Easter!

I know, sometimes I just disappear.  We headed up to my in-law's to spend the long Easter weekend (this is when it's awesome that my husband is a missionary with a Catholic organization) with them and help distract my wonderful (wonderful, wonderful) mother-in-law from the fact that Tuesday is her second hip surgery.   Anni's got the distraction thing down.

We had parties in the gazebo that mostly involved dancing, using Nonna's cane, and throwing baby in a corner to "nap".  Baby had to have an oxiclean cleanse later that night.

We practiced going up and down the stairs dozens and dozens of times.  Each time she bumped down a step was like a whole new party.

We tested out playground equipment in-between Anni getting her fill on the slides.

Oh, and Papa and Daddy scared the hey out of me helping Anni going up this.  She was actually quite safe, but it didn't stop me from having a heart attack.  (I was actually the third spotter right after this.) 

We put together a masterful Easter basket... no candy involved!  We knew Nonna and Papa would fill the candy requirement, so we filled our basket to our Nugget with things she loves.  Underneath the Easter hat ($1 at Target... yes!) was a set of jammies.  Technically there were two t-shirts, pants and shorts, but we pulled out one set for her to wear the night before, so you only see one here.

In the top we had a book (Fra Angelico illustrations of the life of Christ in a board book?... love it!), two pouches of "sauce" (applesauce), an egg with some coins and three eggs with "fishies" (actually Annie's bunnies... yes, the actual name is more apt, but she learned to call them fishes long before...)

And that was that.  Simple, but all fun things.   We snuck the basket into the room where she was sleeping and giggled a little in excitement (picking the perfect spot... not in a place she'd hit if she fell out, but still visible).   Easter morning, we woke up to her chattering over the monitor.  We booked it up to see if she had found the basket, and as we started to open the door, could hear her saying, "Sauce!  Book?"  She was a little less than thrilled by the camera... but super excited that there was a basket of treats next to her bed!  [On a side note, we accept that this may be all she remembers from Easter this year.  She isn't quite two, so explaining the Passion of Christ was mostly boiled down to explaining that Mary needed extra kisses the night before because she was missing her son and that Jesus hurt a lot.  She obliged with a whole lot of kisses.]

The discovery of the cheddar bunnies was heralded with a lot of excitement and, "Bowl!"  Daddy got her a bowl so she could empty them into it.  Eggs must not be as exciting when it comes to those.

The hat was really not all that popular.  We nabbed a few pictures throughout the day when she withstood it for a few seconds; but, for one dollar, I think that's okay.

 

Anni was part of her own Easter miracle when she was remarkably awesome for Easter Mass.  Being not quite two, we fully understand that Mass can be a little difficult to sit through... but she rocked it this week!  It helped that we were in the front row of a small church and she could see a) Papa (he's a deacon and was serving) and b) The "tar tar" (guitar).  They have an awesome guitarist (reverent, but a really beautiful player!) at this parish and, Miss Anni is ob-sessed with the guitar.  It was a good combination for her.  I had to stand up once near the end, but I felt the most relaxed I have in a while after Mass.    

And the Easter egg hunt?  My current favorite Easter memory every.  (Of course, almost anything beats last year having the stomach flu...)

It took a little bit of cajoling to get past the, "Must try to eat whatever I find!" stage, but once she realized we were on a hunt... Miss Nugget was determined and *super* excited.  In fact, we hid the same basket of eggs twice because she got into it enough to not care about what was inside (briefly).

Sweet little girl in an Easter dress carrying her basket?  Bestill my heart!  Grass may not be green around here, yet, but we're excited about Spring and all the fun we get to have with this sweetheart!

After being helped inside by her favorite Papa, Nonna brought out the little basket she had made for her.  (Yes, my child was a bit spoiled... we didn't really mind.)  Nonna introduced her to marshmallow eggs (I had to declare that the end of chocolate for the day), and Anni ate almost the whole thing... with her back to Daniel and I.  Apparently she a) did not want to share or b) was afraid we would take it away.  We did neither, and thus ended the sugared fervor of Easter Sunday.  (There was dinner and a sleepy drive home... but there aren't any pictures of that... so, you know.)

PS Now that we're home... I'll be returning to my recap of Ireland!  Be excited ;-).

Day 1: The real first day in Ireland

Finally in Ireland!  We were exhausted, a little gross right off the plane, and so very, very excited to have made it to Ireland!  It was a pretty happy bus ride!

We made plans to meet my sister-in-law's sister-in-law, Phoebe, at the Molly Malone statue... and after getting a little nervous in our exhaustion, Daniel walked around the corner to the tourist center and called her to make sure we hadn't missed her.  Erin and I just hung out... and decided the nickname "Tart with the Cart" was probably and accurate one for Miss Molly.

Phoebe took us to Starbucks (very Irish, I know ;-)) for a little pick-me-up and then took two of our bags back home with her to make our day in Dublin a little easier to traverse.

We started with St. Stephen's Green, mostly because it was there and pretty.  We wandered, took some pictures, and discussed our options for the rest of the day.

From St. Stephen's Green, we started our way to the National Museum.  We passed this little square of land in the middle of the city containing a cemetery.  I think the big thing about being in Ireland, is that these things are just there, tucked into the corners of the city, and that it's completely normal. 

The National Museum was pretty awesome; although, exhaustion was pretty heavy at this point and I only remember the highlights.  For instance, one really huge boat.  Yep.

From there we headed towards the site at which Handel's Messiah was performed for the first time.  Luckily, Erin is a music teacher and so sang part of the Hallelujah Chorus at the site to celebrate the moment.  (PS Did you know I was briefly a music major?  One year in, I was trying to juggle several other degrees and accepted that music was a better hobby for me than career.  Erin; however, is uber talented and always brings the music nerd in at the right times ;-).)

Just a short way down the block, there is a little restaurant called Chorus Cafe, apparently named for being in close vicinity to the above site.  Much to our surprise, it was an Italian restaurant.  However; we had heard that Dublin was one of the best places to eat a variety in ethnic foods, so there we were!

In case you're curious, Erin had a panini, Daniel had a pasta arribiata and I had a pasta bolognese.  So tasty!  We were really hungry at that point after walking across town, so we dug in and tried to resist the temptation to curl up and take a nap.
  

From there, we kept walking.  Walking was a theme on this trip, something Daniel loved and missed from his days living in Italy.

We planned on visiting both Christ Church Cathedral and St. Patrick's cathedral, but both had an entrance fee and we decided there was more we wanted to see inside St. Patrick's cathedral, so Christ Church got a brief walk around the grounds, a quick smile at the family sword fighting with programs and on our way again. 

And, there we were.  St. Patrick's was not only gorgeous, but had some amazing artifacts.  Stone from St. Patrick's well, the body of Jonathan Swift (I paid close attention here as my sister has a masters in literature and reminded me to keep an eye out for him), a handwritten manuscript of Handel's Messiah done by one of the musicians at St. Patrick's around the 1750s, and some amazing architecture to boot. 

 

From there we headed to "home."  Phoebe, realizing we were completely exhausted, walked us to their local pub and sat with us while we enjoyed our first Ireland drinks (Bulmer's for Erin and I and a Guiness for Daniel... the first of many).  Erin and I both got bangers and mash and Daniel had fish and chips.  I don't know if I can describe how satisfying that meal was... after a day of walking and what seemed like nights without sleep, this was the ultimate comfort food.  Warm, filling... mmm... I'm craving it now.  We finished off with sticky toffee pudding... trust me, you should try it.  And that, my friends, is how we ended day one in Ireland.

The Day 1 that wasn't really Day 1...

Tomorrow is a relative term, right?  I'm buried in work and mommying, which has kind of left recaps of our trip in the dust.  That being said, I'm starting right now!   I can't really call this day 1, because it ended up not being day 1... in Ireland at least (fair warning, there aren't any Ireland pictures in this post).  See, here's Erin showing off our excitement as we waited in Wichita's airport for our plane to take us to Chicago which would then take us to London and on to Ireland.  Lots of excitement! 

And then... well, then began our bad luck in traveling.  Our plane got delayed... like really delayed.  We had no pilot or crew (they were in... Houston?)  At first they told us we were only a little delayed and that we would make our flight.  We were a little sad about the running we were going to have to do... but nothing like what followed.

 

Then we got delayed enough that we were going to have to rebook our transatlantic flights.  Luckily, my husband is brilliant, patient, nicer than me and a wiz with the ipad and got us on another flight the next day.  Unfortunately, the best possible deal was for us to wait a whole day in Chicago and then take a direct flight to Ireland.  ugh.  Don't get me wrong, I love Chicago, but it's not Ireland.  Luckily, Erin lived in Chicago and therefore has a dear, sweet friend who took us under our wing after a very despondent night in a hotel.

The closest we got to Ireland that day was a shamrock on the window of the Italian pizzeria we ate lunch in.

Then, Christy (the dear sweet friend), used her zoo pass and took us to the zoo to distract us from the cranky fact that we were due to arrive in Ireland around that time.

Yep, zoo.  And from there?  Ireland!  We had another snaffu with the transfer of Erin's ticket from United (I'm so unhappy with them right now, just wait, you'll see by the end of this trip why) to Aer Lingus (whom we love, because even when they give you bad news, they do it with accents...)  More on all of that later, but we did get on the plane and we really did start winging our way to Ireland.  Yay!  There will be real Ireland pictures "tomorrow".  On a side note, I promised my sister to fill her in on the meals we ate, so, I think I'll just give them their own little section here:

On this "first" day, we managed to get food vouchers for each meal, so our options were limited.  We made them work for us, though :).

Breakfast: fruit parfaits, scones and coffee at the hotel coffee shop.  Fruit parfait?  Totally awesome.

Lunch: A local Italian Pizzeria in Chicago took airline vouchers (seriously grateful for that!) and we shared some great pizza there.

Dinner: This was our "grab and go" meal.  I settled in at the gate with all of our things (I because really good at being a luggage watcher on this trip), and Daniel and Erin ran to grab us sandwiches from a nearby stand.  It was really pretty good... though the fresh fruit was the best... I had been craving it all day!  We also ate a dinner and breakfast on the plane... I have no idea what time it was in either time zone (that became very disorienting).  Airplane food is, you know, bleh.  The "american fudge cake" (aka brownie) was probably the best thing we got, but the random assortment took the edge off enough to sleep a good portion of the flight... except for poor Erin.  She had a bit of a seat hogger next to her and didn't get very much sleep on the flight.  Luckily... next up was IRELAND!