The Bradleys Go to Europe- Week 1: Ireland

We landed in Ireland bright and early (and exhausted) to find out that it was a big day in Dublin. The top 2 Gaelic Football teams (Kerry and Dublin) were facing off at 3.30. There's nothing like a big game to add energy to a city. We took a nap and then headed out to the pubs to catch the game.

Dublin won and there was lots of celebrating to be done.

The rest of our stay in Dublin included touring the Viking museum,

and visiting Kilmainham Gaol, a famous jail. We did plenty of walking, getting lost, and being thankful for GPS on our phones. Then it was off to the country.
Our week in Ireland continued with daily meals in pubs and multiple pub crawls. We spent a night in a castle,
and met a knight.
Ensuring it was an educational trip the girls learned about canons while exploring castles.
We stayed in Galway for the last two nights of our visit and took day trips driving North and South. While driving out to see the Cliffs of Moher we stopped to play on the rocks and enjoy the scenery.

(Yes I know my eyes are closed but it was the best scenery shot!) That evening we left the girls with a sitter and went out to celebrate Arthur Guiness's birthday. We ended up on pub row in college central. It was mayhem but a lot of fun.
The next day we stumbled upon a gorgeous castle (turned fancy hotel and golf course),
and then explored an old Abby and graveyard in the nearby town.

After some more driving we got a true Irish experience. Rain, and lots of of it. We stopped at Kylemore Abbey looking forward to exploring the castle, it's gothic church, and walled garden.
It was sprinkling when we left the car, lightly raining heading into the castle, truly raining on our walk to the church, and full on downpour on our way back to the entrance. At this point we were soaked so we decided to visit the garden as well. Why not, we were already as wet as could be. Then the wind started up and we were wet and cold. The garden visit was impressively short (on a sunny day we would have spent a good hour there). We managed to keep up the smiles.
The fun wasn't over, we still had an hour drive home in sopping wet jeans. An added bonus, we got to pack all that wet clothing into our suitcases the next morning for our flight to Munich. Hooray for being a tourist. On to Germany!

4 Years Later

9 days ago my big kid got even bigger. She is officially 4 now and is blazing into this new age with ferocity I did not expect. She is loud and proud about being 4. Every day she asks daddy "Do you have any more 4 things for me?" By this she means things she had to wait to do until she was 4. We're gettting creative. Buckling her own seat belt, showering on her own, and unbeknownst to her..chewing gum. We're saving that gem for a moment that counts.

In a moment of poor planning I committed to a camping trip with friends on the weekend of Kate's birthday. For a bit I stressed about her not having a party and being hurt that we weren't celebrating the way she wanted. Turns out, she's more mature than I gave her credit for. And turns out, camping was pretty much all about her hanging out with friends and expanding her independence (a gift for all of us!). We did manage to throw in a little birthday fun. Kate loves the Rainbow Fairy chapter books. I bought her the Pet Fairy set and scavenged our Playmobil bin to find the pet featured in each book. Using bento boxes I hid the pets with clues around the campsite for a magic filled treasure hunt. It went off better than expected and Kate was pleased with the "treasure" of books at the end. She had a couple of pretty great clue helpers (nice work Claire and Abby). With cake pops for dessert around the fire and an outdoor theater setup to end the day it turned into a birthday to remember.

A few pics from the happy day:

And Now She is 2.

We have spent the last few days celebrating the fact that Leia is no longer a baby but officially a toddler (who thinks she is a big kid). Leia turned 2 on Friday and she woke up to balloons, flowers, and sprinkle doughnuts. Later in the day her good buddy Rylee showed up for a sleepover (Rylee's parents had a conveniently timed vacation so we got her for an overnight). Oma, Opa, Aunt Kristi, and Cousin Aidan came by for dinner with plenty of birthday presents to spoil the girl. The day ended with cupcakes and 3 girls sleeping in one room.
On Sunday we had dinner with the Cook's and brought them leftover cupcakes to share in the celebration. Today we hit the park with Leia's good buddies and doled out more cupcakes, to some freezing little fingers!
While the festivities did not all go quite as I hoped we still had a great time and got to celebrate for 3 days. Next year I will plan her party better and try to remember it will always be on a holiday weekend.
I'm super proud of this kid. I feel like she is starting to rein in her bullying behavior. She shows clear signs of being empathetic even at 2. The lightbulb went on in her brain about a month ago and she has mastered potty training (at least the pee part). We have traded carrying diapers for carting around a little potty. Her language is making leaps and bounds. Four syllable words are her new goal. Watermelon and Pepperoni are my favorites. She is surrounded my a most amazing village of people and I couldn't ask for better friends and role models for her. Thanks to everyone who is helping me raise my children!

Finally got her own sunnies!

Is is a flashlight or a whistle? Both, woohoo!

It's as big as her head.

Mexico Xmas

We spent a week in Puerto Vallarta Mexico celebrating Christmas with our family from Florida. It was a wonderful week of sun, sand, and zip lining. We had a great time and made sure to hit our favorite beachside bar as well as discovering two new restaurants worth going back to. By the end of the week Kate had decided we should move to Mexico. If it didn't sound like a good idea at the time it sure did when we hit the cold weather back home!