The Limerick Larsens

Your Invite to the Most Bodacious 80's Valentine's Dinner Dance Ever!

2012-02-12T18:40:00.001-07:00

Brush off your rubber bracelets, grow out your mullet, and pull that 80's monstrosity prom dress out of the closet - Footworks Dance Studio announces the "most excellent" 80's-themed Valentine's Day Dinner Party ever! Why dump a load of cash on a mediocre meal at a chain restaurant this Valentine's Day? Treat her - or him - right and come to our 80's bash for the best tunes, tastes and talent around! It'll be awesome to the max!

*Bedazzle your senses with our Filet Mignon or Chicken gourmet meal, with salads (Caesar and poppyseed), mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, and sparkling cider. And a "non spiked" punch bowl, of course. Because what's an 80's party without a punch bowl? and pop rocks? And rubix cubes? Like, we're so totally happening!

*Entice the date of your dreams with promises of strawberries dipped at our chocolate fountain!

*Get your Crazy 80s picture taken with your group, to take home as a souvenir of the night when all your wildest dreams came true
*Make your date a customized corsage or boutonniere at our flower table

*Floor show featuring our 2012 Festival Team's totally rad "Gag Me With the 80s" medley

*Thiller demo and teaching option (BYOG - bring your own glove)

*Request your fav tunes for the open dance floor under the glowing disco ball. Duran Duran, Flock of Seagulls and Boy George are already cued up.

*Vote for Pedro (or the most outrageously dressed guest) to be our Prom king or queen

*80's trivia contest (no looking up the answers on iPhones allowed - like, that's so totally NOT 80's)

*Contests, door prizes, and giveaways galore! Like, you could win, like, totally serious prizes!
*This invite will make a Splash so show you're Footloose (and not a Gremlin) by passing it on to anyone who might be interested!

Date: Friday February 10th, 2012

Time: 6:30-10:00 PM

Place: Footworks Dance Studio, 1561 W 5500 S, Rexburg (we'll gladly valet your DeLorean for you, though we can't promise not to sneak a peak at your flux capacitor)

Cost: $35/couple, with proceeds going towards our Festival Team costumes.

Threads: anything you can bust a move in that brings out your 80's pride. Feathered hair, leg warmers, and cell phones the size of a shoe box win you extra points.

RSVP by FEBRUARY 9th to: Mindy at 351-2301 or idahofootworks@yahoo.com

Be there or be square! but it's hip to be square...

Long ago, on a Birthday far far away...

2012-01-18T22:28:00.005-07:00

... was Spencer's Big 5 Star Wars birthday party!

Being born on January 3rd is kind of a rip off. You've just had Christmas, and people are so busy bringing in the new year that sometimes your birthday gets, well, not top priority. Not in our house though, right buddy? We took Spence and some of his best buds (Parker the Ricks, Ben Goodnough, Hyrum and Ammon Allen, plus Redge and Saralyn Allen for Gary and me) to the place of all places for birthday parties in the Greater Southeaster Idaho region - Leo's Place! It's a pizza/burger joint with an arcade, huge play place, and mini rides. Sure, the play place smells like a petrie dish sometimes, and you can just imagine the germs swimming around in there, but the kids LOVE it. (plus that's why hand sanitizer was invented.) The kids had a great time, we had a nice chat with the Allens while the kids played, and a good time was had by all. Kudos again go to Gary, who once again pulled out a really cool cake for our Little Buddy.

Home Again Home Again

2012-01-18T21:47:00.004-07:00

After almost five months of adventure and "vacation," it was so nice to come home to this sign, made by my dear friend Dawn, on our front porch. Within minutes of our being home, the house was crowded with Ricks, Flamms and Fransons welcoming us back (and helping us unload our car, and bringing us dinner...) It was so needed - thanks guys! More tender mercies. Because I wasn't at all sure I wanted to be back, and this really emotionally helped me make the transition.
The above suitcases represented three seasons, three different major trips (summer in Utah, fall in Ireland, Christmas in Utah and Maui) And this was just what was in my car. This doesn't include the whole room full of boxes stacked ceiling-high that we had to unpack!

I feel the need to sum up:
*four and a half months of travel. Unbelievable adventures. Tons of blessings. Guardian angels every step of the way.
*we never, not once had to see a doctor while we were gone. Excepting Gary's bum foot which was in a boot for three months, it was the healthiest we have collectively ever been. The kids missed days of school for our trips, but not for illness. More blessings. Until Spen got the flu in Maui, and within weeks of returning to Idaho's dry, very cold climate we've all been terribly sick at one time or another! I guess the reprieve is over...
*13 flights for the whole family, plus two more for Gary to England making it 15. That's a lot of ear-popping family fun! Card games (War) totally helped, as did the in-flight movies and Angry Birds on the IPod. And books, and sleep. And talks. And cuddles. And crayons and stickers. Whatever it takes!
*lots of different kinds of motion sickness, mostly Soph, Spen and me. The kids don't like Dramamine, but I personally will never fly without it again after the flight from SLC to LA en route to Maui. I would do it all again though - that was one wonderful trip!
*One happy but chubby dog when we got back. Bella's doing great though - we've both lost some weight since getting back to real life! She gets me out in the cold but beautiful country landscape to exercise the extra weight off our buns!
*three weeks of unpacking to do when we got home. Ugh.
*Gary thrilled to be back in his element at BYUI - he loves his job and was stoked to get back! We got the hot tub fired up as well, and he visits "Pearl" every day. Makes him feel so good!
*The strength of my kids as they did hard things I certainly never had to face at their age. I will never underestimate their capacity for adjusting to difficult situations, particularly Sophie who is tender, yes, but much stronger than I ever was as a child. They are amazing and better even for the wear of being dragged across ten different time zones, two continents, four countries and two schools each.
*Maggie was definitely in the wrong class in Ireland - when we got back she was behind in math just a little bit. Grr. We're playing catch-up, and luckily she's a quick study. Sophie's school here on the other hand is easier than it was in Ireland, but she did well both places. So proud of both of them! And of Spencer, who is now reading Dick and Jane at bedtime reading. By himself. I love you, Leap Pad Letter Factory DVD!
*The usefulness of a large electric kettle; we used ours daily in Ireland and I miss it here desperately, so I've ordered one from Amazon. Am anticipating its arrival with great delight!
*some heartbreak as I realize that the kids are forgetting a lot about their Irish experience already. I know it will always form a part of their development, and Maggie will especially be able to recall much of it. But today Sophie couldn't remember her friends' names from her class, except for Saorise. Heartbreaking, but natural I suppose. For me though, when I am down lately, Ireland is my happy place. I savor the memory of what it was like playing soccer with my kids in the big field by campus; walking along the Shannon, admiring the trees, petting the dogs on their walks and discovering ivy-clad ruins every hundred yards; watching my kids play with the O'Shea kids and the Botts kids; the sunshiny sound of Heather Bott's laugh, especially as we ate apple almond pudding and watched Downton Abbey; comparing life experiences with the Kellys and the Extons; Eva Kelly's delectably huge cheeks; Ann and Alex Kelly's kindness to me; my dear little black and white house and Deirdre and Liam who so kindly took care of us; savoring the many moods of Irish weather, and the way the clouds played among the low hills and the UL campus; how the peat fires smelled as I walked with Spencer and the green stroller to Lidl or SuperQuinn; the feel of the soft, chilly, perfectly humid Irish air; and how brilliantly the tree outside my bedroom window flamed with leaves all autumn long. All these little details that I cling to because I was so amazingly happy there. I don't want to forget any of it.
*We still have it great. Our life here in Idaho is wonderful. No complaints. The goal is to still keep my eyes out for those tender mercies because they are still all around me here. I am very blessed.

2011 Favorite Maui Moments

2012-01-05T21:56:00.011-07:00

*Walking on the beach one night after sundown with our three kids, stargazing (Cassiopeia and Orion) and recounting our favorite Maui stories, like when Gar proposed to me on the airplane on Christmas Eve, and when he lost the keys to our rental car at while cliff diving at the Seven Sacred Pools past Hana. The kids were afraid of the dark at first, and the ocean does look totally different at night, even with the lights from the hotels glowing softly down onto the beach. But we held their hands and made them laugh and had a wonderful time sharing our family stories with them on our favorite beach in the world!
*Snorkeling with two enormous sea turtles! And seeing those two huge whales slap their tails just off Black Rock while we were walking down to go snorkeling!
*Caroling on the balcony on Christmas Eve, as always, and the crepe party at our place on Christmas Day
*taking daily naps with Spencer, who had the flu pretty bad but only let it keep him down a day or two. He needed lots of naps though between the morning beach and afternoon pool workouts, so Gar or I would curl up with him on the sofa in the front room and he'd fall asleep snuggled up next to us while we watched football, Elf or Harry Potter on tv.
*the impromptu family talent show out by the pool, featuring our family version of "Sur la Ponte d'Avignon" and Maggie, Haley and Gracie's 12 days of Mormon Christmas which they made up themselves. They included five Jesus dolls (?). It was the hit of the night!
*playing our family games: the Name Game, Balderdash (aggressively aging aardvarks, anyone?) Take Two, Five Crowns and Scum
*watching the kids, who are older and more independent now, make their own Maui memories with each other
*adding a new dimension to the trip with Morgan and Vadim
*seeing Glenn Beck and entourage at church on Sunday sitting four rows ahead of us
*Honolua Bay and the Blow Hole - such beautiful places!
*the classic Mindy Moment of Gary reading our travel itinerary as we were packing to leave... and realizing that I had told everyone we had to leave on Sunday when we really had tickets to leave on MONDAY night...good thing he thought to check before we actually drove in to the airport! LOVED that extra 24 hours in paradise!!! Seriously though, between that and the Infamous Passport Fiasco on our way to Ireland, it has not been a good year for me as far as my wits are concerned!
*Our last dinner at Leilani's with Nana and Papa (our treat for once!), watching our last Maui sunset, then hurrying home for one last swim in the pool before loading our car and heading for the airport

Maui Adventures Further Afield

2012-01-05T21:56:00.010-07:00

The kids had so much fun at the beach and pool that it was like pulling teeth to get them to even think about getting in the car, in spite of the fact that on Maui adventures are everywhere. We did manage to get them down to the Sheraton to see their gingerbread house display...

...and up to Honolua to whale watch and hike through the jungle...
...and to the Blow Hole up around the west end of the island. This part of Maui has always reminded me of Ireland. Ah, Ireland... sniff...
Gary and Maggie looking at the back end of the blow hole to see how the water shoots through it.
This is right before a huge waves soaks us all from behind. It was our only cloudy day too, so we were actually almost chilly for a second. NOT like in Ireland, where it was chilly all the time.
Hermit crabs in the tide pools.
Cool lava, Soph! Is that a'a or pahoihoi?And at the end of it all, a walk down the beach to Whaler's Village for dinner or snow cones. We really tired them out - it was great!

The Master at Work

2012-01-05T21:55:00.010-07:00

Gary is unquestionably the resident family Sand Artist Extraordinaire - he's always the one who initiates and oversees construction on all family sand sculptures of note. This below was begun before the sun hit the sand on our beach (7-8:30 AM) - our favorite time of day for the tender-skinned among us. (Gary, Gary and, well, Gary) This is the Castle of Super Awesomeness (a quote from the Big Man himself). Josh and Jack provided the on-site crew, and most of us contributed in our own small way.

Dolling up all the nieces and nephews - Gary giving Katelyn Cranney more legs, and Pete making Austin a shark.
Maggie was a mermaid and Haley was an Egyptian princess.

Quick, save Edoras from the encroaching wave from Eowyn's dream! (that's for all you Lord of the Rings fans out there.)

The kids all love the beach so much, especially Spence (I do feed him, I swear; he just isn't very interested in calories). Josh and Gary taught the kids their version of Death Unto Us (one simple rule: get as clobbered as possibly by every approaching wave), and I experienced the joy of having all three kids knowing how to swim. For the first time as well, Maggie was old enough to be able to take off with her cousins Katelyn, Haley and Grace and do their own thing while I kept a closer eye on the younger two. Brought back all kinds of memories of my own youth growing up on this beach, walking solo or with a sibling down to Black Rock or Whaler's Village while my parents set up base camp at the pool or beach. I love that we get to have these common memories.

Sometimes we'd walk down to Black Rock, watching the whales jump just offshore on the way.
Snorkeling was a big hit with most of us this year - we all tried it and I even got to swim with two ginormous sea turtles! It made me a bit seasick though - isn't that kind of pathetic? Who gets seasick while snorkeling? Me. oh well.

This is Tootie (Sophie) modeling her gear. And when we needed a break, there was always the pool!
Abby and Gabe, Josh and Hailey.
And the heart of the family, Nana and Papa surrounded by their adoring progeny. When they weren't catching a little "shit-eye" (sorry, long story on that one but it's a family saying now).

The Food

2012-01-05T15:02:00.008-07:00

What would a trip to Maui be without our favorite culinary delights? Gary laughs at me for actually taking pictures of my meals, but really, this is the one time a year when I can get amazing fish like this. I HAVE to document it!
We went out to three nice restaurants in Maui: Roy's, Pacific'O, and Leilani's. (Our other favorites are the Banyan Tree, Plantation House and Mama's Fish House so if you go to Maui try them all!) I got my long-anticipated coconut-crusted mahi mahi at Pacific'O's, but I have to say, for the price, quality and overall experience, my favorite this trip was Leilani's. We splurged and went there three times this trip. But with the sunset special (above, a FABULOUS crusted ono filet with a lemon beurre blanc sauce) at only $18, it was WORTH IT! Where can I get food like this at home? Eat up while I can, I say! Everything tasted so good.
My blackened mahi, also superb. One of my favorite sights in the world - the view from the Leilani's balcony at sunset! or any time!The kids discovered lava flows (pina colada with strawberries) on this trip. After finishing his, Spencer patted me on the shoulder and said, "Mom, this is the best flavor I ever had!"

Maggie attacking the hula pie.
I think all that sugar did something funny to us... we're all perfectly normal, I swear...

Maui Christmas! Still pinching myself...

2012-01-01T22:07:00.005-07:00

Ten days + one perfect island + excellent food + the entire extended family = PARADISE!

The family on Ka'anapali Beach, where my family has spent every other Christmas for the last 25 years. We stay at the Ka'anapali Alii because we like the condos, facility, location and the history we have here.

Christmas Eve we had dinner (orange chicken, fruit and chocolate cake) down by the pool. Nana had a program all ready to go, with the Christmas story and carols and all the good stuff. Then we went to Nana and Papa's condo for caroling...
...and the ceremonial opening of the Annual Christmas Pajamas!
Lots of little girl cousins!

Christmas this year was France and Maui. They were totally fine with that! Santa did provide stockings though. Christmas morning was on a Sunday, so after the traditional breakfast by the pool of donuts and fruit we went to church at our dear Lahaina First Ward. Then we came home, took some pictures, and headed up to Hillary and our condo where Hills and I hosted a massive crepe party for Christmas dinner - yum!
It was the perfect way to start out a great vacation.

Utah Christmas

2012-01-01T19:28:00.005-07:00

I think our kids are the luckiest kids in the world. Not only did they get to go to Ireland and France this fall, and Maui for Christmas, but they also got totally spoiled at Gram and Grandpa's house in the middle of all that! We returned to the USA on Tuesday the 13th, unpacked and repacked until Friday the 16th, and drove to Central Utah for a Richfield Christmas with our beloved Gram and Grandpa Larsen. And Bella. And Scotty. And McKenzie. And the latest addition, Gram's new little miniature schnauzer named Violet/Liesl (after Spencer's cute little friend in Ireland).
Dogs dogs everywhere -we love it! Bella (our black lab) was delighted to see us... or maybe she just liked the bone we bought her but at least she seemed pleased to have us back. She was in the lap of doggy luxury at Gram's house -thanks Gram and Grandpa for taking such good care of her!!!
"Christmas morning" at G&G's. (sorry, I can't figure out how to rotate the picture - just tilt your head.)
Some of our favorite things: riding the four wheelers with Grandpa and cuddling with Gram (while fitting in our year's worth of Sponge Bob in one go).

Bella all decked out.
Welcome to the family, little Liesl/Violet! She is so cute... and feisty! Although totaling about two pounds, she was bossing Bella and Scotty around with quite the attitude. Gram loves her new little baby!
What's Christmas without a new lego set? And a Pizza Hut/movie date with G&G? (we saw Arthur Christmas this time around). We had the best time - thanks Gram and Grandpa!

Our Last Ireland Pics

2011-12-31T17:27:00.003-07:00

Stalwart soldiers amid the packing chaos:

We never did take pictures of the cool buildings of the UL campus, so Gary took these his last night there. This is the awesome pedestrian bridge over the Shannon he'd cross every day to get to the Irish World Academy Building. This is his little corner of campus where he spent most of his days:
The mosaic in his building:
Last day of school in Ireland. :-( Maggie's and Sophie's friends were all so cute - gave them big hugs again and again as we walked down through the parking lot to cross the street to go to our house. I wish I'd had my video camera!
We do love British Airways... and in-seat video players!

Jiggety Jig

2011-12-15T11:38:00.004-07:00

This is what I posted on Facebook before we left Ireland:

"Heartbroken to be leaving Ireland. Boxing and cleaning up suck to begin with; leaving a place we love makes it all worse! Shouldn't be ungrateful though. Thank you Ireland for four wonderful months!"

I was heartbroken to leave Ireland. I'm not even completely sure why, but I cried on and off for a week before we left. I think it had something to do with adventure, with opportunity, with a simplified life, with seeing my children valued and loved in what we thought would be a foreign environment, with making new, unexpectedly close friends, with being together in a while new way. I fell in love with Ireland and its people because we got to know them, go to their schools, eat at their houses, play with their children, see with new eyes. I loved all the tender mercies and beautiful moments we experienced there.

Hm, can't think about that right now. It's making me weepy.

The trip home was fairly uneventful. Our dear regular taxi driver Christy took us to the airport (at 5:30 AM, after being up till 2:30 cleaning and packing the last load of laundry - WHY do we do that to ourselves???), and we said goodbye to dear little 20 Compostella. We did have to absolutely tear through Heathrow to get to our connecting flight to Dallas after unexpectedly going through security for the second time (out of three, if you can believe that). We were a little sweaty from our jog up two flights of the most enormous escalators and down interminable corridors, but we made it. Kids did great on the flight, again due to BA's personalized tvs for each seat. We had a refreshingly yummy dinner of ribs and blue cheese wedge salad at TGIFridays in Dallas - our first time eating out at a restaurant, besides the one in Carcassonne, two Pizza Huts and our Golden Grill experience, in four months), then boarded the plane and slept, in spite of all our best intentions, all the way home to SLC where Nana and Papa brought the Black Beast to pick us up.

Only they didn't really need the huge car after all, because none of our luggage made the Heathrow flight. Two days later and we still don't know where it is. Sigh. But, we are currently comfortably ensconced in Nana and Papa's beautiful house, playing the Wii and dressups and working out (for the first time in way too long!). Ireland already feels miles and years away, almost as if another life. I will not ever forget it though, and am so glad I blogged about it so I can always remember this amazing journey we took.

I was VERY happy to see my car though!

We go to Gary's parents' house tomorrow for the Larsen Christmas, then it's off to Maui for ten days. And after that we return to the tundra... which I don't want to think about right now because I just finished three days of packing and cleaning in Ireland - too soon to think about doing it all over again in Idaho!

Merry Christmas everybody! And thank you again Ireland for a great ride.

2011-12-12T01:33:00.005-07:00

This is the Lullaby song that Sophie sang for weeks before her school Christmas program (she's in the back):

http://youtu.be/zsJi7pYCQ9Q

And this is Maggie's cute little posse at school:

http://youtu.be/Gft8CpieWRY

The Botts

2011-12-11T16:14:00.004-07:00

The Botts get a special entry all their own. Living just two doors away, we saw them almost every day, especially towards the end of our stay in Ireland. Heather is a bright, joyous ray of sunshine, who fills every day with adventure and cheer. Her husband Colin is an artist, musician and chef extraordinaire of mashed potatoes and Sunday night cookies. Liesl is Spencer's best bud, and Penelope charms us all every day with her exquisite petiteness, huge grin and constant hunger. The kids like to call her their American Girl doll because she's about the same size as one. Colin entertained the kids frequently on his various instruments, most often the mandolin and the concertina. Heather is the one who introduced us to the river walks, blackberry hunting, and the lunchtime concerts on campus. We shared almost two full days of apple almond pudding and Downton Abbey! I love girl time! She's a wonderful person and a great friend.
This is Liesl's birthday party on Dec. 7th, complete with Guinness stew and cheesecake. We gave her some dressups and a diamond L keychain.
Thanksgiving together (at the Botts) was a joint affair we were all excited about.
Our day out at Adare - in a rented car that Heather drove (much to Colin's dismay- he gets really carsick). The Manor is AWESOME, by the way, and Adare is the most charming Irish village. If you're going to western Ireland, STAY THERE! That same night, after getting fudge at the creamery and getting a peek at Santa, Heather drove me out to the church to so I could teach some world dances to the YM/YW. We got SO lost and ended up stranded in a deserted industrial park with lots of dead ends and evidently only one way out. We were laughing and crying and almost out of gas before someone finally drove by to save us. We made it to the church in time to teach the Virginia Reel and Missionary tag, so the evening was saved. A good time was had by all... eventually!
Gary, me, Heather, Colin
Sophie, Liesl, Spencer Who Doesn't Like to Be In Pictures, Maggie and Penelope
We hate saying goodbye! But we feel pretty confident that we'll see them again. Gary will be in and out of Ireland over the next few years and they'll be here for another year (maybe), so he has an open invitation to their spare bedroom. And who knows - they could end up next door to us someday! It's a small, small world. In the meantime, we will miss them desperately and look forward to when we can see them again!

More Friends!

2011-12-11T15:10:00.005-07:00

Here are some of our best blessings in Ireland:

Okay, so these guys are actually from the States - they arrived and leave the same time as us - but we count them still. Dennis, Afton, and Julie Ferguson and Natalie Noakes were over here working for an American company in Adare, and got to live at the fabulous villas on the Manor Property. Julie, Natalie and I hung out a lot and went to see Twilight 4 together. You know, it's kind of a girl thing.
Here's Sophie's school class; we took in homemade chocolate chip cookies to her and Maggie's classes and the girls handed out CTR rings and notes with our contact information to all their friends. We were so lucky that they got to go t0 school and make these friends in Ireland!
Here is Sophie with her teacher, Mr. Kinnerk.
Maggie handing out the cookies to her class. Maggie's four special friends Laura, Lauren, Louise and Beibhnn ("Bay-van") were so sweet; they got together and filled a bag with notes, necklaces, a stuffed animal, a cool hat, and a bunch of little trinkets for Maggie to take home to remember them by. We lucked out with those girls, I can tell you that!

Here are the Extons: Dara, Geraldine, Saoirse, Odhrin, and Chris. Saiorse ("ser-shuh") and Odhrin ("Orin") are in Sophie's and Maggie's classes at school as well. Chris is technology faculty at UL, and Geraldine is a teacher. They've been so kind to us so we had them over for dinner our third to last day here in Ireland. Here are Dara and Odhrin playing their tin whistles in our kitchen. We tried to get Maggie to clog with them but she was too shy.
Kids on Stairs: note Sophie's tear-stained face. Ever my tender one, she was bawling when it came time to say goodbye to her friends! All three of them were very teary tonight as the realization that tomorrow is their last day in Ireland sunk in.

We also got to hang out this week with Mats (also faculty from UL) and Emma (from Sweden), and their three kids and two dogs, at a farewell dinner at their house. Of course, I forgot my camera for that one which was typical but too bad. I also give a shout-out to the Kelly families from church, particularly Michael and Ann, and Alex and David. Dear, wonderful people the lot of them! We will miss them very much!

2011 Christmas Card Text

2011-12-07T08:11:00.015-07:00

Larsen Lessons Learned 2011
*Kids who want horseback riding lessons can be conned into doing all kinds of crazy chores!
*Grandparents are treasures and good friends and neighbors are blessings from above.
*We are dog people! Every kid needs a dog. Every mom, too.
*Sometimes your kids are ready for milestones before you are, like Spencer (4) taking off on his 2-wheeler bike and Maggie (10) and Sophie (7) braving it out in a new school. On a new continent. Who told them they could all grow up so fast?
*Dancing is a great way to stay fit and have fun. So is hosting 26 people at your house for 10 days during the Idaho International Dance Festival! Good times.
*Sophie can get motion sick in 6.21 minutes, while Spencer invariably throws up when there is 1.8 minutes left in the road trip.
*Healthy food will make you strong. But candy will make you rich! Or will it? (see Kid Histories Episode 6 on YouTube)
*Starfall.com and Leap Frog dvds can teach your four year old
how to read.
*When moving to Ireland for four months, be sure to take: valid passports, Taco Bell taco seasoning, legos, a Kindle or IPad, and good walking shoes. And don't miss the Medieval Feast at Bunratty Castle, Killarney, the Burren, the Chateau D'Usse, and the top of the Eiffel Tower! (Yes, I know those last two are in France.) And don't tear your Achilles the day before you leave.
*Eating dinner in a castle was cool, but spending the night in one was even better!
*Getting back into academic lingo after being on the creative side of University life for ten years is painful,
but the PhD is a worthy goal.
*You don't have to be an adult to appreciate
the musical Les Miserables.
*Starting the day with a Mormon Message and scripture time at breakfast totally changes our morning dynamic!
Bribery doesn't hurt either.
*Ireland's weather is nasty but it's people are just lovely.
*San Diego, Aspen Grove, Ireland, France and Maui in one year = one very lucky family
*We have had so many amazing adventures, both in faraway lands an in our own backyard. We thank the Lord for these experiences, and for having wonderful friends and family like you! Merry Christmas!
Love, The Larsens
http://www.rexburglarsens.blogspot.com/

It's late and I'm emotional...

2011-12-06T15:03:00.005-07:00

How terrible that this is our last week in Ireland! I'm really quite depressed about it. Firstly, I hate goodbyes. Secondly, we've been SO happy here. Looking through this blog, I relive what we've seen and done and it awes me a bit. Bunratty, the Burren, Dublin, Killarney, Kerry, Dingle, Adare, Carcassonne, Nimes, Paris... did we really just do that? Holy cow!

I will miss my kitchen here, my electric kettle and the sofa where I read with Spence every day. I love that I did Zumba dozens of times right in front of the mini fridge. (I won't miss the mini fridge though! or all the black and white - so hard to keep clean!) I'll miss the basil growing in my window, and the view of the garden out the sliding glass doors. I'll miss the kids' cosy bedroom with the beds all pushed together, Spencer and Liesl's giggles as they hunted for "ghostes" in their play, and snacks of panda toast, white cheddar and muesli (not all at once). This house has more than filled our needs and has been the backdrop of some of the happiest times our family has ever had. Hard thinking that in another week, it will be empty, or someone else will be living here, using these plates and chairs and looking out my windows.

I'll miss the walk to the college, through avenues of trees which changed from green to gold to gone during our stay here. The pool at the Rec center. The big field where we played soccer and watched rugby and had picnics on the hills. I'll miss the beautiful river and its tranquil, scenic pathways and ruins. About a month ago Maggie planted an acorn in a pot that we placed in our kitchen window. It sprouted and we planted the graceful little seedling by the wooden throne along the river walk - someday we'll come see it again!

We gave Christy, our regular Sunday taxi driver, some frosted sugar cookies, and a book of Mormon with a picture of our family in it with all our contact information. I totally choked up as he drove us to church for the last time last Sunday! He's been good to us as well. Always on time, chatty, and kind. He showed up with boxes of chocolates for the kids as well. Good people here.

I'll miss Heather and the Botts - I almost feel bad leaving them here in this neighborhood full of students and transient renters. I'm sure they'll make more friends and do all kinds of good around the area, but, I know I'd be heartbroken if they left us! :-) Thanks Heather for all the good talks, outings, and recipe- and child-swapping. And for being a true friend!

I will NOT miss walking or biking to the grocery store, and taking the bus to get downtown. Can't wait to get my lovely car back!!!

I've been very happy here, enjoying the simple life of just keeping house and being Mom. Spence and I have gotten so close that I almost don't want to send him to preschool when we get back - what will I do without my little buddy? The girls have learned so much from school, and Gary's been stretched in all kinds of new ways. How have I grown you ask? My epiphanies include realizing that I needed to watch my everyday tone and make sure it is positive and happy. I need to keep working on not treating motherhood responsibilities as a chore and to do them better than I have been. I need to increase the humor and axe the grumpiness. And have FUN with my kids and husband as a priority to keeping a family together and happy. We've upped our family scriptural and spiritual dialog, and have set good habits that we are determined to continue. Amazing what time and absence of distractions will do for self-awareness!
Plus let's be honest - I just really don't want to have to go back to my house and unpack everything. Moving is very near the top of my "Least Favorite Things to Do" list.

A few years ago, I made a list of things I wanted to do before I died; among the "see the grandchildren" and "be to my kids' marriages" (hopefully not in that order), on the list was "visit Paris again" and "have one last trip to Maui." Since we were at the top of the Eiffel tower just over a month ago, and will be in Maui in about two weeks, guess I need to find some new dreams and fast! I've had so many dreams come true, so many wonderful (and stressful, and crazy, and growth-inducing) things happen to us. And I am very grateful.

Friends

2011-12-06T14:35:00.005-07:00

While we've been here we haven't been lucky enough to have family come take advantage of our extra bedroom (what were all of you thinking?) but we did have some friends make the journey. Plus we've made a few new friends along the way!

Above is Joseph Kroupa (Esq.), an old BYU PAC crony, who brought his aunt and his brother over for dinner. We offered them a night on our sofas (probably the most uncomfortable sofas in the entire world) but they were too busy staying in castles and catching their first class flights (the aunt works for Delta) to do more than dine and dash. Still, we were delighted to have a chance to see Joe again! We were all good pals back in the folk dance days.

This is Spencer with his BF Liesl Botts. I can't believe I don't have a good pic of the Botts family yet; they live two houses away and we see them every day. I'll work on that. They've been so good to us and I count my blessings a hundred times a day for their presence in our lives!
This is the David and Alex Kelly family, one of the first to befriend us at church. David is one of fifteen Kelly children; his father and mother are basically the patriarch and matriarch of the branch, at least a third of whom are their offspring. Alex is English, has a lovely accent and lovelier hair, and is an AMAZING illustrator. I saw her portfolio and was astounded at what she does. Her kids are Emma, Leah and Eva Greatcheeks. Eva's the one on my lap, who has the munchiest cheeks in the world, tends to scratch your face when frustrated, and who cries when her parents tell her to say goodbye to us. I love them all! We ate at their house out in Ballygary and they ate at ours; the distance between the two is unfortunately too far to bridge often during the week but they were very good to us. Most of the time we got rides home form church, it was them.

I need to get a picture of the Extons as well; their daughter Saorise (pronounced Seer-sha) is in Sophie's class and their son Odhrin (Orin) is in Maggie's. (He's kind of her crush as well; I approve because he's a very good boy! and because her version of having a crush is that they chase each other during big break playing tag.) They've been so good to us as well; knowing that we were strangers in a strange land, they invited us over for dinner, drove us to a farmer's market downtown one Saturday, and had the kids over for birthday parties. What a gift they've been to us. Thanks Geraldine and Chris!

Cultural Observations

2011-12-05T17:26:00.002-07:00

The following are Mindy's Highly Subjective and Possibly Erroneous Observations about life in Ireland vs. USA:

Things Ireland Does Better:

-Recycling. I'm not sure if it's legislated or what, but everyone here has two rubbish bins, one regular and one for recyclables, and you have to wash out anything that can be recycled and put it in the appropriate container. Also, bags at the store cost money, encouraging the purchase and reuse of the durable fabric grocery bags. A pain at first, especially when you've left yours at home, but you get used to it quickly. It makes sense.
-Squash. In the USA most fruit beverages come either fresh or frozen, but here it comes either fresh or in "squash" form, which is in a room-temperature bottle of concentrated syrup that you just add to water. Some of it is actually quite healthy as well. It's nice in that it's one less thing I have to try to fit in my freezer.
-shopping cart returns. You have to insert a one-euro coin in to free a shopping cart, ensuring that you return it to get your coin back. Makes sense - the grocery store doesn't have to pay someone to round up loose carts.
-switches on the electrical sockets - makes it so much easier to not waste power! You have to turn on the socket for it to provide electricity. Very handy.
-electric kettles - love them! Need one at home.

Things I Like Better in the USA:

-Food - it has taste! Irish food we found to be heavy and bland. We heard a joke that Irish food was bad English food. It's kind of true. I don't really understand their passion for soda bread, flavorless scones, and pig products. Even their salt and vanilla flavoring is substantially weaker. That's why we really didn't eat out much... luckily I found some of my favorite Himalayan salt at a specialty food store!
-Cleaning supplies. Irish window cleaner leaves amazing, greasy streaks, as does the counter cleaner we bought.
-Laundry! To this day I don't understand how people (mostly the older generation) in a cold, rainy country would ever choose to line-dry their laundry. Even when presented with the option of a dryer. Nope, it still baffles me. Every penny I spend on drying my clothes is a penny well spent in my humble opinion!
-Disposals! Get them, use them, love them Ireland!
-hot water heaters always on so I don't have to wait for a warm shower. Also, our heating systems keep houses much warmer, even if they are more expensive. I'm not a big fan of radiators.
-how they bag your groceries for you at the grocery store, and even take them out to you car for you free of charge! Lovely!
-Parental and technological involvement in the school system. In the USA, parents are invited, encouraged, almost begged to be involved in their children's academic experience. In Ireland, you drop your kid off and then parents are pushed out the door. The State has them until 2:40 every day. And no email addresses or online progress reports are to be had to facilitate parent-teacher communications. As far as I know, official parent teacher conferences are not a regular thing here. I like knowing, and participating in, what's going on in my children's classrooms. Overall, I think my kids' schools in Idaho (to and from which they happily get bussed each day) are better than their school in Ireland, academically and organization-wise. I do love that they get to go to school here though, just for the sake of experience!
-Cleaning supplies. Three wipedowns later and my windows are still streaky here in Ireland.
-Not a great fan of socialism. I don't mean to criticize a system I don't fully understand, but from what I've seen, it does not make a happier, cleaner, more educated or content population. Seriously, the country's bankrupt yet everyone still insists on their age 60 retirement age, 6 months paid maternity leave and two months of vacation every year? And the nationalized medical care has really high co-pays even for a basic doctor's visit (50 euro) and we were warned by tons of people to avoid the hospitals at all costs. My friend had ovarian cysts (she thinks) but had to wait 4 months to see a specialist and to get an x-ray. BUT, as I said, I don't know all the details I've only seen a small sampling. I'm just, not impressed with what I have seen.

Just Different:
-Proportion. In Ireland everything is on a smaller scale - the cars, the houses, the kitchen appliances, the fast food serving sizes. Due to the latter possibly, the people are in general more slender as well -really hugely obese people are not numerous here (that I've seen). If you see a large person walking around here, chances are it's an American tourist. This issue of scale is in the "Different" category because there are pros and cons. The pros - less impact on the environment, I suppose. The cons, everything is so much smaller! How do people do their food storage here? and feed large families without going to the store every other day?
-school uniforms. I'm ambivalent about them. On one hand it makes it so easy to dress the kids every day, but they still get clothes dirty when they put on their play clothes after school so laundry hasn't gone down much.
-Religion in schools. All Irish public schools are under the patronage of the Catholic church, and daily prayers, hymns and lessons are to be found in every class. This I personally really like, because it's been such a springboard for religious discussion in our family, but I'd imagine that if we were atheist or Muslim or something somewhat radical, all the in-class prayers, greetings and music might worry me.

Scrooge

2011-11-30T09:30:00.003-07:00

I cry like a baby from the minute Scrooge buys that outrageous turkey to the final "I'm going to have Christmas dinner with my family." Watching this movie ushers in my holiday spirit and is one of my favorite traditions. Is it because I grew up singing these songs so they are all embedded in my idealized childhood psyche? Is it because the Scrooge is perfect, the music jolly and the energy infectious? Is it because I love the themes of redemption and joyful living?

YES!

Let the holidays begin, and God bless us, every one!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-29T04:06:00.006-07:00

(Elders Horlacher and Singleton, Gary, me, and Natalie)

Excerpt from a letter to my grandmother, Nanny:

We had a delayed Thanksgiving here in the Emerald Isle. They don't have a Thanksgiving holiday so on Thursday Gary and the girls had to go off to classes! But we had arranged to have a big Thanksgiving feast today (Saturday) to celebrate, on a day when all the dads and kids could be here. I cooked, baked and watched Christmas movies like It's a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol with the kids for two days to prepare, then we had the other two American families who are here, and the missionaries, over to eat. The kids made turkeys out of construction paper and wrote things they're thankful for on the feathers while we put the finishing touches on the meal Then we sat down and ate.
(Mag and Soph and good friend Heather Botts by the food)

Since I was in charge of the food assignments, I made sure we had all the essentials: turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes (only without the marshmallows because they don't have them here), green bean casserole (but not as good as Natalie's), jello salad, salad, stuffing, and rolls. Everyone brought a dessert too: I made Lindsey's amazing frosted sugar cookies, and the other families brought pumpkin cake and apple pie. They had to have their mom mail them a can of pumpkin and a yellow cake mix from the States to make the pumpkin cake, since you can't get either over here and they really wanted to make that recipe. And I thought I was the only one emotionally attached to the food I ate... :-)

(Maggie, Sophie, Liesl, and Spencer. And Afton's arms)

Somebody also brought some mince pies, as it seems to be such a culturally prevalent food - you see mince pie everywhere in Ireland. We all tried it, and it was... okay. Not really what I wanted to fill up the remaining vacant corners of my stomach with though, especially when I could stuff another sugar cookie down there. We all had a little nibble and called it good.

After dinner, which took about two hours, and dessert, which took about another hour, we sat around and talked. We considered playing games but ended up just sitting around and chatting - we had 11 adults and 6 very well behaved kids there and it was a really fun, diverse group of people to talk to. Eventually one of our friends, Collin, who is here at the University of Limerick getting a Master's in Music, pulled out his mandolin and his concertina (like an accordion) and played some Irish tunes for us while the little kids jumped around and danced. It was really fun. Eventually we slowly cleaned up, divided the leftovers, and one family left to go to a Rugby match while another stayed here with us to watch movies and lay on the carpet to digest all the food we just ate. Altogether it was a lovely day. Not quite up to the par of luxury and culinary excellence that always prevails at the Hunter Extended Family shindigs, but considering the resources we had, I think we did pretty well. Wish we could have been at your house though! Love you Nanny!

Gratefulnesses (Is that a word?)

2011-11-27T15:11:00.008-07:00

Some things I'm grateful for:

*being a mother. Sometimes, when I'm in the right mood, I get a thrill when I hear my kids call me "mommy." If I am half to them what my mother is to me, being a mother is a pretty darn amazing thing. I am a mommy - wow! I love my kids!

*my amazing grandmother Nanny who has always made me feel special, loved and appreciated. She is the most thoughtful, service-oriented person I know! Love you Nanny!

*the wheel. Seriously, think about it - wheels allowed my plane to take off and land to get us to Europe. Wheels helped me get to the store and back again in less than an hour on the bike. They also propels the stroller I use to wheel my groceries home when I have to walk. And there are four of the blessed things on my wonderful minivan at home! Can't wait to drive you again, powder puff!

*tender mercies. So many of them, blessing my life constantly. Finding this place to live and renters to take our home in Idaho. Having another LDS family with kids two houses away. Friends to talk to, email, love, empathize. Obedience from my kids. And I know I always talk about getting to and from church here, but seriously, sometimes it's the small tender mercies, like getting a ride home (two weeks in a row now!) or the weather being fine for the tenth Sunday in a row, which make me feel loved from on high. Or at least noticed.

*Head tickles. Especially when I have a migraine.

*Late night movies with my hubby!

*The Internet. It makes it possible for me to run our business from Europe! and keep up this personal history online so if my computer crashes (as it did yesterday) all this is still here! and is an easy way to do devotionals in the morning - thank you Mormon Messages and LDS.org.

*My body. It may be getting squidgy around the edges, and my hair and clothes lack somewhat in the style department, but my body is healthy and functional and does what I need it to do. I had back issues for a month or so last spring, which made me realize how lucky I am that I can use both my legs and arms and head however I want. I can see and hear, I can talk, I can walk and run and drive and dance. My body is great! Health is a blessing!

*An AMAZING father for my children. I really think Gary is one of the best dads out there. He is fun, creative, willing, involved, caring, hilarious. He makes up fun games (blanket tag) and builds things (snow forts, cardboard slides) that I would never think of, and the kids adore him. So do I. Love you hub - you're awesome!

*Travel. Yup. We love it.

*Warmth.

Updates

2011-11-24T07:22:00.006-07:00

I thought I'd give an update on our kids, long overdue, with an eye to personal growth and accomplishments. Starting with my young padawan, Spencer. Spence has had a banner three months. He has gone from being barely able to scratch out a letter or two to counting, writing, and sounding out four letter words! Almost all owed to Starfall.com and the Leap Frog videos. Okay, I've helped a little, but it's mostly him. His favorite thing as we walk to and from the grocery store together is for me to give him words to sound out and spell, or basic math problems to unravel. When he accomplishes each task successfully, his joy is unalloyed and delightful! We are loving being together during the day, and he keeps us all in hysterics with his funny faces, voices, and physical comedy. He also loves playing with his BF Liesl Botts, a little American girl just his age who lives two houses away. They play so well, making forts or running around looking for "ghostes" and fighting imaginary monsters with Spencer's collection of swords. We will miss her when we go back to the States!
I was a little worried about Sophie going into first class here in Ireland; most of the kids in her class have had two years of almost full-time instruction, whereas she had only had one year of half-day kindergarten to prepare her for this fall. However, she has flourished in Mr. Kinnerk's First Class, jumping right in and doing very well! She is the first one to get her homework out every afternoon after their post-school snack, methodically laying out each subject then ticking it off in her homework journal when completed. She is organized and disciplined and a very hard worker. She wakes up happy, makes friends wherever she goes, keeps her room and drawers neat and tidy, sings in her sleep (sometimes in Gaelic!) and while she does dishes, and is by far my best eater, trying everything I make and liking most of it. Her kind ways and loving heart bring us joy every day, and we are so proud of how lovely, intelligently, and sweetly she is growing up!
Maggie is our family drama queen. Gifted with beauty, brains and charm, she always excels at school, made friends fairly easily, and has enjoyed our sightseeing around Europe, discovering new passions for history and art. She has had a self-defining fall, comparing the Catholic faith she learns about at school to our LDS beliefs and learning what makes us different in faith and lifestyle. Her brain is amazing, very absorbent and analytical - after watching The Lion, Witch and Wardrobe one night she pointed out that Christ left the church to Peter, just as Aslan left the throne to Peter, and how Lucy and Susan were like Mary and Martha, respectively. What do you expect though from a girl who had memorized all the state capitals and the 13 articles of faith, and read all the Harry Potter books, by the end of second grade! So stinkin' smart. She's had some challenges here though; starting a new school in a new country is never exactly a cake walk, and there's nobody her age in her class at church. Eating healthily has also always been her Waterloo, and we decided to hit the bad habit hard this year. Maybe not the best timing as she had so many other new things to get used to, but, there comes a time. So she's struggled through mealtime after mealtime of crying, grumbling, and whining. Still not making much progress, but here she is (almost) willingly eating a fish stick for dinner one night. Baby steps.

Fairy Trees

2011-11-24T07:10:00.002-07:00

In Ireland, trees like this are called Fairy Trees. It is illegal to cut them down - the running legend is that there was one on the property used to build the DeLorean factory. They cut down the tree to build the factory. Two years later the company declared bankruptcy. Never cut down a Fairy tree, friends! :-)
Frankly, if I were a fairy, this is precisely the kind of tree I'd choose for home - gnarled, curvy, limbs with moss cushions growing up them and cushy little dells in which to hide from big nasty humans. Very charming and homelike. Good choice Tinker Bell!

2011-11-22T08:46:00.001-07:00

For our family home evening last night we had the lesson of the airplane and if it goes even one degree off target it ends up somewhere totally different than its end goal. I asked my kids where we as a family wanted to end up (thinking, you know, the celestial kingdom), and without hesitation both Maggie and Sophie said "Maui." 'nuff said.

Thought for the Day

2011-11-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.

The Valjean Quartet

2011-11-19T05:43:00.003-07:00

I've watched this about 400 times by now. The four of them together have redefined an already legendary song. When Alfie Boe comes in and takes it up a key... words fail. Just watch. Again and again and again! :-)

Meant to post this yesterday...

2011-11-14T10:22:00.003-07:00

Fastest return home from church ever! What usually is a 1.5-2 hour ordeal through rain and bus changes and grumpiness was a sleek, relatively quick 1 hour jaunt through mild clouds and on-time buses! Hooray! We got out of church on time, had a nice brisk walk to bus stop #1, and the bus pulled up a mere minute or so later. Then we got off and ran to catch our connection, which turned out to be the same bus driver (he switched routes downtown) who remembered us and didn't make us pay the 6 euro normally charged to get back on the bus, which left moments later and got us home in record time. Tender mercies! It's the little things, especially when you're trying to get three (four) hungry, tired kids home for dinner.

It's going to be a good week!

"Dynamite" France Recap

2011-11-13T14:13:00.001-07:00

In honor of the Grand Hunter Tradition of making up a song to accompany the trip ("we left Brook and Josh, the first day at Conoco - da na na na na - Just getting some gas, and very anxious to go"), we came up with the following alternate lyrics to the song "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz. Feel free to sing along!

We made our plans plans plans plans
to take our family to France France France France
We only took two pairs of pants pants pants pants
just make sure to wash your hands hands hands hands

And we drove on and on and on
and we drove on and on and on

I wave my hands up in the air sometimes
saying ay-oh, it's Chenonceau!
I like to stay in a chateau at night
and then ay-oh, sun's up so let's go

'Cause we can drive this car
to the left and right
we can see all France
and it's dynamite!

It could rain all day
We couldn't sleep at night
but we had the time
of our very lives

Chateau D'usse was cool cool cool
saw art and ruins like in school
Always looking for some food food food food
Steak frites and Pizza Hut are good good good good

Cause we drove on and on and on
Yeah we drove on and on and on

I wave my hands up in the air sometimes
saying ay-oh, it's Chenonceau!
I like to stay in a chateau at night
and then ay-oh, sun's up so let's go

'Cause we can drive this car
to the left and right
we can see all France
and it's dynamite!

We hit Carcasonne
and it rained all day
Climbed some stairs at Nimes
The gladiator way

Through some lovely landscapes,
Only puked a couple of times.
Up the Eiffel Tower
Maggie was scared. We went to the bathroom
and I I I felt it swaying
and I I I did not want to fall, did not want to fall,

That's why I put my hands in the air

I throw my hands up in the air sometimes
saying ay-oh, it's Chenonceau!
I like to stay in a chateau at night
and then ay-oh, sun's up so let's go

'Cause we can drive this car
to the left and right
we can see all France
and it's dynamite!

Louis the 14th, Marie Antoinette
they're all dead right now
but we won't forget...
FRANCE

France Trip Day 7: P.A.R.I.S.

2011-11-11T13:14:00.013-07:00

This was another day where we didn't even want to sleep in. We jumped out of bed at 7:30, packed up our backpacks, and downed a fab breakfast (the typical croissant, baguette, bread, hot chocolate, and oranges - free with the stay!) in the little hotel breakfast room. Gary and the kids stashed our suitcases in our rental car in the garage where it was parked while I settled the bill, and then we were off on the metro! Stop #1 and ultimate goal of the whole trip: the top of the Eiffel Tower. Of all of us, only Gary had been to the very top before. It was a highly anticipated quest!

Some clouds filled the sky, but no rain like yesterday (mercifully). Gary taught the kids a pigeon kicking game (yes, we're animal lovers) and ran them around a bit while I waited in the line, which was much shorter than I'd been lead to expect. We waited for a total of maybe half an hour before stepping into the elevators.

I admit, I got a little vertigo as the elevator went higher and higher, and the supports around us grew slimmer and slimmer. It was thrilling though. And when we got out, in spite of the wind and clouds, a lovely view awaited us!
This is the view down the Seine towards Notre Dame, clear in the distance. And below, you can follow the biggest, curving road over to the Arc de Triomphe.

On our trip, it was foreordained policy that if we came across free toilets of any kind, the whole family would use them. At the top of the Eiffel Tower, guess what? There were free toilets! So we all availed ourselves of their use. And yes, when you're sitting there 1,000 feet off the ground, you CAN feel the sway of the building in the wind. Kinda trippy.

Next we descended the Tower and grabbed a chocolate crepe to keep up our blood sugar (that was my favorite excuse) and while I was ordering it, Gary took this video of Spence. It's one of my favorite clips of our trip, and captures Spen all over:

Here's Soph at the Arc de Triomphe, in the Place d'Etoile. Can you tell why they call it the Place of the Star? Look below for a clue (thank you Wikipedia):

I think I counted 12 major boulevards opening up to this famous circle, including the Champs Elysses, one of the most celebrated boulevards in the World. That's the biggie you can see from the top left to the bottom right.

We were SO proud of our kids - they did some major walking today! They walked from the Eiffel Tower, to the Arc de Triomphe, where we sat and ate an early lunch (baguettes, cheese, drinkable yogurt and fruit again) while watching the passersby (nuns, protestors, chic shoppers) on the Champs Elysses. There Sophie taught us a song in Gaelic, to the tune of the Farmer in the Dell, that sounds like "Ta ma la va te" repeated. Spencer proceeded to sing this tune down the entire stretch of the Champs Elysses while alternately walking and riding on Gary's shoulders. American kids, in Paris, singing in Gaelic - I love it!

We kept thinking that we'd hop on to a bus or metro when the kids had had it, but they just kept on going so so did we! The motivation was getting to the Tuileries Gardens ice cream stands. Along the way, we saw shimmering metal reflectors they've hung from all the trees along the Champs Elysses to make the whole place shimmer; insane lines at the Abercrombie and Fitch flag store (was Jedward there signing copies of the A&F catalogs or something?); and moped-pulled open carriages at the Place de la Concorde.

We found the kids' playground in the Tuileries Gardens (never had a reason to go there before now) and let the kids go crazy for an hour - somehow, no matter how tired they are, if there's a playground wham! off they go. They enjoyed it though. Sophie made a slew of little french amies - no surprise as she is kind and social. But then it was time to move our now-achy feet on a few hundred meters to the Louvre, above.
Alas, this is as close as we got to the Mona Lisa - it was taken in our breakfast room in our Paris hotel. Upon consideration of our time, energy and budget limitations, we decided not to enter the mammoth museum. Tired kids + acres of museum to run through = guaranteed meltdowns. So we betook ourselves to the underground shopping center beneath the Louvre, where the kids and I got ice cream (see Spence below) and Happy Meals while Gary ran to the Virgin Megastore for some big boy happy time. He came back with dvds of our favorite French movies, La Gloire de Mon Pere and the Chateau de ma Mere. Great idea!

We paid our 5 euros to use the bathroom there, and compensated for not going into the museum by going to its bookstore. The kids all picked out the postcard version of their favorite art work there, and I bought a Louvre coffee table book to go with the ones I'd purchased at Versailles and of the Loire castles. The kids have since used these as their "textbooks" when they play school at home. That, and the statue galleries open to view from the escalators, was all we saw of the Louvre, however. Still, a very successful day on the whole!
Even their ice cream is pretty!
The kids playing on the inverted underground pyramids beneath the Louvre.
We emerged from underground to make a pilgrimage to our favorite patisserie on the Fauborg St. Honore across from the Cour Carre of the Louvre. It has amazing food, bread, and pastries! We had one last, long, lingering picnic on the courtyard by the Palais Royale, gazing up at the Louvre and savoring our last Parisian baguette and camembert, orangina and pastries while watching a variety of young (and old) men doing rollerblade demonstrations.

Then we took the metro back to the Gare de l'Est, got in our car, paid the exorbitant fee to get it out of the garage ($60 for 28 hours? seriously?) and... got stuck in traffic up the Rue St. Denis for the next two hours trying to make our way to our Beauvais hotel by the airport.

I had never taken a tour of Paris' Little India quarter before, and the saris in the store windows were absolutely lovely, but after it had taken us almost an hour and a half to go 4 kilometers we were all going bonkers! After some accidental wrong turns and strange commands from the GPS, we were ready to just get out and walk. But eventually we made it to our hotel, slept well, got up early, returned our rental car, and boarded our plane to go back to Ireland. Ta da - all done. And what a ride it was! I love my husband and my kids! Thanks lads for a great time!!!

France Trip Day 6: Chartres, Versailles, and Paris River Cruise

2011-11-11T08:41:00.009-07:00

On this day we all got up early, driven by adrenaline that on this day we would be seeing Versailles and then PARIS! Okay, let me say in advance that my camera ran out of battery while at Chambord, and we had no way to charge it. Tragedy! Oh well. Most of these pictures, therefore, are taken with Gary's ipod, and are slightly grainy.

And let me also apologize for my pathetic, wobbly, rushed video clips. If I had my brain turned on I would have slowed down and taken my time to more adequately document this amazing voyage with my family in Europe! Alas, this is what you're stuck with (and did I really pronounce "Chartres" as "Chart"? You'd think I'd never spoke a word of French. Geesh.):

First stop was Chartres - we got there so early that there were no tourists, we found a great parking place, and the church doors had just opened. Chartres is THE gothic cathedral studied in all art history classes. Okay, all those who took Julie Hewlett's humanities class, see if you can spot the following items:

*flying buttresses
*ribbed vaulting
*gothic arches, lancet windows
*nave, transept, apse, chapel
*clerestory, triforium
*rose window (behind the scaffolding)

Not only was the cathedral transcendent, but the village of Chartres surrounding it is charming, clean, and aesthetically pleasing. Major eye candy - another place I could have spent a happy holiday. Too bad my camera was dead!

But welcome to Versailles!

The little French cd we've been listening to talks about going to Versailles, so the kids had heard of the golden balcony, statue of Louis XIV, Hall of Mirrors and King's Bedroom well before we actually got there. Sophie had her checklist in her brain of these four things and as we saw each one she ticked it off. The lines were long and by the time we got to the Hall of Mirrors and Marie Antoinette's room, we could barely find room to stand. Which was sad, because the kids were so interested in seeing the beds and furniture. We just hoisted them on our shoulders and moved along in the herd! Sophie's cool bed fetish continues, and this one is, of course, her favorite:
Just fyi, Versailles has a mere 2,300 rooms and 67 staircases.
We were looking forwards to a row on the Grand Canal and smelling flowers at Marie Antoinette's hamlet out in the corner of the grounds... until we looked outside and saw that it was pouring rain! Argh! We sat down in a covered archway, had a picnic with the bread, cheese and apples I'd brought with us, and waited for it to stop. Which it didn't. So Gary ran to the car and brought back our umbrellas; we had already purchased tickets for the Hamlet, and I wasn't about to end our Versailles experience after a 45-minute walk through slammed rooms. I wanted it all!
So we plowed through it! Bought our fare on the little train that goes (almost) out to the Hamlet, dodged the advances of a friendly (or should I say, hungry) swan by the Petit Trianon, walked the rest of the way, then savored in the atmosphere of this lovely place:

The kid did pretty well, all things considering. We were all soaking wet, muddy, and cold, but while we were at the Hamlet they were as entranced as I was and we went around each building, discussing its possibilities and picking out the ones we'd want to inhabit (I liked the Mill, Sophie, liked the one with the light house, and Maggie wanted the working cottage with the chicken coop.) Gary's foot was hurting so he waited for us at the biggest house. And shot the video. Mission accomplished.

After a soggy, rather muddy trip back to the Palace, skipping the train (it really isn't that far) in favor of walking up through the gardens and seeking a certain outdoor amphitheater that Gary had read about in his studies. Many of the gardens were closed off, and it was far too blustery to rent a boat for the Grand Canal. My overall opinion of Versailles is that it is very impressive, but with better management, it could be a world-class attraction. They need to open more of the castle (we only saw about 15 rooms, really) to help with crowd control, and provide better toilet facilities and eating options. And the buildings of the Hameau really could and should be opened to the public, even if there's no furniture inside. It's just a little disheartening to make the trek out there and not be able to enter into the charming little cottages. I looked through windows, and most are bare and cobwebby. Imagine if they were brought to life by somebody with the right taste!

For the number of people we saw there and for the amount we paid to get in, there should be more. But, the kids had a great time, so we crossed it off the list, changed out of our wet clothes in the car, and drove to

PARIS!

The view of Paris as you come out of the tunnel connecting Versailles to Paris is stunning - there's the Eiffel tower, boom, right in front of you! We were so excited! Only our GPS took us right through the heart of downtown to get to our hotel by the Gare de l'Est. Really? There was no simpler way? Oh well, at least we got to see a lot on the way in! Our hotel, Amiot, was in a shady area, but we were pleased with our family room (four twin beds pushed together to make two big beds, and an en suite bathroom complete with bidet. And a view from our 7th story room to both Sacre Coeur and the Eiffel Tower - sweet!) We only were in the room long enough to drop the bags though and hit the pavement, or, in this case, the metro, to see the City of Lights!

First stop: Pizza Hut by Les Halles. I know, you're thinking, really? But it makes the whole family very happy, let us sit down for a bit, and was a great springboard for the rest of the evening. Rule #1 when traveling with kids: make sure they're as well rested and fed as possible! And always use the free toilets when available! Plus, the kids meals came with huge free desserts - we got two Floating Islands (I had purchased one of these, a sort of marshmellowy cake floating on a sea of sweetened creme anglaise - yum! - at one of our gas station dinner stops and the kids ate it up before I could) and one Chocolate Mousse. Mmmm.

The goal of the evening was to get to the Seine River boat cruises by Pont Neuf - it was the perfect way to introduce the kids to Paris. They LOVED being on a boat and seeing all the bridges, and having the tour guide commentary was helpful to everyone. Our pictures didn't turn out so well, but here are a few:

I told Sophie she could film a bit when we got to Notre Dame. Of course Maggie wanted in on the action as well... life with kids.

After the cruise we took our tired yayhoos home on the metro for some sleep - they were beat! But happy to be in Paris!

France Trip Day 5: Collecting Castles!

2011-11-10T02:15:00.015-07:00

Prepare yourself for much viewing of pictures, because today was castle day! Yesterday we entered the Loire River Valley, playground of the rich and famous circa 400 years ago (and still quite lovely today!) Along the banks of this smooth, broad river and it equally civilized tributaries lie castles. More than three hundred of them! They range in architectural style from early Medieval to Empire, and some mixes of everything in between. We spent most of our time in the chateau of the Renaissance, characterized by light and lovely chateaux with graceful lines and refined elements, rather than ponderous defensive structures (like Carcassonne).

First, and our hands-down favorite, was the Chateau d'Usse, one of the less well known but most family friendly of the castles. We stumbled across it in someone's blog and I'm so glad we did- it was fabulous!

It bills itself as the Sleeping Beauty castle, as it is reportedly the castle Charles Perrault had in mind when he first penned the fairy tale. And was reportedly one the artists at Disney studied to design the palaces for Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. All sorts of history happened here as well, including a group of Royalists who as early as 1813 started plotting to get the Bourbons back on the throne.

It has charming corners everywhere, mannequins in all eras of period dressed placed strategically through the rooms to create atmosphere, and acts out the story of Sleeping Beauty up in its higher turrets (again with mannequins). My poor photos can't do it justice, so if you want more info here's its website:

http://www.chateaudusse.fr/

All chateaux of a certain size were required to have in perpetual availability a room for the king. This is the king's room in Usse. The dresses are all real, and you can get close enough to see the hand stitching on many of them. Fabulous!

Thank you Jeeves, we're ready for the first course. Dessert, anyone? Yes please!
The passage way leading to cellars, and to the secret tunnels leading out of the castle in case of invasion or romantic persecution.
Maleficent curses, and Prince Charming kisses.

One of the many reasons why I loved this castle was that it let you go places I always wanted to go in other castles, like the attic (above) and the nursery (below). We climbed to the very top of several turrets and examined the interior woodwork reinforcing the tower structure, then to the bottom of the dungeons where inscriptions of the condemned can still be traced on the walls.

This tunnel was so cool - it opened in the wall in the lower gardens and we don't know where it ends up - we went in fairly far, before my claustrophobia kicked in, and even with the light of our camera flashes and ipod, we couldn't see the end.
Our "engagement" picture. :-)
Loved the carriage house - little signs gave the history and specific use for each carriage. Very informative. I wanted to pull a Jane Austen and just climb up inside one of them for a little jaunt!
I love the gardens - yes those are bamboo trees on the left. They also had a number of massive cedars of Lebanon hundreds of years old.

Evidently the owner lives in the other side of this wing, the part that they are renovating. Lucky, lucky guy! I wonder if he has a grandchild I can marry off one of my kids to someday.

This whole area is punctuated with limestone cliffs, which residents for generations have carved to make houses, garages, stables, and even hotels. The chateau had an impressive array of its own caves, but they were also to be found as part of every dwelling along the autoroute as we were leaving town!

Our other goal for the day was to make it to Chambord, so in spite of the temptation of numerous other turrets and crenellations beckoning to us from sundry artistic corners of the landscape, we only stopped for photo ops at a few of the most important while making our way northeast towards the massive Chambord. Along the way we passed Azay le Rideau,
Amboise (I want to spend a month here someday),

an unknown but imposing castle on the other bank,
and then Sophie threw up but we were prepared with a bag so we just threw it away when we got to...

(da da da dum) Chambord.
Huge, isn't it? It is officially the largest castle of the Loire valley. The great Renaissance king, Francis I built it to be close to his lady love and put the nose of his rival, Charles V of Spain, out of joint. It has a mere 440 rooms, 365 fireplaces, and 84 staircases - just a summer cottage, really. As it was the end of the day, we were somewhat pressed for time and only caught fleeting glimpses of most of these as we raced up and down the da Vinci-designed double helix stairway to see as much as we could before closing time.

Our favorite part was the roof, with it's black and white stone work and innumerable turrets, and the nutella and mint chocolate chip ice cream crepe we got afterwards because we were starving and all the restaurants nearby were all too $$$ and swanky for our plebian tastes. We later got dinner at the grocery store, as usual, on our way to our Chartres Formula 1 hotel.

France Trip Day 4: Church and Chateaux

2011-11-08T06:16:00.012-07:00

While we were daydreaming about this trip, Gary and I thought it would be worth it to stay in really cheap dumps most of the time if we could save for a fabulous one-night castle experience. I spent HOURS online looking at hotel castles in France, and for price (135 euros, including breakfast) and size of the room (two bedroom suite), this one won hands down. It's called the Chateau de la Grange Fort, and most of it dates from the 16th century.

It was not your typical hotel stay. For one thing, this is a family-owned castle. The family lives there, and rents out five or so of the extra bedrooms to bring in some extra business. We definitely went on the off-season - when we got there, after our first squeals of delight at its romantic and dramatic facade, we realized that the place looked deserted. Bikes and yard tools were strewn haphazardly from moat to portcullis, and there were no other cars. We wandered through the front court, unsure of which door to knock upon to garner entrance. Finally a stately gentlemen pulled in in his Jaguar, parked it in his garage, pet his dog... and then noticed us standing cluelessly in his front yard.

The kids played with the dog, a lively German Shepherd named Balti, while we tried to figure out how to get the talkative octogenarian to let us into the castle so we could put down our bags. Hes a Dutch Duke of some kind who bought the chateau 27 years ago because things were getting "too crowded" in Holland. He immediately started feeling us out as to our political and religious predilections, which I thought was hilarious. Luckily he had dated a Mormon once and really liked her, so I guess we passed muster. He took us in the side door and introduced us to his equally aged wife, who spoke NO English. She grunted and gave us an old-fashioned key with a tassel on it and showed us to our rooms.

It was spotlessly clean and decorated with a layer of ornamentation common to older European generations (little glass figurines, pictures, trinkets galore). The girls loved the Oriental canopy bed, so we told them they could sleep there while Gar and I took the "maid's room" next door. Then we hightailed it outside because the sun was setting over the river and a hike down to the shores was calling us!
The castle from the rear

It was "the glow!" (we had the same glow the day of our wedding, when the setting sun shone through the clouds with a specific, magical quality that only happens occasionally.)

Since we were still the only guests there, we had the whole estate to ourselves. It was grand. We hiked everywhere, climbed everywhere, and played Lord of the Manor to our hearts content. Then we got our pizza dinner (see last blog entry), played in the park, and returned for bedtime in our magical room!

Only when bedtime came, the cool, unique room took on more sinister proportions so I had to give extra cuddles in the princess bed. Spencer eventually crawled in between his sisters and kept them safe all night. He's very brave.

Yummiest hot chocolate ever! Our regal hostess brought us the typical French breakfast of croissants, baguettes, oj, individual jams and butter, and hot chocolate. Divine. Then, since we had had so much agreeable conversation the night before with the older gentleman, he consented to give us the grand tour of the chateau. Sweet! It pays to be nice! The Swiss couple who was also their with their new baby wanted to come along as well, but the Duke was very hesitant. He had to talk to them for a while first to make sure they were acceptable company worthy of the honor or something. Eventually he graciously let them tag along. I was so sad that most of the interior pictures turned out all blurry - the interior was so interesting! This is the main dining room, where they have a restaurant during the summer months. He said that this was where they had their family Christmas celebrations, and I can just imagine! Spectacular! Below is the chapel, with original painting and mosaic work, evidently.
My favorite part of the tour was the view from the parapets and the tower; it was a highlight of my whole trip, actually! We were on top of a castle in France, chatting with the owner, gazing across fields and rivers and villages... it was slightly surreal.
Yes, that is a gargoyle. I didn't ask his name. He wasn't very talkative.

Here is the Duke himself, with the Swiss lady and her baby, and our luggage. We had to leave right after to make it to church on time.

Of all the days of the year we could have chosen to take our kids to church in France, we hit the jackpot. It was the Primary kids' sacrament program. Maggie got a little grumpy that she couldn't understand anything, but Spencer spent most of the meeting under his seat humming loudly along to all the songs and Sophie sat fascinated. Gary got to meet with several people he remembered from his mission and hear all the updates, and we got a good lunch afterwards at KFC. (I know, you're thinking, you went to KFC in France? But come on, it had a play place, and they were going to be in the car for four more hours! and remember, I have a very picky eater. It was a relief to have food she recognized to keep the Sunday peace!)

More hilltop treasures as we drove by. And I love the France city signs; each one is different, illustrated with the chief attraction of the town. So much more effective than just the name.
We finished our drive north towards Tours just in time to spend an hour or two at Chenonceau, probably the most famous of the Loire Valley castles. It certainly is perfect. Here you go:

It was very crowded inside, and we kept losing each other, so it was kind of a relief to get out of the chateau and into the gardens. We found the playground, of course, then drove to our hotel, Ace Motel (a budget find! We loved it.) to do some laundry. In the sink, of course. We packed very light, taking only backpacks, so as you can imagine, by now all of us smelled a little...off. Gary ended up blowdrying socks and underwear the next morning so we had things to wear, but it's all part of the experience.

France Day 3.5 : The Halloween Party

2011-11-08T02:44:00.004-07:00

After driving north through the mountains we arrived at our castle stay near Clermont-Ferrand - more on that later, but there was no restaurant at the chateau so we drove in to the little village to explore our options. They were few, but did include pizza! So while we waited for our order to bake, we went to the adjoining park and played silly obstacle course games over the playground equipment. While doing so, we saw a parade of what must have been most of the villages' costumed children walking by in a parade, going in to the communal store/pizza joint for a Halloween party.

After a while, two girls about Maggie's age came over and asked us in French if we wanted to come join their party. Of course we said yes! Maggie and Sophie were able to introduce themselves in French, and say how old they were, and we went inside where our kids were loaded down with more sweets than would ever be good for them! We sat and smiled and chatted with some of the kids and their parents, then our pizza was ready and we went out to the park to eat it. But then, in yet another unparalleled example of French kindness, the owner of the little store bade us come in and eat at one of the tiny tables in the attached bar, usually reserved for more spendy customers. He even brought us water and napkins, so we ate in relative luxury while watching the locals drink and gab while the kids ran in and out. It was very cheery and festive, and we were so grateful for their thoughtfulness.

France Day 3: Nimes and the Drive North

2011-11-07T09:27:00.011-07:00

After a fully luxurious stay in a family room at the Kyriad Hotel Nimes (luxury, that is, compared to the Formula 1 hotel where the loo and showers were down the hall) and breakfast at a local bakery, we took a morning to explore Nimes. It's a larger city than Arles, and it's Roman arena is larger too, and one of the best preserved in the world! They still have seats inside it, some fortified with metal stands, and hold spectacles there periodically. Luckily for Clan Larsen the audioguide tours came free with admission, so we got to hear the whole gory breakdown of a day in the life of a gladiator. Ugh - not so pretty. A little too much detail for me, like how they used to chain Christian martyrs up to poles and then let lions and tigers eat them as part of the "entertainment." Yeah, it was a real scream I bet. Literally. I can't even handle rodeos, never mind a Roman spectacle! Who said the Romans were civilized again? I kind of beg to differ!

They did build cool things though.

We spent a good two hours here, climbing up and down and all over the place. Spencer was in heaven - rocks to climb on, things to jump off, and bits of stories about fighting warriors? Is there anything cooler to a 4 year-old boy?
You know Spence was enthralled because as a general rule he did not like posing for pictures much. This was a rare moment when he was actually holding still.
From Wikipedia: The elliptical Roman amphitheater, of the 1st or 2nd century AD, is the best-preserved Roman arena in France. It was filled with medieval housing, when its walls served as ramparts, but they were cleared under Napoleon. It is still used today as a bull fighting and concert arena and can seat 16,300 people.

This little gem of a temple is called the Maison Carre, or Square House. Also from Wikipedia: It was built c. 16 BC, and reconstructed in the following years, by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, who was also the original patron of the Pantheon in Rome, and was dedicated or rededicated c. 2-4/5 AD. The temple owes its preservation to the fact that it was rededicated as a Christian church in the fourth century, saving it from the widespread destruction of temples that followed the adoption of Christianity as Rome's official state religion. It subsequently became a meeting hall for the city's consuls, a canon's house, a stable for government-owned horses during the French Revolution and a storehouse for the city archives. It became a museum after 1823. Its French name derives from the archaic term carré long, literally meaning a "long square", or oblong - a reference to the building's shape.

Gary doing his Hercules impression. He autographed copies of his new workout Buns of Bronze afterwards.
Foundations of a Roman house found by accident centuries later.

Now, how did this get in here? Oh, because we like treats! Most cities in France (and Europe, for that matter) have monuments to the soldiers of the city who died in the World Wars of the 20th century. I thought Nimes' was particularly beautiful; the street level looks like this, above, and inside and below street level is this lovely mosaic. The walls of the sunken circle are engraved with the names of the fallen.
A bit of trivia for you; denim derives its name from this city - serge (a kind of material) de Nimes. Denimes. Denim. You learn something new every day!
The drive north through the Massif Central mountain range was stunning with its fall colors. It was a lot like driving through the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, only with castles or churches on about every other hill. I brought books to read on this trip but could not tear my eyes away from the scenery, especially when stuff like this was whizzing by at 100 kilometers per hour! Let's just say I took a lot of fuzzy pictures of hilltop castles as the we passed along the autoroute. What a show!

At Millau we drove across the Millau Viaduct - the bridge in the background below. It's the tallest man-made structure in France, even taller than the Eiffel tower which comes in second. We stopped to take a picture, and had our first experience with the "squatty potty!" heh We opted to use the handicapped restroom that actually had a toilet, as did every other tourist who entered the ladies'. Not that I'm not up for the adventure or anything, of course, but, ew.

We did this trip without movies, without Dramamine, and most of it without music even, except for the "Let's Learn French Today" songs that Gar downloaded for the trip. We had no computer and our ipod batteries died the second day. The kids did great - got a little crazy sometimes, as you can see, but overall, they were stellar little travelers. We were very pleased. And they really tried to learn and use some French while we were there!

France Day 2: Montpellier and Arles

2011-11-06T15:31:00.013-07:00

Day two started out with breakfast in the car (croissants are portable but messy!), our first throwup incident (Spencer - caught it in a bag this time) and a drive through the Cathar region of southern France from Carcassonne through Narbonne to Montpellier for lunch. It's a fascinating area of hilltop fortresses and strange histories of Roman conquests, Catholic dissention and Spanish border wars. The very trees seem to grow in different, poetic shapes. We were happy to arrive at Montpellier, however, to get out of the car and get some lunch! Like many towns in s. France, Montpellier has its share of Roman ruins, like the aqueduct behind us. Then it has its beautiful Empire town squares and triumphal arches, and lovely windy pedestrian streets filled with boulangeries and chic stores. The rain that began in Carcassonne followed us here, but the kids were troopers. Except when Spence had to go to the bathroom and we had to go all over the city to finally find a (paying) WC. I love so many things about the USA, free toilets being one of them.There's usually a statue of either Napoleon or Louis XIV around somewhere in these cities.
Gary spent some of his happiest months of his mission here in Montpellier, and we were pleased to find that his favorite steak frites place was still up and running! Steak frites is a baguette split open, with hamburger patties, fries, ketchup and mayo all stuffed inside. Sophie and Spencer liked them too, so darn it, we had to buy another one! Get them while we can, I say!
Me filming the kids on the merry go round in the Place de l'Opera. Fit the bill for being both cheap and kid-friendly! And it was double decker, which we thought was pretty cool. Until we saw that almost every other town we visited had a similar carousel and the kids wanted to go on every one!

Our next stop that day was at ARLES. I love Arles! It's a small, fascinating Provencal town with historical dichotomies which naturally appeal to my love of art and history. A gem of a Roman Arena and amphitheater were the kids' delights, and the Van Gogh walking tour was mine - he painted many of his paintings there. A city walk leads you around to the exact spots on which he stood to paint the scene you see before you; here is Le Cafe Le Soir, below.
I can't get enough of these twisty, colorful, character-filled streets! Arles in in Provence, so all sorts of primary-colored textiles and pottery call cheerily to me from store fronts and curtained windows. I could have spent soooo much money there, but contented myself in just buying some postcards and taking a lot of pictures. We were just backpacking, after all. And I have promethean self control! ha ha
In one square of Arles, you can see Egyptian, Romanesque, neo-classical and Baroque architecture (and Sophie) in abundance. I love it.

The Roman forum and arena.

Of course, after the tour of all the cool "old rocks," we found an ice cream vendor and a playground which topped off the day perfectly. A good time was had by all!

And as we were driving out of town, we saw this. It was actually Gary who saw it and pointed out that this must be where the French vampires lived. Good one, Hubby!

France Day I - Carcassonne

2011-11-06T12:05:00.013-07:00

Okay, this is going to be more information than you ever wanted to hear about the Larsen Family Great France Escapade 2011. Feel free to scan and skip to your hearts' content - I won't be affronted. Or surprised. It is basically my personal journal, and I don't want to forget this stuff, so prepare yourself for some details.

Our journey began when Deirdre, our Irish landlady, gave us a ride to the airport. Bless her. We flew RyanAir, which is like Southwest in that the fares are super cheap but that there are no reserved seats and everything (luggage, drinks, priority boarding) costs extra. Luckily we packed a deck of cards and passed the time waiting in line to board playing War and Rummy. (Spencer really likes to win. So does Maggie. We usually have to referee.)

(sorry, I don't know why this paragraph is underlined.) (and also, I really like parentheses. I'm sure you didn't notice.) Technically, we went to Liverpool and spent the night there before flying to France the next day. That's how we got the 9 euro fares on RyanAir. We had a great experience at the Premier Inn though, and our best Pizza Hut dinner ever (kids got free pizzas, salad, dessert, everything because we ordered a single large pizza. Cool!) We walked to and from the airport and all we really saw of England was the walk through a nice but commonplace street to the Pizza Hut. The adventure really began when we arrived in

Carcassonne!
You really have to double click on this picture and see it bigger to grasp the magnitude and imposing facade of this castle. It's breathtaking!
We called it "Sophie's Castle" because we went to it on Sophie's seventh birthday, October 27th. Happy Birthday Rosebud!
The scale model of the entirety of the castle - the wall goes all the way around an interior village where you can eat, shop, and stay in a posh castle hotel!
Sophie was always willing to pose for pictures!

We let the kids all pick out a princess/knight figurine in Carcassonne. They were cute, cheap, and got played with constantly during the rest of the trip! Very good investment.

Maggie's first taste of an honest-to-goodness French crepe - we had to document the momentous occasion.

The crepe was good, but the service wasn't - this was the restaurant where the waitress made us change tables to one in the corner, ignored us for a while, didn't bring us bread or drinks, and messed up our dessert order but evidently thought we wouldn't notice. All the while we were doing our best to speak French, be polite, and the kids were quite well behaved. Oh well. Maybe it was petty of us, but no, she did not get a tip.

And on to our Formula One hotel... we will not be staying there again either, but it was just a place to sleep and move on.

General Observations of our France Trip

2011-11-03T15:40:00.011-06:00

Posts I would have put on Facebook had I had my computer on our France trip this week:

Mindy Hunter Larsen:
...is grateful for an awesome husband who can drive stick and handle crazy French streets with aplomb. Hooray for Hubby!
...did we really just find a navigation system for 50 euro at a grocery store? Cool!
...is so glad that Sophie enjoyed her birthday castle, Carcassonne, today! Happy 7th birthday Rosebud!
...wonders if the snooty French waitress who messed up our order, didn't bring our requested bread or water, and otherwise ignored the "stupid American tourists" in the corner really thought she was going to get a tip. PS sweetie, we understand French and heard every word you said to the chef and other waitresses about us. Oops!
...Yes, children get hungry every two hours. Deal with it.
...is glad her kids can appreciate art (like the Van Gogh tour in Arles) enough to find this trip interesting! Maggie is renewing her love of history and now has a thing for gladiators (after going to the Roman arena in Nimes) and Marie Antoinette.
...If a four year-old boy sees stones, he will climb. Even if the stones are a 2,000 year-old Roman arena in the middle of Nimes, France. Between the stories of the fighting gladiators (ew) and four stories of pillars and stone tunnels and benches to explore, Spence was in heaven! So glad we stopped to tour the inside - it was really cool for all of us - we could go almost everywhere in the arena. We're just really glad nobody fell and busted their head open. Had several close calls though.
... who knew that my kids' new favorite thing to listen to is the silly "Let's Learn French" songs Gary downloaded before the trip? Sophie particularly is picking up a very good French accent! We also enjoyed making up our own family version of "sur la pont d'Avignon." The kids like doing the funny voices.
...we thought eating at a castle (Bunratty) was pretty cool. Clue: spending the night in one is even better! Even if the owner was a loquacious Dutch octogenarian who liked to tell you his Korean War stories the whole time we were there. At least he gave us the grand tour! The view from the parapets was unforgettable!
...If, on Halloween night, you have nothing better to do than hang around a French park, running obstacle courses around the playground equipment while waiting for your pizza to be made at the local pizzaria, you might get invited to a French Halloween party. Eventually all the local kids came trooping by in their costumes, going to the community hall next door for their party. After a while they invited our kids in to their party and gave them tons of candy. We think it was because they felt sorry for the weird foreigners.
...If you must go to a non-English speaking ward, try to schedule it around the Primary program day! We hit the jackpot, going to church in Clermont-Ferrand and getting to watch the little French kids singing their primary songs, making faces at their parents and picking their little French noses. It was a good time all around.
...the Chateaux of the Loire Valley in autumn while the leaves are changing is breathtaking. Still searching for non-trite words to describe the beauty at every turn!
...The Chateau d'Usse is my favorite chateau of the day! Do not miss it! Chenonceau is also perfect but WAY overcrowded, even in October. And you can't poke into corners. And they don't act out a classic Disney movie (Sleeping Beauty) with mannequins dressed in period costume. Nor does it let you go up into the attic, or see the carriages in the stables, or explore the caves where they stored their wines and mistresses. Nor does it have a 4-foot high tunnel leading from a secret corner in the gardens to....? we never saw its end and we went in pretty far!
...the roof of Chambord, the biggest Loire Valley Castle, is by far my favorite part; fab porphyry, scores of individually artistic towers to admire, and oh the view!
...must have treats on a road trip: apples, carrots, oranges, Pringles and chocolate (white or milk). Desperately missing caramel popcorn, Triscuits, Sun Chips and my air popped pop corn though. Two more months.
...Sophie wants a bed like Marie Antoinette's when she grows up. I do too.
...is grateful for her family who accompanied her, in spite of a severe rain storm and the train which only took us part way, to Marie Antoinette's Hameau at Versailles. Mission accomplished! And the only one who took cold was me; I consider it a small price to pay. I do wish though that the buildings of the Hameau were open inside- they could do so much to make Versailles more visitor friendly with a little investment and creativity. It's impressive, but it could be more.
...did our navigation system really just take us through downtown Paris at rush hour to get to our hotel on the other side??? Insanity!
...the Bateaux Mouches was a good investment. Kids loved it.
...is at the very top of the Eiffel Tower looking at the sun shining through a hole in the clouds upon Notre Dame! PS you can feel the tower sway way up here while you sit to go to the bathroom! eek!
...much as I love a good baguette, having bread and cheese or butter for two meals a day CAN get old after a while.
...My kids get the Travelers of the Year Award in the Under 12 category for our recent France road trip - they had no movies to pass the long drives yet never complained; got dragged through 7 different hotels and three countries in 8 days; endured rain storms to visit Carcassonne, Arles, Nimes, the Loire Valley, and all the corners of the Versailles gardens with me; and at the end of it all actually walked from the Eiffel Tower, to the Arc de Triomphe, all the way down the Champs Elysses to the Tuileries and past the Louvre to our favorite pastry shop opposite the Cour Carre in one day. Gold stars all around!
...yes, we are sitting in the marble and glass mall beneath the Louvre eating... MacDonalds'. Happy Meals = Happy Kids!
...I can't get over the beautiful architecture in France. Not just the great monuments, but the individual houses and neighborhoods as well. Chartres was a visual feast, Tours a vision, Amboise stunning, and Paris just keeps going on going with marble facades, arches, sculpted pediments, architraves and mansard roofs, art nouveau embelishments and Rococo flourishes. Even the little suburban neighborhoods we drove through were designed with an eye towards aesthetics. Makes the good old USA look a bit shabby in comparison, even if we do use a lot more common sense in our design. The French have their problems, but they do like to look good.
...I never had been to Paris' Little India up the Rue St. Denis before. Saw plenty of gorgeous sari stores and curry restaurants while we were stuck in traffic there for almost two hours trying to drive out of Paris that last night.
...Not to traffic in stereotypes or anything, but the Irish and the British are nicer than the French. Sorry, but it's the truth. We realized when we got back to Ireland, where everyone from the Customs agent to our bus driver were cheerful and helpful, what a contrast it was. People actually stopped their cars to let a family with luggage and little kids cross the road here. Wow - that never happened in France!

Videos From Our Ring of Kerry Trip

2011-10-19T09:09:00.001-06:00

Cliffs

Sheep Dog Demonstration

beach

2011-10-18T16:16:00.004-06:00

Brrrr.... why am I always so cold here? My hands are almost blue, and that's indoors! It's the humid kind of cold, difficult to escape, and the heating in our house (radiators) isn't very effective. We turn it on in the mornings but by noon the house is like a fridge again. I'm only warm while exercising or showering. Time for the long johns, I guess! and gloves, and earmuffs, and scarves... does anyone make a nose muff? Perhaps a full face mask would do the trick.

I'm whining so I can tell it's nighttime and I'm tired and a little hungry. Just say it - 'put on a sweater, make yourself some warm tea, and buck up already Mindy!' Okay. I will. Shutting up now.

Still love it here. Even though I'm shivering.

Moments You Live For

2011-10-17T13:26:00.004-06:00

Our family home evening tonight was supposed to be an introduction to Our Gospel Standards. Instead it turned out to be on prayer. During dinner Spencer started complaining of a cramp in his foot. Within minutes he was rolling around on the floor, howling in pain, and the pain was traveling up his leg. We took him upstairs while the girls finished cleaning up dinner, and he cried inconsolably in my arms while we massaged his leg, ransacked the medicine closet for remedies, and looked up "leg pain" online. Gary gave him a blessing, and soon the girls came upstairs as well. They wanted to say a prayer for Spencer themselves. So they sat on either side of him, holding him in their arms, and Sophie said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to help Spencer get well.

Within five minutes the pain had receded, and Spence was able to walk around a bit on his own. He's now brushing his teeth and joking around in his usual entertaining way.

Nobody can tell me prayers don't work. This was a slightly terrifying but more effective way to learn about prayer for our family than all the lessons I could have prepared. Tender mercies. And tender mercies that my boy is feeling better.

However, Dad and Josh MD, any ideas as to what could have caused this 20-minute ordeal? Should I be worried about blood clots or something?

Weekend Warriors Part III - Dingle

2011-10-14T09:32:00.010-06:00

We spent Saturday night in Killarney then woke up leisurely, but with time to make it to church in the charming little branch in Tralee. Maggie counted fifteen people there, other than ourselves - a big change from our 400-person ward in Rexburg! So good for the kids to see the church in its various global manifestations. We talked about how the Lord needs valiant servants to do his work, whether as a temple president in Utah or a deacon in the Tralee branch. Ireland struggles a little in new growth - not a hospitable climate for the missionaries - but there are valiant, noble souls here propping up the church.

We also wanted to explore the Dingle peninsula, right next to the Kerry peninsula. I'm not completely sure this didn't exclusively have to do with it's name - the dingling Dingle peninsula. It just sounds funny. But we had a wonderful, misty day driving roads like this at dizzying speeds (close your eyes, dad - this will give you hives! and yes, this is a two-way road.):
There were cliffs on either side, straight up and straight down in some places (the Connor Pass!) - terrifying! But also strangely thrilling. I'm so glad Gary was driving, but at the same time, me sitting on the left side of the car, yet with absolutely no control over speed or direction of the car, left me feeling nervy and confused. I'll be happy to get back to my comfortable, large, luxurious Honda in the states! And streets wider than seven feet across!

Luckily we made it through the pass without harm (to us or the car, although I wish I could say the same about my nerves!) and landed in Dingle. Cute little port town, bought the girls Claddagh Rings for Christmas, chatted with the locals at the little music shop.
This is a statue of Fungie, the dolphin who has made the bay of Dingle his home for 27 years. We looked for him everywhere, but didn't catch a glimpse!

I have to explain this tower in the distance back there. It was built in the 1840's, for the sole purpose of giving the poor starving workers on a local estate something to do. As you tour Ireland, three major events shape the scenery around you. 1. The Potato Famine, 1845-1852. The potato blight wiped out the potato crops those years, causing over one million people to starve and another million and a half to emigrate, reducing Ireland's population by 20 percent. The memory of these haunting years is still very present in the collective Irish cultural memory. Vacated, crumbling cottages on desolate landscapes bespeak the dead or departed inhabitants. Monuments to the famine reside in every city square. Follies like this were built by landlords just to give their men work. Everything changed during and after the famine.

The second cultural watershed which influences what you see is the invasion of Cromwell in 1649-53. He tortured the country, killing and sacking everything in his wake, and his name is still anathematized by all proper Irishman. He burned most of the churches in Ireland; hence the plethora of crumbling stone religious edifices at every turn.

The third is the Irish civil wars through the last 150 years, Irish War for Independence and the Civil Wars of 1919-1923, and their heritage of political and cultural unrest.

But now... back to our Dingle Adventure!

After driving around the peninsula some more, we were just ready to home. On the way we listened to Truman Madsen's lectures on Joseph Smith - love them! and decided on one last stop: the 13th century Askeaton Fransiscan Friary just down the river from Limerick. The kids loved this. No entrance fees, no lines, no roped off areas - this was the site that made Maggie say to me, "Mom, I'm falling in love with history!"

Do I smell a Christmas card photo? Taken by the only other person at the Friary, an American tourist from Oregon.

And then it was back home. Phew! We packed in a lot in three days! This is the last of our major sightseeing excursions in Ireland, I think, at least for now. We leave for France though in two weeks - YAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!

Weekend Warriors Part II - Ring of Kerry

2011-10-14T03:15:00.010-06:00

After our luxurious stay in a lovely 2-bedroom, self-catering apartment I found for a steal in Killarney, we woke with a mission to see as much as possible. So in spite of a little drizzle and lots of mist, we set off on our great Kerry adventure!
Having as much coastline as Ireland does, most of it is bound to be beautiful. After our stay amidst the gentle rolling hills of Limerick, I was somewhat unprepared for the more dramatic and rugged beauty of the Kerry peninsula. Steep cliffs, actual mountains, jagged rock. Charming thatched cottages, windy roads, lots of sheep and cows. Be prepared for a lot of pictures!

Our first notable stop was to see a sheepdog demonstration near Blenbeigh. We lucked out finding it - there were no signs but Gary remembered seeing a show there ten years ago so we had our eyes peeled. Then when we saw a tour bus stop, we stopped too, and joined the crowd up the hill to see the show. LOVED it. Good doggies! I think they went inside and washed the dishes and helped their master fold laundry afterwards - they were so well trained!

Of course, we're all about the dogs; they were very loving and gave lots of kisses.

I brought along a lot of hand sanitizer, just in case you were wondering. The dogs were sweet but quite dirty that day.
We didn't take any music or videos for the kids to watch - didn't want to distract them from the amazing show going on outside their windows! They never even asked for a movie - too engrossed with the scenery. During the longer stretches we either talked about Irish history or tried to remember the words to some of the Irish songs we're trying to learn - Molly Malone we have down, but we're still working on I'll Tell Me Ma and When Irish Eyes are Smiling.
This is the view from Valencia Island over to Portmagee, where we had lunch at a cute little pub. Notice the ketchup/mayo smiley face, below... being who we are, there has to be a little silliness in the mix!

These were my favorite cliffs of the day. As the weather was so bad, no boats were going out to the Skellig islands that day - we really wanted to go to Skellig Michael so it was disappointing. However, when we stopped at these cliffs by Foilnageragh, I felt like we got a glimpse of what Skellig Michael would have looked like. Very steep, very austere, very turbulent - not a peaceful place to eke out a living at the top of a rock! But so very beautiful.

The beaches were grand - at this one, Gary gave the kids a geology lesson while sorting through the strata of exposed geo layers in the cliffs. Maggie was enthralled at the strata of quartz Gary pointed out to here, and took a loose chunk of it home as her souvenir.

We were sad that the weather wasn't more fine so we could see further, but in a way the mist made the island seem more magical. It was very atmospheric, and added that nice nightmarish quality to driving down the twisty, one-lane roads at 100 km/hour! :-) In spite of cliffs on either side and some close calls, we didn't even get a scratch on our little Nissan micra!

Finding "cockles and mussels" on the beach by Ballinskelligs.Maggie at Ladies' View; this view of the lakes of Killarney so enchanted the waiting ladies of Queen Victoria in the 1860's that the spot has been called Ladies' View ever since.

At Torc Falls.
We made it the whole day without a throwup incident... until we were two blocks away from our last stop. Then suddenly Spencer burped...but it came up as throwup so we had no warning. Here's the little guy after his washup, decked out dad's sweatshirt and feeling much better!
Finally back in Killarney, we gave our last 20 euro to the driver of one of the famous jaunting cart that go around the lakes. He took us for a little ride, much to the kids' infinite satisfaction, and we ended the day on a high note!
Pizza (4-star Pizza! Yum!) and bed back at our apartment ended a very big, very beautiful day. Thank you Kerry for some wonderful memories!

Weekend Warriors Part I - Dromberg

2011-10-14T02:43:00.005-06:00

Ireland is not like a lot of Europe in that it's not completely accessible by public trains or buses. To see many of its attractions a car is necessary. Accordingly, we took our lives in our hands and rented a car. It was terrifying, but the only way to see what we saw this last weekend! And it was SO nice to have transport at our beck and call!

So, the first leg involved pulling the kids out of school an hour early and driving south, with a quick stopover and potty break at Blarney castle. We looked through the gates at the grounds, not having the time (and the urge to spend the $40 family entrance fee for such a short visit) to go inside. So we did not kiss the famous stone (ew!) and will not be having the gift of the gab. Alas. But we were motivated to get back on the road so we could get to Gary's requested visit - the megalithic Drombeg Stone Circle on the south coast. They're Ireland's most famous stone circle, about 2300 years old. Someone with a sense of humor had left wine, cheese and flowers arranged on the altar stone in the center. Maybe they were French; if it had been an Irishman they would have left Guinness beer.

Also present at the site is a Fulacht fiadh (have fun pronouncing that!), a communal cooking pit with a hearth. Hot stones were taken from the fire and dropped into the water trough, and tests have shown they could boil seventy gallons of water in about fifteen minutes. Hot bath, anyone? Spence, you're looking rather grungy - hop on in, dude! After we had seen Drombeg, it was getting dark and our hotel was 100 kilometers away in Killarney. So we drove through what I'm sure is some of the most beautiful scenery in Ireland - in pitch black darkness. Luckily I have a good imagination (and Google earth) to help me see what we missed! We made up for it though the next day in the Ring of Kerry, so it's all good.

2011-10-11T14:02:00.004-06:00

Had a hard time motivating myself today. It was rainy, I went to bed late last night, and Spencer was happy with his legos. I should have exercised and worked on Festival team routines or the studio web site or updated this blog with stories from last weekend's adventure in the Ring of Kerry (coming soon to a Larsen blogspot near you). Instead, I sat on the sofa and read the last 100 pages of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South. And I won't lie to you - it was delightful. But I'm feeling guilty about the use of my time today on the Good/Better/Best scale; I get lazy and like nothing better than to curl up and "reat" (read and eat) with a good book, bread and cheese, and herbal tea. This clearly only falls into the "Good" category, although since it's historical fiction I may be able to validate it as "Better" because I did learn something. However, I could have been mopping my floor and cleaning my cupboards and making dinner for someone and sending my grandmother a post card and proofing Gary's papers and reading books on doctrine to Spence, not just to myself... ah, the guilt spiral of the Mormon mother when we pamper ourselves just a little bit!

Walk 3 - the Other Castle

2011-10-05T14:47:00.005-06:00

Go a mile along the river one way, you get the views from Walk 1, below. Go half a mile the other direction, you run into scenes like this. Look carefully above - that IS some tower ruins hiding behind the trees. Again, no sign or plaque, just cool scenery.

This stretch of the river hosts several colorful fisherman's huts - this was the most unique.
More swans.
This is the front entrance to the ruins. Behind the kids is a hole in the wall, an entryway. You pass through successive minor courtyards, etc to ultimately arrive at the keep. Very Robin of Locksley.

Walk 2 - Campus

2011-10-05T13:27:00.005-06:00

Here's some various shots of some of the more picturesque corners of UL campus. This little canal leads to a bridge over a smaller river to get to the bigger river and the river paths that we love. The photos don't really do much justice to any of these places, but still, it will give you an idea.

Below: is a section of student housing - they made it look like a town square which I think was a nice idea. Very homey.
In the courtyard of the village above is a courtyard with this crazy sculpture, below. Cute, but,... ?

Some of the older and newer construction on campus. Most of it looks like the building on the right, but some leans towards the avant garde more, like the one on the left. I still need to get a picture of Gary's building, the home of the Academy for World Arts and Music, which is fabulous and original and unexpected. As is the unique steel pedestrian bridge crossing the river to it. I WILL take my camera with me next time we go meet dad for lunch!
This is the soccer field which is the first thing we hit when we enter campus property. It's spacious and open and we love exploring and playing soccer there. All our walks (unless we're going to the store) begin and end here. There's usually dogs to pet as well, which of course we love.
This is a very important building to the Larsen family; it houses the UL pool. The kids swim there as part of their school's PE program and we swim there for fun as a family. It's also adjacent to the soccer field above, so we pass it frequently. Starting to feel like home around here.

Walk 1 - The River

2011-10-05T12:27:00.006-06:00

Okay, I just had a lovely, mellifluous description of our two favorite walks edited and ready to post - then Mr. Computer decided to crash on me and lost it all (not that I'm not grateful for said Mr. Computer, but...). Such flights of poetic fancy (accompanied by amazing vocabulary, of course!) are few and far between these days, so instead you'll be getting the Cliffs Notes version.

To recap - our neighborhood and the University of Limerick itself aren't exactly standouts of aesthetic beauty, or even provincial charm, but once you get to the river that cuts through UL, it's a different story. The paths along the riverbanks are the stuff of myth and legend - lush green corners, mossy dells, friendly (or not) trees with an excess of personality, surprising twists like huge patches of wild blackberries (yum!) and castle ruins... it's all magic and fascination with us! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

We loved the ruins especially - ruins are so common here, even remarkable medieval strongholds like this one, that most aren't even on the map. They didn't even bother putting up a plaque or sign for the ones on our walks, so we don't know who built them or exactly how old they are. They're just these ruined towers in the woods - we kept waiting for Rumpelstiltskin or the local witch to appear and return the spots to their former glory.

Note to the Wise: Chestnuts roasting on an open fire sound poetic and conjure some of the most charming holiday imagery, which prompted us to gather the shiny, pleasing horse chestnuts, take them home, and roast them. Ours turned out rather bitter - edible with butter and salt, but we're really glad we don't have to survive on them! Gathering them was like a treasure hunt, and I love fingering the beautiful, glossy nuts. Just don't try to eat them.

2011-10-05T03:16:00.004-06:00

Right now Spence and I are playing badminton with two flyswatters and a throwing dart we found at the park yesterday. Necessity is the mother of invention! He and Sophie fell in love with badminton this summer at Aspen Grove and now he's created his own version. Smart kid!

Conference Weekend

2011-10-02T16:05:00.005-06:00

Well, we pitched our tent - literally - facing the prophet a la King Benjamin this weekend. Instructions: gather all blankets and pillows in house, and combine with elastics, umbrellas, brooms, anything with long sticks. Rearrange every piece of furniture in room. Add legos, cards, popcorn, caramel apple dip, periodic walks down to the river to get out the wigglies, and GENERAL CONFERENCE, and the result is one totally wonderful weekend!

I love Conference weekend SO much, and look forward to it breathlessly every six months. We've been listening to some of our favorite talks in the mornings since we got to Ireland and so the kids were well primed for the long sessions of playing quietly and listening with at least one ear! Not bad for a 10, 6 and 4 year-old. They always perk up when Presidents Monson and Uchtdorf appear - they are our favorites. Loved both of their messages, as always. Got teary when they announced the Provo Tabernacle would be converted to a second Provo temple. Was inspired to be a better mother, wife and scriptorian by the Sat. sessions, and to be a better missionary and example by the Sunday sessions. I still have so much to work on, but am inspired and encouraged by the words of these beloved servants of the Lord. Now it's over, and I feel a little sad, as always. I'd like to live it over again. Ah, the beauty of LDS.org - I can!

"No matter how meager your circumstances in this life, you are not invisible to God... you matter to the Lord." -Elder Uchtdorf

Limerick City

2011-10-01T14:36:00.005-06:00

Let's be honest - if you're planning on visiting Ireland, you don't particularly want to stay in Limerick. It's main points of interest are the river Shannon, King John's Castle, the Georgian quarter, St. Mary's Cathedral, the Hunt Museum... and that's about it. It's centrally located, but not very picturesque. However, we set out one night (on a festival night where every major monument was free) to discover the best and brightest of Limerick!

Sorry about the pictures not being in order, but I'm having issues with downloading pics onto the blog in order, so I'll just go through them as they appear. First, above, preparing Spencer for dinner on a spit in the courtyard of the medieval St. John's Castle. Mmmm.

Below, the castle is on a strategically important location on the river Shannon, and layers upon layers of civilization are to be found built one upon another. This excavation work shows some of the earlier settlements from about 800 AD; most of the rest of the castle was built around 1200 AD.

Look, the whole family in one picture! Glad captured the moment!
Sophie in the stocks.
The ancient city wall of Limerick, which circles, in crumbling bits and pieces, most of the medieval quarter of Limerick. I love studying the stones, and thinking of the hands which put them there so long ago. Those stones have seen a lot - Maggie was a little traumatized by one of the films they show in the visitor's center portraying the violence of the 17th century wars and sieges. It was a bit brutal; life here has not always been very pretty, between constant Anglo-Irish battles, internal clan spats, the unspeakable ignorance and cruelty of the Middle Ages, and through the civil wars of the 20th century. Luckily I think most of it went over Spence and Sophie's heads.
Spence hunts down the cannon everywhere we go - he loves the big guns!
This is one of the loveliest views of the city, taken from the bridge on William Street. The castle is down on the left, and St. Mary's cathedral (the oldest in the area) are the spires to the right. Wild swans live on the river; once Spence and I were sitting on some stairs leading down to a dock eating some chips (fries). We'd been there for about 30 seconds when suddenly, from all corners of the river, about 30 gorgeous white swans started swimming towards us. It was truly a magnificent spectacle, so we stayed as long as I dared. But I've been bit by the vicious white birds before, so we hightailed it out of there before they had a chance to do serious battle for our snack.
Back to St. John's castle, in the battlements (and gangsta Maggie). Lovely views of the city. We also went to the Hunt Museum that night; it houses the personal collection of a wealthy family who had spent fortunes gathering relics from all historical periods. We saw a Greek statue 4000 years old (wow!), gorgeous medieval jewelry including a "beloved" ring (made with gems that begin with each of those letters), collections of miniatures of generations of aristocracy (very Pride and Prejudice), rusted swords from the dark ages, Greek pottery, ancient Irish cloak clasps, works by Renoir and Picasso, and all kinds of similar goodies. Then we stumbled into the kids craft area where the girls made paper crowns and Spencer decorated a paper sword and shield. Great night.

2011-10-01T04:47:00.003-06:00

Yummy new lunch recipe: fresh spinach, grilled veggies (red and yellow pepper, onion, sliced carrot), feta and balsamic vinaigrette all wrapped up in a tortilla. Mmmm. Plus it's an antidote to Irish cuisine, which is traditionally deep fried and bland. This is going in the cookbook.

2011-09-28T15:27:00.002-06:00

Three Great Things:

1) It was sunny and over 60 degrees for the second day in a row which is a serious heat wave over here! I almost felt like laying out or something. Soak up the vitamin D while you can, lads!

2) We went swimming today at the college as a family, and it felt so good to play and splash. And to not wear 16 layers for once.

3) Over the last two days, all three kids have been mesmerized by our dvd of the 02 Les Miserables 25th anniversary concert (what parts of it I'll let them watch). All three of them have begged to watch it again and again, spurring Mindy's "Let's Have A Girl's Night In London To See It For Real!" fever which has tortured me with temptation for the last 24 hours. I think I've tamed the beast and resisted the urge, because hello, we're already doing France and Ireland. We can't blow EVERYTHING on this trip. (can we?) But I was so charmed and pleased that they were interested and absorbed in one of my favorite musicals. Maggie is slightly obsessed with Cosette, and even Spencer sat quietly and watched with full attention (he liked the guns part at the barricades). Maybe we'll see a touring company in Salt Lake or something someday. Hooray, my kids are musical lovers!

I can get really cheap tickets from here to London... stop it, Mindy! geesh.

Cliffs of Moher, Stone Forts and the Burren!

2011-09-27T09:03:00.008-06:00

This was a day long planned and anticipated - our Barratt Bus tour of County Clare, just to the north of us here in Limerick. It was a long day on the bus - the little Indian girl behind us threw up - ew - but for once we didn't! It helped that we got our pick of seats on the bus! What great little adventurers!

The first stop was Caherconnell Stone Ring Fort. It's over 1,000 years old. Families would build stone walls in circles to protect their homes and livestock. The stones are laid without mortar between them so the wind can rush through them, allowing them to stand longer without being blown down.

This is the remains of Leamenagh Castle, one of the many owned by the powerful Butler family. Descendants of the family still live in the little house to the left of the castle, below.
Most of this tour took place on the Burren, which is a whole region where the topsoil had been scraped off the rock features by glaciers in the last ice age, revealing the "bones" of the earth underneath. One says of the Burren that it's a place "with not enough water to drown a man, not enough trees to hang him, and not enough earth to bury him." We found it so fascinating! The kids loved jumping from rock to rock, and learning about the erosion of the limestone to make underwater rivers, caves and canyons. It's a very surprising place, the Burren.
There's miles and miles of this kind of landscape - grey rock "pavements" pockmarked with mosses and wildflowers.
Here is Sophie modelling the famous Poulnabrone Tomb, thought to date back to 3800 BC!

Here we are on the west coast of Ireland, just above Doolin. They were shooting a movie here with Gerard Depardieu that day so the bus had to go around its usual spot to drop us here. The kids were in heaven with all these rocks to jump on and around!
We had lunch in the charming village of Doolin, famous as a pilgrimage town for traditional Irish music as well as its single meet market festivals in September. We were there during one of these festivals, evidently, and found the pub crowded with various versions of Singles on the Hunt. Great people watching, for those interested in the sport! I had a divine caesar salad and vegetable soup, the kids had soup and chips, and we got back onto the bus for our next stop: the celebrated Cliffs of Moher.I heard that they filmed the Cliffs of Insanity sequence here, and I believe it! They're trying to get the Cliffs into the next Wonders of the World list. They are beautiful, and quite dramatic... but for someone who's traveled the Norwegian Fjords, trained through the Alps, driven Highway 1 up Big Sur, hiked the Seven Sacred Pools to their source above Hana on Maui, and gawked at the endless majesties of Lake Powell, Yellowstone and Yosemite... the Cliffs are... nice. A little stark for my taste, I guess.
This is the view of the cliffs from the tower, below. We were so lucky that at almost every stop we made that day, the rain held off while we toured the sight, then it would pour while we drove to our next destination, then it would be clear for 10 minutes for us to run around at the next stop... yup, we were lucky. At the Cliffs we did run into some fierce wind that almost blew Spencer down the long set of stairs leading up the cliffs to the tower - I could have flown him like a kite if I'd had a bit of string to tie to his belt loops! It just added to the adventure though. And to top it off, Mom totally caved in and gave each kid two euro to spend at their own discretion. Mag picked chocolate, Soph got white chocolate (that's my girl!) and Spencer got a lollipop as big as his head! Two hours of sucking later and he hasn't made a dent. Kept him quiet and happy on the whole drive home, and now it's going to rest at the back of my cupboard until needed. All in all, a very good day.
And once again, Gary stayed home to work and to save money! :-( He probably enjoyed the peace and quiet though, especially since one of our new ward friends lent the kids some toys, including a Dora the Explorer laptop that won't stop singing, and a set of bowling pins which we set up in the long front hallway. The kids' mini soccer balls make great bowling balls and we have a lot of fun! It's definitely not quiet fun though!

2011-09-24T15:15:00.002-06:00

I have to admire the fabric out of which the girl's uniforms are made; I think it must be some sort of polyester/titanium blend. In the 3+ weeks they've worn them almost every day, I've only had to wash Sophie's pinafore (dress) and Maggie's skirt once, and not because I saw any dirt but because I knew it had been a while and thought that surely they needed washing! The brown on brown color scheme leaves a little to be desired (why couldn't their school colors have been blue?) but this is kid-tough stuff. I need to have all my kids' clothes made out of it! Just, not all in brown.

2011-09-24T15:04:00.002-06:00

This is the little stone church, 200 years old, that we pass when we walk to the store. It's two blocks away from our house. Very charming, and yes, that is a tree growing out of the steeple.
We love to come here and explore. Some of the tombstones are brand new, and some are so old that age and lichen have removed all traces of dates and names. Irish people tend to decorate the graves of their departed ones with all sorts of trinkets that the deceased presumably liked; we find tombstones surrounded by various kinds of flowers, framed pictures, snow globes, stuffed animals, candles, plaques, figurines... it makes a taking walk through the cemetery a fascinating experience.

2011-09-20T14:23:00.005-06:00

Okay, my last post was obviously written late when I was tired and grumpy and had spent the entire morning in the immigration office waiting to have my new passport stamped. So to counteract the heavier topics below, here is a list of things I LOVE about Ireland!

-ruins, architecture, newness, and living in a place so rich in culture and history. The delight of never knowing when you turn a corner what you're going to see - an O'Brien watch tower on a hill in the distance; a row of Georgian townhouses with their charming doors to examine; crumbling ruins of castles to oogle; and monuments of great events that happened right there where you are standing. History is so interesting when you're living among the tangible proof of its existence.
-playing with my kids on our field trips and seeing their wonder and delight as we go to new places and try new things
-that my kids get to experience school here, making friends and learning Gaelic and having some great missionary opportunities. They're finding out a lot about who they are while we're here.
-ranch dressing. I know I can get this at home too but for some reason we are all craving it daily here! I've never made so many salads!
-just being a mom and focusing on the kids without a gazillion other distractions
-reading on my kindle (again because of the lack of said distractions)
-our daily devotionals at breakfast, usually featuring conference talks on video or Mormon Messages from LDS.org. Moving always gives me a chance to establish new routines or improve upon others.
-the smell of peat brick fires
-the Medieval Feast. The kids still talk about it daily.
-the wild swans that live on the River Shannon which flows right through the UL campus
-hearing lots of different accents and lots of different languages spoken everywhere we go
-thatched cottages (Adare!)
-aged white Irish cheddar, and chips! But not together.
-the kind people here, esp. at church
-being closer to France! One more month...
-the garden view out my back window
-having time to work with Spencer on his letters and numbers, and watching his joy as he puts everything together. I kind of missed this with Sophie; those were the dark, stressful, sleepless years that I don't remember very well.
-watching my kids build castles out of cereal boxes and milk jugs. Since we're seeing so many of real castles I thought we'd study castles as a family so we know what we're looking at. The creative outcome of said study is messy but so cool! I'd way rather have them trying to figure out how to add a curtain wall to their defensive keep using tape and fruit cartons than watching tv.
-that Gary gets to work on his research full-time!
-our taxi driver Christie who drives us to church every Sunday - and gives us a discount
-that I always see the Lord's hand in my life when big adventures like this roll around. Or maybe I'm just looking for it harder. Either way, I'm very aware of the numerous tender mercies that have blessed our life since this adventure began.

And to be fair, here are the few things I miss from home:

-my dog, as previously mentioned
-being able to call my mom and our families and friends (although skype is a helpful option)
-warm weather
-my hot-air popcorn popper. Microwave poppy just isn't the same. Also Sun Chips and Triscuits.
-having a car
-cleaning products that work. I think the ones we've tried here just spread the grease around... ugh
-Little Caesar's $5 pizza deal - such an easy meal!
-clogging and zumba, although I can do both here in my kitchen
-my full-sized fridge

Not a very long list. We are very happy here and are in no hurry to get home!

All Together, Not a Banner Day on the Limerick Public Transportation System

2011-09-20T12:03:00.005-06:00

Is it just me or do some people who take public transportation have particularly pungent body odors? I about got knocked out today by the eau de b-o emanating from the bus as I stepped in to take my seat. Also, Spence and I unfortunately sat near some full-on Irish bad boys who were yelling obscenities, throwing french fries, tripping people, and flicking coins at people's heads. They even attacked a black man and threw him against the wall as he was trying to exit the bus. And the bus driver did nothing. Seriously? Spence and I had to have a heart to heart about how behavior like that made him feel and why Heavenly Father does not want us to treat each other that way. Having just studied the Sermon on the Mount during FHE last night, we were able to have the "turn the other cheek" and "love and pray for thine enemies" talk. But mostly I wanted to turn around and smack those boys' heads together! (temper, Mindy, temper!)

Every experience teaches us something; today I had to learn to bite my tongue and apply that great Sermon to the way I reacted to and viewed those two boys. To think about the sad lives those boys must have lead to have them turn out that way, and to pray for them (and their past, current, and future) victims. Life lessons are everywhere, I guess.

My Go-To Irish Recipe

2011-09-19T15:16:00.005-06:00

I think I crave different things depending on where I am (or how much sleep I've gotten, or what color I'm wearing, or or or). Since being in Ireland, I've made this recipe twice and crave it fortnightly. All the ingredients are typical Irish fare, so maybe that's its magic - ham, cream, peas. Of course, it will immediately clog your arteries with its supersaturated fats... but when something tastes this good, who cares?

This is the perfect dish to make during or after watching the movie Julie and Julia. Simple ingredients, cooked in butter and cream... delish! And very fast and easy!

Farfalle Romano

4 cups farfalle, cooked according to package directions

2 T. butter

3 cups thinly sliced mushrooms

1 cup chopped prosciutto or ham

¾ cup light cream

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

½ cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions and drain. In large skillet over medium heat, melt butter; add mushrooms and prosciutto. Cook five minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Add light cream; heat until almost boiling. Add peas and heat through; toss with hot pasta and cheese. 4 servings.

Lesson Learned

2011-09-18T15:05:00.002-06:00

One of the quirks of Irish living conditions is that our water heater is not on all day. We turn it on when we need hot water for showers or laundry, then turn it off afterwards. While it is on, it also fills the radiators that heat the house. (So I guess the Irish only take hot showers in the winter when they want to warm the house?) This morning we rushed off to church without turning off our water heater. Then we went to dinner afterwards in Adare (the PERFECT Irish village!!! I want to live there!) at the house of some delightful new friends, the Kellys (David and Alex and their three girls). So we didn't get home until 7:30 tonight. When we opened the door, it was like walking in to a sauna! Which okay is not a completely bad experience as we are so often freezing cold over here, but really, this was decidedly unpleasant. Not to mention that leaving the heat on all day is very expensive! So, if you happen to be dallying in Ireland any time soon, remember to turn off your water heater or expect to melt all the chocolate you have in the house! Which was the real tragedy, after all... :-)

Tour of our House Take 2

2011-09-17T18:03:00.000-06:00

Dashing Dublin! Or, Dashing Through Dublin!

2011-09-17T16:21:00.001-06:00

I know it will relieve you all to know that I am finally legal - my new passport is in my hands and I have an identity again! Yay! To get that mess fixed though I had to go to Dublin (darn it). Gary held down the fort at home while I took the three-hour express bus into town for a day of Dublin delights (after a sweaty hour at the US Embassy, pouring out the tale of my innocent stupidity to the very nice people who worked there). Must mention the potato soup and the Caesar salad I had at a hotel while walking back from the Embassy - both the best I've ever had! I love Dublin!I took buses to the Embassy but walked back to the train station, hitting most of the important sights to be seen on the way. Here is me with the statue of Molly Malone. Dublin's unofficial anthem is "Molly Malone" - we heard it at Bunratty and downloaded it (along with Irish Eyes, Danny Boy and I'll Tell Me Ma) so we could fit in the next time someone broke out in song and we were expected to sing along. This statue of Molly is also known as The Tart and the Cart.
Lovely Christ Church Cathedral, the first cathedral of Ireland and over 1,000 years old.
I am fascinated by the Georgian doors all over neighborhoods in Dublin and Limerick; each building looks just the same (5 stories, red brick) but the doors are all individual. I loved picking out my favorites.
Here's the corner between the Bank of Ireland building on the left and Trinity College on the right. What a stimulating place to be educated! Not to mention the ginormous Guiness factory I passed on my way to the station - it was HUGE! The Irish are fond of their Guiness, that's for sure!
Feeding the swans at St. Stephen's Green, a lovey, tranquil patch of green and flowers by Trinity College.
Walking through the Dublin streets was constantly surprising - flowers were everywhere, and all sorts of architecture are represented. It's a very architecturally creative city, which was delightful to experience again. Rexburg is many wonderful things, but "architecturally creative" is not one of them. I was so stimulated by being surrounded with art and history at every turn.
Thank you Dublin!

Two More Pics of the Kids' First Day at School

2011-09-17T15:38:00.005-06:00

There's Maggie in the back corner, smiling away. Just minutes later she met Laura and Baevan who have really helped her adjust to the new surroudings!
Here we have Spencer giving Sophie a hug before we left the last day. Yes, I know he is in his pajamas. Sometimes stuff like that really doesn't matter much... only I haven't let it happen since. This is because I bribe the children with a square of chocolate if they are sitting on the stairs at 8:35 (we leave for school at 8:40), dressed, backpacks packed, breakfast dishes cleaned up, beds made, rooms cleaned and morning devotional (I love you LDS.org!) and ready to go to school early. Love it - works like a charm. And I don't have to nag. Much.

2011-09-14T13:41:00.002-06:00

Sometimes it takes every ounce of mental and physical stamina I possess to get through the kids' bedtime. I don't know what it is about that last hour of helping them do their mightly routine, but je vous assure, it about does me in every night. Maybe I should go have a Hobnob cookie spread with Nutella to help me recover...oh wait, I already did that to help me get through homework time! Hmm, looks like I may have to move on to some brie and baguette. Good thing I did me some Zumba today!

2011-09-12T14:44:00.003-06:00

I'm surprised at how much I actually really miss my dog. Took me a while to get used to her at first, but now it's taking me a while to get used to her not being around! She's such a source of love in our home; we all miss her. Oh well - she's having a hoo-rah at Gram's house. Hopefully she'll remember us when we get back!

The Castle At Bunratty

2011-09-10T11:13:00.004-06:00

Our favorite day in Ireland so far - our visit to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park!

Each of the four corner towers had these spiral staircases. We were fascinated by them... but very grateful for the handrails to help us up and down! In fact. when coming down one of the last staircase, Sophie said something like, "Oh Mr. Handrail, come to me and let me feel your love!"
The kids on the battlements.

Spencer really digs swords and armor, so was in his element.This is the view from the towers. Somehow pictures never do the landscape justice! You need to see the details and feel the wind blowing in your face and know that you're standing five stories in the air, on stones that have seen centuries of drama and battle, archers and courtesans, dukes and danger... we totally dig castles!

Pics of the Bunratty Folk Park and the FEAST

2011-09-10T10:23:00.006-06:00

Here we are at the Bunratty Folk park surrounding the castle. It was like a living village and we got to stroll through the ages as we went from cottage to frame house to manor. I became slightly obsessed with the cottages, where peat fires burned with their distinctive smell and where sonsy matrons made fresh scones with eggs from the hens penned outside and butter freshly churned. Ah... treats for all the senses! This blue house below was another of my favorites, with its rose trellis and white fence. I want to move in directly!
The main thoroughfare through the town.
Lots of walking but with the help of some Butler's chocolate the kids were troopers! (Gary stayed home to work on his papers. He's been here before so it's okay.)

THE FEAST! Here we are being welcomed in the main hall, welcomed by our "butler", serenaded by lace-bodiced wenches and tights-clad lords, given lovely juice to drink and offered bread and salt as a welcome appetizer (they used salt as a preservative as well as a flavoring agent). The harpist and the violinist (who was educated at Julliard!) were excellent!
Then we moved on to the dining hall to start the feast. Loved the candlelight and the costumes - touristy, but they definitely added to the atmosphere. The girls adored the girl in blue, who had the loveliest soprano voice!
The dinner consisted of four courses: savory potato soup with soda bread, spare ribs (or honeydew melon wedges), roast chicken with sauce and veggies (excellent!), and a fruits of the forest custard for dessert. We were so happy - and so were our tummies! Spencer especially appreciated the fact that he got to use a "dagger" to eat, and nothing else. Utensils were not allowed!
We adored our server, Eamos, who was great with the kids. Appreciated his dulcet tenor tones as well!
Delightful day from start to finish!

2011-09-10T07:53:00.004-06:00

Today I booked our trip to France online, and cut some layers in my hair. Both terrifying but strangely liberating experiences. France is going to cost us but we are taking a week to travel from the south, where Gary served his mission, then driving north through Loire (castle) country to Paris. I need to just suck it up and remember that I'm a great budget traveler and focus on the amazing things the kids are going to see - Roman ruins in Arles and Avignon, the Cote D'Azur, Chartres, Paris... it will be amazing!

And I cut my hair because you can only have boring hair for so long without absolutely going crazy. I saw my scissors in my bathroom this morning and thought, hmm, let's have some fun! I've never cut my own hair before, even simple layers, so I just picked them up and went to it. It turned out okay - I think - and even if it didn't I have three months before I see anyone I really know and that's plenty of time for my hair to grow back out! Maybe I'll do more tomorrow...or go REALLY wild and actually color it for the first time! I know, I'm such a rebel. Only not really.

In Case You're Feeling Green...

2011-09-08T14:48:00.002-06:00

...here is an excerpt from an email I sent to a dear friend tonight, revealing a small glimpse at the flip side of our dreamy Irish experience...

"The leaves over at the college have begun to change already too,
and I'm stoked to be here in the fall. It will be beautiful, and a
huge adventure, but before you get too jealous rest assured that it's
not all shamrocks and rainbows - there are a few shadows cast by all this Irish sunshine. (ha ha, Irish sunshine... very funny, Mindy! We've seen the sun maybe three times since being here! :-)) I can tell you all about how I
burned through almost two months' salary in about three weeks setting
up house, fixing passport issues and rigging out the kids for school.
Or how it's so cold, cloudy and rainy that I'm already yearning for
flip flops and an hour or two of unalloyed sunshine. How homework takes us HOURS to complete
every day, with at least one daughter either repeatedly flopping on
the floor or dissolving into tears. Or how my Sophie still persists
in absolutely melting down every time I drop her off for school. It's
nothing new - she did it every day last year until I gave in and
bribed her with candy every day to go willingly. I'd better roll out
the Cadbury train to do the same this year because it's kind of
annoying.

And Maggie's stressed out because in school they deal in cursive (which she hasn't used since the 3rd grade), the metric system, in-class Catholic prayers twice daily, and military time so she sometimes feels totally clueless - a new thing for her. And yesterday teacher chewed her out in front of the
other students because she didn't do a homework assignment. She
was completely mortified and came home and sobbed for an hour. Having
always been a pleaser and one of the top kids in her class, she was
so crushed. She misunderstood the assignment and did the wrong one
and got called out for it. I could think of a better way for her
teacher, who otherwise has been great for her so far, to have dealt
with the situation but it did provide a good opportunity to have the
whole "we fall down so we learn to pick ourselves up" and
"what can we learn from this experience" talk with her. So
yes, if comfort retards growth, I think this will be a banner
semester for Clan Larsen!"

2011-09-06T16:07:00.003-06:00

Is there anything more fabulous, especially to a bunch of young kids, than eating a n0-untensil feast in an honest-t0-goodness medieval castle, waited on by wenches and butlers in full regalia and being serenaded by wandering troubadours? Obviously we don't think so. Throw in a folk village with thatched cottages, peat fires, farm animals, castle playgrounds, and fresh scones and you have, as Maggie called it, "the best day ever!" Sorry Dad, this just even beat out the Zoo/Hires/Swimming Best Day Ever. It was that fun. The delight of exploring a real castle with joyous, eager children was almost unparalleled and unalloyed!

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In Which Sophie Does a Dance, Spencer Makes a Face and Maggie Gives a Colorful Tour of our House

2011-09-04T14:58:00.002-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CarhQzJSUTQ

2011-09-04T14:53:00.002-06:00

I could wish that it didn't cost us almost $45 to get our family to and from church (the buses here don't run on Sunday mornings so we have to use a taxi) but it could be so much worse. At least there is a branch in town, and not in the next county over!

Sophie bore her testimony today, as did Gary and I. She also insisted on fasting with us, and did great. She is such a trooper!

An American, LDS family with small children has moved in two houses down. Seriously, what are the odds? We are so lucky and so excited to have them near us in this predominantly student-populated area! They came over for dinner tonight and are absolutely delightful - the dad is getting his degree from UL like Gary, ony in music, so we have lots in common. Again, blessings and blessings! And now I have someone to talk to, go to the park with, and swap baby sitting! Yay!

First School Report

2011-09-02T03:30:00.002-06:00

So both girls came through their first two days of school relatively unscathed. In fact, Maggie came walking out on Day 1 surrounded by a group of chatty new friends - hooray! And bless her teacher who had the foresight to ask for volunteers for students to show Maggie around during the first few weeks of school. Three little girls raised their hands - Mags was thrilled. Just what we needed to get her into the new routine. Sophie by nature makes friends easily too, and came home reporting on three new ones. I still break out in a sweat when I drop them off at the crowded playground in the mornings, feeling their anxiety probably more than they do as they undertake this big new adventure. Breathe, Mindy, breathe - they'll be fine!

They do have much more homework here though than in the States, and to Maggie's dismay, all writing is done in cursive. Since she learned cursive but hasn't used it since the third grade, this made homework the first night very slow-going, with much wailing and moaning. They laugh though at the way their teachers replace the "th" sound with the "t" sound, and how they pronounce the word forty as "farty". Potty humor, I know, but whatever gets a laugh.

Maggie was also slightly dismayed that all schools here are Catholic, so everyone but her knows these set prayers with which they start and end the day. We've talked about it and agree that it's such a great way to learn about other religions, and about our own in the process as we compare and contrast the two faiths... only she doesn't like the idea of everyone knowing something that she doesn't. :-) I told her she'll pick it up quick, if she wanted to. It's been a great springboard for discussion though on things like prayer traditions, faith, living the gospel and how best to talk about what we believe.

Sophie just smiles and follows along with whatever, but she's learning too. Her schoolwork is very challenging as I think they put her in a higher grade than she would have been in at home, which worries me... but we can keep up, with a little hard work and some tutoring at home. She'll be fine.

First Ireland Pics

2011-08-31T05:27:00.004-06:00

And at the end of the rainbow, we have... Sophie! Sorry, I forgot to flip that pic...The kids' first fish and chips experience at the legendary Golden Grill on William Street

First day of school, first day of school!

2011-08-31T04:58:00.002-06:00

Okay, so this video mainly captures their last minute jitters, but the girls actually woke up at 7 AM, bright eyed and excited, and a little nervous, for their first day of Irish school! We ate a huge breakfast of crumpets (pancakes), hot chocolate, turkey bacon (yes they have it here), oranges and blackcurrant juice (yum! it's the most popular kind of juice over here, called Ribena). We read scriptures and a story from the Friend, said prayers, got their hair done, and then counted down the remaining few minutes before it was time to leave. We were all nervous walking to school, and I got a few hand squeezes as we wound our way through the halls looking for their classrooms. No tears though - they were so brave, and I was so proud of them! I reminded them (as dad did in their blessings last night) that angels will be watching over them. I shed a few tears on the way home and prayed hard for my little Irish lassies as they undertake this new challenge!

How do I type the Euro sign on my keyboard?

2011-08-30T15:31:00.005-06:00

...because I spent about 700 of them today on the kids' books and uniforms. The girls look adorable - will post pics tomorrow after their first day of school - but other than that I'm kind of throwing up in my mouth a little bit right now. I kind of like the American system where the books are free and they can wear whatever I can get on sale at the Children's Place or Old Navy. Eegads! And I'm sure glad I still have the $200 homeschooling curriculum I bought and brought over here with me for Sophie, who was going to homeschool up until last Friday when she got into Milford for sure. I think I'll nickname this entry, oh, something like "bite the bullet" or "Losing Loot in Limerick." It will all be worth it though... right? We are still having fun, and Gary's meeting this morning with his PhD mentors went very well... if only everything didn't cost so durn much!

On a happier note, this is what I posted today on Facebook, because it was so funny that it sort of made me snort Orangina from my nose while trying to hold back a laugh:

Maggie, upon the consumption of her first Irish chip (french fry): "wow mom! I never experienced the true potential of the french fry until now!" Chips here are pretty good, I must say. They serve them in brown paper bags and you can sprinkle salt and vinegar over them for the true Irish chip experience! Yum.

So Much to Be Grateful For

2011-08-27T15:12:00.007-06:00

I have many reasons to count my blessings tonight! I am grateful:

*That Gary only tore his Achilles 20% two days before leaving Ireland, and that my brother Josh is an orthopedic surgeon and I had someone to call who could tell me that he could get away without surgery for a few months if he wore a boot full-time! Phew! Dodged a bullet - sort of - on that one! He now hobbles around in his boot, but at least he can walk!

*That my kids are good ages for traveling. They were so great on all the flights, except for some superfluous Spencer hyper-ness on our last, London-to-Shannon leg when Little Man got a case of the giggles. And his giggles aren't quiet. But at least he wasn't screaming after 22 hours of travel! Maggie mostly read (Peter and the Starcatchers), and there was plenty of movies, stickers, sculpy clay, and Angry Birds to go around. I dozed when possible and read one of Maggie's other books (the 13th Princess - charming) when she wasn't looking. Gary mostly slept because his foot hurt so bad. But nobody threw up, had a meltdown, or got lost. Not a bad travel experience at all! And I only used a leeetle dramamine on everyone for the night flight!

*That we flew British Airways on the transcontinental flight. The attendants were so friendly, the food (chicken curry!) was totally delicious, and each of our seats had individual movie players - a first for me. We loved it!!! The kids watched Kung Fu Panda 2 then fell asleep, but I couldn't resist staying up to watch some movies I had never seen before: Just Go With It, and Red Riding Hood - both only so so, but still, free new releases! I even caught most of a favorite, Adjustment Bureau, before I finally was able to crash. The two hours of sleep I did get was dodgy at best and highly uncomfortable since I had Spencer's head taking up half my seat, so I guess I didn't miss much by staying up!

* That we met the nicest people on our travels, including the airline people who helped us get seats together, the cabbies in London, and even the very nice man at Heathrow who had to confiscate my passport as it had been reported stolen years ago (before I found it again behind my dresser and forgot to report it as, well, found). Seriously, he was so nice, a true English gentleman. Obviously I was who I said I was, having the kids and Gary around me, so maybe I got some pity points as well that a suspicious person may not have garnered, but still he was so helpful. He got us all downstairs and into a cab and sent nicely to the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square. Who promptly told us to go back to the Airport, use our drivers' licenses to get us on the Air Lingus flight, and just go to the embassy in Dublin to take care of it later. Somehow, SOMEHOW, this worked, and it even worked to get us through Limerick customs. That lady was nice too, although we still had to do a little song and dance to make everything work. Prayers were answered, people were kind and helpful, and we got into the country missing some major documentation! Ah, the power of prayer!

*That our landlady, Deirdre, and her son came and got us at the airport to drive us home, and that none of our luggage got lost! Miracle!

*That at the last minute I grabbed our umbrella stroller and brought it along on this trip. It has been invaluable so far! I'm seriously thinking of awarding it MVP status. Evidently the kids aren't used to walking as much as we've needed to here, so it's been handy that way. And it's been my best friend as far as getting groceries home from the store a half mile away since we don't have a car!

*That we have our little house here on Compostella in Castletroy. It is so great - a big kitchen (for Europe), all the modern conveniences (a washer and dryer! fridge AND freezer! new pots and pans!), kind and concerned landlords (who've lent us sheets and towels and invited us over to their house next Saturday night for a party). The closest house but two to both Maggie's and Gary's school, and a major bus stop. Blessed blessed blessed!

*that my mom lent me her Columbia rain-impervious jacket. Thanks Mom - I will be wearing it every day!!!

*That Sophie may be going to school with Maggie! All summer I thought I'd be homeschooling her, which to be truthful would have been a good learning experience for me. It did stress me out though. But when we got here, I got an email from her school saying there may be a place open for her (which there wasn't before due to overcrowding). We go on Monday to see if it's the right grade for her. She's very excited. I'm relieved but also a little sad. I could do either.

*That Nanny fixed Maggie's little gold rain jacket for her. She looks so cute in it! And again, it is rain-proof. So useful.

*That there is plenty of aged white Irish cheddar here, and good bread to eat it on! Ah, my breakfasts every day for the next four months are set!

More later, I'm sure, but for now I'd better turn in. Goodnight, friends and family all over the world! Pictures coming soon.

Let's Pretend...

2011-08-27T06:03:00.006-06:00

As you sit at your computer, take a moment and imagine a few things with me. Imagine that my decrepit, dinosaur of a desktop computer WOULD let me access blogspot these last few months and that I blogged regularly all spring (oops, and summer too), telling my faithful friends and family all about the fascinating, important things that happen to my family on a regular basis. Like Sophie losing her first tooth, and Spencer and Sophie both learning to ride their bikes without training wheels (Spencer didn't even have a transition period - he was off like a bullet the minute Gary took those things off!). How we finished off the school and dance year very successfully with our Footworks Spring Concert, competition at Lagoon Nationals, and a trip down to Utah to celebrate birthdays and school being out.

Imagine I blogged all about how the kids got to take horseback riding lessons all summer, and how we did two weeks of Pirate and Princess camp out in the barn that both drove me crazy and brought out my inner Fairy Godmother (sparkle sparkle!). How we had a blast with Karsen and kids who came up for a visit in July, and how we did Yellowstone and Rigby Lake and played and played with the cousins! How we spent a magical week in Aspen Grove with the whole Hunter side of the family and had my faith absolutely reaffirmed in old-fashioned, no-tv, fun-and-games-and-hikes family vacations.

I'm sure I would have told you about how we worked intensely all summer on our Festival Team, who performed as the USA representatives and hosts at the Idaho International Music and Dance Festival (yay Maggie!). How we choreographed and costumed an 80's medley, a 40's tap/swing number, a group clog and a clogging/hoedown set for 40 dancers and a darn tootin good time. How we had 24 extra people staying at our house for the 10 Festival days, dancing, eating and playing all day every day, and how we survived it all with wonderful new friends and memories! (And yes, some emotional scarring as well due to the stress level but we won't go into that now. The good news is, I lost 5 pounds that week!)

But most importantly, let's pretend that I told you how Gary came home from work one day in early May and said, "what if we spent fall semester in Ireland?" And how I said, "awesome! Let's do it! Hmm, what shall I pack?" How we spent an agonizing month waiting for BYUI's approval and release for the semester (with pay - cool!), researching flights ($$$!), housing ($$$! stupid exchange rate...) and schooling options until I lost my hair, my sanity, and my sleep to stress.

But it all worked out in the end. Because here we are, in Limerick, Ireland, in a newly-redecorated little townhouse right next to campus, with Maggie and Sophie enrolled in the excellent local school a stone's throw away, and Gary all set to work on his PhD full time. FULL TIME! Hooray! We have renters in our Idaho house taking care of the studio, Bella the dog enshrined at Gram and Grandpa's house in Utah, and we even made it through the border in spite of my passport being confiscated when we arrived in London (long, embarrassing, stupid story involving ludicrous thoughtlessness on my part so I won't go in to it here - all's well that ends well. We did get to take a quick emergency cab ride right into the heart of London to deal with it, which was fun... right?)

None of the above arrangements were cheap, and we've returned to the world of student loans. Luckily, I am a total cheapskate and bargain shopper at heart so the penny-pinching comes naturally. We're here though, and since we're here, with kids, we are going to get the most out of this experience, hopefully including a trip to the Continent later in October. I promise to blog much more regularly in the future, so you're welcome to come along on the ride!

Some of My Recent Facebook Posts

2011-04-24T18:34:00.003-06:00

Because these can sometimes give a better glimpse into my life than anything else can...

This morning, Spencer (age 4)
commented, "when I grow up, I want my very, very very own Dr.
Pepper." Yup, we dream big around here!

oh I love to dance! And I can't
believe I get paid to do it!

Top of Form

note to self: keep thing simple next conference weekend.
Preparing six huge, from-scratch meals in two days was exhausting! Not to
mention the dishes! Next fall, Little Caesar's and Stouffers, you will be my
friends.

Why do I feel like sometimes parenthood brings out the
worst in me? Watch out, here comes Darth Mom again!

found myself getting teary tonight after watching High
School Musical 3 with the kids. Seriously? Tears? I know I'm one of the 8 or 9
people in this country who actually did love their high school experience, but
still.

Thanks Cougs for a great year - I'm sure Superman will
always cherish his Jimmer Fredette pajamas!

I just had a sudden, desperate craving for a pain au
chocolat!!!

On the bright side, I'd rather have the water go out than
the power. However, this little crisis promises to be both expensive and
chronic...grrrr

I want to live in my own little world and not have to
think about things like the national debt. Totally ruins the high I got from
the Cadbury caramel egg I ate earlier.

I love watching my awesome husband teaching my kids
clogging steps in the kitchen. Am very blessed and lucky to be able to keep
dancing a part of my life!

I am mystified as to why my house smells like chocolate
chip cookies. Not that I'm complaining.

I think that a week at a French chateau in the Loire
Valley sounds like a good idea. I should probably follow up on that thought.

Confession: watching the Academy Awards has always been a
guilty pleasure of mine. Only please, bring back Billy Crystal or Steve Martin!
and dancing! and an interesting, funny script! and movie magic without the
politics!

How sweet. I've been up puking all night, so the dog
thought she'd puke too all over the kitchen floor as a sign of solidarity.
She's so loyal!

It's been HOW long?

2011-03-29T21:47:00.007-06:00

Okay so I have so much catching up to do - I've never known time to fly by quite so fast as it has the past few months! Here we go: This was Rexburg in February. It's great for a while, the sledding, beautiful storms, the snow men... but it gets old. I don't know what Spencer's fishing for, but I think it was Spring. Nice try, buddy! One of our favorite things to do - lounging around in our pajamas with Bella! She's just turned one year old now and is a really sweet family dog. We love our beautiful boozy-bear! As evidenced by Sophie allowing Bella to kiss her... yup, Bella is a kisser! and a cuddler...

February: had a fab Valentine's Day with a steak/bearnaise/asparagus dinner in (tradition), flowers, sparkling cider, chocolate dipped strawberries, decorations, love-themed FHE, all that jazz. The weekend before we had a big Friday family date and went to Leos Place (like Chuck E Cheese but way better) and saw Gnomeo & Juliet, delivered sugar cookies to widows on Saturday, had friends over for dessert on Sunday, and Sophie and I heart-attacked Gary's door at work on Monday. Good times. We love holidays! Sorry though no pictures - the camera broke that month and we had to get it fixed.

March: was dominated by dance in many forms. We spent the first weeks getting ready for the Idaho State Clogging Championships, the one big competition that all our teams do every year. This year we stayed overnight at a hotel in Pocatello instead of driving back and forth and it was lovely - a pool and free hot breakfast makes the Larsens a happy family! Our teams did great, Sophie was adorable in her freestyle, and Maggie's "Popular" duet from Wicked brought down the house. She really comes alive on stage! I'll upload videos when I figure out how. :-)

This is Sophie in her freestyle costume and Maggie as Elphaba for her duet. They look so much older in makeup! Maggie loved it but I told her not to get used to it -this is a performance only thing, young lady!

After the competition we started work on our Festival Team - we were chosen to represent the United States at the Rexburg International Dance and Music Festival in July and have LOTS to do. We've started work on a hoe down and the 80's medley (always a crowd favorite), and have plans for a swing, group clog, boogie woogie tap number, Blues Brothers clog, and maybe a Charleston. Stuff we could take on possibly an international tour next year!!! Anyway, lots to do and it keeps me busy, and dancing! Love that I'm getting my dancer arms back. It's a great workout! Which is one of the many reason why I love having a dance studio!

The rest of our days are filled with carpools, laundry, game nights (we've recently discovered Blokus), temple sessions, laundry, playing with friends, sledding, movies (Leap Year, Harry Potter 7 Part 1, How to Train Your Dragon, Despicable Me, Tangled, and The Adjustment Bureau were 2011 winter favorites), reading, Zumba, kids' homework and piano practicing, more laundry, dishes, and playing with Bella. Nana and Papa come up to stay with Nanny every few weeks so we get to see them; this last time Papa tickled Bella's neck while we watched Kid Histories on YouTube and she followed him around for the rest of the afternoon. Even when he was trying to take a nap before driving back to Utah! :-) She's so loyal.

Lunch with the Gals

2011-02-06T17:42:00.003-07:00

Me, Lindsay Welch Hola, Gretel Swensen Sampson, and Cecily Smith Horsley (8 months prego). Missing from the Fab 6 pic: Andrea Whisenant Cowly and Becca Todd Archibald. Long live lifelong friends, girl time, and the Dodo!

“A blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend; one human soul whom we can trust utterly; who knows the best and the worst of us, and who loves us in spite of all our faults; who will speak the honest truth to us, while the world flatters us to our face, and laughs behind our back, who will give us counsel and reproof in the day of prosperity and self-conceit, but who, again, will comfort and encourage us in the day of sorrow, when the world leaves us alone to fight our battle even as we can.” -Charles Kingsley

“L’amitié vrai, c’est comme la mer. Elle s’en va, s’en revient. Mais elle est toujours là.”

-Michèle Emmense

Spencer Turns the Big 4-!

2011-01-20T09:42:00.003-07:00

Ahoy mateys! This here be the birthday celebration of the one-eyed Captain Spencer Sparrow, sporting his Hiccup headgear and light saber an' all!

What be a pirate birthday without ice cream and pizza (in that order) for dinner?

It was all hands on deck with Peg Leg Parker, Briny Ben, Big Fisted Briar, Hard Hitting Hyrum, Arrow Nosed Ammon, Just Joking Jarum, and sisters Midnight Maggie and Saw Toothed Sophie helping with the games. Ring Toss over the Alligator's nose, pin the flag on the pirate map, musical deserted islands, rip tide relay, and pass the coconut all got "huzzas" from this ghastly crew.
My favorite was the Pirate Ship pinata. It was so cute! Argh, I mean, more terrifying than the dead man's chest in Davy Jones' locker...

All hands to starboard for cake and ice cream!