Update!!

Because I'm lazy and need to do a better job of updating this blog more regularly this post is going to be mostly pictures and captions from the past couple of weeks. Some readers might actually prefer this! 
Since my last blog post I have purchased scooters for the kids, which they LOVE. I still need to get them bikes, but the scooters are a start. It takes significantly longer to get to school when they insist on scooting the entire way.

Kids in front of Luke's School getting ready to scoot home

En Route to Maya's School

Maya posing on a scooter trip from her school to Luke's school one afternoon

We were also so excited to have our first visitors! While they were here to run the marathon and not to see us, we were still equally as excited to get to spend some time with Kelly and John. The kids and I got to see them one evening after school for a few pints and dinner, but then a few days later we got a babysitter for the first time and had a great night downtown with these two.

At the pub with Kelly and John. Luke napped in the stroller for much of the visit - which was great! 

Pub dancing! It was the day before Halloween break (mid-term break) and Maya had "fancy dress up" at school so that explains the Elsa costume. 

Bowdoin in Dublin! We snuck this picture while John was in the bathroom on our way from dinner to a pub for some traditional Irish music and of course more dancing!

Despite being 500 meters from the finish line for almost an hour, some how John and Kelly managed to sneak by all 4 of us without us seeing them! I was sooooo bummed. I still have no idea how we missed them with Kelly wearing her very large Guiness hat. Once I tracked them on-line and realized they zoomed by us we headed to their hotel and were able to see them there and say goodbye as they headed off to Galway the next day. Can't wait for them to come back :)

The night we went out with Kelly and John was also the night before Brendan's birthday, so it doubled as a bit of a birthday celebration.  However, the next night, his actual birthday we had dinner at our friend's Sara, Sean and Jaspers house where Brendan blew out a candelabra since we didn't have real candles before having his birthday cake.

The kids helped! 

I also finally got my new bike! LIFE CHANGING!!!

 

We celebrated Halloween Dublin style, which is quite different than Salem, but the kids still got plenty of candy, or sweets as they say here and were excited to wear their costumes.

Dinosaur Luke! 

Trick or Treating in Sandymount

Maya at a "Fancy Dress" party at school

Luke scooting home from school in his costume! 

Luke fell asleep on the bike ride home from trick or treating

 But quickly woke up to check out the SWEETS! 

Maya at a birthday party Halloween Day

After Halloween we took a one night trip to Galway. The weather was rainy, but we still had a lot of fun.

When we arrived in Galway there were crowds of people marching in the rain protesting the new water bill that the country just initiated

Better picture of the protesters

All ages of people were protesting the new water bill.  Some people were dressed in costumes since it was just Halloween the day before and holding signs. One little girl (maybe 8) was dressed as a ghost holding a sign that read, "I'm dead thirsty, but won't pay."  Apparently there was also a lot of protesting in Dublin, but we only saw the Galway protests.

Below are some more photos of us exploring Galway. Such a fun city, with lots of live music and fun pubs, cobble stone streets, and shops with a lot of Irish wool products.

Puddles are so fun

Luke took this photo of me wearing a child's scali cap

 

We had dinner at a pub and then the kids were exhausted so we headed back to our apartment and called it a night. I was drawn out again by the good music we could hear from the apartment, while Brendan stayed with the kids and made some Paddy Power bets on the computer. I met a bunch of nice people and had some good Craic!

The next day we drove up to Connemara just north of Galway to take in some scenic drives and check out Kylemore Abbey.

Pit stop! Brendan will kill me for including this, but the father son tinkle was too funny. 

Lots of sheep in the road all just free to roam, spray painted so their owners could tell who belongs to who

Maya in front of Kylemore Abbey

More Sheep

 Maya taking selfies and pictures of Luke on the road trip!
 

View from Sky Road drive in Clifden

In Dublin last weekend we took our first trip to Dublin Castle.   This was really cool and right in the middle of the city. The kids loved it, especially running around the garden. 

On our way to yoga my bike had it's first adult rider. It worked ok as long as we were not uphill!

PwC also provided us with our first Rugby tickets. We saw Ireland demolish Georgia. It was really fun to watch the game in the stadium. So much more fun than American Football since the game doesn't stop for 10 minutes every 30 seconds! 

Sorry for the long post! I'll try to be better next time :) 

Settling in

Sorry for the length of time between my last post and this one. It has been a busy couple of weeks.  I have been fully consumed with moving from temporary housing into the new house as well as getting the kids to and from their new schools and attempting some sort of routine amidst moving and IKEA assembling chaos.

Maya started at St. Matthews in Sandymount last week. She LOVES it, however all of last week I was second guessing my decision to send her there. We had some bad weather and the 1 mile walk back and forth, twice a day was making life harder than I thought. Earlier this week, I reached back out to St. Brigid's (2 minute walk from the house) to see if the spot was still available. I felt terrible about switching Maya from a school she was really loving, but I thought that the convenience was going to be more beneficial in the end. I even went to St. Brigid's and got a uniform with the intention of starting her on Tuesday Oct 21.  When I got back to the house with the uniform in hand I just couldn't do it.  Maya was not happy, and something about the school just didn't seem right for Maya, plus she LOVES St. Matthews and was already making friends. So, I flip flopped AGAIN and decided to keep her at St. Matthews and suck up the walk each day for Maya (there is nothing wrong with a little extra exercise, right?).  Plus, my new bike has been ordered, so the commute will take a lot less time each day.

Luke is also settling into his school routine really well. Luke's school is very convenient, since it is right on our lane just a minute walk down the street. He cried the first few days when I left him, but was fine shortly after according to his teacher. Now a week into the routine he was all smiles when I left. He is so excited to tell me about his day when I pick him up.  His Panda Bear, Buddy has also become a part of his class and has to go to school with him everyday! They sing the good morning song to each kid and they now even sing it to Buddy.  One of Luke's little friends at school, Milo lives just two doors down from our house, so everyone was very excited when we realized this!

Photos of the kids on their first days of school in Ireland (we were still in our temporary housing when they started school)
                


We were all very excited to see all our stuff arrive from the US, just having our own things has started to make this new house feel like home. The kids were very excited to see the toys they parted with over 2 months ago.  It is also very exciting for me to have all my kitchen stuff, even though things like my roasting pan, and cookie sheets are too big for these tiny European ovens. They have now become kitchen decor taking up precious space!

Our trip to IKEA last weekend was utter chaos with the two kids. They of course wanted everything they saw. We were able to get all the big items that we needed for extra storage, but I will have to make another trip back sans kids to get all the other bits and pieces.

Brendan is in his third week of work, still trying to get his feet under him, but tells me that everyone has been really nice and helpful so far.  Six guys, four of them that sit in the same area of the office as Brendan, pooled money for a lottery ticket last week and WON!! They each spent 3 euro and each walked away with about 80,000 euro. Brendan was pretty bitter that he hadn't started work a few weeks early, made friends with those guys and got in on the pool. But, he has opened a Paddy Power account since it seems to be a large part of Irish culture.  Here is to wishful thinking that the luck of the Irish will come through in some of these bets.

The weekend before last we did a small excursion each day on the DART (Irish Rail system that runs up and down the coast). I'm not sure if the kids were more excited about the transport or the excursion.

Kids looking out the window riding the DART

 On Saturday we went up north to a town called Howth, the train ride took about 30 minutes.  Howth was really beautiful and we chose a beautiful sunny late afternoon to head up there after spending the morning at GNIB (Garda National Immigration Bureau) registering with the immigration office.  Needless to say, after that long task we were ready for some fresh air and sunshine. The seafood up in Howth is fresh and delicious so we picked a restaurant on the pier and enjoyed a nice meal.  Below are some photos from Howth.

 Monkey Faces! 

 

Being silly!

Luke admiring the boats which made him think of his Poppy! 

                                         The next day we took the DART in the opposite direction and went to a town called Dun Laoghaire, which is another seaside town.  It is actually more of a little city, especially when compared to the quaintness of Howth.  The harbor in Dun Laoghaire is one of the largest in the country and now a base for a car ferry to Britain. We didn't explore too much, but did go to a play ground for the kids and then an outdoor food market that takes place every Sunday. I am looking forward to going back and exploring more of the town. Here are some photos from Dun Laoghaire:

Maya was the photographer, she got us and the sky!