IRELAND

was amazing!!!

We were here three days, in the western & southwestern part of Ireland, which was SO not enough time.

Now, I had expected Ireland to be very green, of course, but I couldn't get over how green it was..........a vibrant, almost fluorescent green. In fact, I would say it is the place most opposite to Arizona. And it was incredible!!

The first night we stayed.....

.....here. At Ashford Castle. An old castle turned into a hotel.

Here's our room. It was really rainy when we got in, so Mars & I took a long nap. We were so tired!

Brian tried the traditional Irish breakfast. Lots of pork & sheep products. I couldn't bring myself to order it.....not big on blood pudding.

The grounds were incredible! I was beside myself with all the billions of photo-ops everywhere I looked. Marlee, the photo-victim, was less than cooperative towards the end and I had to resort to bribery, then threats.....it got a little ugly......but I was like, "How hard is it to smile for some pictures?? We're in freaking Ireland for heaven's sake!!!! What am I supposed to do? Take pictures of Brian the whole time?? This is why I brought you!!!" OK, I didn't really say all that, but felt like it sometimes. And we took her on this trip because it would be a great opportunity to spend alot of quality time with her without interruptions from little brothers & real life. And it was great to have all these shared experiences with her, and give her a chance to get out of the Mesa bubble & expand her horizons a bit.......and so I'd have someone other than Brian to take pictures of.

We were fascinated the first time we saw some old castle ruins as we were driving. Then, as we kept driving we'd see another one..... then another one......crumbling stone churches and castles, covered with ivy, are everywhere in this part of Ireland! So, so cool!!!

Brian did great driving us around. Wrong side of the car, wrong side of the street. We only hit a curb once. Not bad. And he totally had it down after the 2nd day.

Finding your way around, on the other hand, could be a little tricky. We'd come upon signposts like this one.......hmmmm..........then in the more remote areas, the signs would be mostly in Gaellic.

The Cliffs of Moher.

There were signs like this (below) here & there, but you could still just walk right up to the edge. Freaky!!

I know what you're thinking.......he should totally get into modeling.........

A Bed & Breakfast we stayed at near Killarney. Best scones with clotted cream ever!

Lots of cows. Lots and lots of sheep.

I have not messed with the color on any of these. It's really that green.

Mars & I were obsessed with trying to get good pictures of sheep. They wanted nothing to do with us & would run away if we got too close. I was wishing I had brought a telephoto lens!

We pulled over so many times to try to sneak up on them & get a close-up. This was the best I got.

One of the little towns on the drive through County Kerry.

We took a side road & came upon this castle ruin.........

......just sitting there in the Irish countryside, dating back to the 1600's, just begging for us to explore it!

It was a trip highlight, I would say, climbing around this thing. It was fascinating.

Then further down this road was this......

Cahergeal Stone Fort, inhabited during the Bronze Age, 3,000 years ago! And you can just walk right up to it & climb on it. It was so cool!!!

We ended up in the beautiful town of Cork, where we flew back to London, then a 10-hour flight back home.

We all gave Ireland a big thumbs up.

I can't wait to go back one day.

Slacker Week

I declared this week Slacker Week.

And it

was

glorious!

Nothing scheduled. Nada.

I read 2 books,

went to 4 movies (loved Star Trek, BTW),

hung out by the pool almost every day,

all manner of video games were played for hours upon hours,

numerous forts were made & destroyed,

bumloads of popsicles were consumed,

and.....

countless messes/disasters were made by this kid.........

....... like this one. He called it his Halloween hands.

Then I find this......

.......continuing down the next hallway with a few pieces of furniture in between.

I just left it most of the day so I could watch Brian freak out when he came home.

So I've been ignoring the literally a thousand photos from our trip that are waiting to be sorted through & edited & blogged, among hundreds of others.............swimming with my little waterdog Gus just sounds alot funner!

Thank you Jeff & Michelle!!!

This is my most fave cousin in the world, Jeff, and his amazing wife, Michelle.
They were kind enough to let us stay in their extra bedroom in their awesome London flat.
They took such great care of us!.........making us breakfast, going out to dinner with us, giving us tips about getting around London, reminiscing & catching up til way too late every night, and on Brian's birthday we came back to their apartment after a long day of sightseeing to find a birthday cake!!......an incredible banana cake with cream cheese frosting!!! I tell you what, cooler cousins you will never find, people!

We love you Jeff & Michelle!!

You made our trip that much funner!!!

catching up

Baseball season came and went. I felt so totally blessed that Jake and Max were on the same team......one practice schedule & one set of games. YES! They had the best coaches & they improved alot during the season.
Go Grasshoppers!!

Crazy Hair Day at school...........makes for an extra-fun morning!

I took pictures of the graduating seniors in our ward.

They were so fun.

Gus snackin' on some Oreos..........

Gus refuses to sleep in his crib these days....... or even his bedroom, for that matter. I guess it's time. He is three after all. But he insists on sleeping on the floor. The wood floor in the hallway. With his blankies. Whatever! He'll now sleep on the carpet in the family room. And he's really good about just laying down & going to sleep when it's bedtime.....so I'm totally fine with it.

He's going to do really well at slumber parties when he's older.

National Academic League National Championships

We won!!! Not just the State of Arizona, but the entire nation!!!!

Such an accomplishment for these kids. It was so exciting!

For these National meets they would use tele-conferencing facilities at ASU to play another school in another state.

Smart little suckers!!

Congratulations Mars Bars!!!

Brian turns 40!!!!

He's really not very happy about it.......but he posed for a couple pictures.

The girls at the office did an awesome job decorating. They had a handicapped parking sign in his spot when he pulled up in the morning, and put a 'Don't Forget My Senior Citizen Discount' pin on him, and gave him a cane & a bunch of other stuff.

All Brian wanted for his birthday was to be out of town, hence the Europe trip......and some things I can't mention on this blog......so we were actually in London on his birthday.

I can't believe you're 40, baby! You still look like you're 20!!

Happy Birthday! I love you!!!

We've been......

here......(London).......

here......(Ireland)......

..........and here!!

I'm swamped! More pictures coming soon.......