Ireland: Week 1

James started working at the hospital the first Monday we were here. Work has gone fairly well and James really likes the people he works with. He spent the first few days dealing with the HR department and various government agencies arranging things so he could work here.

I spent the first week exploring this fun city that we find ourselves in. Monday and Tuesday were filled with getting to the grocery store and doing other normal things like that. I’m finding that it takes a lot more of my time doing things like that since I have to go shopping about every other day due to the lack of space in our tiny fridge. We’ve had so much fun wondering around our neighborhood. In just about every store we see people running into people they know. It seems to be a pretty close-knit community and everyone is extremely friendly and helpful.

On Wednesday I took the boys back to Phoenix Park to play at the playground. On our way home, I impulsively jumped on the train to head to the city center. Big mistake. We got there and Tyler needed to go to the bathroom, so I managed to find a Marks & Spencer department store and we made it up to the bathroom. On our way up, Tyler was grabbing every article of clothing he could from the stroller and in general just being a pain. That shouldn’t really have surprised me since it was 3 in the afternoon and he hadn’t napped. Once we were in the bathroom, he announced that he no longer needed to go, so I started to strap him back in the stroller. As I was doing this, Ryan threw up everywhere. The poor little thing was soaking wet, the stroller was soaking wet and he was pretty miserable. So we headed back to the train where he threw up again and again. By the time we got home an hour later we were all ready for a bath and a nap.

On Saturday, James and I took the boys out into the city all day and explored. Dublin is such a fun city and there is so much to see. Here are a few pictures from the day.

Lisa and Tyler on one of the many bridges that crosses the Liffey River right in the middle of downtown Dublin.

This is how Ryan has spent much of his time the past few weeks – asleep in the stroller. I have come to love this stroller. At first I thought the stroller was two big and heavy, but it has been perfect for this trip. The boys are comfy in their seats, it’s easy to fold up, and plus it came with a boot (a warm blanket that snaps right into the stroller so you can’t lose it) that still fits Ryan, and a rain cover that we use just about every day.

We went to Trinity College where the Book of Kells is located. The campus is absolutely gorgeous. The Book of Kells is one of the oldest books in the world and contains the text of the four New Testament gospels in Latin. The amazing part about it is the extensive illustrations the monks included with the text. The top floor of the same building is called the Long Room and is lined with shelves containing over 200,000 of the library’s oldest books. It is a beautiful building architecturally and it felt almost sacred to be in the same room as all the old, beautiful, leather-bound books.

When the boys are in the stroller, Tyler loves to lounge on Ryan, pretend he is asleep and let Ryan pull his hair. Then Tyler jumps and “wakes up” and startles Ryan. Ryan also thinks this is a pretty fun game and laughs and laughs. It’s pretty cute. They are really starting to play well with each other, and Tyler is (usually) really so great with Ryan.