Friday...

Excited for Friday...it's not like I've been working all week but almost. Making new friends is hard work, and while it may look easy it's totally not. And it's exhausting. But only one more day to get through before a little break. Today I had plans to meet up with one of my new mom friends from online. Since are meeting was at 10 and I had to drop Mike off in the morning, so there really was no reason to go back to the apt for a few min just to turn back around and come back to where I was. So I decided to look for a "breakfast" place near where we will be living and near Mikes work. So I drove around Little Island for a while until I found this place called Zest Bistro & Cafe. The name brought back fond memories of a place called Zest in Indianapolis...amazing breakfast & lunch there...absolutely amazing. In hopes that this place would be only slightly as good, I went with it. Inside I find what I expected...Traditional Irish Breakfast. Now don't get me wrong, it's good, I just was wishing for a little something different. What is the traditional Irish breakfast you ask...fried egg(s) over easy, sausage (not like American sausage, it's a little more sweet and sticky) bacon (again not like American, it's more like ham but they usually cook it like bacon so it's a lilt crispy) then toast and coffee/tea. It's a good solid breakfast to keep you going way past lunch. Anyway, I enjoyed my breakfast while Shaun napped. 

Our morning meet up was at the play park near our house in Glounthaune and close to a restaurant/bar that we went to wen we where here house hunting so I knew how to get there no problem!  It's actually a nice play park because its fenced in.

So when the boys get a little bigger I can let them play without having to be over their shoulders every 2 sec because they might run out of the park. The other cool thing about the park is that it's right by the river so it can be a cool view...I say can because most of the time the tide is out so all you see is mud...which is not a cool view...it's more like a muddy view.

That's another thing that's new to me, this tide coming in and out and making such a big difference in the water level is crazy to me. One minute it's mud and a hr later is roaring rapids...what's that all about? I guess you get use to it but you have to be careful not to get caught in a boat when the tide goes out...I guess it's not that dramatic but it's possible. Anyway, I met my new friend and her 3 little ones. She was super nice and friendly. We chatted it up 2 hrs at the park then went to the restaurant to try and get a little break from the heat...but a retreat to the restaurant isn't really a break when they have no AC :-/  But it was a break from the direct sun at least. I'm just so glad that people are so nice and trusting around here. If they weren't I wouldn't be so willing to meet all the people by myself. She also thought I was pretty brave to be out meeting so many new people already...I told her its that or sit in the apt talking to Shaun all day. And even tho I love my son to pieces, I would slice my wrist if that was all I did every day...need more interaction than that. Then i found out that lives close to our town so we will likely meet up again when Lino gets here. She also has a daughter that is 3 days younger than Shaun!  

After a nice chatty morning I wasn't ready to go back to the apt so I figured I'd so some more exploring out by our side of town...so I took a drive to Middleton. Mike and I came out here during our house hunting trip and we liked the little square area. The town is actually quite big, not as big as Cork but probably the next biggest town. I drive around for a min (only takes about 5 min to drive around the whole town) then decided to get out and take a walk...nothing better to do. For some reason I love going to the grocery stores here...just looking at all the different foods. I'll have to take a picture when we are grocery shopping on Sunday but I'm just amazed by all the semi prepared foods. I mean there are tons of dishes already packed and seasoned for you...garlic crusted chicken quarters, stew with all the fixing, mashed potatoes and steak, stuffed chicken, broccoli casserole, curry chicken with rice, spiced chicken with veggies, etc. it makes it real convenient I guess but I've never seen so much in one place. Another reason I like going to the grocery store is the AC!!! I can't believe the hospital doesn't have AC but the grocery stores and a few of the coffee shops do...now does that reall make any sense?  I mean, I'm still all messed up about that...so like if I get sick in the summer and have to go to the hospital how will they know if I have a fever or if I'm just over heating from the heat??? I could be easily misdiagnosed :-0  Lets hope I don't get sick. Next stop was something to eat...I was still full from my Irish breakfast so I just had a scone at the cafe. I think I'm on a quest to find my favorite scone. I don't like them too hard or too crumbly I've figured out. And it seems like 50% are that way and 25% are the way I like them ...flaky and soft....that sounds so X rated...I'm just laughing at myself I'm so funny... hahahaha. The other 25% are just weird or somewhere in between, usually good enough.  Anyway, the place I went to had the wrong kind but Shaun was determined to get his hands on some of my scone. I kept moving the plate but he wouldn't give up and finally he won...

Cool day with the kiddo...

We did a little more walking and I found a random sandwich shop that looked to have cheap scones and cold water (a luxury here) so I got both...and this was a winner scone!!  We (I mean me) enjoyed our second attempt at a good scone in the park...at least it looked like a park. It was actually right in front of the Jameson Experience ... It was like committing a sin to be so close and not do the tour. Mike has already gone on it and I think we are waiting on visitors to come before we go, so that means I have to wait...oh well.  The little park area was nice tho, had a little stream running thru it and everything. 

We had a really nice Friday actually, no stress. Same was true for Mike. Once we got back to the apt we both just fell into the couch and zoned out...you need that sometimes. We also got a nice surprise from Lino via Nini...a special video all the way from NY...LINO IS SWIMMING!!!!!! Well, he's trading water at least but that's a big start! We were so excited!!  He's only been there for 3 weeks and the little snot is potty trained and swimming...what's next...PhD??  Geeze Nini & PopPop, you guys are amazing!!! How did you like that shout out??!! :-)   I have to sweeten her up sometimes because she can be a tough crowd :-0  But really, we were just ahh struck and had to watch that video over and over...I'll try to post it but not sure I know how. Man, kids grow up fast. Well another good thing about this trip is that we know where we are sending Shaun when he turns 3 so that he gets potty trained and learns to swim in 3 weeks too...  Was that too much...did I go over board with the niceness???  Hahaha I love Nini and love messing with her even more. Well after all that excitement there was nothing left to do but chill out and watch Contraband on the sling box...love that thing!  Tonight Mike left me for Pepsi...that meany...hahaha. So that meant I had to make my on plans for dinner. So Shaun and I went to Isaac's, really good food and pretty darn good sticky toffee pudding too. Shaun was good that heavens because the lady almost didn't let us in because there is a no kids after 8 rule or something. She told me we could come in but if he started to cry we would need to leave...so we don't disturb the rest if the customers. I was like, yeah yeah. Then when I get in there it's about as noisy as a bar on a Sat night...are you serious? My little 3.75 month old is going to disturb this loud crowd? I don't think so lady...geeze. Hahaha..,but it all worked out. I had a great dinner with Shaun and no outburst. 

Well some guy named Jim is reading my blog...not sure if that's cool or creepy.