St. Patrick's Day in Dublin

We decided to celebrate St. Paddy's Day in Dublin this year with some good friends of ours, and it was really a great trip (minus a 15 hour bug that we almost all managed to acquire at some point during the vacation). We managed to see a lot and although the two toddlers we were toting prevented us from really celebrating the Irish way, we still had a lot of fun.

Happy St. Patrick's Day from Noah & Aidan!!

We started our tour of Dublin off with some beers at the Porter House Microbrewery.

Luckily the boys let us enjoy

Noah & Aidan

What's St. Paddy's Day without some clovers?

Aidan LOVING his babychino

Checking out Irish ducks at St. Stephen's Green

More St. Stephen's Green- a lifesaver when trying to tire out toddlers

The most crowded playground I have ever been to in my life

Incidentally, there was an Irish Craft Beer & Cider festival going on in Dublin while we were there. It was certainly small relative to the beer fests in the US but it was neat to try some local brews.The boys had fun... maybe too much fun.

The animals came out at the Irish Craft Beer & Cider Festival 

Noah & Aidan hanging with the revelers

Stopping to smell the flowers

Unfortunately I got sick just in time to celebrate St. Patrick's day, so we got off to a slow start. We sadly missed the parade, but eventually got out the door and checked out the Jameson Distillery.

Whisky tasting at the Jameson Distillery

Feeling Irish in his new cap

Christchurch Cathedral

Tuesday morning Matt, Noah, and I headed out to Kilmainham Gaol, a famous Jail from the Irish Famine days. Youngest inmate: 5 years old! He was incarcerated for stealing a length of chain. During that time there was massive overcrowding, people were intentionally getting locked up just to get food!

Kilmainham Gaol

Kilmainham Gaol

Behind bars at Kilmainham Gaol

In the afternoon, we met up with the Goguen's again to go to Howth, a shore town about a half hour outside of Dublin. We had some incredibly fresh seafood and enjoyed a somewhat sunny but VERY WINDY day before heading back to Dublin.

GIANT oysters 

 Once we were back in Dublin, we strolled around Merion Square to see some Georgian doors, and moseyed our way back to the apartment.

On Wednesday we went to the Guiness factory, Mike grilled some amazing steaks for us and then it was time to get on the plane back to Zurich.

I guess this is how you spell Lynn in Ireland?

Noah's First Haircut

Noah got his first haircut today! While his hair wasn't extraordinarily long, it was terribly uneven and starting to lean towards mullet. Waleska, who cuts Matt's hair, cut Noah's hair right after Daddy's regular appointment. Noah was pretty darn good- there was no crying, just some mild annoyance at having someone tug his hair a bit.

Me & my two freshly cut boys

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

As most everyone who would read this blog knows, we decided to stay in Switzerland this Christmas since it was our last living here. While we naturally missed getting to see everyone, we selfishly had to admit it was nice not having to do any traveling for the holiday. Because we stayed local, we got to get a Christmas tree for the first time since leaving the US, we finally got to go to the Christmas markets in Vienna (more on that in another post) and thanks to lots of wonderful new friends, we weren't alone.

Daddy and Noah in front of our little tree

Mommy, Boston, and Noah

Planning a mode of attack

Dear Santa: next year please assemble toys before leaving... (and yes, that IS Matt putting it together... hehehe) 

Digging the work bench Santa brought him- it even has a little piece of wood divided into three pieces, connected with velcro so he can 'saw' it.

Note to self: empty the water from the tub IMMEDIATELY after the bath

The Daddy Chant

Somehow Matt got Noah to chant 'Daddy'- and he does it ALL-THE-TIME. Way to thank the lady that hangs out with you all day kiddo.

What does the chicken do?

Yes, I realize it doesn't look exactly like what a chicken does, but the fact of the matter is, when you're still working on oral and motor skills, you get a bit of artistic license on these things.

Now on sale in the freezer section: crack sticks

I can't even begin to figure out how they came up with this product name