The first 2 weeks... (posted in week 3/almost 4). Hopefully not indictative of my future posts!

The first two week are in the books... and we even lived to tell about it!

I have nothing much interesting to report, with much of time during the weeks spent inside my office. However, Russ and the girls were busy exploring our new town and had lots of interesting adventures!!    They did give me one wonderful glimps into their day, by taking the train into the city to come join me for lunch.   I take the train to work, which is nice because they have Wi-Fi, so I am able to work during my 30 minute commute... the other nice thing about it,  is I haven't had to learn how to drive on the other side of the road.  Russ will have this wonderful 'opportunity' in order to get the girls to school starting in the fall.  I am sure he is much better equipped than I to face that challenge and I think in a very strange way looking forward to it.  Fortunately he already found a bike and says it will be good practice to ride with the flow of traffic on the left side before getting behind the wheel. Finding a car is on our list of things to do this upcoming weeks... wish us luck!

Speaking of transportation... Russ has had the wonderful opportunity of navigating all kinds of different public transportation on missions to pick up our router from the post office, find a sim card for his cell phone, get a garbage can... and many other things to keep the house moving and all us ladies happy... no small feat, particularly with two little helpers in tow everywhere he goes!  While these missions can be somewhat daunting (especially in the frequent rain storms), the culture, history, medieval streetscapes Dalkey, taking taxi rides without car seats and riding the train are surely making the top of their list.  They have also discovered the town of Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leery, which we have now renamed "Fun Leery") a bit larger town just north of us.    During our first weekend, we discovered a shopping center there with some small (very small) rides, candy/toy machines and McDonalds.  And voila... it's their new favorite place.  We are thankful  the treasures of this place are appealing enough to overcome the 3+ mile walk!  

One night I came home from work to find my spunky, energetic, can't-sit-still girls, glued to their iPads on the couch.  I tried to get them to perk up a bit, by asking them if they wanted to color, do a puzzle, play hang-man... some of their favorites, but no takers.  I mentioned to Russ that perhaps they were coming down with something and we should find a local doctor just in case.  We put them to bed and headed ourselves there shortly after.

Russ was busy fussing with his many gadgets, when he proudly shows me his fitness tracker which shows he walked 10+ miles that day.  He is grinning ear to ear and I of course am livid... "You made them walk 10 miles... no wonder they wanted to do nothing but sit on the couch!  They are little, have you no regard for their little legs?!?"  Needless to say, they weren't sick, just completely exhausted, and according to Russ, "building stamina."  If we don't find a car soon, we may very well have the youngest Olympians in history, training right here in Ireland :)

Of course the first week included a boat trip to the little island right outside our window known as, yes, you guessed it Dalkey Island.  There is a gentleman, Ken “the Ferryman" who runs a little boat to and from the island each day, weather permiting.  That being said, I think we have seen him out there 3 times now :).  

The island has the ruins of a church dating from the 7th century, named after St Begnet and Martello tower, built in 1804 to protect against French invasion under Napoleon's rule.  The island was first inhabited around 6,000 years ago and later used as viking base. The island has lots of bunnies and a heard of goats that live on it.

Seals basking in the sun on the rocks.

The "Baby Seal" 

When they arrived there was a small baby seal sitting on the shore.  The girls insisted he was crying and wanted to provide comfort, however  The Ferryman was quick to mention seals bite.  That was all they needed to hear and promptly moved along.  The girls met an Irish boy and girl on their boat ride who were slightly older.  Along with their Grandpa, they were quick friends and assited in treating Annelyse by gathering sea water and dock leaf after our first encounter with stinging nettle.  

The nettle causes a painful itch and resembled a case of poison ivy.  Fortunately the nettle sting subsides rather quickly. They climbed rocks, explored the ruins, chased bunnies, snacked on the beach (which their new irish friends shared with them), admired the seals and sea birds and enjoyed views of the Dublin shoreline from a different vantage point.  Much like all the Irish we have met to date, these new friends were a pleasure to be around.  

Russ and the girls discovered two little parks just up the street from our house.  Dillons and Sorrento Park.  Dillons Park has many steps and winding paths to walk along down the the rocky shoreline where the mackerel fisherman and  more seals can often be found.  Sorrento Park on the other side of the street has a tall hill that offers breathtaking views from Howth to the north and Greystones to the south which are, "just lovely" (as they say here)!  

Please pay no attention to their clothes... they dress themselves :)

The girls have also become very friendly with a little golden retriever down the street who they refer to as Elsinore.  The houses here don't have numbers, rather names and this puppy lives at Elsinore house, therefore her tag says "Elsinore".  Each day when the girls walk by, the puppy runs to the gate for some good snuggles.  It is so cute to see them all so exicited to see one another!  The girls have already figured out how many gates her house is from ours!  Inniscorrig “castle" next door to Elsinore also has a little dog they look forward to seeing... but Elsinore has won their hearts.

Our first weekend (not recovering from jet lag) was pretty great!  One of my co-workers recommended a festival held in Dublin each summer.  It is full of things to do with kids, but the best part was all the different street performers.  Many of them appeared to have been in favor of the referendum that recently passed, which of course meant good fun and laughs for us all.  The flamboyancy level was quite high and very much appreciated by Lo n’ Anna.   We have not laughed so hard in a LONG time!  And the girls learned a few new swear words and inappropriate dance moves along the way.  Not to mention, asked 2,846 questions about why the guys were wearing bright pink clothes and belly shirts. And, why one had tan lines which looked like he had been wearing a bikini top... you get the idea :)

Notice the faint bikini-top tan lines...

While I'm beyond thankful for this opportunity and enjoy my job (most days), I have to admit I am a bit (ok, more than a bit) jealous that Russ gets to spend so much time with the girls and explore our new town.   Last week the jealously-meter reached a new level.  I was attempting to multi-task... placing an Amazon order for a colander, a shower rod, pans... etc, while listening in on a conference call when I get this text message from Russ… "Day is great... we went splashing in the harbor.  Happy to report that we were able to give Pierce Brosnan a little entertainment as he perched himself on the back of a boat while we splashed about!!!"

Really, Pierce Bronson... then when I asked him if he had taken a picture, he replied he didn't have his phone (which NEVER, EVER...happens) and even if he did, he wouldn't have taken a one.  We have heard in Ireland they don't pay much attention to celebrities.  That probably explains why one was hanging out on a boat in the middle of the day without a care in the world!.  So while we (I) are attempting to assimilate as much as we can into the Irish culture, a paparatizi-esqu picture of a Pierce would have been nice.  Instead, Russ felt reenacting the picture of Pierce and his wife taken just days before would be proof enough of his chance encounter.   

We recently started a tradition in an attempt to spend more one on one with the girls, 'date-night’.  The girls aren’t used to having this much together time, so this idea was well recieved.  We plan to have a date with each of the girls on the day they were born each month.  Of course, Annelyse got to go first, so that incited a bit of a riot.  Nonetheless, we worked through that issue and  discussed the many different things we could do.  We let them pick who gets to take them on their date... Mommy or Daddy...quite controversial.  To my good fortune, Annelyse picked me and decided to go on a picnic at Dillon Park.  Anticipating Daddy's disappointment, she gently explained to him that she had been with him all day and that he could go next time.  Annelyse then mentioned I would like it, because "we can just take a blanket and go an relax and talk."  She is definitely my daughter!  We packed some snacks in our picnic bag, grabbed our blanket and umbrellas and headed up the street.  

My peach explained all the features of the park, given it was my first time there... the benches, paths, flowers, fire-pits... or what she thought was a fire pit and then decided was just a round sandy area whose purpose remains unclear....  We found a great spot overlooking the Irish Sea and sat down for our dinner!  After sitting down, we turned to find a little black cat sitting on the wall about 3 feet from us.  Annelyse of course, invited him to our  soiree and he of course obliged.  We tried to give him a little turkey, but he wanted nothing more than to be pet and snuggled.  He plopped down right next to her and sat for the duration of our dinner... as she pet him, she pondered all kinds of things about this sweet creature... where he lived, why his collar was silver and had a bell on it... if he was a boy or a girl and what his name was... why his nails were so long, if he could feel is whiskers and why they appeared to be green (?), if he had a sister, if he had ever swam in the sea... the list could just go on and on.  

The curiosity and inquisitiveness was charming, endearing really. We talked about how I had a black cat when I was little...of course she needed all the stats on him as well.  We walked down the paths to see the fisherman, talked about what she liked about Ireland and what she didn't (which thankfully wasn't a much).   While speaking of the things she liked, she quickly stopped to inform me of the nettle, which gave her a brief rash while on Dalkey Island and how to avoid it.  It was a great evening, with great conversation and even better company!

(7/17/2015): Week #2:  Our second week here and we had our first visitors from the states... just two short weeks after landing, some friendly faces from home arrived... Russ's child-hood friend John and his wife Colleen arrived early Friday morning.  They took the train down to our little town for dinner and a quick visit before heading out for a week of tours and sight-seeing.  They will be joining us again on their last night before returning back to the states.




This past Saturday we took a quick train ride to the town of Bray which is just south of us. We had grandiose thoughts of touring some of the places we had found in the book The 1,000 Place to See Before You Die... however, when we arrived, the girls quickly eyed the lights and sounds of your typical junky carnival and we were sucked in, rides, junk-food, games... our plans were squelched, but the girls were happy!  The highlight for us was finding a ride called the "Helter Skelter"... some of you know the fondness the girls have (and had before our move) for the British cartoon, Peppa Pig.  During one of the episodes, the little boy pig, George wants to ride on the Helter Skelter, but is too scared, so he makes his dad go with him.  The girls got quite a kick out of this ride being the same as the one on the cartoon!  And I got to take the place of Daddy Pig and take a ride on the shaky, wooden slide myself :)

Bicycle riding and scooter riding has proven to be quite interesting with the girls given the hilly landscape.  Russ got the bikes put back together this week and with that done, the girls were anxious to get riding!  With the rolling terrain and narrow streets, often busy with foot traffic, bike rides have proven to be much more challenging than on the quiet Dover Road. Russ is getting plenty of exercise running next to their bikes as the fly down the hills screaming wildly for joy. Taking them riding at the same time isn’t really an option, so bike or scooter riding provides some good one on one time. They love the downhill parts, but not back uphill… typically Russ ends up pushing them uphill and running next to them downhill.  Very fun but somewhat nerve-wracking for the parents!

We were able to put our fishing lines in the water for the first time off of Coliemore Harbour. Unfortunately we were shut out by the elusive mackerel.  There was stern objection from the girls prior to leaving seeing we hadn't caught any fish.   We will definitely have to manage  expectations a little more closely when going fishing.  As I explained to them, there is a reason it's called  “fishing” and not “catching”.  

The Harbour is a favorite place for the girls.  Whether it’s going to read a book, gaze at the rolling waters, collect shells or sea glass, catch snails, splash on the boat launch, watch the porpoises, birds and seals, interact with the boaters and rowers or marvel at the teenagers jumping from ridiculous heights off of the different harbour walls… its always a hub of activity and a place of pure enjoyment. 

All in all, it has been a great two weeks!  We are still getting our bearings and figuring out how to navigate the town, but all in all doing well!  It certainly makes it easier to get around now that we have high speed internet hooked up at the house and irish cell phones.

We hope all is well with you and that you will keep us posted on all the things happening back home!  I doubt the next blog posts will be nearly as long and detailed, seeing that I am already a week beehind, but I am going to keep trying.  We are trying to put more upates on Facebook so hopefully those are giving good updates!

Take care & love,

Lyndsey Russ, Annelyse & Loralye

The Adventure Has Begun!

Family & Friends!

We have arrived safely in Ireland and are settling in well! We have been a bit disconnected from the world given our slightly remoted location and the lack of a Wi-Fi connection.

That being said, we are figuring things out and taking one day at a time. We are very lucky to have landed in a place that loves to help pathetic and desperate people. :-)

The start of our journey was an interesting one… just before arriving at the airport, I got a text that our flight to Washington DC was cancelled due to air traffic control. It sounds like there were some security concerns at Dulles and they closed the airport to incoming flights. We quickly rearranged travel, connecting through Toronto. The girls were beside themselves with excitement waiting for the plane to arrive. Once it did, we were a bit surprised… a 20 seater propeller plane, decked out with a big green leaf painted on the side, was going to be their first airplane experience. Needless to say, without a point of reference, they didn’t bat an eye as they walked out onto the tarmac and up the stairs of the plane. It was a smooth ride and they just giggled the whole time. :-)

Upon arrival in Toronto, we had a bit of a layover. It was getting late, but the girls were troopers and even made friends with two twin girls (Mary and Eva (11)) returning back to Ireland from their holiday in New York Annelyse and Loralye asked if they could just go to Ireland with them… pretty sure they would have ditched us all together had we let them. We were happy to find that both of the seats next to us were empty, so the girls were able to spread out and sleep for most of the flight over the ocean. Six seats for the price of 4…that was truly a blessing!!

Arrival into Dublin and through customs was pretty painless. We arrived at our apartment and the girls couldn’t wait to get into the harbor, which is very cold, but full of activity!! The girls got a big kick out of the sea lions sunning themselves on some rocks. Shortly after the relocation people and landlord left, we realized we had no bed linens or pillows… With no car and no Wi-Fi signal (not to mention no idea where a store that sold those kinds of things was to be found) we made the best of the situation and camped out with lots of cushions and travel pillows for the night.   Hard to be uncomfortable or unhappy in this place!

Saturday we took a taxi, (which the girls were thrilled about since they don’t have to ride in car seats) to a local store to get some stuff for the house. Finding a hairdryer turned out to be an expedition fit for Indiana Jones. In the end, we have a coffee pot, hair dryer, toaster, pillows, blankets and some food… life is good!  The picture below is of the girls taking a 'selfie' in the taxi...I can only imagiane what's to come!

Sunday, we ventured out again, this time taking the DART (train)… Another fun ride for the girls. They especially loved going through the tunnels which were pitch black, again giggling the entire time. Loralye kept saying “we are going on an adventure!!”

I made it into work Monday, which allowed us to connect to the world again. Of course my first morning commute was in true Irish style with a severe downpour. Luckily Russ had gotten me a great raincoat and umbrella which made the torrential rains much more bearable. For only being here 5 days, it feels like we have been here for a month. We have quickly learned how little we need and really how simple life can be if we don’t overcomplicate things. It has definitely been an adjustment and I am sure there are still lots of things to discover, but we are doing well and I think making the best of our adventure as Lo would say.

Our shipment is being delivered tomorrow, so after that we should be all ready for company.  :-)

Thank you for all the well wishes, emails and texts! We hope to better about (and capable of) responding to them shortly!

Hope all is well with you all!

Take care & love, Lyndsey, Russ, Annelyse & Loralye

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