travel
Travel: Luxembourg With Kids
Our quest while living in Ireland is to visit as many places in Europe as possible. If only those pesky things like budgets, school and work didn’t always get in the way. Am I right? Over the holidays, while the kids were off from school, we had the opportunity to visit Barcelona, Luxembourg and Paris. I wrote about our experience in Barcelona here. I’ll write about Paris soon. Luxembourg came about because we had a gap in our itinerary and we could easily reach it via train from Paris. Luxembourg is a country, but also a city. To distinguish between the two, Luxembourg City seems to be referenced when speaking…
Travel: Barcelona With Kids
When you’re living though a cold, damp winter in Dublin, a quick getaway to Barcelona, Spain, in December is a real treat! Actually, in my mind, a trip to Barcelona no matter the time is AMAZING. This was our first time visiting Barcelona and we only had two days to explore the city. Before we left I did a little online research so I had an idea of what was available to do in the city and of interest to our family (our kids are 7 and 10). When we landed in Barcelona on December 26, it felt like an Irish summer. I kid you not. The locals were bundled…
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Visiting Ireland: Talking Statues
If you’re visiting Ireland or the Dublin area anytime soon, there’s a cool new feature in town. Statues that talk! And I’m not talking about the ones that ‘talk’ after you’ve spent the night at the pub. I’m talking about ones that can call your phone. With a lot of support, an initiative called ‘Talking Statues’ was commissioned by Sing London, whose projects “set out to connect people to each other and to the public spaces we share.” The statues use humor and drama to tell a story and connect the listener with Dublin’s history. Plus, these stories are written and recorded by some pretty famous folks whose work you might have…
Visiting Ireland: Our Favorite Castle Tour (with kids)
I grew up on the West Coast of the United States. The places and structures we consider old there aren’t old at all when compared to, well, basically everywhere else in the world. That perspective, in part, is why I find castles so fascinating. Ireland has a number of castles – some of which date back to the 12th century. The thing you need to know about castles is they are not one size fits all. They range in size, in function, in grandeur. It’s interesting to visit castles of all shapes and sizes because they each have an interesting story to tell about their place and purpose in history.…
Visiting Ireland: The Cliffs of Moher and Aran Islands (with kids)
I can’t believe we waited over a year to see Ireland’s #2 tourist spot, the Cliffs of Moher. The #1 tourist spot in Ireland, by the numbers, is the Guinness Storehouse. Tourists have their priorities! As much as we enjoyed the Guinness Storehouse, the Cliffs of Moher just might be my favorite spot in all of Ireland. So far. When visiting the Cliffs of Moher, most people will home base out of the city of Galway. I wrote about visiting Galway here. It’s not a big city, so you can hit all of the high points in a day, maybe a day and a half. That leaves plenty of time…
Visiting Ireland: Galway With kids
Over the past year we have spent long weekends here and there visiting different parts of Ireland. Every place we visit is new and exciting for our family – it’s a perk of moving to a new country! Our kids are 7 and 10 and they are definitely becoming seasoned travelers. Last weekend we finally made our way from Dublin over to the beautiful city of Galway. Galway has a population of approximately 80,000 people. It is also the home of National University of Ireland Galway (NUI Galway). Approximately 17,000 students attend university at NUI Galway each year. LOCATION Galway is located on the west coast of Ireland. The River…
Living in Ireland: Back After a Month in the U.S.
It’s flat out STRANGE to visit the United States after living in Ireland for a year. I tried to put my finger on why exactly. In part, I think it’s because I’ve changed. Evolved, shall we say? How could you not after moving to a foreign country? But when I went ‘home’ I realized how much HADN’T changed. There is something comforting in that though. I also realized that I’d gotten used to being slightly uncomfortable ALL. THE. TIME. while in Ireland. You can try to look and act local in the face of constant new experiences, but as soon as you open your mouth you see a flicker of…
Always Take The Trip
I read an article recently where the author shares the best parenting advice she ever received was to “always take the trip.” Here’s an excerpt from Annie Reneau’s article: “My friend Kelly has three stellar kids who are a bit older than my own three. I consider her and her husband to be model parents, so one day I asked her for her best piece of parenting advice. I thought she’d say something about love or discipline or consistency, so her answer took me by surprise. “Always take the trip,” she said. “When you question whether or not you should go on the vacation, just do it. Spend the money. Take the…
Memory Rocks
“Tell me a story, mama.” Every night when I go through the bedtime routine with my son, he asks me to tell him a story. A real story. THE PRESSURE!!! He likes stories with drama and danger the best. Like that time I got a flat tire going 60 mph down I-84. Or when the security guards at JC Penney used to duck behind garment racks when they were trying to catch someone stealing. The problem is my memory is TERRIBLE when it comes to these little, every day memories and experiences. Especially ones from decades ago. I’m not sure what I’m doing with all my brain cells, but saving…
That Time I Was SURE I Was Going to See a Unicorn
Most of us are never far from a camera. It is 2017 after all. We can document the fantastic and the mundane all we want. I can’t tell you how many pictures I have of the inside of my children’s noses just because they used my camera phone for 4.7 seconds while I wasn’t looking. I especially love the videos they make of their noses when they think they are taking a picture. Don’t worry. I won’t show you pictures of that. How about a nice sunset instead? Ahhh…. Here’s a story of a recent time I wished I had a camera, but didn’t. THE HORROR!!! Over Easter we visited family in Florida…
