Halloween

We were in Pittsburgh for Halloween this year and had the opportunity to trick or treated with Maeva and Gavin, Bernie, Kate, and Mary. It was really fun, if a bit rainy. And candy was not the only thing that was distributed - a nasty flu was also passed among us. Poor Gavin was its first victim.

    

Week 9 of kindergarten - Spanish Words

The kids spent about 5 minutes listing Spanish words that they've learned. Here goes:

Hola

Abuela

Adios

No

Porque

Hasta mañana

Medio

Y

Pequeno

Pequenita

Abuelo

Pedio pizza

Si

Esquela

Casa

Mochila

Lonchera

El

Manzana

Oro

Gris

Es

Puerta

Luz

Baras

Palabras

Agua

Leche

Pantalones

Abajo

Arriba

Derecha

Izquierda

Pelo

Boca

Nariz

Ojos

Oreja

Crejones

Perro

Maron

Blanco

Negro

Rosa

Insecto

Quatro

Uno

Cien

Sol

Corta

Week 3 of kindergarten

A new routine is starting to take shape as we enter week 3 of the 2013-2014 school year. There have been no further bus mishaps like the one that happened on the first day of school when the kids took the "green" bus rather than the "blue" bus. They come home with new Spanish words to teach us and stories about kids in their class. They like their "specials" like art, music, PE, computer class, and media center (formerly known as library). So far so good! I've included an image of them (to the left) at their bus stop in the morning. Lots of little busy kids!

First day of kindergarten

Today Ian and Eleanor are starting kindergarten at Rolling Terrace Elementary in a Spanish immersion program. They rode the bus to school!

Ian: PG Pool Swimmer

A mere 24 hours after Eleanor braved the swim test at the pool, Ian took the proverbial "plunge" too. Now they both have blue bands that indicate that they can move about freely at the pool and practice diving in the deep end...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=em-upload_owner&v=x48bMzoVcBg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dx48bMzoVcBg%26feature%3Dem-upload_owner#

Eleanor: PG Pool Swimmer

Eleanor and I went out on a date to the pool earlier today. She decided to take the swim test (2 laps and 60 seconds of treading water) and passed with no problem. Now she can swim in the deep end, go off the diving board, and go down the slide. She is proud of herself and we are proud of her.

T Time

The kids started playing t ball a few weeks ago. The season lasts for a couple of months over the summer. They practice and then play a short game on Saturday mornings. Here are some images from this week's practice...

Amazing

A parent at the kids' preschool took these today. I think they are amazing.

Day 14: Dublin

Today we did a little touring and a little shopping. We started out at Avoca, Ireland's own Anthropologie. And then we visited Carroll's, which had lots of little Irish tchotchkes. Then we crossed O'Connell bridge to the Daniel O'Connell statue (my mother was an O'Connell before she became a Gallagher), walked along the River Liffey, through Temple Bar, and then over to the Guinness warehouse where we learned more than you would ever want to know about making beer and Guinness in particular. After the tour, we ended up in the bar on the top floor for a pint and a great view of Dublin. From there, the kids and Kevin hit the playground again while I perused Kilkenny, an store that promotes Irish artists and designers. For dinner, we ate random stuff out of the fridge since we are heading home tomorrow.

Day 13: Dublin and Wicklow

Today we ventured out of Dublin on a bus to see Glendalough, a national park about an hour outside of Dublin that surrounds a monastic site where St. Kevin lived in solitude and eventually established a relatively large monastery in the 10th century. The natural surroundings were beautiful and the stone structures were impressive. It was snowing and hailing while we were there so the kids had a blast throwing snow balls and playing in the slush and snow. We got back to the city around dinner time and made dinner at home. Then Ian literally climbed the walls! Tomorrow is our last full day in Ireland and we plan to hand out in Dublin and see a few more things.

Day 12: Dublin

We took forever to get out of the apartment this morning and weren't exactly on the same page in terms of what we'd wanted to do when we finally left. So after the kids had a good run on a nearby playground, we ate lunch at a burrito joint and then visited the Book of Kells. The exhibit had a lot of information about the introduction of Christianity and writing, the role of the Vikings, and the craftsmanship that went into making books that that time, around 800 AD. After that, we went through the beautiful old Trinity College library, ventured up past Dublin Castle, and then visited the Viking exhibit called Dublinia. Exhausted and hungry, we met up with Laura from DC who was in town for work. We ate a carvery meal at O'Neills pub with a Murphy's Irish Stout to go with it.

Day 11: Derry to Dublin

Although I never wanted to get out from under the duvet, Ian eventually peeled it off of me and I froze instantly. When the kids and I came downstairs, the property owner had put together a nice little breakfast in the kitchen. We ate, packed, played in the yard a little and left Derry almost as quickly as we'd arrived. Although our route was not direct (read: we got lost), we made our way to Newgrange around 2pm. We ate at the cafe and took a bus to the ancient site around 3. It's an ancient burial mound that that has stones and carvings that date back 5000 years. Amazing. From there, we were about a half hour from the airport where we dropped the car off (whew!) and took a taxi into Dublin. We were very happily surprised by the comfort and location of the one-bedroom apartment that we are renting. Most importantly, it's WARM.

Day 10: Donegal to Derry, Northern Ireland

Although we intended to leave early from Creeslough, we didn't really get on the road until around noon. On the way, we stopped at two really interesting old sites- Burt Castle (16th century) and Grianan of Aileach (6th or 7th century). Both were completely unattended- like there were no staff or volunteers to protect them. In fact, the castle was sitting in the middle of a barley field- we had to ask the farmers to walk through their property to see it. Our next accommodation was outside the city of Derry, in the freezing cold coach house of the Prehen estate. There was a horse and some chickens on the grounds, and beautiful paintings and interesting books in the place. But we were frozen! We decided to get back in the car and drive up to the Giant's Causeway, which was an amazing rock formation on the coast of Northern Island. We were lucky enough to get a beautiful sunny afternoon up there. But the driving may have been a wee bit too much, and the kids and we struggled to behave on the way back. Once they were in bed, Kevin and I made a lovely fire and listened to the radio.