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!

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!

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.

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.

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

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

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.