Last week, Ireland celebrated St Patrick’s Day, originally a feast and religious holiday marked by going to church services. However, due to Irish diaspora, the holiday has taken on quite a bit of a party and binge drinking day...
New Year’s Day at the Dead Zoo & the National Museum of Archaeology
Midway through our Christmas break, I started to get the itch to move out of the house. The weather had been dreary and wet and I was tired of the lazy days inside. As a stay-at-home mom since moving...
Halloween Break at the Cliffs of Moher, Bunratty Castle and the Aillwee Cave
We’ve just finished our first six months in Ireland, having arrived in late May. It’s been an amazing six months and we are finding ourselves adjusting well still happy to be here! The most important part of the transition...
Sandycove Beach and Flake 99s in Dún Laoghaire
One of the bad things about not having a car is the lack of ease and convenience of getting around. When you rely on public transport, there is a lot of checking on bus routes or train lines and...
A lovely morning in Merrion Square children’s playground
Was wondering around running errands this morning and decided to stop in Merrion Square and have our lunch in the children’s playground. Lovely little park. Just the right size for the kids with the older kids having somethings to...
A little Viking history at Dublinia
On one of the first weekends that we were in Dublin, J and I took the kids to Dublinia, an museum billed as a Viking and Medieval Experience. It was walkable from where we were staying, situated slightly past Dublin Castle...
Ikea – As crazy in Dublin as it is in Seattle
Setting up a new home in a new country involves buying lots of new things. Fortunately, our rental house came fully furnished and included things like silverware, pots and pans, glasses and dishes. To be able to stay, we...
Renting a House in Dublin
Finding a house to rent in Dublin was more challenging than I expected simply because we had specific demands – a specific area, family-friendly amenities nearby, good schools, close to public transport, large enough for our large family, and...
Setting up a new life in a new country
When you move, there are so many things to do. Set up new utilities, purge and pack your things, buy new furniture to suit your new home. When we moved overseas to Ireland, we had to do all that...
Enrolling in Dublin Primary Schools
When we were deciding to make the move to Dublin, one of our top concerns was making sure that the kids got a good education. Based on our research (google), Irish public schools seemed to be highly regarded. A...