Halloween Fun

Brooks' class party, his adorable teachers Jen and Fiona.

After the party he had a spider on his face!

Ward Trunk-or-treat party, all the super heros!

More Pleeeeease!

Stephen and Allan handing out sweets from the boot of our car. 

Trick-or-treatiing with friends.

Jade, Lilly, Haylie, Zoey, Brooks, Ava, Erin

After we knocked on the door this lady pops out of her window to hand out candy.

Jade, Crystal, Lilly

Erin, Louise, Ava

 

We definitely had a Happy Halloween with our crazy princess and goofy spider-man!



Dublin ZOO

 Last Saturday we went to the Dublin Zoo, the weather was a bit chilly but the sun was shining so that was a bonus! It was much larger than we were expecting. It is situated within a large park, kind of like Central Park in NY, but much BIGGER called Phoenix Park. Also located within the park is the U.S. embassy and the governors mansion, but I don't think they call him governor.? We had a great time with a friend from Brooks' class, it definitely filled our day and wore us out!

 Zoey Gorilla

 We were lucky we went a little earlier in the day because we were able to catch several feedings, including this BIG guy. He was hilarious reaching out for the apples and catching them like a pro.

 Watching the BIG guy eat.

 They sure do LOVE their dad, they fight over being held by him.

 Brooks said the thumb was missing on this one.

He absolutely LOVES reading maps, anykind of map, even the ones on the takeout menus that get put in our door EVERYDAY! He navigated us quite well on the loop of the Zoo.

 Miss Grumpy pants refusing to follow mommy.

 Our cute friend Daniel

 The penguins are always our favorite, they're so friendly!

Love these two and our fun adventure at the Zoo!



Knowth Megalithic Passage Tomb, Meath Ireland

Our touring of Ireland has begun. We decided to start with sites that are relatively close and Stephen had heard about a place called Newgrange, but knew nothing about it, so we packed a pic-nic and started driving. We arrived and found out that we needed reservations so we were unable to visit Newgrange, however were able to get tickets to visit Knowth- a less popular site because you can't go INSIDE the tombs, oh well we're game. So from the visitors center we walked about 10 minutes down a beautiful trail- over a river and through some woods to the bus stop.

After waiting for the bus we took a short ride, 7 minutes to be exact, to the location of the Knowth tombs. It was a beautiful sight with spectacular views of the Irish countryside. There was tour guide that led us around the tombs and told us all about it....however we were chasing our kids around and heard about 2 sentences of the 30 minute presentation. But oh well, we were loving the views and just being out feeling like tourists.

 

 One sentence of the tour I caught was that the tombs are mowed by a robotic mower that is tied at the top and mows down the sides, creating the lines seen here. Haha.

 Don't let him fool you, he was NOT sleeping, just being grumpy.

 Pretty sure he was NOT supposed to be climbing on top of the ancient tombs, whose kid is that anyway???

 Running and playing in the lush green grass.

 Climbing to the top of the large tomb.

 

Family pic on top of the large tomb, look at those views! Loving it!!



Happy Birthday to Me

My beautiful babies made me some Peppa Pig cupcakes, with a little assistance from me. But they picked it out all on their own and were eager to make them for me....well it took some convincing that it was MOMMY's Birthday and not theirs, but we got there.

I didn't take very many pictures of me on my day, but it was sure fun spending it with these two. Zoey and I spent some quality time at the mall and Brooks is always being silly!

 



 This picture was taken after midnight so please excuse the puffy eyes and drab looks on our faces, we just finished a rousing game of Apples to Apples.

 

 We went to dinner at Shimla, the local Indian hut, where the food was amazing but the service was extremely lacking to say the least. After waiting an HOUR to have our order taken we still had nothing to drink so Stephen ran to the local Spar and brought back some 2 litres of Coke.

We were at the restaurant almost 3 hours, including the 30 minutes it took to dispute the bill, sheesh.

But it was delicious so we'll probably be ordering takeout the next time.

 

 Chicken Korma, YUMMM.



Life in Ireland

So we've been here about a month now and I think we're finally settled in. We were living in the city center for two weeks when we first arrived until we decided where we wanted to be and located a nice, affordable apartment. The penthouse we were in would have been almost 3000 Euros a month, a little out of our price range. But I'm so glad we got  walk around the city for a few weeks and see and experience Dublin city life. Here are a few pictures of our adventures so far.

 

 Double decker busses aren't just for tourists, they are the city busses.

Random street with a few nice restaurants and cobblestone street. I love all the flowers all over the buildings everywhere.

 

 When I lived in England when I was younger one of my favorite memories was riding the train into the city and getting some nice hot donuts from street vendors. So I did a little research to see if they had something similar in Dublin and I found this little donut stand, so YUMMY!

 

This is St. Stephen's green in the city, just one block from where our temporary apartment was. This picture doesn't quite convey the beauty of all the plants and flowers that are so lush and gorgeous!

There are several ponds throughout the park and a very nice playground for the kiddos.

I just thought this little shop was so cute!

We stumbled upon this museum on our walk to the big ships festival one weekend. It had rows and rows of real stuffed animals in glass display cases, the kids loved it, a little creepy, but FREE entertainment.

 This is Stephen's office. It is right along the ocean inlet waterway and this was during the big ships festival, hence all the people in the streets.

 



This was our first walk through the streets of Dublin. We found a very nice outdoor shopping area known as Grafton Street, it gets very busy on sunny days, full of performers and tourists from ALL OVER the world. There is also an indoor mall just to my left.

 



We rented a car for a few days in order to get a better idea of the area we wanted to live in, but after a day of apartment hunting we decided to take a drive to the coast. We ate some delicious fish and chips walked the beaches. Our only excursion so far, but many more to come!

We are LOVING Ireland so far, the people are so fun and extremely friendly and helpful. The food is good and the shopping is GREAT! The kids are having a great time too meeting new friends and picking up new phrases, so cute! We can't wait for more adventures and visitors to share it with!