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.
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| Kids in front of Luke's School getting ready to scoot home |
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| En Route to Maya's School |
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| 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.
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| At the pub with Kelly and John. Luke napped in the stroller for much of the visit - which was great! |
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| 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. |
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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!
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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.
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| 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.
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| Dinosaur Luke! |
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| Trick or Treating in Sandymount |
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| Maya at a "Fancy Dress" party at school |
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| Luke scooting home from school in his costume! |
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| Luke fell asleep on the bike ride home from trick or treating |
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| But quickly woke up to check out the SWEETS! |
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| 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.
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| When we arrived in Galway there were crowds of people marching in the rain protesting the new water bill that the country just initiated |
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| 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.
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| Puddles are so fun |
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| 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.
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| Pit stop! Brendan will kill me for including this, but the father son tinkle was too funny. |
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| Lots of sheep in the road all just free to roam, spray painted so their owners could tell who belongs to who |
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| Maya in front of Kylemore Abbey |
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| More Sheep |
Maya taking selfies and pictures of Luke on the road trip!
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| 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 :)
