Blogging for the procrastinator...

Well, I've been the most remiss blogger ever - it has been over a month since my last post and so much has happened.

Saying goodbye in Oregon was really tough.  The "see you later" party was wonderful, but also hard. Lots of tears and hugs.  For the adults and for the kids.  Then we had a few days at our hotel home in Hillsboro with nothing to do but see family and try to get in as much love and coffee as our little hearts could hold.  Then the really hard day came, when we had to say goodbye to family for good.  Hard to watch all of the cousins sobbing as the car pulled away.

Then on to Florida.  Our week-long vacation with Rob's parents was simply wonderful.  A week when we couldn't do much about our move to Ireland, and were forced to sit by the pool, take boat rides and eat wonderful meals prepared for us by my mother and father in law.  Then the day came when we had to say goodbye and head over the big ocean to a our new home.

The trip went really well - the kids were champs and before we knew it we were landing in Dublin.  Then it got interesting. Our rental car was a stick shift.  Let me just paint a picture for all of you who have spent your lives driving down the right side of roads with normal sized lanes, on the left side of the car with the stick shift operated by your right hand as God clearly intended.  Here we were, faced with a car having the steering wheel on the right side, asking us to drive on the left side of the road, and operate the stick shift with our left hand.  Rob drove.  I squealed and jumped. The children cried, then we finally made it home.  Within a few days both Rob and I were feeling pretty confident with the crazy new arrangement - enough that when we bought a used car a few days ago, we chose to get a stick.  Better mileage and all.

That first day was a whirlwind. We landed in Dublin at 8, took the above mentioned- cringe-inducing ride, got the keys to our new house at 11 and met the movers with our 1108 pounds of stuff at 1.  After an hour or two of unpacking and learning how the house works (let me just say that it isn't as intuitive as you might imagine - I will devote a whole blog posting to the wonders of boilers, radiators and electric showers) we went to our hotel.  We stayed at the hotel for a few days to get our bearings and get the house ready to live in.  And to have the chance to eat out rather than face cooking.

So now we are here.  We have trash (or rubbish) service, a TV with cable (a new treat for the kids), a car and internet.  We've been to a bog, a camogie match and to the pub to watch hurling.  Our kids have a gang of friends in the estate (what they call a neighborhood here - fancy isn't it?) and Rob and I have our first overnight trip planned.  We will be traveling to Galway to see the Cliffs of Moher and Innishmore.

I'm homesick as hell, but each time we can pry the kids away from their new friends long enough to see some of our new home we all are happier for it.  So see our new home and surroundings we will.  But if you can come to see us, the guest room is set up and the pull-out couch is waiting.