The Rest of September

Whilst we were away the children were in the very capable hands of my parents.  We could NOT have gone without their help and it was much appreciated.  We didn't worry about them at all.  Clara got in some sewing under Grammy's tutelage. 

 Dinner at Blakes

 Bella got her walkies

 Delicious meals were had

 We got back LATE and so the loot distribution happened in the morning.

 We celebrated my birthday with everyone with dinner at Harry's Roadhouse and a delicious carrot cake made by Clara and Pop-pop.

 

 We can't thank them enough!!!

After Grammy and Pop-pop left and we got back home life went back to it's normal routines.  Clara had a Friday off of school and went climbing with I. 

Clara continued her sewing adventures until she broke the machine (gotta get it into the shop)

We had the most delicious English style apple crisp with custard in Ireland and I made some and it were delish.

I finished my sh*#$y first draft. And began the sh8%#y second draft.  It will not be fit for consumption maybe ever, but this quote sums it up"

And last but not least we made it up to Aspen Vista to see the leaves (Lucy went up with friends the same day).  It was past peak, but still pretty. 

Ireland Trip Day 8: Trim and Goodbye

We packed up and said goodbye to our lovely AirBnB.  Seriously such a nice place.  

And then we headed towards Trim which was on our way to the Dublin airport.  It was Sunday so the town was a bit sleepy, but the castle was spectacular.  I only wish we would have more time.  There were all kinds of monastic ruins and cool places in Trim we didn't have time to see properly.  The castle was very cool.  (It was featured in Braveheart)

After one last delicious Irish meal we headed to the airport.  Was very very grateful for the expensive insurance we bought at the airport, because we just turned in our fender bendered car.  The woman beside us at the rental agency had not purchased the insurance and was in deep trouble.  We went through Irish security and then had to go through US TSA security which at first made me feel ragey until I found out when we landed in NYC it would be like landing on a domestic flight.  Customs and all of that happened in Dublin.  It was so slick and amazing.  

We had the BEST time.  Ireland was never on my bucket list because, who knows why, but it was one of the coolest places. Rob and I fell in love with it and we had a grand time and we will be back.  There was so much we didn't get to see and do.  I suppose that is the trade off.  Live in Santa Fe for the time off and pay so we can see the world.  Wahoo!  Happy 20th to us!

Ireland Day 7: Clonmacnoise and Galway

Day 7 was probably my least favorite day.  We had wanted to go explore Conmarra National Park but I underestimated the distance from our AirBnB, and so we will have to do it next time.  Also everyone said Galway was amazing.  It was a two hour city not an all day place, so it was kind of a bummer.  I am glad we threw in Clonmoacnoise Abbey at the start of our day.  It was the opposite direction of Galway, but worth it.  We also had our only day of grim weather this day.  Also because of the fender bender the car was making terrible noises and we thought the fender would fly off as we drove on the motorway. Fortunately we were able to pop the bumper back in place (thank you fiberglass) to fix that problem.  The Abbey was cool, minus the awful obnoxious German teens.  It seems to me that life was pretty craptastic in the middle ages and the monastic life was probably one of the more shelter and nutritionally sound options for life.  No wonder there were so many monks and nuns.  It sure beat starving and freezing. 

Galway is a univerisity town.  It has a fun medieval shopping area with a famous fish and chips place we ate at.  Honestly most of it was destroyed, like much of Ireland was by Henry VIII and Oliver Cromwell.  We did a hop on hop off tour which was interesting.  The cathedral is newish and it had a plaque to honor JFK, but that got covered up with a curtain when his less than stellar morality was discovered.  Kind of funny. Eventually we kind of ran out of steam and ended up heading back to Kinvarra for a pub dinner.