On Our Own

So Afton and I just got back from dropping Julie and Dennis off at the airport for their trip to Paris.  I can proudly say that I made it home without any difficulties.  I am now taking advantage of Julie's allowance of no t.v. restrictions and letting Afton watch "Tangled."  We will try to keep it to a minimum but what is a girls' weekend if you don't get to watch t.v.?

Yesterday we took a big step and adventured out of the Adare/Dooradoyle area and drove to the coast to visit a town called Lehinch.  Julie had found there was an aquarium there and thought it would be fun to take Afton.  We got all packed up in our car for the day, said a little prayer, entered the town into the GPS and we were off! All went well until we hit road construction... First off there was a sign that said something to the affect, "Unstable shoulder, use caution."  Yes, we were driving our Beast on a little country road that was unstable.  Great.  But we managed to get out of there alive and continued on our way.  The next inconvenience we came across was a detour.  Now in the US, a detour might add 10 or so minutes to your travel time.  But not here.  No, I think you can safely say you might be adding an hour or so to your time because they force you to go on other country roads that feel like they wind around the whole country!
After about 2 hours, we finally made it to our destination.  It was breathtaking!  And the taste of the salt off of the sea and the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore made me forget where I was.
The aquarium was smallish and was home to many fish that were caught off the coast of Ireland.  It was fun but the fish were nothing out of the ordinary, except for the couple of clown fish they had and a cuttlefish.  The best part of this facility was that it is located right by the ocean.  They have a little boardwalk that has access to the water.  There is also a surfing school there and you can watch everyone surf.  How neat is that?
On our way home started heading our but the road we needed to take happened to be closed and the GPS wouldn't find another route for us.  We ended up asking a road construction worker how to get back and in his thick accent told us where to go.  The way he said it made it seem like it would only take 5 or so minutes to get there.  After traveling through The Burren and almost getting in a head-on collision with another vehicle, we finally got to Corrofin and then on to Ennis.  I can't tell you how much I love main roads and roundies!
The aquarium may have been a dud but it was worth the trip just knowing that we can go places without getting too lost!

The boardwalk.

Look-out point right outside of Lehinch

On the boardwalk.  It is windy!

OOPS! and Fun

Today I thought to myself, why not give my blog a face-lift.  Well, apparently I am not very good at navigating the settings and such because within an hour I had an atrocious blog.  It looked like someone threw up on my screen and added pictures.  Ewe.  This called for emergency blogger reconstruction!  After about three hours I got it looking like this.  It still is hardly cute but I guess now I have a project to work on for the next few days.  I am always in need of projects!

But that wasn't the only fun I had today.  I had the opportunity slash need to drive to church, which is located in a town about ten minutes away called Dooradoyle.  Needless to say, I was secretly terrified.  I can handle driving big vehicles and a manual transmission...but usually that stick is on the right side of the driver, not the left. And usually the driver is on the right side of the road, not the left.  So in my brain I am trying to reverse EVERYTHING that I know and channel it to my driving skills in order to prevent casualties.  And eventually it worked!  I successfully drove to and from church (I even backed into the parking stall in case we needed to make a fast getaway...and because backing out is like something from a horror film) without killing anything, even that little squirrel that was scampering by the lane going to the Villas.  I feel so accomplished! 

Church was also exciting!  We found a row in the chapel towards the back and we started to file in, well Afton was more like prancing in, and the two couples sitting behind us started commenting on how cute she was with her little purse and her beads and with that I noticed they had American accents.  I didn't strike up a conversation or anything with them because sometimes when I hear someone speak I get confused am not sure what their accent is...so who knows if they were American?  I know that makes not sense at all but what can you do?  Anyway, in Relief Society the sister who conducted welcomed the visitors from America so afterwards we started talking to them and found they are our neighbors!  They are staying a few numbers down from us in the Villas.  They are from Vegas and just came to tour.  The women were so nice (unfortunately we weren't able to talk to their husbands) that I feel like I have a connection with them.  And I guess that is how a lot of this trip has been; you meet people and this urge comes over you to learn all you can about that person and share your life story.  

This week was a waste.  I got sick and watched t.v. all day and most of the night.  I was exhausted but couldn't sleep.  And it made me realize there is hardly any consistency in UK's t.v. broadcasting.  They are consistent with "Master Chef Ireland" (that is on every Tues and Thurs at 9:30 pm, its a favorite but kind of late at night) and the BBC "Robin Hood" comes on mid-morning on Saturday (which is also a favorite).  But for the rest you can have shows on at 10:50 or 9:45; where we are used to on the hour and half hour, it is confusing yet kind of amusing.  I was able to watch Smallville at 3:00 am a couple nights ago, it was a good episode.  Oh, they also have a Sunday movie; tonight it looks like its "The Wedding Planner."  But back to the main point, I am now feeling LOADS better.  It was kind of unnerving to be in a situation where if I did need to go see a doctor, I wouldn't know how to go about...going.  Luckily I didn't have to experience that and hopefully I won't ever have to!

It is a universally known that dog fouling is dangerous to children and country.  "What is dog fouling?" you might ask.  Well, this picture does a pretty good job of describing it.

Basically we saw this and started laughing, really for no reason.  But it is things like this that make my time in Ireland wonderful!  I have started catching onto their lingo like "rubbish" for garbage and "motorway" for freeway.  And it doesn't just stop there; I now no longer have to think about going to the left side of the car to sit in the front passenger seat.  Weird.  Everything I have practiced my entire life is now going down the drain in a matter of days.  Although I still haven't mastered looking right, left, right when walking across the street.


We have ventured out a little to a couple of towns that are near but my favorite is Adare, which is where we are living.  Downtown Adare has the hustle and bustle of a big city but is actually a little town full of quaint boutiques and houses.  We live in a gated community on an estate called Adare Manor.  The Manor House is a cross between a castle and a house out of a Jane Austen novel.  There is also a golf course on the property, which makes looking out the window fun.  It amazes me how many people are constantly out golfing, rain or shine.  We have made it a habit to walk to the house almost everyday and the grandeur of it still amazes me.  Yesterday we were walking around the grounds and it started pouring, which wouldn't be a big deal except that it takes about 15 min. to get to our little town-house from the Manor.  Needless to say we looked like drowned rats by the time we got home.  But we luckily had bought some hot chocolate mix the morning before and were able to utilize our electric kettle.  Have you ever used one of those before?  It is amazing!  It takes like, less than a min. to get water to boil.  I am so getting one.

This is at Adare Town Park, right in the middle of down-town Adare.

Adare Manor--Ooh la la