New weeks of adventure!

17-10 till 30-10

Monday and Tuesday I worked in the afternoon, both days I had the morning off. The days went by pretty fast and not really something special to report.

On Wednesday I had the day off, didn’t so anything special then either haha. In the evening I went to Alberts. One of the au pairs, Lara, had her birthday the 18th, so I thought it was funny to get the live band to sing ‘happy birthday’ for her. She even got a free shot!! A baby Guinness.. so good!

Thursday I went downtown with Ayleen and Michael to do some shopping. Ayleen went for a walk with Michael and I went home. I had lunch, watched some tv and did some research for New Years. Around 2 I went to the gym. After a shower I went with Kevin to pick up my mom, dad and Rik from the train station. When we got there, they walked right past the car except for dad. So funny to see! Kevin dropped us at the hotel to drop the bags and to unload all the stuff they brought for me haha. It was a lot yes! After we went for a small walk around Mallow and went to Mallow Castle. It was kinda weird to show them around here, but also a lot of fun! Around 7 we made our way to the house. Katie had made stew and it was amazing! The night was a lot of fun and weirdly familiar. It wasn’t weird or awkward at all. I didn’t expect it to be, but it’s always fun to see. Around 10 Kevin brought mom, dad and Rik to the hotel and I helped Katie clean up. I packed my bag and went to sleep.

Friday! BIRTHDAYYYY!!! Ayleen had given me a bag on Wednesday for my birthday, but I wasn’t allowed to open it until today. So obviously that was the first thing I did! It was a thermos kinda thing for coffee, filled with candy!!!!! So nice! And she had wrote a really sweet card as well, so this started my day very well. I had breakfast downstairs and headed to the hotel around 10. There I got the standard ‘happy birthday’-song haha and PRESENTSSS!! I got the book of Amy Schumer from Rik. A cluse band for my watch, a chocolate letter and I could pick out a Levi’s jeans in Dublin. I ripped one of my jeans, so that was a very welcome present. I even got other presents from people back home, which I didn’t expect. Some cards with welcome money haha and perfume (which I was thinking about buying, so it came at the right time). So after all the birthday stuff we went down to the train station, which was about a 15 min walk. Mom and I got a coffee and we got on the train. It was about a 2 hour ride. It was weird and good to travel with them haha.
Once we got to Dublin, we made our way to the apartments by taxi. It was a nice apartment with 2 bathrooms that were very welcoming. After dumping our stuff, we walked to the center. This took about 30 min. First stop… obviously.. STARBUCKS!! After refueling we walked around for a bit and went to the Hard Rock Café around 4.30. We had a nice dinner with cocktails! I even got a candle on my ice cream for my birthday and my main course was free! So that was good haha. I bought a Hard Rock sweater (so the birthday money was well spend !!) After dinner we walked around Temple Bar, saw the Wall of Fame and ended the night in Starbucks.

Saturday morning we had breakfast in the apartment, thanks to daddy. I also worked my way through all the birthday wishes on Facebook and whatsapp. I always like getting those haha. We walked to the center and visited the Molly Malone statue and did some shopping. I found my Levi’s jeans :D! After that we went to the Penny Bridge and a store called Forbidden Planet. This had like comics, funko-pop, etc. We walked back to Temple Bar and had a real Irish dinner in a restaurant there. I had cottage pie, which was so good! On the way back to the apartment, we stopped for a drink. Rik and I walked to the Nightmare Realm, which we had tickets for for 21.30. I was a little nervous, because people told us that it was really scary and that the actors in there were allowed to touch you. I had not had that in a haunted house before, so that got me a little spooked. More the not knowing if I’d find it scary, than the touching itself. We got there and it was pretty crowded. We went into the row for pre-bought tickets, but at the end we came together with the people that still had to buy tickets, so that was a little weird and badly arranged. When we got inside, they divided us into groups. I told Rik to NOT walk away from me.. you know.. the unknown thing.. It ended up not being that scary. They didn’t touch you at all and it was more like the haunted house I went to in Alabama. It was good nonetheless though! We got some good scares. Some more than others (wink Rik). There was one spot that they take a picture of you. In the end you can see them and buy one printed for €10 and the others will be posted on Facebook then. Rik and I both bought one, because we both wanted one to commemorate this evening. It was a lot of fun! Yes people we thought it was FUN! And I’m not scared for the one in Cork now haha.

Sunday, last day already! We went to the center about 10 AM and looked for a place for breakfast. We ended up in Temple Bar, where we got a nice, real, full Irish breakfast. This meant 2 sausages, black pudding, white pudding, bacon, eggs, beans in tomato sauce, a slice of toast and for me a nice, big cappuccino. Easily put.. TOO MUCH! But it was really good though, besides the black pudding. That was disgusting! After breakfast we went to First Christ Church and mom and I had a look around inside. It was a nice church and the tombs were cool. Then Rik, mom and I went to the Guinness Storehouse and had a tour. It was nice to see how it is made, you could do a tasting (they show you how to drink it.. which is how you drink all beer in my opinion haha) and you could even learn how to tap your own Guinness. After about an hour and a half, we ended up in the gift shop. Rik and I thought it would be fun to get a Guinness glass and engrave it. With us about 10 other people and it took forever! At one point mom and I started walking back already and Rik stayed in line. We met dad at the church (who had been in a pub the whole time haha) and walked to Thunderroad (the restaurant we were having dinner). Rik met us there. After dinner, Rik and dad went the apartment to get my bag and mom and I went to Starbucks. From there I got a taxi to the train station and had the train back to Mallow at 9. Saying goodbye was a little harder this time. I don’t really know why, because I’m going home for Christmas so I will see them soon again. But it was haha. Kevin picked me up at the train station and I went to bed around 12.

Another work week!
On Monday morning I took Iarlaith and Conaill to the play ground. Halfway there I noticed that pushing the buggy was kinda hard and Iarlaith is not that heavy. Turns out that the wheels could do with some more air, so I got my arm workout in haha. In the afternoon I made paper pumpkins with Naoise and later we watched a movie upstairs so we didn’t get in the way for the cleaning lady Agnes.
I went to the gym with Tadgh around 7.15 and after a good shower I watched the Walking Dead. O.M.G. Enough said!

On Tuesday I didn’t do much exciting with the kids. Just a regular day. I skyped in the evening with Janine about New Years Eve, because she wants to come to Dublin for it. That is so cool! So we were working out some kinks.

Wednesday worked again from 8 till about 6.30 and went to Alberts in the evening. There were a lot of new people there and sadly it was the last time for one guy, Chris. It’s always a little weird saying goodbye to someone, because most likely you’ll never see them again haha. It was fun though. The only thing I did miss was my birthday shot dammit!! And something funny happened when I got home. They have a slide-lock-thing on the door, so the kids can’t get out. Kevin kinda forgot that I was away, so he locked me out haha. Luckily he was still up, so I send him a text saying I can’t get in. He opened the door and apologized for it a lot. I just thought it was funny and I was glad that I didn’t have to wake anyone to open the door for me.

Thursday morning I worked out with Tadgh, who almost killed me with the last cardio session. Run across the parking lot, 40 sec jumping jacks, 40 sec plank and 1 min rest. 4 rounds. EASY. Yeah or not! So it’s safe to say I was so glad that was over haha. I had a nice afternoon with the kids and in the evening I booked the hostel, concert and flight for New Years Eve!!!! So excited for it! We are going to a concert from Walking on Cars on the 31st. And we have a hostel till the 3rd of January, so we’ll explore Dublin a little as well.

Friday I had to work at 12 again, so I chilled a little in the morning. I went downstairs at 8 to see Naoise in his Halloween outfit. He was dressed as a bat and it looked pretty cool!
In the afternoon, when Naoise came back from school, we did some arts and crafts. When Katie came home, she took the boys to her parents house and I had dinner by myself. After that I went to the movies with Ayleen, Lara and Nathalie. We saw ‘the girl on the train’, which was really good!

On Saturday I went to lunch with Ayleen at Costa and we did some groceries for dinner. We were having dinner at Ayleen’s with Lara and Nathalie. I made pancakes :D! After that we went to Alberts for some drinks. We wanted to go to Chaser’s as well, but the age limit is 19. We couldn’t get in haha. So we went home around 12.

Sunday Ayleen, Lara and I went to Cork for the Jazz festival. We took the train at 1. We went to Penny’s and Boots first for some shopping. And Starbucks was a pit stop as well!! We stumbled upon a market with all kind of different food. That was really nice and there was a stage next to it, so we listened to some jazz there. After that we went to a pub called Old Oak, which had a good live band! A couple pints of cider later, we went to Gino’s for dinner and had a lovely pizza. We had time for one more drink before getting the train back at 9. It was a good day!

Thank you all again for all the messages! Don’t be shy to write something below!

XO

PS: I didn’t make any pictures in Dublin, since we had 2 paparazzi already. They are coming!
PPS: I forgot my camera in Cork for the Jazz festival.. so not a lot of pics this time!