-us coyle@wideopenwest.com 2008-09-07T20:46:00-06:00 hourly 1 2008-09-07T20:46:00-06:00 http://www.CoyleFamily.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=195 It started as the most tenuous plan - a family reunion in Belmullet Ireland, and one year later, almost two dozen Coyles met in Belmullet for some great craic! Four miles outside of town is the small village of Tipp. The home in which my Father was raised is still standing. My Uncle Mike lives there. Up the road from Mike is his brother Frank and his wife Carmel. These two uncles live on the same land and fish the same waters as generations of Coyles before them.

Flying back from the USA were their sisters Ann, Agnes, Sheila and Grace. Arriving from England was anther brother, Anthony. Six of the original 12 children of Michael and Mary Coyle were back home! In addition to the aunts and uncles, another dozen cousins and their children were present. Most of the cousins I have known from the Chicagoland area, but two of my Uncle Frank's children, Josephine and Gerard, I had never met.

In addition to Maria, Melissa, Mike and me, my sister Anna and her beau Jim flew back together. While my sister and I have been to Ireland several times over the past few decades, we have not been there at the same time since I was six years old!

One odd connection was made when Jim Hickey's daughter, Sarah, and my daughter, Melissa, recognized each other from a class they had both taken at Illinois State University! The young ladies were amazed at the thought that they say next to each other for a semester and didn't realize they had the same great-grandfather!

Other surprising facts from the aunts and uncles...

My Aunt Agnes (who is also my Godmother) isn't named Agnes at all, her first name is Bridget, and my Aunt Sheila's first name is really Sabina! Someday, the reason for so many aliases being used by the Coyle Women of Tipp will be revealed; I suspect it involves a gentleman named Bond... James Bond.

In another interesting story, Aunt Sheila revealed she was the youngest of the sisters when she arrived in America at only 15 years old. She attended Harper High School on Chicago's southside and charmed her fellow students with her Irish accent.

Uncle Frank confirmed many of the childhood stories my father told me. One of my favorites tells the story of the first two story home built in the area. A small stairway connected the first and second floors. Just before the new owners moved in, my Dad and his brothers disassembled a wooden cart, dragged a donkey up the stairs to the second floor of the new home, then attached the reassembled cart to the animal.

The next day when the owners arrived, they found the donkey pulling a cart on the second floor of their home.

You may remember that my Mother's maiden name is also Coyle. And since my parents were raised only a couple miles from each other, that meant I had TWO sets of family named Coyle to visit!

The other Coyles are from the village of Gladree outside of Belmullet. The only pub for miles is a nice place called Lavelles. Sadie is the owner, Billy tends the bar, and seated at every table in the place seems to be a cousin of mine from both sides of the Coyle family. Saturday we were there with my Uncle Martin's kids: Brendan, Declan, Ann and her fiance Derek (their wedding will be the perfect excuse to visit Ireland next year!). Sunday evening, their wonderful mother, my Aunt Bridie, treated us to dinner at the Western Strands, a fixture in Belmullet.

The day of our departure, we broke up the drive to the airport with a stay in Portumna to see our cousin Angela Brien, who gave birth to the beautiful Ava just a few days before. Visiting Angela was her sister Karen from London. Angela is married to a fine lad named Mick, who happens to be brothers with Derek, the same Derek who is marrying my cousin Ann next summer. (Ya got a that straight?)

Everyone had a great trip. It had the feeling of a once in a lifetime experience. Between three digital cameras, we snapped over 1000 photos. Over 250 of the best are in the Gallery.]]> 195@http://www.CoyleFamily.com Vacations 2008-08-19T09:08:27-06:00 Posted by coyle http://www.CoyleFamily.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=194 A couple have people have emailed to say the previously provided link to Baggo Blueprints no longer works.

In an effort to keep the world happily playing Bags (and drinking), you can download my copy of the blueprints here.

If your saw skills are as poor as mine, I would suggest you let Home Depot make the first two cuts for the 4'x2' top plates. This way, they're be nice and square, not a trapezoid or rhombus or whatever the hell I once learned, but have since long forgot, from geometry class.
]]> 194@http://www.CoyleFamily.com Miscellaneous 2008-07-01T11:12:38-06:00 Posted by coyle http://www.CoyleFamily.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=193 Hey, who's that good looking couple on the right? That's Michael, the teenage son, and his prom date, Amy!

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon when the first cars pulled-up to the Coyle house for a Photo-Op before leaving via limousine for Drury Lane and Prom.

Parents jockeyed for positions to snap the best pictures of the five couples. Some of these kids have been hanging around the Coyle house for years, and now they looked all "Grown Up".

Of course, the ladies looked much more at ease than the guys, who seemed to be getting slowly choked by their clip-on ties.

Maria, the Mom, was trying to pin down the details on the ever-elusive prom after party. Dad just rolled his eyes and said, "In a few weeks, they'll be at college, then we'll really have no clue what they're up to!"

Fortunately, everyone was well behaved (or at least we haven't seen any evidence to the contrary), and from what we've gleamed off of Facebook, everyone had a great time. Photos of the young adults can be seen in the Gallery. 
]]> 193@http://www.CoyleFamily.com School 2008-05-20T19:38:25-06:00 Posted by coyle http://www.CoyleFamily.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=192 How time flies. It seems like it was just last week that Dad was helping Melissa move into the freshman dorm on the campus of Illinois State University. The memory of hiking-up six flights of stairs with bag after bag of clothing is seared into his brain.

Now four years later, and with a B.A in English, a Minor in French, and one of those Cum Laude things, Melissa is preparing for the next leg of her education - an MFA from LSU which she plans to get ASAP. (That's a lot of acronyms!)

Mom and Dad couldn't be prouder (chest puffed up).

Maria and Melissa have already been apartment hunting in Baton Rouge, so all that's left for Dad to do this August is carry bag after bag of clothing into a moving van!

This also means that once Fall arrives, Michael and Maria will be Empty-Nesters 'cause Mike will be leaving for Western Illinois University.

Visit the Gallery to view more pictures from Melissa's graduation.
]]> 192@http://www.CoyleFamily.com Special Occasions 2008-05-20T13:26:59-06:00 Posted by coyle http://www.CoyleFamily.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=191 "SURPRISE!!!"

That's what Grandma (Mary Kate) heard when she arrived for dinner at Fox's Restaurant in Oak Lawn. Bernadette, her grand-daughter, planned the surprise and with the help of Dan O'Malley, Grandma didn't suspect a thing.

Michael and Anna were there along with Maria and Jim, plus all the grandkids, except Melissa, who was away at college and scheduled to graduate the next day.

An old friend from Ireland stopped by, Geoff Murphy, and our cousins, the O'Malleys also attended.

We enjoyed dinner, drinks, and cake then Grandma opened her presents! Almost two dozen pictures are in the Gallery.


]]> 191@http://www.CoyleFamily.com Birthdays 2008-05-20T12:58:15-06:00 Posted by coyle http://www.CoyleFamily.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=190 It has taken Google several years to get around to it, but now you can finally view Belmullet in high resolution in Google Maps, or the standalone application, Google Earth.

If you have never tried it, I recommend the free Google Earth application. It lets you zoom-in much closer than the web browser based Google Maps.

Pictured on the right is the home in which my father, aunts and uncles were raised. My Uncle Mike lives there now. The home directly to the north is my Uncle Frank's.

On my last trip to my Uncle's home a few years ago, there was the hull of an old boat a few hundred feet south of the house on an inlet. Amazingly, you can see it in Google Earth.
]]> 190@http://www.CoyleFamily.com News 2008-01-13T13:29:30-06:00 Posted by coyle http://www.CoyleFamily.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=189 The Chicago temperature was 4 degrees when Michael and Maria boarded a plane out of Midway for Cancun, Mexico. Their final destination was 40 miles south to a town called Playa del Carmen.

This is the fourth time the two crazy kids have visited the area, and their stay after New Years Day was for a short five days.

In addition to nightly strolls down 5th Avenue, Michael and Maria spent a day on the island of Cozumel. The ferry ride there went through 10 foot waves, which wasn't a great time, but once on the island it was fun! View some silly photos in the Gallery.
]]> 189@http://www.CoyleFamily.com Vacations 2008-01-07T21:05:24-06:00 Posted by coyle http://www.CoyleFamily.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=188 Because Maria was born on Christmas Eve, she hasn't had a real birthday party since she was 8 years old. This year, she turns the big FIVE OH!, and oh what a party it was!

Sixty-five friends and family met at Franconello's Restaurant for dinner and dancing (well, Maria did most of the dancing, but she was the birthday girl!). There were friends from her childhood, current friends, friends from work, and all her family. Dozens of pictures are in the Gallery.

In order to maximize her embarrassment, hubby Michael created a funny video featuring old friends and pictures from throughout Maria's life. The video is 11 minutes long and you can watch it by clicking here.

Thanks to everyone who took the time during the busy holiday season to join us and celebrate Maria's birthday. She had such a great time, she didn't even mind turning 50 years old!
]]> 188@http://www.CoyleFamily.com Birthdays 2007-12-22T09:09:12-06:00 Posted by coyle http://www.CoyleFamily.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=187 Grandma Coyle, Anna and her kids, plus Jim and a couple college friends stopped by the Coyle house for Thanksgiving dinner.

Also present was Jennifer's fiancé, Matt. The two will be getting married in October of 2008.

It was the first test of the recently remodeled kitchen and the new layout performed perfectly. it's amazing how much dishwashers have improved over the past 20 years!

After dinner, we had the obligatory family pictures in front of the fireplace. Since most of the grandkids are now young adults, the differences from year to year in the pictures gets smaller and smaller. Next thing you know, the great-grandkids will start appearing!


A handful of pictures can be viewed in the Gallery.
]]> 187@http://www.CoyleFamily.com Holidays 2007-12-22T08:52:44-06:00 Posted by coyle http://www.CoyleFamily.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=186 I was cleaning out my office area on a Saturday afternoon. There were several shoe boxes full of old software CDs I was determined to trash. Luckily I checked every one before tossing it because I found a movie I made about my Father shortly after he died in 1990.

Melissa was just a baby when we bought a camera to document her childhood (who doesn't!). I searched through the videos of my daughter and grabbed any chunks that contained my Dad. There are some other interesting scenes in the movie, for example, when my Dad finally got his big boat in the water!

I'm not sure why I originally made it. Even now, 17 years later, it's not an easy thing to watch, but it's part of Coyle Family history, so I'm sharing it. The entire movie is only three minutes long. Click here to watch it.
]]> 186@http://www.CoyleFamily.com Photos 2007-11-12T10:30:32-06:00 Posted by coyle