Clive and Murray's review of 2011 ....

2011 was a huge year in the House of Clive - so many things happened that it was very hard to sit down over the past few days and pick out some highlights!  Everyone in the house had an opinion on what was their most memorable moment, which is just how it should be.  Anyway, here are Murray and Clive's main 2011 highlights ....

January 2011 ....
January was the month that Clive and Murray met the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Gerry Breen who hosted a special thank you evening for the Dublin volunteers of Irish Guide Dogs.  Without volunteers it would be very hard to run a charity like Irish Guide Dogs.  Meeting with up Rosemary and Clint (Clive's brother) always thrills Murray and that evening  was only the beginning of another year of working again with Clint, fundraising with him and attending school talks with him.  Clint and Clive make a great impact together helping to spread awareness about guide dogs and assistance dogs.

In January we also had visitors all the way from Lubbock, Texas.  It was wonderful to meet some of our blogging friends in person.  Again, it was only our first blogging visitor of the year, we were thrilled to have another very special friend come visit later in the year as well ...

February 2011 ....

February was a very special month - Murray's Confirmation.  He might not have understood every bit of it but he understood enough to make it a very special celebration.  Huge thanks again to his teachers in St Augustine's School who prepared him so well for his special day.

Just after Murray's confirmation the family went to Spain for a week which was a very busy week as Clive was in the middle of the 'Actimel Full of Life Winter Moment' competition to try and win €10,000 for Irish Guide Dogs.  Huge thanks again to all our family, friends and supporters of autism assistance dogs who voted throughout the long campaign each and every day and particularly during that last week in February while we were out of the country!  In particular Paul Oliver Murphy who was like Clive's campaign manager - Paul - we would never have done it without you!  We had incredible support throughout January and February and we were absolutely thrilled to finally win the €10,000 to help provide more autism assistance dogs.

Our General Election was also looming that month as well and Clive was busy meeting prospective leaders of the country as they took part in a charity bet run by Paddy Powers Bookmakers for Irish Guide Dogs.

Clive's photo with our now Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Enda Kenny made the front cover of every newspaper in the country, was on the front cover of  The Phoenix (Ireland's top satirical magazine) and Clive was even mentioned on TV3's Vincent Browne's programme when the question of 'whether the doodle would do a better job in Brussels' was asked by Vincent!

March 2011 .....

March was another very busy month and an important month too as Clive's blog was recognised in the Irish Blog Awards 2011 and awarded Best Specialist Blog 2011.  We were hugely honoured to have Clive's Blog recognised in this way and many thanks again to those who nominated us and accepted the award on our behalf as unfortunately we were out of the country and unable to be there in Belfast in person to accept it.

For March is also the month that Murray goes to Disneyland Paris for St Patrick's Day its a bit of tradition for him and one he is very unwilling to give up despite the fact that he has been going for so many years now.  What was great this year was to see so many other families with children with autism from Ireland visiting at the same time as well.  Disneyland Paris really understand and treat children with special needs well and it is no surprise to us that nine other families we know with children with autism are all going back over to Disneyland Paris this coming March to see 'Mickey' in green again (and yes, Murray will be among them!)

April 2011 ....

April was the launch Shades 2011 - the main fundraiser of the year for Irish Guide Dogs and Clive was delighted to be along at the launch with Hector O hEochagáin.  Hector is a great supporter of Irish Guide Dogs and has even sponsored a puppy in training - called unsurprisingly Hector - this year through his daily breakfast radio show Hector on RTE 2fm.

Clive was 6 in April - always a very important day for Murray who celebrates Clive's birthday with as much ceremony and consideration as he does his own!  April was also the month that we heard that Dublin Zoo were going to allow service dogs visit on a 'phrased and trial' basis.  Unfortunately this has yet to happen so Murray and Clive still can't visit together but one of their big 'wishes' for 2012 is that they will be able to visit together (certainly before Clive retires!!)

April also saw Murray and Clive interviewed live on television on RTE television's Four Live afternoon show.  The presenter Maura Derrane spoke to Murray about Clive and how he helps him and their success in the Danone Actimel competition and we were incredibly proud of how well Murray and Clive managed the 'live' interview.

May 2011 ....

May was another very important month for Murray and Clive as they were 'official mascots' for the Dublin Ladies Senior Football team at their League Final game against Meath in Parnell Park.  Thanks to the Dublin captain Cliodhna O'Connell who is always great with Murray whenever she meets him and to all the Dublin players and County Board for their support of Irish Guide Dogs.

May was also a great month for Murray's sister Sorcha as she played with the Dublin Ladies U-14 team and they won their All Ireland semi-final match against Galway.

June 2011 ....

June was a very special month indeed - "A magical Murray moment" - this was the month that Murray and Clive took their first walk together.  Just Murray and Clive (with no Mom, Dad or sister) having to tag along and supervise.  It was a huge moment in the House of Clive and that blog post is one of our three favourites of the year because it marked such a huge moment in Murray's journey to independence.

June also saw us down in Cork for the official re-opening of the Irish Guide Dogs Training Centre and Murray and Clive got to meet the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny again!  The newly redeveloped Centre offers state-of-art training and breeding facilities and hopefully will mean many more dogs can be provided for children with autism and the blind and visually impaired.

While down in Cork Murray and Clive also visited the English Market where the Queen of England had also visited only a few weeks earlier.  Murray really enjoyed this as he recognises the Queen from his Johnny English DVD's!

Sorcha was also playing again with the Dublin U-14's and there were huge celebrations when they took home the U-14 Blitz title having narrowly missed out on beating Cork in the All Ireland U-14 Final a few weeks earlier.  Clive and Murray are huge Dublin supporters whether it's the U-14's, the Ladies or the Men playing!



July 2011 ....

July was our 'Sorchaless' month as Murray's big sister went to Irish college for three weeks but it was also the first time that Murray didn't attend the summer camp in his school and spent the month doing 'special' things with Clive and his Mom.  It was a month that his Mom took time to reflect back on all the Murray has achieved as it was nearing his 13th birthday - "A summer of change, a summer to take note of .... " is our second favourite post of 2011.

August 2011 .....

August was the month we went back to Hilton Head in South Carolina.  Our great friend Jane (whom we met through blogging) invited us back over to HHI.  We enjoyed our visit just as much as the year before - Murray particularly loved the dolphins that came back to 'talk' to him in Harbourtown.  He was also fascinated to visit 'St Augustine' in Florida and discover a town with the same name as his school.

Murray was 13 in August - officially a teenager!  He spent his birthday in Universal Studios meeting Barney!  Moments like this hit you hard sometimes because the rest of the kids there were 3 and 4 years old.  But Mrs Peekaboo and Barney were wonderful with Murray and we took lots of photos of that special moment when 'Murray met Barney' .

September 2011 ....

"On the road to Croker with Clive and Murray" was another important post for us as Clive and Murray looked back on their 'Dublin' journey.  Without Clive Murray would never have become the proud and happy 'Dub' supporter that he is and Dublin winning the All Ireland Football Final for the first time since 1995 this September was one of the major highlights of the year in the House of Clive!

Another huge highlight from September was Jane's visit to us in Dublin.  While we have known Jane through our blogs for the past three years and we have visited her twice in South Carolina and New York - it was really wonderful to have Jane over here with us in Ireland.  Jane's book on her trip to Dublin is one of our most precious gifts of 2011.

October 2011 ....
October saw Dublin Ladies GAA make Irish Guide Dogs their charity of choice for 2011/12.  We were delighted at this news and Clive thoroughly enjoyed meeting the Dublin Senior, U-16, and U-14 captains for the press release photos!  We know Irish Guide Dogs are very much looking forward to many fundraising activities with Dublin Ladies GAA during 2012.

October was also the month that Murray's horse bolted during one of his group riding sessions - he did get back on his horse again the following week but Murray's pleasure and enjoyment in riding has been somewhat dimmed by this experience.  He has a long memory .....

Halloween however cheered him up and his Cat in the Hat outfit was one of his absolute favourites of all time!   Having Clive and his friend Buddy as Thing 1 and Thing 2 was the icing on the cake!

November 2011 .....

"A truly momentous Day - Murray''s 1st shave" - is our third special favorite post of 2011.  Murray was and is so proud of the fact that he is now shaving just like Dad.  Okay, he may only need to do it every few weeks but he is so happy to have reached another 'milestone'.

Murray was also Student of the Week again during November - he really appreciates this acknowledgement from his school and counts up each year how many times he makes Student of the Week.  He can tell you not only how many times but the exact date of each award as well.  He also won a trophy for Most Improved Swimmer along with a gold medal for his breaststroke so he was one happy boy!

December 2011 ...
Murray loves December - the whole anticipation of Christmas and Santa.  Again we had plenty of time this month to be very grateful for having Clive in our lives as visits to Grandad in hospital and Santa were made much easier by Clive's constant present by Murray's side.

We fundraised again and attended carol services with Clive's brother Clint and were very thankful at the end of the year all that Clive and Murray have achieved together in 2011.

We are also thankful for all the wonderful friends that we have all around the world who continually support us with kind comments as we travel along our always interesting path with Murray and Clive.  Murray is incredibly proud of his dog Clive's blog.  It is very important to Murray to see his photos on 'Clive's blog' and for that reason we continue to share our stories and continue to blog.

2011 was a very successful and eventful year for Clive and Murray ....

Our main wish for 2012 has to be that more children with autism will receive autism assistance dogs ....

(Clive and Murray's wish also is that Dublin win the All Ireland again this year!) - they insisted we  finish with that!

- Clive & Co

ps-we know Clive was giving out lots of share tips and advice over the past few years and doing rather well (investing the money for Irish Guide Dogs) and after achieving a blow-out 66% profit in 2010 - he took a break in 2011 but due to popular demand he'll return shortly with his share tips for 2012!