The Irish trip so far

Bad: We had to check our bags when we would have preferred to keep them (they're carry-ons but Aer Lingus has stupid rules)
Good: We didn't have to schlep them around the airport with us while we waited

Bad: Greg couldn't sleep on the plane
Good: Greg got to see two movies he was wondering about, plus Deb did manage to sleep for two hours because the plane had lots of empty seats

Bad: Our plane was about 45 minutes late arriving because we left late from Chicago
Good: Because we arrived later, we didn't have to drive in the dark (on the left)

Bad: Our first rental car had a dead battery because someone left a back door open
Good: We got a bigger car as a result, an Opel Corsa.

Bad: We got lost coming out of the airport because, yes, Irish road signage sucks
Good: Because of the extra time spent, we didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes to get into our first attraction in Wicklow and we had the place to ourselves for almost the entire tour

Bad: Greg almost killed us backing out of a driveway because of thick hedges
Good: Deb got to drive after that and liked it, since she had those two hours of sleep to go on

Bad: Greg felt ill for a good part of the day
Good: Because he felt ill, we cut some things from our itinerary and we got back to our room earlier to sleep (we went to sleep at 7:30 p.m. and slept until past 8:00 a.m. this morning)

Since we got up this morning, the day has mostly been good, other than the roads. Irish drivers are absolutely, positively nuts. Completely crackers. Stupid beyond belief. Road hogs of the worst sort.

Did I mention that we're looking forward to going to England tomorrow night because it means we get two days of being chauffeured around? See you soon, Hughes family! In fact, see you tomorrow.

Love to our girls, Mom and Dad!

The Americans are coming, the Americans are coming

Well, in the morning, we're off to visit the other side of the world (or at least Ireland). We're going to be renting a car, driving on the left (god rest our souls), and seeing the sights. Then in the middle of our trip, we're heading over to see Dan, Kerry, Amy and Evan (plus Jeanette and Archie, I believe) for two days.

We're very excited. They say they're very excited. I'm happy beyond belief to get away from work. Greg says he's not sure it was worth all the work he had to put in to take some time off, but he'll get happy--I'll make him.

I'm packed and my carry-on weighs 24 lbs. Greg is packing right now, muttering about colors of socks and tucking or untucking his shirts.

We're going to miss the girls like crazy, but they seem remarkably complacent about spending some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa. And those caregivers seem ready to go, especially since I gave them three pages of single-spaced notes on how to run our house and take care of the girls. You laugh, but they'll use every section, I'll wager.

Except for the girls' doctor's phone number and address. They can skip using that.

The semi-annual chore

Yes, it was time once again for the CHANGING OF THE CLOTHING!

We've had some cool weather and even though our children have warmer clothes, none of them were accessible. And in Allie's case, they needed to be gone through to be sure that things actually fit after a summer in which I think she grew at least an inch.

So I started at about 10:00 a.m. Went through Allie's pajama drawer and took out some that are very light and summery and some that are too small. Sorted through the undies to make sure they all still fit. Checked the tags on the undershirts. And then, then I tackled the socks.

Allie has a phenomenal number of socks, mostly due to her Nana. Nana bought Allie and Julia each 10 more pairs of socks when she and Papa last visited, so I think Allie's now up to about 40 pair (and this is after I pulled a bunch of small pairs out). Sorted through the shorts to figure out what won't fit next summer, likewise with dresses and short-sleeved shirts.

Checked the tags on all the warmer clothing, looked for stains on things from last spring, and made some big stacks. Put everything that she's going to need for fall away in her dresser drawers. And stacked up things that might fit her next spring for review next year for in her closet. So now it's 10:45.

Then I went in Julia's room and repeated the same procedure, with the added complication that I had to sort through the tubs of clothes that Allie doesn't fit into anymore, looking for 4T clothing that I packed away 3 years ago. This whole process is just so much fun.

I finished at 12:15 p.m. My kids have a lot of clothes. Way, way too many clothes. But they won't be cold this winter, that's for sure.

I'm just talkin'

Last night, me and the girls went to Madison to shop for Greg's birthday gifts (his birthday is Friday). Julia was drowsy and she ended up going to sleep on the 20 minute or so ride. Allie talked the entire way there, almost without pause.

Normally when the four of us are in the car, Greg and I talk to each other and the girls talk to themselves, or to each other. I think Allie felt that since Daddy wasn't along, she had to entertain me. I was entertained, too, by the way she could come up with an unending string of subjects.

My favorite was when she asked why you have to poke four holes in the top of a pie when you make it. After I explained in simple terms, she said, Oh, you have to let the pressure out! I told her that was exactly right and asked how she knew about pressure, expecting her to say from a school science lesson. She responded that she remembered hearing it in an episode of "Mythbusters." That's my girl.

When we arrived home, Greg immediately began pumping Julia for information on where we had gone. Allie clapped her hand over Julia's mouth and Julia put her hand over the top of that. They both got so many warnings on the way home about keeping birthday secrets that they weren't giving away anything. Nice try, Gregory! You'll have to wait until tomorrow, naughty man.

Flip, skip and (s)tumble

Back when Allie turned three, we started taking her to tumbling classes. These aren't gymnastics, where advanced equipment skills are acquired and skinniness is mandatory. These are classes where she learned to do a forward roll, backward roll, bear crawl, walk on a balance beam on the floor, and jump on a trampoline. She loved it and we went faithfully until she started kindergarten. Frankly, for a little girl whose middle name is Grace, we hoped she's acquire a little more grace, and she did.

And then we stopped going. She had gym class three times a week at school and it was getting tougher to entertain/distract her mobile little sister for the half hour of Allie's tumbling class.

Now that Julia's turned 4, and because we don't have our kids in any other kinds of structured activities, we decided to revisit the old tumbling class. Julia is in the tot group and Allie's in with girls about her own age, trying to learn how to do a cartwheel. Lots of cartwheels emphasized in this group and she doesn't have it yet, though she had gotten pretty close to doing one until we stopped going to class two years ago (selfish parents! bad parents!).

Tonight were their first sessions. Their classes overlap somewhat, so I couldn't see much of what Allie was doing in the other room. Julia turned unexpectedly shy, rather unlike her but she was being watched by about 8 other parents and I think that did it. After some encouragement, hugs, handholding, and high fives, she started participating on her own.

Afterwards, they both said it had been the most fun thing they'd ever done. They say that alot. Remember when it was true? That every new thing you did was the most fun thing you'd ever done. I miss that. Time to try bungee jumping, I guess.

OK, so we're going overseas

I'm exhausted from trying to find the perfect accommodations in Ireland. I've been reading website after website full of lovely-looking bed and breakfasts and guesthouses. Then I go to Tripadvisor, which has a fantastic area for reviewing such accommodations, and I find out that they all suck.

Oh, I exaggerate--there are some that don't suck. Unfortunately, they all cost about $250-300 per night. And the choices--there are literally hundreds of thousands of places to stay in Ireland. In some photos (even when the photographer is trying to produce a purely pretty photo), you can see a long row of B&B signs on the streets.

Greg is in favor of just winging it, of trying to just find a good place by driving down the undoubtably tiny roads. But I've read too many reviews about threadbare, gray sheets and disgusting bathrooms, not to mention surly landladies and noisy rooms. And when you have an infinite number of towns you could choose to make a base in, you can see why I haven't been doing much of anything except sitting in front of my computer.

We're going to see Dan and Kerry too. Since I've already booked the flight and the hotel, I can rest easy with those two days of the trip. They're going to take care of us. Right? Right?

My mission

Kerry, Killarney, Cork, Manchester, Waterford, Kilkenny. Onward through the research!

Tuesday, but it feels like Monday

Today was Allie's first day of second grade. She was excited and we were very calm about the whole thing, except for a bit of worry about where she was actually going to get off the bus at the end of the day (answer: same place as last year, idiots).

I would like to be writing more here, but I'm deeply immersed in an in-depth secret project requiring very extensive amounts of research. Enjoyable research, but lots and lots of research.

No, Greg, I'm not buying you a new motorcycle.

Boating on a holiday weekend

I fully realize how many lifestyles are out there that I really have no knowledge of. Trekkies, knitters, dog breeders, orchid gardeners, marathoners, mushroom hunters, swingers, and boaters--to name a few.

My family took a baby step towards understanding the whole boating thing yesterday. It's more accessible (and more desirable) than delving into some of the other lives I mentioned. Greg's parents were here for a long weekend and to celebrate their 28th wedding anniversary, so he decided that we'd rent a pontoon boat for a half day as a treat.

We've had abnormal amounts of rain in our area lately and some serious flooding (shades of your early summer, Dan!) and though our town wasn't affected, all of the nearby streams and lakes are high. As a result, despite Greg's desire to "let 'er rip" once we got out of the boat channel into Lake Kegonsa, he was restrained by a "no wake" rule--and the presence of the county sheriff, who passed us by twice.

Alas, despite our purchase of fishing licenses and a new fishing rod, no nibbles were to be found. Nonetheless, we all very much enjoyed the day. We'll definitely do it again with other visitors (you can guess who you are!). And hopefully, Greg will be able to indulge his desire for SPEED, RECKLESS AMOUNTS OF SPEED, AS MUCH SPEED AS YOU CAN GET FROM A PONTOON BOAT- FOR GOD'S SAKE.