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We made our way to our furthest north destination, Galway. (If I could do it again I would not have driven this far, south west Ireland could take up weeks and still be lovely). Our trip in Ireland included a lot of driving, and thus a lot of time in the car to talk, sing, cry, scream, laugh and watch sheep go by in the window. We had several discussions about all the cute little baby lambs dotting the countryside. Nick would say “yum” and I would get mad. Jonah at first was on my side, but on the drive to Galway he swithced sides. He said that if we made fries out of them it wouldn’t be sad to eat them. Especially if we put sugar on them, “then it would be nice Mom!” Sugary lamb fries. He might be on to something. Also on the way to Galway Jonah figured out how to whistle, thank goodness not very loudly.

Galway was a lovely small city, but we didn’t have much time there before having to turn back around and head south so we could make our way back.

Just outside of Galway we stopped in a little craft village called Skibbereen where Jonah had a total melt down and yelled at a complete stranger. He was laying on the ground throwing a fit about something and a lady walked up and said “are you tired?” to which he responded “NO I”M NOT TIRED! SHE THINKS I”M TIRED!” I really should start a blog of “toddler travel melt downs” because we have had our fair share.

Working our way North we stopped in Adare to see the cute little thatch roof houses, and then at Bunratty castle to see the little tourist trap village and castle (total tourist trap, do not really recommend it, Jonah enjoyed the animals though). Dinner was my favorite part of each day, loved the food in Ireland. And I hear tell that the bars have some great entertainment at night as well, but we never stayed up late enough with the kiddos to find out.  

Declan took his very first airplane…to Ireland! Very appropriate. We arrived to a rainy day in Ireland. We went to pick up our rental car only to find that Ireland insurance is a bit complicated and we would have to pay more than expected. We got on the road and spent the first little while freaking out about being on the “wrong” side of the road. We made our way to Muckross house for a quick tour. The tour guide was so sweet to Jonah, towards the end of the tour she asked me if I was Irish. I told her yes and she said “I thought so. We know our own”. She then proceeded to tell Jonah to look after his Irish lass (me), and kept commenting how it was very obvious that Jonah was Irish as well, since he is so “spirited”. Darn this Irish blood for giving me spirited children! We then checked in to our first lovely B&B in Killarney.

The next day we drove the beautiful “ring of Kerry”. We stopped and ate fish and chips on the beach, enjoyed chocolate samplings at Skelligs chocolate, admired lot’s of views and ended with a picnic on Inch beach outside of Dingle.

For Easter we decided to make a quick trip to Assisi to see the “Easter procession” that goes on there. Assisi is the hometown of good old Saint Francis. (Some of you may not know this, but new popes get to take on the name of a saint. The brand new pope just became the first ever to take on the name of Francis, which is kind of a big deal. Francis was a bit of a rebel in his day. He believed in taking all that money that the catholic church had and giving it to the poor rather than building extravagant churches. The church did not recognize him or his followers at first. So anyways, I have high hopes that this new pope will be awesome.) The Easter procession was…interesting. They turned out all the city lights and lit these big candles. A procession of men carrying crosses, creeping drumming and people singing walked slowly through the town from one church to another. Assisi is beautiful and we enjoyed our stay, until we woke up in the morning and Nick could barely talk through his swollen tonsils…so we rushed home so that Nick could go to the hospital and have it drained (gross).

Also on the 28th of March, my cute little man turned 4 months! He weighs in now at 16 lbs. We are loving every moment! He loves to talk and squeals with delight constantly. He loves Jonah and will watch him with great fascination. He is very wary of strangers, especially when Mommy is not in the room. He is still not sleeping through the night and has yet to roll over. He chews on anything he can get his hands on. Still cannot keep a pacifier in to save his life (because he chews rather than sucks).

For my 28th birthday on the 28th, Nick pulled off an awesome surprise party for me. I don’t think anyone has ever thrown me a surprise party before…it was fun! He even managed to plan the whole thing without me suspecting until right beforehand. Thank you to my sweet hubby for planning the whole thing and everyone who came and made me feel so special.

Three months old. Lot’s of smiles, Daddy always gets the best ones.

I keep thinking this little man must be teething. He could care less about sucking on a binki, he loves to chew on fingers. Anybody’s fingers, and he’s recently discovered that he has fingers too.

And he slobbers…he really seems like he is teething, but it is way too early…

Just got the jumperoo out for him. He loves that blue frog.

While my mom was here in December we got our very first snow that stuck to the ground here in Italy (none last year!). Well February has been quite the tease. It goes back and forth from about 50 degrees to freezing. And we’ve had snow on the ground….TWICE!

Jonah thinks I don’t see him doing this…but I’m pretty sure if I tell him not to he will just eat more…