ISLAND IN THE FUN WITH KIDS

This week has been pretty amazing for our family as we’ve set off on our first proper holiday in five years.

We have visited relatives in different places over the last few years and had a few days away here and there with the boys.

But it has been so long since we had a relaxing vacation away from it all.

I realised that my oldest son Bryson has never had one – and he’s now five years old.

So he was pretty excited when we arrived at Amel ia Island in Florida to begin our break.

It ’s just outside Jacksonville and is full of great beaches and things to do for the children.

It ’s the idea l venue for our family holiday b e c aus e the kids are at an age where they enjoy the beach and other activities.

It has been great fun already and I’m sure we will have plenty of great memories when we get back home.

I’ve been doing a lot of travelling this week because I had a flying visit to Vegas before I went down to Florida.

But don’t worry, I wasn’t gambling with our holiday money. It was st r ict ly NFL business, albeit with a bit of fun thrown in.

I must have been in Nevada for less than 24 hours all in – but it was worth it.

The NFL have this big licensing expo every year and I was invited to go along and meet thousands of fans.

League chiefs asked me to come out for few hours so I f lew in Tuesday night.

The expo was held on the following morning and I was there for two hours before f lying home to get ready to go on vacation.

I got to kick around with other players such as EJ Manuel of the Buf falo Bi l ls and Tyrann Mathieu of the Arizona Cardinals while I was in Vegas.

The expo is a great way for the fans to meet some of their heroes and there were thousands of booths set up for them.

It was pretty wild and hectic but I got to relax a little on the f light back to Carolina as I watched the USA take on Argentina in the Copa America semis.

We have a rich history for sporting upsets – after reaching the last eight of the 2002 World Cup and that epic Olympic Gold in the ice hockey back in 80.

But it’s tough when you’re up against the best player of all time and Lionel Messi was amazing.

The way he put that free-kick into the top corner was incredible and we could have few complaints about the 4- 0 defeat.

I have also been following Euro 2016 and learning all about the Will Griggs on Fire chant from Northern Ireland’s fans.

I followed a parody Twitter account about it and haven’t stopped laughing since.

The whole story is cracking me up – it’s just so ridiculous.

As I’ve mentioned in past columns, I’m a big Bayern Munich fan from the time I spent in Germany as a kid.

Germany are playing Slovakia today so I’ll be watching that.

There’s no such thing as an easy game at this stage but I always have confidence that the Germans can do it.