October is generally a busy month and this year is no different. Sharon's piling up the shows as PC does its breast cancer awareness month and I've been working on something secret at work. (I'm writing this after the fact so it's been announced but I'll come to that later). Sharon's birthday was fairly low key as she was working but we made it out to Cafe Andaluz on the Saturday night for a some tapas. That's about as close as we're going to come to the Mediterranean sunshine this year, but Sharon has her sights set on getting us to Athens next year on the PC trip.
Sharon was down in England this week for work so I had the pleasure of a day off in her shoes (not literally, unlike Finn and Rowan, who still like the occasional plod around the house in our footwear). Finn screamed the surgery down at the dentist as Sean had done the day before. Both were only getting their teeth cleaned but lost the plot entirely. Finn seems to be going through a phase of this. He suddenly loses the head very quickly when things aren't going his way.
Packing for the trip to Ireland was, as usual, a gradual week-long chore. The drive itself was enoyable, through stunning autumnal Scottish scenery. Rowan is the best of the boot boys. "What? Say it louder!" is one of his shouts of the moment, which he uses to good effect from his seat in the back, wedged in amongst all the luggage. Sean was delighted to win a Curious George back-pack in the kids prize draw on the boat. We first headed to Dublin to Olivia's where, after a fine pasta dinner, Sharon and I departed to St. Aiden's B&B round the corner with Angus, leaving Olivia with the big three. Sean fell asleep with his clothes on, Finn slept in with Olivia and Rowan was on a blow-up bed in Oliv's room. They seem to have had a great time. We set out for Dingle on the Saturday, with Sean and Rowan initially in Alan and Edel's car. They had been up in Dublin for a reception the night before on account of Kerry winning the All-Ireland (Gaelic football) a couple of weeks ago (Alan is the fitness coach for the county). Sean didn't like the smell of the car and was eventually sick at some point. Sean and Rowan transferred back to our car shortly after. Alan's driving was blamed! Edel was sick later, but that can be put down to the night before! The light was fading as we skirted Tralee and headed out to the Dingle peninsula, the boys starting to lose patience and having to be cajoled with alphabet and "who am I" games. Angus, to his credit, travelled well.
We got the keys to our Dingle Marina cottage and decanted the contents of the car into the open-plan house. A bit too open-plan, There's no respite from the boys with the living room and kitchen/dining room just one big open plan area and the stairs descending into the middle of it. Upstairs is all bare boards and creaks and thumps so the first couple of nights have been hard going, with every snore, snuffle and cough audible. Rowan is finally showing more promise at getting out of nappies but the downside is he wants assistance during the night too. "Mummy or Daddy, I need a wee!" is bellowed in the dead of night at the risk of waking the whole family, then navigating one's way past the creaks and squeaks and getting Rowan to the toilet and back is an exercise fraught with risk.
Angus rolled over from his back to this side then front for the first time today. And he had his first swim too, up at the Dingle Skellig Hotel, which has a good pool and kiddies' pool. He fairly enjoyed thrashing about and was content to watch everyone else, wrapped in his towel, once removed from the action. Rowan complained about going all "raisiny." The extremely mild weather of the last fortnight seems to have broken, unfortunately, but we hope to get out and about over the next few days.
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