Where to Start?

We have so many pictures. 

How do I organize this journey? How do I highlight the crazy adventures we have already experienced? The Netherlands in 2013, Denmark, Spain, France, Italy, England, Bill’s TV show, The Great Human Race? I have been rolling these concerns over and over in my mind and I think I have an idea. I think I can pull them all in as we blog about this year’s adventures.   There are  so many similarities, but I think it will be easy to pull in past experiences. 

But then there is the every day. I think it’s so important to be able to capture what our daily lives consist of in Ireland. It’s quite different than what we experienced in Maryland.

First of all, Brianna and Billy take public transportation to school every day.

We don’t have a public transportation system where we live in Maryland! We need to drive the kids everywhere.  Plus there are not consistent shoulders or bike lanes so it is not safe for the kids to ride their bikes around.  I didn't realize how much this ties their ability to move around independently until we got to Ireland.  The kids can get to the mall, the movies, their friends houses - on their own - whether it be by walking, taking the LUAS or the bus.  This simple change has opened up a whole new world of opportunities for them!

So yes, I was that Mom who waited for them to come off the LUAS on the 1st day of school

We also walk Alyssa to and from school together every morning.  Her school is further away here in Ireland, and we certainly could’ve walked her to school in Maryland, but we did maybe once or twice. The reason? We had a bus that stopped at the bottom of our driveway, so it was 100% convenient to put her on the bus. It now breaks our heart to think about all the time that we lost walking her to school and all those conversations we could’ve had on the way to Church Hill elementary.  

TAKE A LESSON FROM US, IF YOU HAVE THE CHANCE AND YOU CAN MAKE THE TIME, WALK THEM TO SCHOOL. YOU’LL NEVER BE ABLE TO RECAPTURE THOSE LOST MOMENTS.  

 From this morning . . . .