First day in Dublin ... Staying up late,early or something like that

When it was too early to check in we went to trinity college and this is what Harry felt about it.   Actually he had the hardest time sleeping on the plane so he got a little shut eye in the shade of a lovely old tree.

After we had some lunch and checked into the hotel we took showers and Harry got a real nap.  Then as the day was youngish (to everybody but us I guess).  We hopped onto the hop on hop off bus tour and did the full round.  We didn't hop off as we were too tired, but it was a great introduction to Dublin.

Here is Christ Church Cathedral which we plan on actually visiting tomorrow.

When we left home it was 95 degrees and very humid.  Here it is a lovely 75 or so.  We are very thankful for the lower temps for sightseeing, but the fact that these are pretty warm temps for this part of the world.  

Our first night was an early one after a pub dinner.  It is fun to show the boys some new places and discover new places for ourselves.  It is a different thing to look at the world through their eyes.  The crowds and traffic make me much more nervous than they did when I was single or even in our early married days.  The boys are not from a city and it is all new and strange to them, let alone a wholly different country.  

I also think the years of sleep deprivation during baby days have made it a bit easier to cope with less sleep than usual, but we will take it easy on ourselves the next few days as we get over the time change from the US to Ireland/ the UK.

Airport

Airports are fun places when you have gagdets to entertain yourself.  We have a lovely little room in Dublin and Wfi as you can see from the fact that I am writing.  I think I got maybe 3 hours of sleep last night and I feel groggy.  We walked to Trinity College while waiting for the room to be done and now we have been having a bit of a rest. 

Robert was the best sleeper and so is the most energetic, but still not quite himself.  We walked by Mrs. Murphy the fortuneteller and she took one look at Robert and said that is a tired boy.  Didn't need to tell fortunes to see that!

More to come, stay  posted I'll do my best to update my blog.

Happy independence week

It is hard to believe it is July already.  This is our little island on Memorial Day.  We don't have a parade on the 4 th of July but we do for Memorial Day and also a service in November for Veterans Day.  More than anywhere else I have lived I am especially aware and grateful to what our military contributes to our society.  We regularly have military families staying with us - in our church, in our schools, and in our little community.  We get to know folks in the one to three years that they are with us as the father or mother in their family is here to train, learn, teach and sometimes work in other capacities at the war college in Newport.

And so this week we celebrate our country and how it became a country.

Also this week is our final prep for our trip.  More on that soon.  I am excited and nervous and welcome prayers as we prepare to travel and then travel.

Almost summer vacation

We are finally in the last week of school.  Harry no longer has homework and Robert is looking forward to his preschool celebration on Friday.  Both boys will be taking trips toward the future this week. Robert will be eating lunch in the cafeteria with the kindergartners and Harry will be going over to be introduced to the middle school.  Sometimes I look at them and wonder, how they have grown so big.  They are quite self sufficient and so capable these days.

Yesterday our god-babies and their Mom just left after a lovely 3 day visit.  They turned 2 while they were here and it was very nice to get to share their special day.  We didn't do anything over the top, but had cupcakes and they got some gifts.  It was such fun to see them and hear them and get to know them as toddlers, since the last time we saw them they were just over 5 months old.  Now they are walking and talking and have their own personalities.

This week Harry doesn't have homework and has various special activities at school.  Robert and his class are preparing for his preschool celebration on Friday.  After school time has been relaxed and gone away from our regular schedule.  Sometimes this isn't a good thing, but so far this week it has been just fine.  The bonds of school life are loosening as we prepare ourselves for a summer of different activities and routines.

I look forward to summer, but there are many more pulls on me and my time in the summer.  The regular parts of my job (laundry, meals, cleaning, childcare, etc.) are all present but there is more of most of them and especially child care.  I enjoy it and the special things we can do.  Living near the beach means we have outlets that many others can only wish for, but sometimes the summer is exhausting.  I need to get into a casual mindset.  This week is sort of a segue into that.  I also have 2 little boys (and one mama) who do better with at least a skeleton schedule.  So I have to keep that in mind and sort of add that into the laid back summer lifestyle.

The idea of lazy days of summer, hasn't been a reality in our house.  But I doubt that is true in many homes with children.  Still as the boys get older maybe we'll see more of that.  They are busy boys and like to be doing and experiencing things.  At the same time, we are all happier if we eat and sleep around the same time each day.  So now we sometimes do some of that on the go and since we'll be traveling this summer, the places and things we eat will be different.  For all the need for schedule, the boys seem to do okay if they have been warned that schedules will be different and so we have begun warning them.

So watch out summer, here we come.  Please bring us sunny days and new experiences and help us love each other through the changes of place that we are bound to experience.

I'm back...I think

Hello my little audience - for I suspect you are quite small and I haven't written in quite a while.  I think I just needed a break.  I started this to try to document for my children what life and their Mom is/was like while they were growing up.  Somewhere in the winter I felt like it had just become a place to post pictures.  I just didn't seem to be able to get together my thoughts to write nice descriptions or analyses of life in the here and now.  I must admit that I am not sure if I am there again yet, but I think I will try.

I am in a place of transition right now.  I would say my whole family is.  I think these are the places where we really begin to think about who we are, who we want to be and whether or not these two things intersect.  Hopefully they do and it is just a matter of growth.

My husband began his first sabbatical ever last week.  He has been a priest in our current church for 7 years now and a priest in general for 10 years so it is time.  He now has 3 months to contemplate, have weekends off and learn some new things.  As a couple we will be together more, in a way we haven't been before.  We went to school together during our early marriage and then we actually worked at the same place for a year. There was much togetherness.  But for the past 10 years, the household and children have been largely my domain.  It will be interesting to juggle and share these things for both of us.

My older son was diagnosed over the winter/spring as having Asperger's Syndrome.  This was not a huge shock but even as I write this my eyes fill with tears because I worry about how the world will now view and embrace him now that he has this label which is helpful and yet will cause judgments about who and how he is by people who don't actually know him or give it a chance to get to know him.  I will tell you that he is an amazing kid and brilliant and one of the sweetest people I have known, but I also know I am biased, he's my first baby.  Next year he will begin middle school and he is working very hard on the social aspect of school life and it is a struggle for him (as it was for me, really).

My younger son is now 5 and in his last month or so of preschool.  He is a spitfire and a lot of fun most days.  Like his older brother he is a talker and I spend my days with him narrating them from his own point of view.  Each week he surprises and delights me and exasperates me too.  This week at the grocery store, I mumbled, "Where did your brother go?" and he promptly slipped away to the middle of the aisle, cupped his hands and at the top of his voice yelled his brother's name!  Everybody standing on line at the register smiled and I gestured to him to stop and looked to see my older son - just a few feet away - totally ignoring his brother.  He will be going to kindergarten in the fall and he is becoming more self sufficient and independent all the time.  It is a fascinating thing to watch a child unconsciously preparing for life in the wider world.  Pretty soon he will be away from home for seven hours a day and will have a life independent of mine.  I know he is ready, but I will miss my constant companion.

Then of course there is me.  I have had a rough month or so.  I had a kidney stone and some infections and it finally passed and I feel much better, but now I have little signs that I may have another and I am praying that it is just paranoia.  I am also contemplating the big change in my life when my younger child goes to school in the fall.  I am ready to work again, at least part time, but I don't know what I will do.  The truth is, I really just would like to get out of the house, be around grown ups some, make a little money to add to our small budget, and maybe challenge myself a bit.  The other truth is that I probably cannot get all these things in one convenient package.  I want to be around for my children when they come home from school though and I really think this is something my children (especially my older child) need.  So I am contemplating that, even as I grieve a little for the change that is happening and coming.

But as I said before, ideally this is a time of growth for me and so a time of hope.  I am watching everybody around me growing and changing and asking myself, what am I doing?  How am I able to remain the Mom, the touchstone in the household, who keeps things running smoothly, but also give myself a chance to stretch my wings a bit.  I have a master's degree in theology, but my practice of ministry has been one of seeing God in the everyday life of family and community.  I have lost a great deal of my daily prayer life, but I have found that if I am aware, each day is indeed a prayer in and of itself.  God hasn't been in the wings the past 10 years, but God has touched and changed me in ways that defy explanation some days.  I look forward to someday having an hour or so to pray again, but in the meantime, I am still happy to have a few moments here and there throughout the day to contemplate but I have learned that this time of little children is fleeting and maybe this is the time God wants me to think and serve them and find God in the moments of loving and learning with them.

Winter

We still have snow on the ground despite a very warm week.  One morning we woke up to 3-4 new inches of snow and a delay of school.  Not entirely sure of why we had the delay, but like most times that happens, the phones rang around 6 am and so we were all up earlier than usual.  I have just been looking for pictures for H's cub scout banquet next month and so was reminded that in March last year we were outside in shirt sleeves.  It is a reminder that winter isn't too long.  I had my usual winter down time in January - maybe it is the post holiday blahs or maybe the days aren't getting longer fast enough, but it was a week of frigid temperatures and dark days.  It didn't last too long this year and even though we are facing more snow today/tomorrow I am hopeful for the end of winter.

Here are some pictures in no particular order.

testing out my new mini camera

swim class

goofing around for the new camera

uh oh - blanket is now poncho!

playing with the Wii

water baby

Blizzard of 2013

Here is our blizzard experience in pictures.  We lost power at 7:15 Friday night and it came back on Sunday mid-afternoon.  Our house started at a cozy 65 degrees and ended at around 40 degrees.  We are rethinking a generator and some form of emergency heat now!  Fortunately our neighbors offered us space to warm up and heat up food and if the power had stayed out we would have had a choice of places to sleep last night.

Today, I am thankful for all the amenities of modern life in a different way.  Last night as I took out the boys clothes from their room I noticed how although the room had warmed their clothes were still quite cold and when I took out plates to put dinner on they too were so cold I wondered if I should heat them a bit before putting warm food on them!  

We were very lucky in the storm to suffer no major damage to our home and the boys were troopers.  On Saturday night we all camped out in the master bedroom with lots of blankets and played games by candlelight before an early bedtime in the quiet, dark house.  We were very lucky on Saturday when the roads were not safe for driving that our neighbors across the street let us come and warm up after playing in the snow and on Sunday they again welcomed us in to warm up as our house was so cold and we were figuring out how we would spend our day.  

I am always reminded of the goodness of people in extreme situations.  As we shoveled out and wandered the neighborhood taking pictures and looking around we had many conversations with neighbors who we seldom see and offers of help from then as well.

Friday afternoon - front of the house and cars before the storm

Saturday morning - front of house partly shoveled out 

Saturday morning - Kevin's car after the storm

Saturday morning - snowy house - snowy car

Saturday morning - our road 

Saturday morning - heading to Newport Bridge (main road) 

Saturday Mt. Hope Ave - note how they didn't plow to the end  of the street

Saturday early afternon - sun trying to peak out - our house on left

Saturday - Conanicus (main road) going toward water

Saturday - door handle - temps dropped during the day so everything stayed frozen

Saturday - a natural fridge

Saturday afternoon - outside play

Saturday afternoon - we were hoping to sled, but the high winds discouraged us from the nearby hill on the golf course

Saturday afternoon - cozying up on the couch playing games

Saturday afternoon - Mom joins the crowd and Harry falls asleep

Sunday morning - visit to church to check on it (no services yesterday) - it was Kevin's second visit - he went over late Saturday to check and start faucets dripping to try to prevent pipes from freezing with no heat there

Sunday morning - Church parking lot - looks like our massive holly may have some damage

Sunday morning - back entry to the church

Sunday morning - still cuddling on the couch - a few more layers because now it is 40 degrees in the house

Sunday morning - front view of church

Sunday late morning - at friend's house for warmth and fellowship

Sunday late morning/early afternoon - Susan & Willa our heroes with heat and while we were there power (for them) came back too!

Sunday midday - the kids playing

Sunday midday - on the ipad in the sunshine

Sunday afternoon - sledding on Shoreby Hill (while there we found out the power had come back - so we could head home and warm up there and clean up the house).