Craft Day

Will and I went for a walk this morning with our friends Luke and Liz. Luke will be three in February and he keeps Will on his toes- teaches him new things all the time. Will ran all over Pheonix Park and loved exploring in the long grass. We picked up leaves to do leaf rubbings with- mostly oak- and made a pretty little drawing to show Craig when he gets home. Liz found the first acorn of fall- which means the weather is going to get bad soon. Actually the first day of Fall is this Saturday so screw you Fall we are catching a flight to sunny Gran Canaria that day! Can't wait to hang out with my guys poolside sipping ridiculous fruity drinks. The only umbrella I want to see is the one in my cocktail glass!

all the long grass was tickly on his face and he kept scrunching up his nose

Liz holding Maple with Luke and Will. Liz and Luke are taking care of Mapes while we are away

old tree

first gloves of the season

had to buy new shoes again...the one's on the left are from 5 months ago...now he wears the one's on the right size 8H (about the length of my hand)

logos...logos everywhere

Liz and comrade Luke

the Vikings are back in Ireland and this time they are pushing the English around

...where we're going we don't need roads

fort awesome

Red Mills Irish Championships Stakes

Huge lapse between posts. Sorry. Life is busy with our growing man. He must be around 40 lbs by now and never stops running around and exploring.

Craig scored us free tickets to the Red Mills race in Leopardstown on Sept 8th. We were by no means the most stylish people there (I wore the wrong kind of hat!) but we had a good time. Don't get too excited...there were no leopards there. The town is actually named for a former leper colony on the site and the name in Irish is Baile na Lobhar. I guess Leopardstown looks nicer on the signs than Leper's town.

http://www.leopardstown.com/Leopardstown/Home/

Day trip to Malahide

Mostly in an effort to avoid the huge amounts of tourists in Dublin today (Notre Dame vs Navy American Football game) we opted for a day trip to Malahide instead of our usual trip downtown. We've only been here for a few months but we can totally spot the tourists. The weather was gorgeous, though a little windy, and we had a great time walking along the beach. We all took our shoes off and William had a lot of fun pouring sand on his feet from seashells. The razor clam shells are so big and there were lots of flat black stones. Craig tried to teach Will how to skip the rocks and while Will has a great arm for his age the skipping is going to have to wait until he gets better dexterity. Lunch was fish and chips at the pub. Great day out.

Will catching some zzz's and holding mommy's shoes

My awesome friend Laurn, another expat, who is due with her first child soon

Lauren, Briand and Craig making their way down the beach

Craig hauling Will up a cliff in the stroller to get around some gravel on the beach.

sand feels so good on the toes

baby bum, mummy bum.

a touching moment ;)

My guys

tan lines in Ireland: Huge accomplishment!!!!!!!

Lauren and Brian

Will would pick up rocks and sand and toss them into the water. His right shoulder was covered in sand by the time we left the beach. He's got a good arm.

clouds moving in to rain on our parade. We hit the pub shortly after this

The tiniest, grumpy old man. William, Jack Lemmon called and he wants his hat back.

Looking at all the sailboats. Grandpa would be proud.

Old building at the Malahide train station

William being an adult on the train and holding on instead of sitting in his stroller