You'll know why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKIl-v18mgo

These Boots Were Made For....

Resting.

(Cape Clear Island. County Cork. Ireland. August 2011)

Declan loved this lady.

And all her other friends.

They are good girls indeed.

I think my son may grow up to be a farmer after all.

The Post to Make Me Remember...

We are just 5 hours in from a 2 week stay in the Motherland.

Our Holiday was all we could have every hoped for + a great big big bowl of cherries on top.

In so many ways, I return from two solid weeks in Ireland and think that Americans complicate life more than they need to.

Let this be the post to make me remember that

bigger isn't always better

closer doesn't always mean close

a shortcut isn't always

families stretch far beyond the limits of bloodlines and lineage.

We (Dame and I) joked about the amnt of photos we'd taken along the way....

I guessed a good 700+.

As the computer churns out the 1,500+ pictures, I have nothing to do but await them....

Humbly.

Ever so Patiently.

And of course, above all...

Anxiously.

I think I know my favorite photograph already.

(But only time will tell).

Ireland was spectacular in every way. Do I even need to tell you that?

At nearly all crossroads, I felt a first line of a blog post brimming up inside me and I felt a tug on my heartstrings to set down and write.

So here is to the pots of gold awaiting my little ones,

and me,

and you...
at the end of each rainbow.

May we appreciate them and
May we know them

when we reach them.

(More pics to follow....God willing).

To all things green, gold and everything in between.


And to our super lovely leprechaun of a chauffeur this afternoon who helped us through the transition from dreamland to reality.


We love you Mr. O'Rourke.

And then some.

Over in Killarney...

A long, long time ago there was a red van that weaved it's way through the Irish country side. In it were 7 children, and 2 parents. Apparently back then there were no car seats, so the 1 year old baby sat in the van on her umbrella stroller. I think, there was also a serious lack of seat belts, because the 5 year old (me) recalls coming to a stop to allow some cows to cross, and hitting her head. Then applying some frozen Irish peas to the welt on her head. And to think there was time to video tape the entire trip...

The incredible journey taken nearly 25 years ago seems even more astounding having just returned from Ireland with my 1 child, a 1 year old. Having myself and him adjust to the time change took four days, and it wasn't pretty. It took some tantrums, lack of sleep, refusal to eat or drink the foreign milk until I made it into sweet tea, it was quite a sight. I praise mom a thousand times more for doing it with 7 children, and can't quite imagine how it all worked out. I called her about the first or second day into the trip to let her know how we were. After informing her that Xave wouldn't eat, she recalled how we had pretty much survived on soft serve for the entire 3 weeks we were there, oh so long ago. Thank goodness, that although much has changed in Ireland in 25 years, the soft serve/ice cream stations are almost as easy to find as the pubs. So we (I mean Xave) ate ice cream and sweet tea for a week.

More stories to come....