Saturday trip & Other News

On Sunday we took Lauren and Dylan to the National Aquatic Centre in Blandchardstown. There are amazing slides, surf areas, and there's a giant pirate ship there for the kids to play on. The kids had a really great time, they thoroughly enjoyed it! Escpecially Dylan who is now big enought to go down all the slides by himself! He made the most of it and went down all of them! Lauren was a little bit more cautious, but eventually got into it! She really liked the lazy river, and they both loved the pirate ship... had to add this photo from google images, it's the coolest ship with hidden tunnels, slides and cannons, I'd have loved this when I was a kid!

Afterwards we took them to Captain America's in Blanchardstown. It is so child friendly, the music is loud so you can eat in peace without the other people listening to your kids sqaubbling, which happpens from time to time! They even have a clown that goes around to the tables to make balloon animals. A parent couldn't ask for more! They really  LOVED their chocolate sundaes after their dinner! It was a really lovely day.

A few weeks ago Ireland had their first football match in the European Championships. It was kind of a big deal here, ie every child had an Ireland shirt/jersey/kit on! and all the houses were decked out with bunting! We didn't win any of our matches, but our Irish fans were admired the world over for the support we gave to our team in good times and in bad!

Dylan and Lauren were all dressed up and ready for the match! This was also the first time they met their new baby cousin David. He is only adorable and they looked so cute together all in their Ireland shirts!

Absoultely adorable..... that's all the news for  now, just busy busy getting ready for our week away and enjoying the good weather!

Father's day at the zoo

Last weekend we celebrated Father's day in style! We took the kids to the zoo. The last time we were at the zoo Lauren was only 19 months old, and only a little person! They really enjoyed the day, we spent the entire day there and had lunch there too. Lauren and Dylan were delighted to see every single animal! I love to see the zoo through the eyes of a child, they are only learning about animals and to see them in real life! Dylan is fascinated with wolves at the moment and he was absolutely amazed to see a real life wolf in the zoo! He loved it. Lauren wouldn't have remembered being here before, so it was as though it was her first time seeing everything, she was squealing with excitement seeing all the animals, it was really lovely to see them having so much fun!

 Look at these happy little faces enjoying their day out!

We were in time for the feeding time for the seals, and the little guys put on a show showing off and running into their houses and slamming the doors behind them, they were my favourite!

We really loved watching all the animals!

And Being silly....

Daddy was so busy taking pictures that we realised we never got a Father's Day photo of the kids with him! But... here he is with our two beautiful babies, he loves his two children so much more than words can say, and I love him even more because of it....I hope he enjoyed his father's day, we all love him so much!

 They say ' Marry a man you would love your son to grow up to be like, and a man that you would like your daughter to grow up to marry,'

I think I've got both covered there..... He is an amazing husband and father...


And Happy Father's day to my own amazing father, I love you with all of my heart... I am lucky to have such a great dad..... and of course he's a pretty amazing Grandad too...

 

Happy Father's Day

Family weekend in Westmeath

We had a really amazing weekend away last weekend. We took the kids to a hotel in Westmeath which is about an hours drive from here. The weather wasn't great on the first day but the second day was beautiful, the kids really enjoyed themselves. We took them out to dinner and we took then swimming! They were so good when we were having our meals at the hotel, they looked like angels! Ha! I was so thankful that they behaved so well.

We tried to get some family pictures before dinner, but I forgot the camera so we had to use my phone, so we posed in relays!

I got some cute ones of the little people swimming!

They had so much for children to do in the hotel, we went for a walk down to to the banks of Lough Ennell the first night, It was so cold we had to come straight back up! Luckily the next day when we got up there was some nice sunshine, it's a very different landscape when the sun shines!

Lough Ennell is very beautiful, and if you are a fan of Jonathan Swift's Lilliput this is the lake he was boating on when he got the inspiration for the book. The hotel we were stayimg on was right on the banks of the Lough, It was so lovely to look out the window and see the beautiful view...

(pictures courtesy of Google images)

They had a jungle bounce there and the kids played there for a while

Then Derek took them swimming again while I had a lovely pedicure in the spa! Thanks Derek, one whole hour of bliss!!

Then we packed up and headed to the village to have some lunch. We stopped at a beautiful Italian restaurant and had gorgeous pasta and pizza there. Lauren wasn't so angelic there! Mainly because she hadn't slept well the night before, and hadn't napped yet! So as soon as we hit the road the kids and Mom were fast asleep!!

We got home in the afternoon and still had time to clean the house and get everything organised, and had the kids in bed early! It was a really lovely weekend that we all really needed. I'm so glad we were able to do this, I look forward to more wonderful family weekends away together!

We made some happy family memories this weekend!