A whirlwind month

Apologies for being a bit behind on blogging lately! We’ve had a busy past month full of change, excitement, a bit of stress, a lot of fun, and new transitions. I suppose that’s all par for the course on this expat adventure of ours!

Both boys celebrated their birthdays over the past month (well Rafi at the end of September), which was very fun! I had a few friends over to our house to celebrate with Rafi, and we got a bouncy castle in the backyard, which was a blast. For Isaac, we did a party with his classmates and a few other friends at a play area (with slides, climbing things, etc), and he loved it! We hadn’t really had a big party for him the past few years (when he turned 3, Rafi had just been born, and when he turned 4, we had just arrived in Dublin and didn’t really know anyone), so it was special to get to do something for the big #5! And of course both boys enjoyed going out for dinner as a family to get some delicious pizza.

It was really nice to get to celebrate both boys with groups of friends this year…I got a little emotional realizing that on their last birthdays we had just arrived here and didn’t know anyone, and here we are a year later with friends to celebrate with! It made us all feel good and like we’ve gotten so much more settled in the past year.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the birthdays!

Isaac’s birthday:





Rafi’s birthday:

At the beginning of October, we also found out we couldn’t renew our lease in the house we’d been living in. It was pretty surprising because we’d always been told we would be able to renew, so all of a sudden we had to scramble to find something else. At first we looked in our same neighborhood, Clontarf, but there wasn’t really anything on the market, so we expanded our search to the area closer to Isaac’s school. On a normal drive, it takes around 15 minutes from Clontarf to his school, but with morning traffic and ongoing construction, it was taking me around 30 minutes each way. So with drop off and pickup each day, Rafi and I were spending around 2 hours in the car. Moving closer to school would be a big help. We ended up finding a great place about 5 minutes drive from school and decided to go for it! So packing up, moving, cleaning the old place, and setting up the new place here in Sutton, have all been a big part of the past month. Luckily, my parents were here for part of the time and were a huge help!

We are loving our new place — it’s right across from the sea with amazing views of Dublin bay. My other favorite parts are the big kitchen and some cozy window seats to sit and look out at the water (and read a book if I ever find the time!)

And the final (but best) piece of the busy last month was seeing my parents! They had planned a trip over with a visit first in London to see the city and visit my uncle and aunt, Malcolm and Martha, who live there. We met up with my parents in London, spent a great few days there with them and Malcolm and Martha, then went to Windsor and Legoland before heading back to Dublin with them. Then my parents were here with us for another week helping us with the last parts of the move, hanging out with the boys, celebrating Halloween with us, and exploring Dublin. We had amazing weather while they were here and, as usual, such a wonderful time with them!