Day 1 and St. Patrick's Day IRELAND

We awoke at 4:30 am to fly to Ireland from Portland. We went to Newark then flew on to Ireland. We landed the next Saturday morning at 6 am. It was a LONG day considering we hadn't gotten much rest since the day previous. 

In the Dublin Airport. 

 GOing to get our HERTZ car rental! 

 We hopped in and Matt realized fully just how backward everything was! Driving on the wrong side of the road was perplexing.  

 We checked into our very nice Croke Park Hotel across from a Hurling/Rugby Stadium and headed out to walk and find something to eat. We found a breakfast joint- the Irish breakfast is a little different. Sausage Eggs Bacon (Ham) Toast. Matt enjoyed his first Irish Breakfast. 

 Walking down the the Main street in Ireland, O'Connell street. 

 Matt at Trinity College. 

 Pushing the sculpture outside the library at Trinity College. 

 The COOLEST old Library ever! Called the Long room or something like that. The books are organized small to large top to bottom rather than the Dewey decimal system or by author. It's crazy awesome how old this place is~

 We went and saw The Book Kells at Trinity College, its a SUPER old book, the first 4 gospels. It was done around 800 AD or so. 

 Walking down the street in Dublin. 

 Dublin Castle! The oldest part is the tower, then the Cathedral was added later on. 

 St. Patrick designed this garden- it's eels in the grass, there are actually no indigenous snakes in Ireland, there never has been any Snakes in Ireland. 

 Backside of Dublin Castle. 

 Christ's Church Cathedral

 Inside Christ's Church. 

 Stained Glass is read left to right bottom to top- 

 That evening we went to a Dinner at The Brazen Head Pub supposedly the oldest Pub in Ireland est. 1198 AD. It was a story telling evening about the Fairies and folklore of Ireland. I enjoyed it although my mom and I were the two in the group with our eyes open. Matt was pretty much asleep the whole time and my Dad nodded off a time or two as well. We walked everywhere in Dublin so that on top of the cold on top of not sleeping since 4:30 am the previous morning really helped us adjust to the jet lag :)

 The following morning we went to the Parade! My mom got us all Grand Stand tickets which enable us to sit in covered seats. 

 This was us leaving that morning on St. Patricks Day- I am wearing a green sweat but you cant see it. I have worn that scarf and coat every day it's been cold! But I promise I have on my green!

 O'Connell seat waiting for the Parade to start. 

 The four of us. 

 This carriage was made in 1798 and got 2600 pounds when it was made, pure gold etc etc. They still have it! So cool and even more amazing in person.  

 After the Parade (which about 700,000 attended we went on a walking tour of the city. I thought I was going to get trampled in that sea of green clad people lucky for me my husband is taller than the general population here, i held on tight to him as he navigated through the swarms. Our tour guide was true blue (really BLUE is the true color of St. Patrick, not green) and quite knowledgeable. 

 Here is St. Patrick's Cathedral. 

 (These pictures are out of energy but I am not going to take the time to put them BACK in order.) Here is one of the floats in the Parade-probable the coolest one. It was to commemorate the expedition to the South Pole or something like that. The Parade was actually pretty small with mostly American bands, not many horses or floats or native Irish like you would think. 

 Statue of St. Patrick in St. Patricks Cathedral- actually three separate statues of him fused together. 

 The interior of the Cathedral 

After we went to the Cathedral we walked home and ate some dinner at our hotel. 

We left Dublin to go to Cork the following morning. I'll hopefully post more about that tomorrow night. We're having a great time even though it's really cold and rainy the sights are BEAUTIFUL and the history is AMAZING. It's crazy how the folks here think a building is newer if it was build in the 18th or 19th century. 

Big Girl Maylee!

A few days ago Maylee woke up from her nap and came downstairs to find me. I picked her up and took her over to the bathroom to change her diaper. She said to me "Yuck, potty" I said "yep, you are supposed to go in the potty." She said "Potty!" I thought for a second then responded "You need to go potty?" So I sit her on the little training potty we have and I walk away with a "Tell me when you  are done." She likes to sit on the potty all the time, with no results. This time she came walking in the kitchen with her fresh diaper and pants. Then said  "Yuck, potty" I said "Yep, here let me put on your diaper." She laid down when I noticed uhh moisture on her leg. I went to the training potty low and behold she went! Like a big girl! WHA? I was so shocked! I was so excited for her and she kept looking at me like "what is going on...this is a big deal?" 

I gave her a special treat after we got all cleaned up, (luckily I had just made them!) She was excited about that! 

Big step in the right direction I think. We're still a long way off to full on potty training but i'm glad to know she is comfortable with it! Check out that puffy sleep face... love this girl.

Little Emma and a BIG Cookie!

Little Emma is quite the jumping enthusiast. Until she gets too tired of it. Matt put her in here while he was doing his insanity work out video. Emma was excited at the beginning, passed out by the end, no doubt being tired FOR Matt and how hard he works out.  

 AND I am that mom that takes pictures instead of picking her up and putting her in bed. 

 For the record I did try and put her in bed, she woke right up and wanted to play again. 

Matt has perfected the art of Chocolate Chip Cookie making complete with his own secret ingredient.  He halved the recipe so it makes 18 cookies. He makes about 10 for the kids and I to share, then he combines 8 and makes himself a GIANT cookie. He said he's "limiting himself to only one cookie" so it may as well be a good one right? HAHA He has to couple it with a big glass of Costco milk. That guy can eat and he loves his evening snacks!

Mom isn't home...

So Dad sets up this huge slide!

I love how Maylee crashes and Ty thinks yeah that'll be fun. He's so like is Dad. 

The kids also got some sticky alien guys, not sure where we got them. The kids LOVE to throw them really hard against the ceiling and wait for them to fall. They would wait and wait then get tired of looking up, look down and the alien would fall. It was great. Maylee was so patient with her arms up ready to catch.

President's Day

President's Day we went to the Medford Airport. 

 On our way to the Observation deck. 

 My Dad was pointing out to Ty where the plane was that was about to take off. 

 There it goes!

 Ty could have stayed there for quite some time longer. 

 We wandered inside and Ty found a train display. 

 He also found a big display of model Planes. 

We were waiting to walk into the replica of the Oval Office. Some other people were in there with some news cameras. 

The Airport had an extra room... so a bunch of businesses came together to make a replica of the Oval Office. It is supposed to be used for Business meetings, weddings parties... not sure what kind of couple wants to get married here but, you never know I guess. 

 It was open to the public today so we had a look. These are pictures from my Mom's Ipad. 

Maylee was leaving her mark on a fake Bill sitting on the desk. 

It's actually was pretty cool. Near the end I got snagged for an interview by the local news. Since we left for home that day I wasn't able to watch the news but I don't think my interview made it on anyhow. I had a baby strapped to my front. That makes for a weird looking interview :) Who know's maybe Maylee will be the first Woman president and this picture proves to be prophetic!

After that we headed over to our beloved Jaspers Burger joint and introduced Matt to it's goodness. Mmmm Jaspers... The Teri-pine is the best in my humble opinion. 

Then we went shopping for a bit to find a good waterproof coat for me. I snagged a North Face one with a lining for 80 bucks due to some coupons. I felt like that was a good deal, it'll be my sidekick in Ireland! 

Special Edition Matt Post: Weekend "Blowout" Sale!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring to you, a special Weekend update by my much funnier better half. 

We are in the market for some new furniture.  We have our hand-me-down couches that we bought off Craig's List when we first got married.  They have worked great for the time we had them, but now that we can no longer identify the origin of each stain and tear, we are deciding to put in for our first set of new couches.  Get ahead of the smell, I always say!

We just finished our lunch at Shari's where I had to change Emma's  dirty diaper on the dirty bathroom floor.  Yes, I tried to get as far away from the toilet as possible, but yes, my feet still stuck to the floor when I stood up.  I had my trusty companion, Ty, with me, who had his trusty chicken finger with him.  He had to use the potty and before I could inform him that the "10 sec rule" never applies at restaurants named after their creator or whose title claims some form of royalty, he had set his chicken finger down on the toilet paper dispenser.  I should have had him throw it away, but instead I just had him put it in his pocket. When we got out to the car, he naturally forgot to button up his pants, so he put his chicken down on the car trunk and politely said, "sorry dad, I forgot."  "No problem," I said, "easy to forget something like that and oh, by the way, lets try to keep our half eaten chicken fingers off the car." I later found the remaining pieces in the interior handle of the back seat door.  I'm sure he was saving it for later.

With our tummies full, we happily entered the furniture store.  The nice salesman started to show us how the pricing works and what kind of deals they had. He left us to look around and Ty calls to me from across the front of the store.  "Uh, dad, I sink I pooped my pants?"  He walked toward me like cowboy who just got out of the saddle, after a long cattle drive.  Those of you who have expected to pass gas and instead passed "Go," know what I mean.  And that should be everyone, because you haven't lived long enough if you haven't had that unparalleled debate in your head of "I think I did, but I'm sure. Yep, I did, but I can deal with it.  Just walk normal-ish and smile, no one has to know. Does it smell?  What am I talking about, I CAN'T handle this. Eewww, it touched me. And, I'm definitely throwing these away."

So, I said to him, "You think you did?"  He must have been somewhere in the debate where he thought he could proceed with his day as if nothing had happened, and confidently turned and said, "Nope, I didn't.  Here do you need to smell my bum?" while turning around and arching his left bum cheek higher than the other. I can't believe it, he is trying to call my bluff.  "No, I don't need to smell your bum, here let me check."  Sure enough, he did.  As soon as Mickie got out of the bathroom with Ty, who was now enjoying his new found freedom, it was Shari's turn again to stake claim on another pair of underpants. Maylee had her turn.  But soon we were out of kids and could proceed with our quest for some new couches. We didn't end up deciding on any couches but we definitely narrowed our choices.

I had my turn at a blow-out in a different way.  Mickie was saying that the dryer was making a funny rattle and started to smell like burning when she ran it.  I guess when you take on the role of a husband you are also supposed to take on the role of "Mr. Fix It."  I've never taken apart a dryer before, and I had pretty good success until I heard a loud pop, and saw a bright spark shoot out the back.  I confidently called out to Mick, "Um, I think I found the problem."

Turns out there were two bobby pins caught in the fan, which was what was causing that strange ticking sound, as well as a sucker stick which was causing the burning smell.  Darn! If only I had found those items before I blew up the dryer.  Good, news is, I found the old and the new problem. We've got a new part on order and Mick will be able to do laundry again in a few days.

The Cookie Grilling Experience

The day before we came down my parents Oven broke. The circuit board went haywire and it would switch back and forth between Bake and Broil and just turn off randomly. So she ordered a new one. It wasn't going to be in for 2 weeks! She gets her new (double) oven today. No oven with that many people in the house required some creativity. 

Sunday after church Brea wanted some cookies. With no oven she and my Dad got inventive... Why not GRILL them? So my Dad carefully preheated the grill to 350 while Brea found some frozen sugar cookies.

 They just put the cookies in, I was doubting, so Brea gave me a look like I was up in the night and it was TOTALLY going to work. 

 It was a lovely day so we just waited outside for the end result. (Which I thought would be a burned mess)

 Man, if MATT is pale looking that means we REALLY need to get some sunshine in the Northwest... 

 Dad checked them, and confidence was growing... Not sure what my Mom is so excited about. 

 Here they are finished result~

 Emma doesn't seem to be impressed. 

 But I sure am! Check out those Cookies! 

 Maylee says Cheese now like "shoes" hence the lip shape. 

 Evan was super stoked to try a BBQ'd Cookie!

 So was Ty... 

 EVERYONE was! The cookies weren't the best, but I think that more had to do with the cookies we used not the BBQ. They did have a smoky BBQ hint to them but all in all they were edible. 

Only Emma didn't enjoy them... She did however enjoy her first time on the grass in the lawn. 

After that we headed over to Nate and Kelly's for the night. Our kids played like maniacs while Matt and I pulled some classic "whoopsies" like forgetting my camera, a bottle, a wallet and extra clothes for Emma, all of which were needed. Oh well we got through it :) and as always it was lovely hanging out with them and the kids. We're excited for their new little girl to come in June. 

Next up, President's Day!!!