St. Patrick's Day

And I almost did my hair just like this! Wouldn't that have been embarrassing? Same hair do at the parade as someone else. Jeesh!

The parade started a little after twelve o'clock. Even though we couldn't see much of the parade-it was like 5 rows deep along the route-it was the whole atmosphere that really made it worth while to go. The people watching was first rate.

After the parade, we walked to Croke Park to watch a hurling match and a Gaelic football game. Sofie and Owen walked and talked the entire way. They had a mutual love for cats- instant friends.

Gaelic football is similar to regular football, except you can use your hands and bounce the ball once when running with it. Tackling with your shoulder is also allowed. Owen was great at explaining all the rules for both the hurling and football games. Note the absence of shin guards, pads, etc. for both games. Talk about toughness training!

Riding Lesson VIII

Lucy on J.R.

Sofie on Pele

Well, we're back to our normal, quiet routine. Tim's caught another cold so we stayed home all weekend. The girls need a break from being in the car too. Only for a couple of days though. We're heading to Dublin on Wednesday. In case you don't know, it's St. Patrick's Day! We're going to a hurling match after the parades. The gorgeous weather continues......sunny and 50. I've heard people comment that April is the best month here.

The time is going by so quickly and there's still so much to see! It's hard to believe we've been here a little over 3 months. Tim and I both feel like it's now our second home. Everything people tell you about Irish hospitality is true. I've never met more friendly people. Not creepy friendly either; there's something so warm and decent about having a cup of tea next to the fire with a stranger that makes it feel like you're dear old friends. Is it the fire? The tea? I don't know but I'm hording tea to bring home and I've made plans to tear out our sterile gas fireplace and replace it with a real fireplace--hearth and all! There's something so primal about gathering around an open flame-listening to it snap and pop, poking in it, and watching the flames and embers glow. We will need a project when we get home and really, how hard can it be, right? I've got Tim!

Goodbye Nana

Waterfall at Birr Castle

Left Bank, Athlone

300 yr. old Bavarian urns at Birr Castle.

Mom at Birr Castle, walking through the formal Millenium Garden.

Mom left this morning. It felt normal there for a week being all together, seeing her everyday. The girls have been pretty quiet all day. They definetly miss their Nana already. I'm still amazed at their strength and resilience to all the changes that have been going on the last three months. Are they oblivious? Do they really notice all of it? Or am I doing a great job at keeping things normal and right in their little world? I hope Yes is the answer to all the above.

Everyone here talks so much about the awful weather. I told Mom she'd better bring a raincoat and be prepared for gloomy days. Not the case. Mom had the best weather we've all seen here since we arrived! Nothing but sunshine and clear skies the entire week. Ruth, on the other hand, experienced true Irish weather. Only a couple more months, then we'll be homeward bound!

Trim Castle

Another ridiculously sunny day. I say ridiculous because we've had nothing but grey skies, fog, and rain for so long that when you get a couple sunny days it's like someone is playing a joke on you. I swear mom brought it in her bag. My face hurts from squinting!
Sunday we drove over to Trim to see Trim Castle. It's the largest Norman castle in Europe. It was amazing. The film Braveheart was shot here (in case you wanted to know). We toured the keep with a guide. Not for those who have a fear of heights--we got to go on the roof of the keep and look out across Trim. To exit the roof, we walked down a very narrow spiral staircase, 84 steps in total. This was a great site for the kids--they could run around the grounds. They are getting very tired of "staying on the path". It's was really nice to just lay on the lawn and soak up the sun.

Part of the moat that once surrounded the entire castle.

The keep

Trim Castle

Galway and The Cliffs

Another gorgeous, sunny day. I think Mom brought the sun with her! We're on a winning streak with the weather so we're taking full advantage of it. We drove over to Galway in the early afternoon and then headed over to the Cliffs of Moher to watch the sun go down.

I love how every time we go someplace we've been before, we always see something new. We've been to Galway a couple of times now and it was the first time we saw live statues. The statue in the picture is of a real person. If you drop a few coins in his jug he tips his hand to you. He was the best one we saw. He even had a pigeon sitting on his arm!

This woman was really good too. Sofie ran up and threw some coins into her bag (a great way to get rid of some change).

The Snow Queen handed Sofie a fortune from her bag. It read "We are what we imagine ourselves to be.", Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Since the wind wasn't blowing 30mph, I took hold of one girl, Tim grabbed the other one and we hopped the fence and walked along the footpath that follows along the edge of the cliffs. Can you see all the little people standing along the very edge? When you're on top you don't get the sense of how high you are until you lean over and look down. Still haven't seen any puffins. All we see are loads of sea gulls. After we watched the sun go down we drove home, first stopping in Ballyvaughn for dinner. We ate at Monk's, a seafood pub on the coast, complete with a roaring fire and hand knit wool curtains. Sofie promptly read the menu and said she'd like the mussels. Mussels? She loved them. I had mussels too. We had quite the pile of shells when we were done.

Riding Lesson VII

Riding lessons today. Perfect weather and finally (I think) I've kind of figured out how to take better action pictures. Who knew action shots were so hard? I thought my digital camera would do everything for me and make me look awesome. Not that easy. I picked up a couple photography books at the library....still trying to make sense of f-stops and aperture settings. My brain usually freezes when they start talking about depth of fields, light levels, etc. but I tried really hard to make sense of a couple of the action tips.
The girls did four jumps in a row this afternoon. It was just grand. Lucy is very serious when she rides. Sofie on the other hand shows all her emotion in her face. It's such a thrill to see them jump (and not fall off!). I think I hold my breath when they go over! Sofie on Pele.

Lucy on Berty.

Nana

Mom made it here this morning! The world is set right now that Nana is here. What a Thursday--Nana and riding lessons all in one day. Could it get any better? Jet lag hasn't hit yet.....it's coming. We went down to Athlone in the afternoon to walk around, feed the swans, and play at the playground before riding lessons. She was treated to a rare Irish sunny day. Athlone felt very alive today. The sidewalks were full of people, kids on the playground, bicycles zooming by....funny how a sunny day cheers everyone up.

Nana and Sofie