My New Ride

We drove back down to Cork last Friday afternoon to pick up my new-to-me car.  I love it!!  It's amazing how much easier it is to navigate these narrow Irish roads when you're not driving what feels like a boat. 

 The car is an Opel Astra.  I wasn't familiar with it before moving here, but we were recently informed that they did use to be sold in the states.

Every time we Skype with someone and they ask about the car, Scarlett blurts out "It's sparkles!"  What she means to say is that the car is silver, but I think it's so cute that we've just started referring to the car as Sparkles now.  I already have thoughts of trying to convince my husband to bring Sparkles back to Bloomington with us.  ;)

Lunch For Two

Scarlett and I spent last Friday running around all morning getting different errands done.  Since it was lunchtime when we finished and Scarlett had done such a great job while we were out, I decided to treat us both to lunch at KFC.

Here's my ice-cold MEDIUM Pepsi:

And Scarlett's kids' meal, complete with a yogurt and bottled water:

I think the U.S. could learn a thing or 2 from Ireland.

When Nate found out that a men's haircut cost 20 euro, he quickly decided to take matters into his own hands.  Or rather, put matters in my hands.  After buying our own set of clippers and experimenting on Nate, I set in on Grayson.

 

He was a more than willing victim and was pretty happy with the results.  He's already informed me that he wants me to give him a mohawk next time.  We'll see what happens.  ;)

Remember when I said Scarlett seems to have grown up in the blink of an eye?  Check her out before school last week...

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We got Gray signed up for soccer last week and he had his first practice this past Saturday.  Since we still don't have any of our belongings from back home, we had to buy Gray new cleats and soccer "gear."  He was beyond excited and couldn't wait to get it all on and pose for a picture.

We absolutely LOVED his coaches and how they run the practices.  Grayson had a great time, especially when he saw that his friend, Fionn, was on the same "team." 

This kids hustled and paid such close attention to what his coaches had to say.  I can't wait to see him play more in the coming weeks and see the skills he already has develop into so much more.

Bieber Fever in Ireland

We finally made it to the big mall in Dooradoyle on Sunday.  Our main reason for going was to get mom a new cell phone, or "mobile" as they call them here.  But we got a little side-tracked when the kids looked over and saw a cut-out of their favorite guy:

We drove down to Cork City last Friday afternoon to look at a car.  It's about an hour and 45 minute ride.  Scarlett passed out right after we picked Gray up from school, and when she woke up the kids were content to hide under their blankets and play their Leapsters.

The kids were great while we looked at the car and Nate took it for a test drive.  The ride home, however, was a different story.  Scarlett did well enough and was fairly happy listening to the Movers and singing.

Grayson, on the other hand, went into complete meltdown mode.  He's always extremely tired by the time Friday rolls around and being in the car for so long wasn't helping.  We basically started ignoring him, and when things in the back got quiet, I looked back and saw this:

Yes, not only had he stripped his shirt off because it "was so hot," he had also fallen asleep with a tissue hanging out of his nose.  Could. Not. Stop. Laughing.  ;)

The rest of the drive home was actually pleasant and Nate and I were actually able to have some adult conversation and enjoy the scenery.  You know, until it started raining.