Tuesday, August 23rd - Wednesday, August 24th ~ Stretching Our Wings

We woke up Tuesday feeling somewhat rested and ready to explore.  We knew we had to get to Limerick to apply for our PPS numbers (something like a SS #), so we headed out. 

We stopped by Nate's office to borrow a Garmin, and then found ourselves right by a McDonald's.  Since it was around lunchtime for the kids, we figured why not and decided to treat them to a taste of home.  You wouldn't think there would be too big of a difference from McDonald's to McDonald's, but this was definitely not what we were accustomed to back in the States.  The food here was much more bland, which brought some complaint from the kids, and the portions were much smaller, which I was actually thankful for.  It's eye-opening to start noticing the differences between our American culture and others.  I have a feeling that this is something that we will be seeing repeatedly through our stay and am hoping we can take some healthier habits back with us.

After lunch, we managed to get downtown without too much trouble, only to find that we were too late to apply for our PPS #s and would have to return in the morning.

We headed out earlier Wednesday morning to ensure that we made it to the PPS office in time.  We had about an hour wait, but it was s fairly quick process since we already had all of the paper work filled out.  We made our way to the uniform shop that carried the clothes for Grayson's new school, and we were able to pick up his dress shirts, "jumper," and a pair of his warm-up pants for P.E.  Unfortunately, they were out of the polo shirts and tie for his school, so we had to put those on order.  The store was incredibly small and there were at least 20 different customers trying to find the uniforms for their particular schools.  Once we had Gray measured and knew his sizes in everything, the kids and I quickly abandoned Nate to finish up and went to wait outside where we amused ourselves by taking pictures.

Monday, August 22nd ~ Hello Ballyneety!

We arrived at our new home Monday morning and couldn't wait to unpack our suitcases.  After taking a quick tour of the house with the kids (and discovering a dead bird in our living room-fun times), I started right in on the kids' room.  They had decided that they wanted to share a room and we thought we'd give it a try.  We put their new sheets on their beds and I decorated each side of their room with wall clings.  I even managed to get all of our clothes hung up and all but 2 suitcases completely emptied before we all crashed for the next 3 hours. 

We layed pretty low the rest of the day.  Our village center in just a block away from our house, so we walked to the convenience store and bought some pasta for dinner.  Nate hooked the Wii up for the kids and they played for awhile.  The kids loved running our front lawn and checking out the view,

And Scarlett was thrilled to discover a field of cows a half block down from our house. 

Sunday, August 21st ~ Ireland Bound

We spent our last few days in Bloomington spending time with friends and family and soaking up as much of home as we could.  It was definitely a bitter-sweet time for all of us.  Saying good-bye to everyone wasn't easy, but knowing that this is a temporary move made things that much easier.

On Sunday morning all of our suitcases were packed, the fridge was {mostly} cleaned out,the house was as clean as it was going to get, the last of our good-byes were said, and we were ready to go. 

We had a small delay at the Indy airport due to weather on the east coast.  The kids amused themselves by watching the plane get prepped and baggage being loaded.

 Once on the plane things got a little stressful.  Nate and Gray sat together and Gray did great. 

Scarlett, on the other hand, really struggled with this leg of our trip.  Once she had discovered how to work her seat belt it was a constant battle to keep it fastened.  The girl does not like being stuck in a seat for 2 hours. 

She finally gave in and passed out about 15 minutes before we landed.  Good times.  I managed to somehow carry her off the plane with both of our backpacks and her little suitcase without waking her up.  Once we got to our new gate, Nate and Grayson hunted down some dinner for the kids.  We had just enough time for them to eat and use the bathroom before boarding for our last flight.  The kids were thrilled with their first experience in Business class. 

Scarlett seemed so small in her big seat.  I actually gave her a pillow to sit on at one point so that she could sit up high enough to use her tray.  And I love the picture I snapped of Nate and Gray "cheers-ing" right after getting their drinks.  We all got about 2 hours of sleep and were more than ready to be done with planes when we arrived at Shannon Airport. 

We had a small hold up getting through customs, but after collecting our bags and sorting everything out, we were on our way to our new home.