When people hear about my trips to Ireland they always tell me how “lucky” I am that I get to go there so often. I’ve come to realize its just part of our norm. We are very grateful to get to see this part of the world but we don’t really see what others see. When we go to Ireland we land in Dublin, drive 3 hours to the west coast and then usually stay pretty close to our small town for the duration of our trip. When we visit in the summers and weather permits (summer doesn’t mean its nice weather) we try and go out on day trips to see other parts of the country but that doesn’t always happen. As the kids grow thats our goal, to see more of Ireland than just Foxford! haha But for now our trips are for family time. I want my kids to have relationships with their great-grandmother, they great aunts, lots of cousins, friends and of course spending time with Nana and Granda on this side of the world as well.
Some people drive to Pasadena to see their grandma…I just have to fly to Ireland to see mine.
Our mornings in Firestone Cottage (the name of my parents address/house) were nice. I was usually allowed to get some extra sleep since Maggie was up every 2 hours almost the whole trip during all times of the day and night. My Mom and Dad would feed the big kids for us. And then Bernie would cook up a WONDERFUL Irish fry for breakfast when we got up. Its Rashers, Sausages, Fried Eggs, Beans, Toast, Fried Potatoes…..yuuuummmmm. Delicious.
I’m extremely close with my Irish family…the distance between us isn’t an issue. And with the evolution of the internet and facetiming we are able to keep in contact weekly if not more! Its pretty cool!!
And as you know my kids are the only ones in my side of the family. They have 2 real first cousins on Yosh’s side (Bailey and Peyton) and none on my side. But you would never know they lack in the cousin department. My first cousin’s kids have taken on the role of “cousins” to my kids (yes they are technically 2nd cousins so thats ok!). But it was pretty awesome to watch all the kids play, bond and learn to love each other.
And seeing my cousins love my babies is something magical as well! You know when some people love your kids because they “have” to opposed to those that genuinely love them just because?!? My cousin Alan is a baby-man. whenever he could get his hands on Maggie he was content just holding her. And I loved seeing that. And his wifey too…seemed pretty happy to have a little baby around the place!
But days inside at my cousins house (which is about 100yds away from my parents) were nice. We could walk to Alan’s from my parents house…
where most days were spent around this fireplace…kids playing, us chatting…watching the pissing rain outside.
We did get a few trips to the park in…which is almost unbearable because of how cold it is! 
But my kids did a whole lot of this over the course of the 3 weeks too! One house, 1 tv and 6 people that want to watch different things…yeah…thank god for ipads!
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