It’s been a crazy few weeks here in our house! The big news is we got a car, which has totally opened up our world! Not having to walk to the grocery store in the pouring rain or take taxis everywhere has felt very freeing to me. It’s allowing us to explore beyond our neighborhood — whether it’s excursions around the city, outside Dublin, or just to the local library or play cafe (both of which could be walked but they were long walks). I was pretty nervous about driving on the other side of the road, but it’s been easier than I thought! It does feel very weird at first, but I’m getting used to it. The only really tricky part is driving on a narrow street and figuring out how to get through with other cars coming and cars parked on the side…because you’re used to being oriented toward the left side of the car as the driver, it’s hard to stay more towards the middle of the road. Hard to explain, but other than that I feel I’m adjusting well to it. Even the dreaded roundabouts that everyone talks about aren’t so bad!

A bit of a funny story: I was mentioning to Isaac’s teachers that I was getting used to driving and I was asking them how to get to the mall nearby because I wanted to check it out. So one of the teachers said “I’ll drive and you follow me there.” Mind you this was during school (as in, she left her job so she could help me navigate and drive to the mall). This just struck me as funny and very Irish, and something that would never happen at home.

Here are a few pictures of Jeff and I driving (and isaac pretending to)

We’ve finally been able to really enjoy the car this past week and weekend. Before that (just a day or two after the car arrived) we were all struck by a bad stomach bug. So as the virus passed through each of us, we were down for the count for over a week, pretty much confined to home. So this past weekend as we were all finally feeling better, we got out for some excursions.

Sunday we decided to drive to check out Powerscourt Estate which is in the Wicklow mountains just south of Dublin. The mountains are green and lush and the estate is comprised of a beautiful house and acres of grounds and gardens. We started off with some lunch and coffee on the terrace with a view of Great Sugar Loaf mountain in the background, and then went off to explore the grounds. There are fountains, statues, a Japanese garden, an Italian garden, huge trees, and lots of paths to meander. Isaac had a blast running all around, and he and Jeff did a spinning game they called “tornado” where Jeff would spin him around in all the different areas of the estate. There’s also a tower to climb but we were worn out by the time we got there so we will do that next time. Here are some photos to give a taste

We also had a lovely day sticking closer to home on Saturday. The boys all got haircuts (even Rafi…his first one!) and then we went to brunch for Valentine’s Day. In the afternoon, we played at the beach near our house. Beautiful sunny views of Dublin city and Dublin bay and the grassy sand dunes. It was great to get some fresh sea air and play in the sand.

I’m hoping we can all stay healthy so we can keep playing and exploring!