Week 1 (Aug 26 - Sep 1)

In this weekly recap, we tackle our first long-haul trip as a family, settle into Irish life, reconnect with family and explore West Cork.

Airports (Aug 26)

Nora's travelled through an airport a few times this far, but she's still ecstatic about the whole journey. Why are we in line? Where are our bags going? The questions are great and remind me of how excited I was travelling to Ireland as a young boy.

I don't sleep great on planes, and while it took a while we finally got both girls (and Jo napping for a bit). Now we're 30mins from landing, and we could all probably do with a nap.

Fighting Jetlag in Dublin (Aug 27)

Jetlag knocks your boots off. Arriving at the hotel, a few hours too early for check-in, with cranky kids and crankier parents was rough. We knew this was going to be tough, and after some pushing, we got into a room and all crashed in the queen sized bed together. That 3 hour nap was a rebirth.

Nora doesn't quite understand where we are, or that the airplane really took us anywhere at all. Frankly, I think she thinks we sat in an airplane for a 6 hours for a laugh.

We walked through Temple Bar, which was overrun by elderly alumni of Notre Dame for some invitational sports game. But the girls are grandparent magnets, and we can't walk a block without someone commenting on how sweet they are.

Grilled cheese sandwiches at Loose Cannon was exactly what we wanted it to be. A small wine bar with a serious selection of Irish cheese and meat. Maeve slept through most of this, but Nora was obsessed with her sandwich.

After stopped by a pub on a side street for two pints of Guinness and a pretend cocktail for Nora, we're tucked into bed by 9PM to try and reset our clocks.

Highlights

🛝 Playground at St. Stephen's Green - great playground for toddlers, where everything is a little lower, and the parents were good chat.

☕️ Keoghs Cafe - quaint and old cafe, lovely owner.

🍽️ Loose Cannon Cheese & Wine - wide selection of Irish cheeses, delicious wines and a grilled cheese sandwich that will make your head explode.

Drive through Cashel (Aug 28)

We're lucky that our girls are such good car sleepers. Turn the engine on, drive for 5 minutes and we have two snoring babies in the back. Speaking of cars, Jo upgraded our rental to make more room for suitcases. Good call, with bags, strollers and suitcases, we barely fit inside the hearse shaped vehicle.

Nora recently learnt the word "why" and it has become the question of the trip. She's so curious about everything. She wants to know what the next plan is and what our rationale was for choosing it. It's interesting trying to give her good answers for things.

To break up the 4 hours of driving we stopped at the Rock of Cashel for lunch and some pretty pictures of a castle. Admittedly the girls were more interested in the sheep in the nearby pasture, but stretching our legs was nice.

We're finally unpacked and set up at our farmhouse Airbnb, and we caught up with the aunties and cousins for a late night tea. We're excited for the next couple days of family.

Highlights

☕️ Ginger Cafe (Dublin) - absolute no nonsense breakfast nook, and you know it's good by the construction workers streaming in and out.

🍽️ O'Neills (Cashel) - quaint spot with good plate dinners.

Full (Not Busy) Days (Aug 29)

When Jo and I used to travel before kids, it was almost competitive. Any one close to us has seen the hour by hour spreadsheets, the ranked lists of restaurants and the catalogue of places we'd attempt to cram into our days. Today was similar, but different. We had a few things to accomplish, spend time with some aunts, see my grandad and go to a bootcamp class with my uncle.

Something that might be a trend on this adventure is that while our days are full, they're not exactly busy. We spent an hour walking Nora pace along a trail behind my aunt's dairy farm picking blackberries. We sat and drank tea with grandad, introducing him to Maeve and catching him up on our adventure. We picked up a dinner and sat together at the table in our rented farmhouse eating and talking about the day.

Everything is an adventure to a toddler. Imitating cows in a nearby pasture. Doing some groceries. Even taking a bath with her sister. The excitement, but also stress, that comes with being busy with complicated plans doesn't necessarily outweigh the excitement of a simple, slow, but full day together.

The Magic of Walks (Aug 30)

If we had a family crest with some ancient latin words, it would definitely read something about long walks. Walking is our love language. When our girls think back to their earliest memory, I bet walking will be involved.

We took one of my eldest cousins and the girls our to Kinsale today, which is a picturesque village on the Wild Atlantic Way. It is also known as a foodie spot in West Cork - that is when the restaurants are actually open. Wednesday, as it turns out, is a bit of a rest day in the Irish culinary scene.

But you know what they say... if you can't eat, walk.

This morning we attached a rider board to the stroller so Nora can stand on for longer walks when Maeve is in the stroller. It was perfect for those long uphill segments along the water.

I find we have our best conversations on long walks. Today was no different, catching up with my cousin Sean over the 3 kms of hills, while fielding sporadic and curious interruptions from Nora.

Highlights

☕ Next Door Cafe (Macroom)️ - charming cafe inside of an old hotel, with lovely baked goods

🍽️ Lemon Leaf Cafe (Kinsale) - brunch spot with a surprisingly clean feeling irish breakfast, and delicious cake.

Parks and Fairy Gardens (Aug 31)

n the heart of Macroom is a village park dedicated to beloved fairies. Each tree's stump is decorated to help you imagine the tiny creature who supposedly takes residence within. Today was a day spent largely in parks. Without major plans until later in the day, we took the opportunity to let Nora play.

It's interesting to watch how Nora approaches a park. She first scouts it out, identifying all the elements she'll be prioritising, likely with doll in arm. Then she beelines to the swings for a meaningful period of time. But her favourite part is when other kids are down to play. She has no issue walking right up to another family, introducing herself, and offering an activity for their kids. Today's kids were largely shy and would run off before she could get through her pitch.

Scouting playgrounds and parks is a new part of parenting for us, and we take it rather seriously. A few things make a good park for Nora:

1. Quality swing set. Options for Maeve to swing as well are a bonus. Approximately 70% of park time will be spent either on the swings, or pushing the swings, so this is a critical elements.
2. Bouncy floors. Whenever a park has a rubber floor, Nora likes to test it with a few half bounces before announcing her find. She falls a lot, so a good bounce is welcome.
3. Horse / train / car ride ons. Ideally a crudely cut out and painted train, with a wheel where she can offer to take us to key landmarks, like the grocery store.

Highlights

☕ Rebel Coffee (Macroom) - ️Delicious americano and brew (hard to find in Europe), featuring a monument to Michael Collins.

🛝 Tiny Feet Fairy Garden (Macroom) - brilliantly set up, with lots for the kids to touch and interact with.

🛝 Clós Sugratha Maigh Chromtha (Macroom) - top of a very steep hill (both hands on the stroller), but great set up and a double decker playground.

Slow Days (Sep 1)

As we geared up to take on 3 months on the road, Jo had the foresight to set our expectations on pace. When you're travelling for 10 days, you can press hard and relax afterwards. We all know that feeling of coming back from a trip, tired and heavier than you'd like to be from rich food. Today was one of those days where we went a little slower, started a little later and refocused our energy.

To start, we stopped by the Macroom library and look through some books. Nora had a keen sense to pull out all the Gaelic ones, but we eventually found some that one of us could read. Later we stopped by the local salad joint for a beet, cabbage and carrot bowl. Yesterday, Jo and I did a bootcamp class in a shed in a field.

Slow days on a trip like this keep energy high. And any parent knows that we become far worse versions of ourselves when we're tired.

Three asides.

1. Nora has taken to responding to us with: "No way, Jose". Neither of us know where it came from.
2. At dinner tonight, the kids menu featured a Nutritious Bowl. We were both amused when a small cup of mash potato with beef gravy landed on the table.
3. Nora found a child's sized grocery cart at a local store in town. She now insists on doing all the shopping.

Highlights

🍽️ Pickled (Macroom) - delightful salads, served in overflowing bowls (unusual for a small Irish town, but welcomed).

🍽️ The Auld Triangle (Macroom) - adorable dining room with fast service and large plates.