Pics of the Bunratty Folk Park and the FEAST

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!

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...

...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!"

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!

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

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

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

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.