Ireland: Days 1 & 2

On Memorial Day the four of us headed out for the most amazing trip!

Here we are at the airport in St. Louis getting ready to board our flight. We had a short layover in Chicago then flew overnight to Ireland!

The plan was to sleep on the flight since we would be arriving in Dublin at 7am but that didn't happen for any of us.

I took this picture to show Elle, she loved seeing the clouds.

Once we got to Ireland we hopped in our rental car and started our adventure!

One of our first stops was The Rock of Cashel.

After exploring The Rock we all felt like this...

The lack of sleep was catching up to us but we pushed through, ate lunch (tomato soup :) and continued on. 

Our next stop was Blarney Castle. 

So pretty!

We climbed to the top so Mary and I could have our chance to kiss the stone. 

Mary went first...and she overcame her fear of heights to eventually kiss the stone! This picture does no justice to the amount of laughter that ensued. 

Mary was very apprehensive to kiss the stone and the man in the red jacket was very encouraging! :)

Kissing the Blarney Stone!

After walking the castle we walked through the gardens a bit. 

We drove to Ennis where we stayed for the night and walked to dinner...

then back to our hotel because everyone was so so sooooo tired!

This is the view out of our hotel room, it was 9pm and still light outside which was really messing with my super tired brain. So I talked to Eric, watched The Office and FINALLY was able to fall asleep. 

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to The Cliffs of Moher

We saw this at the ticket office for the Cliffs and I excitedly asked if the cave was something we could go into the, the man working very slowly and sternly said,

"Ab-so-lute-ly NOT!!"

The second we walked out of the office we were a ball of giggles.

Before our boat ride to see the Cliffs we killed some time with shopping and Mama Rita's favorite beverage, an Irish coffee!

The boat ride to see the Cliffs was one of my favorite parts of the trip. 

While we were out the Coast Guard radioed our boat that 2 people had fallen while hiking down a trail on the grassy side to the left of the Cliffs, so our boat stayed until the helicopter arrived. 

Back on land after our boat ride.

I think Dad would move to Ireland in a heartbeat if Mom agreed to it. 

After the Cliffs we were driving and spotted a beach so we decided to stop and dip our toes in the North Atlantic Ocean. 

3 cheers for Dad who safely drove these roads!

We spent the night in Galway and had a fun time walking Quay street to dinner then sitting in a pub for some drinks.

These two... :)

The next morning we were up bright and early to drive back to the Dublin airport to head to London!

Look at the van we spotted on our drive. I think we should get Dad's irrigation van wrapped like this. :)

Mother's Day

On Mother's Day weekend we kicked things off by taking our favorite little lady out to dinner on Saturday...just her and her babies.

We went to Tony's for dinner then walked Main Street and stopped for ice cream.  On our walk to the ice cream shop we stopped to take a quick picture. Which turned into 20 minutes of laughing and trying desperately to get a picture where 1. Mama Rita was actually looking at the camera 2. was smiling. :) 

We laughed SO HARD!

On Mother's Day we woke up and my babies had gone to The Painted Pot and made me a plate with their little hand-prints. I LOVE it!

Eric had worked the night before so he went to bed and the kids and I headed out to Target then stopped at Bread Co. for lunch. 

That night we headed to Will and Paige's house to keep celebrating!

MawMaw and her babies!

We ate pizza and cake, mom opened presents...

and then we all headed outside for some rollerskating and hockey.

Elle skated for approximately 3 minutes then decided shoes were much easier BUT she did want to leave her helmet and elbow/knee pads on.  She had just got them that day at Target and she was in love.

At one point while watching Henry, Will and Eric play hockey we heard Bear say, "Look at me!" and we turned around to see him on top of Nick's truck.

It was a really fun night hanging out outside.

The perfect end to a perfect day!

Spring

Here is an overload of pictures of how we spent our Spring 2017.

In April I turned 33! I came home from work to presents and this little lady dressed up all fancy in her flower girl dress from Will & Paige's wedding.

Heading to MawMaw and PawPaw's to celebrate my birthday.

She kept saying we should pretend it was both of our birthdays. :)

Snug as a bug for naptime.

We got into a little habit on Tuesday's of picking Elle up from preschool and heading to the park by our house to play and go for a walk. 

These two holding hands just kills me!!!!

We had a weekend FULL of thunderstorms.  We had Autumn's baby shower for Caleb one afternoon then came home and settled in for a stormy movie night in our pj's.  I don't think we left our house the rest of the weekend. 

This picture makes me laugh.

Mary was off work one Monday so we planned a fun day out. Our first stop was the trampoline park but they didn't open until later in the afternoon.  We pow-wowed in the parking lot and decided to head to Brunswick for bowling but when we got there they were also closed until late in the afternoon.  

We settled on a McDonalds nearby with a huge play area. On our way out the kids got milkshakes and Mary and I decided to run through Hobby Lobby because we still had about an hour to kill before the trampoline park opened. 

Well, apparently as Elle was getting out of the car to go in Hobby Lobby a milkshake was knocked over (unbeknownst to me).  I only realized once we got back in the car after leaving the store. So not only was a milkshake spilled in my car on a hot day, it spilled on the jump socks Elle, Oliver and I were getting ready to wear at the trampoline park. 

I tried to dry out what I could but we ended up smelling like strawberries while we jumped. :)

This little boy and his binkie...he LOVES it but Eric is insisting the Binkie Fairy is making a trip to our house soon. 

Toy Story love is still going strong!

Having a camp-out for lunch!

He is constantly in Elle's room going through her things. Jewelry, bows, anything he knows if off limits he somehow finds. 

Throwing bread into the backyard for the birds.

And Ollie decided he would rather eat his than throw it. 

At Ryker's birthday party at the park!

Seeing how long his hair will get before I cave and take him for a haircut...well, just a small trim. :)

Kevin McAllister. :)

The coolest Dude I know. 

Eric turned 33 in May!

My baby!

Elle wanted to join the selfie party. 

Playing with Instagram filters, I LOVE her expression!

Playing round after round of Candy Land.

Look at Ollie's sad little face. He wanted to attack the game with his dinosaur. And then he wanted to play with the game pieces because he thought they were "guys".

Little brother problems.

Sissy and I went out just the two of us for a manicure/pedicure.

I was on the opposite side of the salon and I looked over to see her massage chair on, head back and eyes closed like she was going to fall asleep.

The life of a princess!

The swingset is getting lots and lots of use!