Adare

For our first Ireland outing, we're checking out the village of Adare. Ella is bright-eyed and bushy tailed, but Jacob won't wake up. We dress him in his sleep, move him downstairs while sleeping, and leave him on a chair while everyone else gets ready to go. Once loaded up, we stop by the Manor house. We walk around a bit, looking at the entry hall, the dining hall, and the grounds. The grounds crew were working on the geometrical gardens so we had to cut the visit short. Next was a quick drive by of the ruined Augustinian Priory. It's on the Manor grounds, but isn't open to the public. Next we stopped by the Trinitarian Abbey and walked around. There is school in session so there wasn't much we could see, so we headed to the Adare Heritage Centre. Klif and Jordan opted to walk around town while we took a tour of Adare Castle. It was really interesting. Unfortunately, this tour seemed to correspond with Ella's nap time so Kris and I had to take turns taking her away from the tour group so other people could hear. Ella picked up three more words: rock, walk, and camera. Yell these at the top of your voice repeatedly for an idea of our tour. Jacob, on the other hand, kept quiet but decided to take his entire tour while jumping. Once we returned to the Heritage Centre, we met up with Klif and Jordan and headed back to the Villas. Then we all took naps except for Jacob who watched movies all afternoon.

Pictures: http://s292.photobucket.com/albums/mm4/jessica_c_rhodes/Adare/

Day 1- LAX to DUB to SNN

September 6th and 7th:

We were taken to the airport by wonderful friends, Brooke, Michelle, and Miles (plus baby Lincoln!) and had no problems checking in. The plane was 45 minutes late, but the kids were easily entertained watching airplanes. Jacob was really happy that we were going on a green plane since it's his favorite color. The kiddos were decked out in new pajamas and everyone oohed and ahhed over how cute they were. The kids were really good on the flight with only a few short bouts of crying from Ella. Once asleep, Ella was placed in a weird cardboard box that they called a bassinette. She was too long by about 4 inches, so her sleep was fitful. Jacob fell asleep with a blanket over his head because he thought that the inflight movie, Prince Caspian, was "too sad."

Once in Dublin, we speed walked to get to our plane and took a 30 minute flight to Shannon. Kris and Klif picked up the rental car and Klif very quickly figured out driving a stick with the left hand. We were all terrified, but impressed. On the way from the airport to Adare, we saw at least 5 castles or castle like things and lots of cows. Once at the Manor House, we were greeted by a doorman who Jacob thought was Sir Topamhat from Thomas the Tank Engine. The Manor is amazing! The entryway alone was breathtaking. Jacob was confused by the fireplace and asked why the people were camping inside. Ella picked up a new word (in addition to the words I left off her previous word list). Unfortunately that word is "booger" and she uses it to show everyone the boogers she's pulled out of her nose.

We went to The Villas where we were staying and were all amazed at all the niceties. We have three bedrooms, four baths, five TVs, a full kitchen, dining room, sun room, patio, sitting room, washer/dryer, and a dishwasher. It's better than anywhere we've ever lived so we're trying to figure out how to come up with the 643 Euros per night we'd need to stay here forever. Ella had a hard time getting to sleep but after around 12:30, she was out for the night. Jacob, on the other hand went right to sleep, but woke up at 1:00 asking if it was dinner time yet. He got into bed with us, but remained awake so at 2:30 I (Jessica) got up with him and made him breakfast. He must have been starving because he ate two bowls of cereal and half a banana. We watched some TV and he began to get sleepy so he and I curled up in front of our fake fireplace and went to sleep around 4:30. Jordan was awake by 8:00 so I moved Jacob back into bed with Kris.

Pictures:

http://s292.photobucket.com/albums/mm4/jessica_c_rhodes/Airport%20and%20Adare/

Ella's Words

Ella’s Words as of 9/6/08:

Mommy, Daddy, Mawmaw (Grandma), Jayji (Jacob), Momo (Tomo), Kaykay (Kate), Awa (Ella), baby

Tee (teeth), eye, no (nose), mowf (mouth), hay (hair), eay (ear), beebee (belly button)

Hat, shoe

Thegue (thank you), bessoo (bless you), he go (here you go), no, bye bye, hi, uh oh, whoa, yay

Water, joo (juice), maok (milk), nack (snack), by (bite)

Animal noises: meow, woof woof (also what she calls all dogs), rawr, ooh ooh (also what she calls all monkeys), bunny, deet deet (also what she calls all birds), cow, moo

Boxes

Ireland!

Tomorrow we head to Ireland and her 40 shades of green. We have our suitcases packed and are finalizing our snack list for the grocery store. Klif and Jordan arrived safely and we're all really excited! The only existing challenge will be getting some sleep tonight! Oh, and my camera came in the mail yesterday so we're set.

Pictures! But not with our camera...

A friend of a friend is a photographer so I asked her to take some beach pictures of us before we leave California. We have a million pictures on CD so here is a sampling of the fabulous work that she does. Like what you see? Contact Susan Emrich : )

Progress

Both bedrooms upstairs are done-- carpet is shampooed, closets are cleaned out, baseboards are wiped down-- and the bathroom is starting to shape up. We threw out an entire trashcan full of half-used soaps and lotions and medicines. It was pretty cathartic. Our remaining toiletries are packed in travel bags, ready to be thrown into our suitcase for Ireland. The kitchen is being emptied and shuttled to our friends. The livingroom is nearly devoid of furniture and is home to a cardboard box fort. If I had my camera, I'd take a picture : )