more cabinteely park

Just look at that green grass!

There were some wild storms at the end of the summer. Many of the smaller, weaker trees in the park were damaged.

That's Teddy Mór (Irish for big) watching the boys play.





Malachy pedalling around... 

Jude and Jacqui

Jaime's old friend Jude came over to spend the day with us one Saturday back in September.
The lads had some great laughs together!

Later that evening Jacqui came over too and we had a lovely meal cooked by Jaime mmmmm! Jude and Jaime got into the swing of things and even gave us and impromtu salsa display! 

silly faces

We discovered long ago that our digital camera does not do particularly good quality pix. BUT in all honesty we don't care since it makes up for that by being completely unbreakable! So... everyone's allowed to use it! Liam loves doing little photo shoots every now and then. Malachy also loves getting his hands on the camera but all he tends to do is stick the lens in his own eye, aim the back of the camera at me and say "Say Cheese!".
Here are some of Liam's many self portraits, silly pix of me and even sillier pix of me and him! 

Mr. Lambert

This photo may not mean anything to YOU, but to ME this was a historical moment!! :)
This man, Mr. Eugene Lambert, was one of my childhood heros! His Wanderly Wagon TV show on RTE was a favourite amongst all Irish children of my age. We took the kids to see Jack and the Beanstalk at his Lambert Puppet Theatre in Monkstown and I was amazed to see that though now over 80 years old, Mr. Lambert is still an active puppeteer and runs shows all year round! His children and grandchildren have learnt the art of puppetry from him and work with him at his theatre.






Liam laughed his heart out and still now months later tells us the same jokes he heard there that day over and over again! The little puppet museum upstairs was a trip down memory lane -with all the characters I knew and loved in my childhood!

We're going back next week to see The Sleeping Beauty! 

it's been a while

OK, I know. It's a strange time of year to be posting beach pix... but my update backlog is soooo loooong that we have actually changed seasons twice!


Anyway, I am determined to continue in chronological order, so here are some pix of us at Sandycove beach back at the end of the summer. The icy cold water of the Irish sea didn't stop Jaime and the boys from taking a quick dip! 

in dublin's fair city, where the girls are so pretty...

Noemí had lovely mild weather for the week she spent with us here in Dublin. Except for the last day, when it started to rain. But that too was very apt, because everyone knows the really authentic way to enjoy Grafton street is in the drizzly Irish rain! So on Noe's last day, we wandered around town and went for Italian food on Dawson street before she caught her plane back to Madrid...

Great memories of a lovely week...

You said you'd come back soon. You better! 

wandering around wicklow...

We took a lovely drive around Wicklow and had a picnic on the coast, then we went back to one of our favourite spots again: Brittas Bay.

Liam, Malachy and Noemí on the sand.

More lovely random windy beach shots... 

a night on the town...

And, of course, we couldn't let the week go by without a good night out on the town! So, with Granny and Granddad kindly babysitting, we grabbed a bus into Dublin on Friday night for some fun and laughs...

We met up with our old friend Jude, who was bravely fighting off a cold (doesn't look like that took a lot of effort though, does it?!), and went to The Oak pub, opposite Dublin Castle on Dame Street for some Guinness...
... and some laughs...


First smile, then giggle, then daze,... and then doze.... zzzzzzzzz (going home on the night bus!) 

more, more, more...

Noe with the lads and us in Cabinteely park... hours of fun and games (and still nice mild September weather!)..

Painting with watercolours in the attic...

More random shots of all of us...

As I said, the kids are crazy about Noemí. Malachy (who calls her 'MoMeMí') really missed her when she was gone... calling her name up the stairs every morning for over a week to see if she would appear! 

Noemí: our first visitor!!!

Our first visitor from Spain since we moved over at the end of July was Noemí!! She came all the way from Madrid in September to meet Lorcan and hang out with us for a week. It was her first time in Ireland and she had a ball! The kids are crazy about her! We got a bit carried away taking photos and short movies (over 300 files in total!) so I've made some collages to give you the gist of our many exploits!

Hanging around in our garden, Dun Laoghaire and Killbogget park...

Noemí came with us when we took Liam to his first music class at the Dun Laoghaire Music Centre. He goes to class there with his lovely music teacher, Catherine, every Wednesday afternoon! Then we popped in to Lambe's, our fish monger's and then on to Harry's, our favourite Polish coffee shop!

Some random shots of Malachy! 

titbits...

Remember those stolen apples?... They became this delicious apple pie, mmm...

Lorcan hanging out in the garden, analysing his own fingers..!

'Sofía, la vaca que amaba la música' (Sofía, the cow who loved music) was Liam's first EVER book (which he received from Carmen -the most avid reader I know- before he was even born)! Sofía continues to be a success with Malachy and will no doubt become one of Lorcan's favourites too! 

brittas bay

So, that same Sunday, after robbing the orchard in Rathnew, we headed on down the coast to Brittas Bay for a picnic on the beach and a splash in the cold Irish Sea!

And a walk in the dunes.


This was back in early September, by the way!!