Marije went on a lot of excursions with the language school she was studying at. But we did a little bit of sightseeing with her too. Like going to the Powerscourt waterfall in Wicklow.
We picnicked under the trees...
beside the playground...
Then we played for a while...
...with great concentration...
And then we headed to the waterfall...
As it had been raining a lot in the previous days, the water was rushing down full blast.
Liam on the rocks
It's tradition now, so yes, we took Marije to Johnnie Fox's for dinner. This time it was just the three of us. The kids stayed overnight with Granny and Granddad.
Afterwards, we showed Marije around...
There is so much quirky stuff on those walls!
I think this might have been what she was reading...!
There were two bands playing so we stayed and watched for a while.
Liam on his bike in our local park....
Since this photo was taken the bike stabilisers were removed but, ehem, this has complicated everything and we're still working on braving 'wobbly cycling'... we'll get there eventually!
Swirly cloudy skies...
Babies eating plums!
Little boys loving plums too...
Little boys climbing anywhere!
Flowers, grown or bought.
Heading into the RDS. I'll be honest I thought the crowd was going to be mainly in their 50's and 60's (Rod himself is 62, believe it or not) and mainly women but, no, the audience was varied and ages ranged from the very young to the very old-and-still-rocking.
We grabbed refreshments before heading to the stands.
The outdoor venue at Simmonscourt was starting to fill up when we arrived. That day (Friday 13th July) had been the wettest day in the summer so far. It had been raining non-stop since that morning, so much so that up until an hour before the outdoor gig, we were actually worried it might be called off.
But no, Rod appeared on the catwalk, right on time, strutting his stuff and scaring those grey clouds away. Can you see the stage? Yes, it is skirted in tartan!
He got the crowd going right away. The huge central screen was great for close-ups considering we were 'a little' far away!
This is just the view from our side of the stands on all three sides. He sold out for two nights running.
He did all this big hits. Baby Jane, Maggie, You Wear it Well, Hot Legs, Tonight's the Night, Do you think I'm sexy?....
The only tiny threat of rain came during the interval but we were equipped with our plastic rain shields just in case. It cleared quickly again.
I expected a good show but I don't think we all expected such a great show! It lasted two and a half hours. And those backing singers were amazing.
As the night fell...
Anyone who knows Shay, knows he doesn't drink beer... so the top photo there was just a joke!!
Marije is a big fan! She really got into it :)
Look at all the costume changes Rod did!
Happy rockers.
On the Sunday before Marije's English course started, we headed into town to locate her school. Just off Merrion Square, it was close to the city centre...
...so, we headed into town for a stroll.
The kids got 'a lift' some of the way (chancers!).
Marije liked her first look at Dublin city
St. Stephen's Green...
Grafton street, etc....
Bat boys
