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.

So Behind...

I know I am so behind on my blogging about the last month we have spent in Ireland. Please forgive me (James, that means you!) I have found that it's much more fun to read other blogs than work on my own. I am going to work on getting caught up in the next few days, so please bear with my many posts to come.

Our Dublin House

Here are a few pictures of our “Dublin House” as Tyler refers to it. As mentioned in a previous post when I was complaining about the “lift,” a.k.a. elevator, not working, we live on the 3rd floor in the corner apartment. (By the way the lift is still not working – 2 weeks later.) It has 2 relatively small bedrooms, 1 semi-nasty bathroom that I have cleaned and cleaned, a very tiny kitchen and a small family/dining room.

When we first got here, James was freaking out because he thought there was no fridge. Little did he know that our kitchen is so luxurious that we have a built-in fridge. The only downfall to this is that the fridge is the size of one lower cabinet. The only dishwasher is me (or James) and I have finally figured out how to work the oven, however, there is nothing to bake in except the broiler pan that goes in the oven.

Our nightly entertainment is provided by the church meetings in the building next door that we get to see and hear through our apartment windows – every night. We can see everything that goes on in these meetings. That means they can also see us if our windows curtains are open. This was especially funny the night Tyler got out of the bath and started jumping on his bed stark naked. I am sure they could feel the Spirit strongly at their meeting when they looked over and saw him flashing his bum at them. The weekend karaoke next door at Murry’s Pub is also pretty entertaining, but usually starts late enough that we listen to it as we fall asleep.

In all actuality, the location is pretty great. It takes James just 8 minutes to get into the hospital, so that will be nice if he is ever on-call. Right at the hospital is a stop for the light-rail, so it’s really easy to get into the city center. There is a small grocery store that takes about ten minutes to walk to, and there are plenty of convenience stores along the way. If you walk another 10 minutes past the grocery store, there are 2 huge cathedrals, tons of great restaurants and the Temple Bar district (where all the tourists go to “socialize.”)

Here's Tyler enjoying his new bed in the room he and Ryan were supposed to share. That hasn't quite worked out too well. Now we put the Pack and Play in our room around 7 - 8 pm when we put Ryan to bed, and then around 10 pm when we go to bed, we ever so carefully move him and the bed out to the family room. Usually he wakes up and wants to play, but the alternative is pretty painful.

Here is a picture from this morning of the boys in our family room. Tyler was watching Robin Hood on his little DVD player and Ryan was practicing his new trick of standing up. He was so excited when he figured out he could watch the movie with Tyler this way. He was desperately clutching the couch trying to make his little legs last a little longer so he could watch some of the show.

Some pictures from other Dublin adventures that I'll explain later...

We're Here!

On Friday, October 3, James, Tyler, Ryan and I packed up for a month in Dublin, Ireland. James is doing a 2-month oral surgery rotation at St. James’s (not a typo – it’s how the Irish really spell it) Hospital here in Dublin, so we decided to come with him for the first month. We took the red-eye from Newark and landed the next morning. The boys were amazing on the flight as evidenced in the picture below. Tyler closed his eyes right after take-off (in his seat) and slept there for a few hours. All of a sudden I felt him twist around, fall out of his chair and land kneeling up on the ground. I think he would have fallen all the way to the floor, except his seat belt got stuck around his neck. We unbuckled him and made a little bed on the floor for him.

We took a cab to our new apartment, which is about a 5-minute walk from the hospital, but not in the greatest part of town. It’s not exactly scary at night, but I probably won’t be doing a lot of walking around after dark. It’s fine during the day. But I wanted something close to the hospital so that if James ever got called in, he wouldn’t have far to go. When we got here, the rental agent was “scrubbing” the apartment, even though I had been told that it would be professionally cleaned before we got there. I’m not going to fill you in on all the disgusting details, but we spent the next 2 days cleaning, and it’s not that big of an apartment (in fact the whole apartment is smaller than our kitchen and family room). But we got it all clean and then spent the rest of Sunday afternoon walking around Dublin.

Dublin is a beautiful city – everywhere you walk, there is an important historical site. I think I could spend the next 3 weeks exploring, and I would still not see everything there is to see. We first went to Christ Church Cathedral, which Tyler was not that excited about. It is so huge and impressive. We are planning on going to Evensong there tomorrow night.


We then walked around Temple Bar, the party section of town. We ate a good late lunch at a bagel shop and then made our way to Dublin Castle. Tyler was so excited about seeing the knights and swords so we bought tickets for the next tour and then headed back out to walk around for a while. Of course Tyler fell asleep in the stroller and so we opted to forget the tour (they were nice enough to give me a refund when I explained how grumpy Tyler would be if I woke him up and how he would probably ruin the tour for the rest of the group) and headed across the Liffy River to explore that part of town. Luckily Tyler had seen a knight in the gift shop so he was ok with that decision when he woke up.
The highlight of the day was finding ourselves in beautiful Phoenix Park. This park is twice as big as Central Park and bigger than all the major parks in London put together. We’ve only explored a small part of it so far, but will go back soon to go to the zoo and keep exploring. It was a gorgeous day and we saw so many people playing soccer, lounging with their families, hanging out with friends and playing at the playground. Tyler loved playing at the playground after being in the stroller all afternoon.

There is lots more to post about, and I will. But right now I am going to go to bed because in the morning I have to get up early to go to the airport to pick up Jill!!! Yes, my little sister, Jill, e-mailed us Monday asking if she could come visit! We are so excited! I am especially excited to have her come play with me and keep me company during the day – you can only have so many meaningful conversations with Tyler and Ryan. Plus the “lift” broke in our building on Wednesday and getting out the door by myself, both boys and the double stroller is a little difficult. But not as difficult as getting back up to the 3rd floor when we get home. So I am excited to have another pair of hands around here.

Tyler's First Day of Preschool

This afternoon, Tyler had his first day of preschool. I cannot believe he is this old! A few days ago, we went to pick out backpacks for school. He had such a hard time choosing between the Cars backpack and the Superman backpack. Of course, his everlasting love of Lightening McQueen won. Ever since then he has asked me every day when he gets to go to "Tyler's preschool" and has been practicing being a big boy and putting his backpack (along with other items of clothing) on by himself.
So today was finally the big day. He was so excited all day for it. He is going to the Hilliard United Methodist preschool 2 afternoons a week. He did great. The only hesitation was when I told him to give me a kiss, hug and tickle (our goodbye routine that he came up with). That's when he said, "You you you please please please please stay with me?" I told him that preschool was just for big boys and that I had to go. He got distracted playing the Ben (his buddy from our ward who is also in his class) and I snuck out the door. When I came to pick him up, he was happy to see me (yeah!) and ready to come home. I was a little worried about whether or not he had fun, but then he ran back and slammed into the back of his teacher's leg to give her a hug and said, "Thanks. See you next week!" So I guess it went just fine.

Tyler in front of his school.

Ben and Tyler in front of their lockers.

About 10 minutes after we got home.

Bad to the Bone

This morning was a little on the cool side, so I dressed the boys in the only matching outfit I've ever bought for them. I thought they looked pretty cute. After I took this picture, Tyler was looking at the picture on the camera and said, "Mom, we look cool!" I said, "Yeah, you guys look pretty bad." Then Tyler replied, "Yeah, we look bad to the bone!" Where does he come up with this stuff???