Christmas in Newwww Yorrrrrrk and Interviews with the Boys

Well the first part of the move is done.  We have said our "see you laters" and have made it to New York for Christmas.  This is always a great time of year because we get to see all of our family and we are all together.  It has been our tradition for the past 12 years to spend Christmas in NY and it was important to us that we go to the states for the holiday's before our move to Singapore.  This year we were able to fly into JFK which is handy for Nini & PopPop and great for us because we had a tone of stuff with us and needed 2 cars to pick us up.  Normally we only bring one big bag with 2 or 3 bags inside and the smallest bag is the only one with clothes...of course this time all of our 4 bags where filled with crap!!!  To make matters worse when we finally got our bags from baggage claim the 3 car seats that we had didn't make the London flight.  Mike went to go and get that all sorted out but it was taking so long that I headed back to the house with Nini while the boys waited for replacement seats and stuff.  It took the guys forever to get the seats situated but eventually they made it to the house too.  The boys didn't sleep a wink on the plane so as soon as they got into the car they were out...not good for us but what can you do.  

Over the next few days we did our normal routine with a few modifications.  We always watch a bunch of Christmas movies like The Grinch, Christmas with the Kranks, Frosty the Snowman, Charlie Brown Christmas, National Lampoons Christmas and The Godfather.  Every year the boys seems to be more and more interested in the movies and this year was the first were we watched most of them together and the boys too.  It seem simple but it is nice.  The joke that we have is that I am the Grinch (and I have 2 Grinch PJ's to go with it) because I was never really that excited about Christmas and I didn't recite all the lines from the movies like Mike and crew but over the years they have finally broken me down and now I can recite a few lines myself...not as many as they can but enough that I don't stick out like a sore thumb.  The funny part is that now Home Alone has come into the mix for our Christmas movie tradition and Lino is obsessed with it.  Last year he discovered it and whenever it is on he has to watch it.  He loves the movie so much that now that since last Christmas he stopped eating pizza with pepperoni because Kevin demanded to have plain pizza only.  I new that Lino changed his mind about pepperoni pizza but I didn't think to much about it...it was Mike that told me the connection between Lino's sudden refusal to eat pepperoni pizza and his new found love for Home Alone.  Anyway, it all made sense and Lino joined the crew in quoting the movie...classic.   In addition we always play some games and this year Shaun actually played a few rounds without being a sore looser which was a nice surprise..he even won a round of Sorry so now we call him the Sorry Champion of the World!  He was so excited about winning too it was so nice.  

This year we decided to take a trip down to the city to see the tree before our normal Christmas Eve trip.  PopPop went with us and the boys and we had a great time.  The boys love riding on the train and I am not sure if they really appreciate the tree but they like all the little things that go with seeing the tree like getting pretzels (from Auntie Annies because I love them and can't smell them without getting them), seeing all the Christmas decorations in the department store windows, seeing the ice skaters in Rockafella Center and going to the Lego Store.   It was a great day out.  The weather wasn't too bad so no one was frozen at the end of it.  The boys loved the Lego store and even though we had to wait to get in they were willing to wait in order to go.  We are so bad that we didn't even let them buy anything but they still enjoyed being in there.  We were a little surprised at how small the store was but it didn't seem to bother them to much.  Oh the memories.

We had to take our traditional picture in front of the tree but someone photo bombed us!!!

After the tree we went to have coffee at Ferrara's.  The funny story about this place is this was one of the first places that Mike took me to when he showed me around NYC.  It is a very traditional Italian bakery that has been around for a very long time.  Mike took me here to impress me (I think) and ordered me a cappuccino which was absolutely awful!!! Hahaha...it is worth noting that the first time I was here I wasn't really a big coffee drinker so it was just to much to soon.  After almost a decade of drinking coffee with Mike (who is a huge coffee drinker) I finally have come to appreciate a nice strong cup of Ferrara's coffee!  Oh, I forgot that first visit there we met up with PopPop and he got an Italian Cheesecake and I wasn't sure if I wanted to try it or not but before I could decide to try it he finished it...PopPop loves his cheesecake and after I finally tried it I decided that I don't really like Italian Cheesecake.  So it was nice to bring the boys there for their first experience...even though it wasn't coffee that they were trying but the pastries instead which is still a bit of challenge for them.  They were excited to get their selection plate but at the end they really only liked the cannoli's which is to be expected.  After all of my attempts at the various pastries my favorite one is still the sfogliatella.  Great memories!


More games at the house...shoots and ladders.  It was a first for me and the boys and we actually had a great time playing.

Christmas Eve at Carmine's!  This is one of the things Mike & I really look forward to is having Christmas Eve dinner at Carmines.  This is one of my favoirte restaurants ever and it probably isn't even the best food ever but the special combination of the atmosphere, food and being in city is just so amazing for me.  The boys are starting to get the same feeling too which is great.  They do not appreciate the food as much as we do but they are getting there.  We usually get garlic bread, garlic & oil pasta, shrimp parm and some chicken dish.  At the end of the night on the car ride home the car is filled with all of our stinky garlicy farts...that is what the Christmas Eve tradition is all about ...Charlie Brown!

Merry Christmas!!!!!  Even with the boys staying up late Christmas Eve they were up at 7\:20 ready to open gifts!!!!  We told 'Santa' that it would be really mean to give the boys to many gifts seeing as though we were in the process of moving we didn't need any more crap to cart around!!!!  I think Santa listened...so the boys had a great yet modest Christmas.  They got these really cool Christmas bags with their names on them...so thoughtful and handy.  The boys had such a great SeaPatrol morning!!!  The funny part of the morning is that at some point Lino realized that Shaun had a bigger toy than he did so he came up with some crazy deal that Shaun ended up giving up all of his SeaPatrol toys to Lino in exchange for all of Lino's hot wheel cars.  I am pretty sure that Shaun lost out on the deal but he didn't seem to mind.  We were trying to decide if we should intervene in the situation but decided not to.  Instead we just gave Lino a lot of little hints that his deal with Shaun wasn't very fair...he either didn't get the hint or didn't care.  Either way he kept all of the SeaPartol toys for most of the day.  Mommy...napped while everyone else got ready for dinner.  Nini changed up the menu from previous years...this year was more of a traditional Turkey dinner which was good.  Mike and I are trying to convince Nini to let us take over cooking Christmas dinner but she isn't convinced yet...I guess we will have to keep working on her.  Paula & Billy came over to have Christmas dinner with us which is always good fun.  We opened up PopPop's homemade wine and had a great evening.

Christmas with 4 generations of Cutaia men!!!  We are so lucky to be able to spend Christmas with Pepa. 

  

PopPop made about 30 jugs of wine this year and it came out excellent!!!!  The first year that I had his wine I ended up under the table in the kitchen passed out drunk!  This was my first visit to NY and oh what an impression I left.  It all seemed to work out anyway...Maria of course loved me and even washed my throw-up clothes!  Oh the memories of dad's wine.  I have finally learned to handle it better so this year we went for it but no one ended up under the table so that was a success!

The last few days in NY were just relaxing and filling up on bacon egg and cheese  bagels (my favorite and now the boys enjoy them just as much too).  Mike and I got a date night as a Christmas gift and went to one of Bobby Flay's restaurants in the city and had a nice freezing cold evening out.  Even though there is no snow it is so cold in the city!!!  The day before we left the boys, Mike and PopPop had a nice bowling outing.  The boys had to beg PopPop to go with him on his weekly bowling outing with his buddies.  The boys really enjoy bowling and I think as they get bigger or even now Mike might make this a regular boys outing.  Its nice for me because I was able to have a little time to work on my blog ;-)  Apparently Lino did pretty good because he beat one of the guys who was out bowling with them so he was super excited about that.  That evening we went to visit one of Mike's high school friends which we go to see every year.  It is always a nice evening to catch up with Mitch and Lauren and their kids.  The boys pretty much play with anyone and they love playing with all of the new toys so it works out.  It was funny because we only see them once a year and when we pulled up to the house Lino was like "I remember them...this is the house!"  Crazy the things the kids can remember.  Before leaving Shaun had to leave a little piece of himself there...ie poor Nini is sick and most likely Shaun was the walking infection that caused it.  All in all a great trip!  Nini & PopPop are in great spirits and good health and we got to spend our first Christmas trip in NY with PopPop at home with us the whole time...its the little things that make a difference.   

Interviews with the boys...while we had a little downtime and before the memories fade I wanted to capture some of their thoughts and experiences about Ireland. 

Lino

Favorite thing about Ireland? My friends (only after further prying did he elaborate more)...school & the winter holidays.

Best thing to eat in Ireland? Candy!!!! Gum drops

Favorite place? I don't know

Favorite vacation? Morocco & Spain

Why? Morocco because of that tea...whats it called? Me: Moroccan Tea; Yeah, Moroccan Tea!!!  And Spain because Cesar, Miguel & Silvia live there.

What will you miss the most about Ireland? My friends

What won't you miss about Ireland? The rain (as he gives me a huge eye roll)

What do you want to be when you grow up? Hard question...I don't know yet.  Choice between fireman, police, construction worker and conductor of train and pilot of an airplane.  Most definitely one choice has to be ambulance (EMT).

Why? ????

Do you want to get married one day? Yes

Who? Guess... Me: Who?? Lino: Hami!  I shouldn't be telling you because Hami and me said not to tell anyone.

Who are your best friends at school? Paddy, Jamie Vaughn, Cian, Nedus, Killian, Ashling Ryan & Ashling Lynch and Patrick.

What is your favorite sport to play? Swimming

What is your favorite sports team? Jets, KC, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Cork City Football, Madrid (he forgot)

Are you excited to go to Singapore? No!!!!

Why? Because I'm leaving my friends 

What are you looking forward to going to Singapore? Going to a new aquarium, seeing a fire/police station and construction and ambulance station

What do you want to drive when you grow up? A monster truck

Shaun

Favorite thing about Ireland? Playing with my friends

Best thing to eat in Ireland? Falafals!!  (the truth is after our trip to Berlin and having the best falafals ever he is obsessed with them and even request them when its his turn to pick lunch/dinner)

Favorite place? Coffee shop (this is our local coffee shop in Glanmire that has a little play area...he loves going there)

Favorite vacation? New York, New York, New York (as he proceeds to sing the song!) Then after some reminding he said it was the sleeping train in Norway.

Why? Because it was so cool

What will you miss the most about Ireland? Wendy and my friends

What won't you miss about Ireland? George, Me: Who is that? Shaun: He is at my rugby

What do you want to be when you grow up? A police man, fireman, construction man and an ambulance man (EMT)

Why? Because

Do you want to get married one day? Yes

Who? Wendy (this is his girlfriend)

Who are your best friends at school? Wendy and Eva

What is your favorite sport to play? Skiing in Iceland (we never went skiing in Iceland but I'm guessing he is talking about when we went up on the glacier and they got to play with all the snow)

What is is your favorite sports team? Barcelona 

Are you excited to go to Singapore? Yes!!!!

Why? Because its the coolest place I've never went (he always says never went instead of saying ever been...too funny)

What are you looking forward to going to Singapore? Playing in the swimming pool and going fast in the swimming pool

What do you want to drive when you grow up? No answer because he lost interest in this line of questioning after the first 2 questions.

Off to Kansas we go...

Goodbyes, packing and so many tears!!!!!

December 14

Mike and I arrived back to Cork safe and sound.  No issues on the plane which was great because we kind of had to hit the ground running in order to get everything done today.  So first stop was my old office to see if I could get the power cord that I couldn't get on the way out of town...of course it wasn't at the front desk when I got there and we were parked illegally so I couldn't really wait for to find it...I'll do it later.  Next we were supposed to meet the realtor to do a quick walk through of the house but we got off of the plane to late and I wanted to go by work so we pushed that to later so instead we just went to surprise Shaun at school.  He was so shocked to see us it was nice!  We got the biggest bear hug ever...there is nothing like those first 5min of being reunited after being away for a few days...after the 5 min the novelty of it all wears off of the kids!  Nice part was that we got to spend a little time with Shaun although I didn't really spend time with him.  I was to busy trying to write my previous and there was nothing that was going to get in my way!!!  Since I didn't have my phone or my photos (which was the most important part) I couldn't really write it.  Although I could have put down the stuff we were doing and inserted the pictures later that is just not my style.  Anyway, I had to spend the next few hours up my memories...it was harder than it should have been but I guess that is due to all of the drinking!!!!  Somewhere in the mist of this Lino made it home and  was happy to see us.  We got the update from him about school and some of the stuff that we had heard and his story was basically that he was only a little bad or that that the kids were bothering him and he gets so angry he can't help his self.  I do believe that because he is just like his father.  We had to save the rest of that conversation for another time because he was to happy to see us and it was way after the fact and who knows who is telling the truth (or what the real story is) and more importantly Mike assessed that the computer was dead.  My heart almost dropped out of my body I was so upset...mad.  Of course I had to tell Mike that if he would have backed up the computer more regularly we would have been ok but it really wasn't his fault...I was just upset that it was dead.  So our options were to either spend e500 to recovery the information on the disk or toss it...we were both very close to option 1 but after a little brain power I remembered that I had backed up my pictures to the cloud...that only happen very recently.  I only did that because I had a ton on my phone the last time and didn't have time to back them all up on the computer so I said I would give the cloud a try...man did that pay off!!!  I had all my pictures on the cloud so the last few months that we would have lost were saved!  Mike didn't delete any of his pictures from his phone so we were actually good.  I know that we had other stuff on the computer but the most important thing for us is pictures...we really don't use it for much else.  So we were very lucky and Mike proceeded to destroy the hard drive...I'm not sure if the method that he used was the best but I guess it got the job done...it also gave me extra time to work on the blog.  Then we met with the realtor and got ourselves prepared for the move out check list...tons to do plus we had to start organizing the house into all the different categories like: Singapore, Texas, Donation and Trash.  We ended up with more variants of this in the end but those were the main categories.  So we did a little bit of that in our room but didn't have much time before it was time to head out for our going away get together.  When we finally realized the time we were frantically trying to reach mom to see if she had heard from the babysitter because I didn't have her number otherwise.  And since this time we were all going out we needed a sitter.  We were in a panic and of course mom wasn't answering but thankfully at 5pm the sitter arrived!  So that meant it was time for me to get ready to go!!!  I had to do a very quick change but thankfully I had showedred earlier so it was easy enough.  Michelle was there soon after and we headed out.  It was freaking freezing and Mike & I were both tired but w were looking forward to it but in the end it was a complete bust!!!  Only 2 of my friends and 2 of Mikes co-workers showed up so it was a very small crowd.  I had to laugh because we were going back and forth about this party for a while because we didn't want to spend to much but we wanted to do something easy too.  And since we were not sure how many people would come because it was like only 10 days before Christmas it was almost impossible to budget...in the end I was right which was no surprise to me.  Cesar on the other hand had a bunch of friends show up so at least we were not there sitting alone all night.  And even though there were only a few that showed up we stayed almost all night until they closed!  We enjoyed ourselves either way so it really didn't matter much.  We got home before expected so I am sure the sitter was happy about that.  The house smelled like burnt something so I am guessing the boys had a good time.  I didn't get any call from her so they didn't drive her away either...all in all a good going away.

December 15th

Happy Birthday MOM!!!!

So even though we didn't stay out too late I was still really tired but not tired enough to sleep because I was up at like 6am typing up my blog...I had to finish!!!!  Of course I have crazy physco behaviors but that is just me...Mike on the other hand is pretty predictable and I knew that he would be super jet lagged which he was so I didn't think he was even going to see us off.  So after my blogging session I got breakfast ready for the boys and before we headed out Mike joined us for the school drop offs.  Then it was back to sorting our crap before the movers got there on Sunday!  We actually did quite a bit but I of course didn't want to stop but we had my Aspira Christmas party to go to so had to stop eventually.  I was impressed with Mike again because he stuck it out even longer than he would normally and I think we got through almost 85% of our stuff which was good.  We still had another day to get organized but didn't want to leave to much to do just in case.  So eventually Mike dragged me away from my psychotic obsession and we got ready to go to the boys last soccer practice.   It was freaking COLD out there...like ICE!!!!!! I was frozen and I had no idea how the boys were dealing with the cold...I guess the running around helped.  I tried to stick it out but I only lasted about 1/2 the practice then I retreated into the car where I had the heat blasting...I will not miss this cold weather that is for sure.  Mom had made it to Dublin but had an issue with bags so didn’t make the bus until later so it worked out that we were able to pick her up from Cork after the boys practice.  She apparently had a great time in Portugal.  She was so excited to tell us all about her travels.  I am impressed with her adverntuous nature…I just wish she would not require me to do so much of the planning.  I guess she doesn’t actually require me to plan but I don’t want her to be there stuck in the middle of nowhere so I have to make sure she is OK…I know she will be OK because that is the way she raised us but for some reason I am very protective of her when she is with me.  It doesn’t always seem that way because she drives me bat shit crazy too but I think that is only because I love her too much to see her not ok…anyway…she had a great birthday trip to Lisbon which was great.  That means she is ready to babysit for us now!  Next it was time to get ready for my Aspira Christmas party… I was tired and Mike was tired...he even napped on the couch before we left.  We hitched a ride with Cesar and his ‘girlfriend’ to the city and met up with the Aspira crowd at the Oyster Tavern.  Aspira is an interesting company because it basically contracts out most of the employees so you don’t actually get to see how big it is.  So this year we had a drink and nibble party and it was nice to be able to get around to everyone and chat and catch up.  There were no special speeches but I did get a lot of hugs and a few gifts for goodbyes.  Pat even solicited the help of one of the employees to do up a really cool water colored picture of me…so thoughtful.  Anyway, what was initially thought to be a short evening turn out to be a very long night and early morning!!!  While there, I had to fuss at one of my co-workers because he was supposed to be helping me coordinate the 12 pubs of Christmas tour for the next night.  To me that means that he was going to have a schedule and plan all organized but he was too cool for that.  We both work in PMO and are supposed to be these amazing planners but the reality is when it comes to personal lives we usually are a lot more relaxed.  Anyway I gave him a big talking to and I don’t think he really cared…he knows that I am all bark and no bite so it wasn’t a big deal to him.  Lets see what happens tomorrow…maybe I will have to wing this 12 pubs thing on my own.  So Mike headed out about ½ way through because he just was to tired but of course after I got going I just couldn’t stop so I was out pretty late.  When we were finally done and some of the other people were heading to the afters gathering I had to call it quits.  By this point my feet were so numb from my shoes I was almost in tears.   I was actually a little upset because I had on my most comfortable heels but they were not even close to comfortable at that point.  So Mary, Orla and I headed out to find a cab…we had to put the mammy of the group in the cab first then Orla & I walked what seemed like 3 miles to find a cab.  Of course I couldn’t do it in my heels so after about 2min of walking the heels came off and I was walking bare foot down the streets of Cork.  Thank God it was pretty clean at that point or God was just watching out for me because I didn’t set in any puke or glass!!!  Eventually we found a cab for me but in the process I got to chat more with Orla about my time in Ireland and working with her.  She is good people and I hope for the best for her. Oh, yeah, the cab situation in Cork is a nightmare!  During this time of year when every company or group are getting together in the city for Christmas parties it is basically impossible to get a cab unless you schedule it first.  I know this and still do not plan for it properly so I suffer for it instead…and this time I suffered big time.  What can you do…eventually I made it home but it must have been close to 3am at that point.

December 16^th

Hangover city!!!  Well not really a hangover as much as just over exhaustion.  I was so wiped out at this point I couldn’t really believe that I was out so late.  I just wanted to sleep and I actually couldn’t!  So even though I was pretty much dead to the world I was up when the boys got up (but I didn’t move from the bed) so Mike got up with the boys and let me rest.  I didn’t get to see Lino at his last rugby practice but I’ve been to so many I think I get the point.  Instead I took a nice long shower and tried to will away the tiredness and alcohol…I think it actually worked.  I even thought I felt good enough to drive myself to the store to get ready for Lino’s play date!!!  But I didn’t!!!  I knew better than to drive…even though I was feeling good I knew it was just adrenalin.  So instead I did a little more packing and organizing and sent the shopping list to Mike to get.  The rest of the afternoon was spent with Lino and his 4 friends running around the house screaming and playing like little terrors!!!  It was great!  That was one of the things that Lino asked for when we told him we were moving so I wanted to make sure it happened.  Even though only 4 of his friends made it over I think he was pretty excited about it anyway.  The friends that he wanted to come were Paddy, Jamie V, Killian, Cathal, Patrick and Nedus (I don’t want to forget his top 6).  So the boys tried to kill each other and ate about 4 big bags of jellies (the normal Irish kids party) and they were dripping in sweat at the end of the 3hrs!  I think it was a success and Lino was so excited to have them over.  Him and Paddy have been friends since we moved here.  I think Paddy was his 2^nd friend here (the first friend was Sasha from France) so they have a long history together.  It was so funny when Paddy arrived Lino dropped everything that he was doing and went to make a plan with him.  Mom went to go check on them because the other boys were in another room and when she found them they were in Lino’s room.  Lino said they needed some “privacy talks” then he closed the door!  Those 2 are so much trouble together…they are too cute!  Lino loves Paddy to death it is crazy.  Eventually we were able to convince them to join the rest of the boys and I had to remind Lino that it wasn’t nice to only play with one of his friends when he asked them all to come over…so to be fair he did a pretty good job of trying to include all of the boys the rest of the afternoon.  Oh, him & Paddy came up with this game to make sure everyone was involved…they made a ticket which was entry into Lino’s room and they made the other boys race down stairs and back up again and who ever got back first won the ticket into the room!  It was a very clever game and they even gave the smaller kids (Shaun and Tadgh) a head start so that it was more fair.  I was impressed!  Of course not everyone liked the game or the rules so there were a few tears here and there but I stayed out of it for the most part.  The only time I stepped in was when I could hear someone not being fair or when one of the boys belted out a mouth full of swear words!!!!  I think they forgot that I was there…and I enjoyed it too.  I feel like I got a small glimpse into their crazy world…thank the good lord that it was only a glimpse because it is a rough crazy world!  All in all it was a good afternoon and I was very happy when the last boy left.  Oh, I almost forgot one of the boys snuck out of the house with about 20 cars in his hoodie.  I think he thought that I didn’t notice but I did.  I wasn’t sure how to deal with it at first but I decided I didn’t actually care.  I don’t know if Lino/Shaun told him he could have some or if he just took them.  I do know that Lino use to get toys off of him all the time from school and Lino said they were ‘trading’ but Lino would only have small cars and would give him 1 small car for a huge toy of some sort.  Once he even got a fidget spinner off of him.  I wasn’t sure of the deals that were going down in the school playground but I did have a talk with Lino about it and told him that he needs to make sure that the trading was fare because it wouldn’t be nice if someone trading him for something that wasn’t even.  After that Lino brought money in to school one day to pay for one of the toys that he wanted from the other boy.  I couldn’t say no because I had told him to make sure it was fare…he did listen I guess.  It was funny.  Anyway, all that to say that there have been so shady deals with this kid before so it was probably fair enough.  Then I also thought 1) we are leaving so no reason to get upset because we won’t see him again and 2) he is taking some of the hot wheels so we won’t have to take them with us which was a bonus!!  So all the kids left and Mike had been sleeping for a while at this point so I decided to join him for a quick nap before our night out…again!  So even thought I was so exhausted I couldn’t barely hold my eyes open I couldn’t go to sleep for my life!!!!  I basically laid there for 1.5hrs and didn’t sleep…I might have dozed in and out for a few minutes here and there but it wasn’t any real sleep!  I was so upset!!!!  The whole time I was thinking about all the things that I needed to do or should be doing or wanted to do but instead I laid there.  I am not sure if it was worth it or not…oh well.  So up I went and quickly got ready to go because Gernot & Ha Eun were picking us up.  Oh wait…12 pubs… So this was a source of great debate!  Arron actually did coordinate the 12 pubs and set up a group for us which was great!  But the problem was that I didn’t tell my friends that it was going to be a big thing…I didn’t think it was either.  The other problem is that whenever I drink I always invite people over for parties so that probably happened too.  So what was initially supposed to be a last night out for the 4 of us ended up being a bigger party…well actually it didn’t but I’ll get to that later.  So the 12 pubs…these last few months I have been hearing about this Irish tradition of 12 pubs of Christmas and I thought that it would be a great idea to do it with my friends before we left.  So I kind of turn our last outing into a 12 pubs of Christmas tour.  This tour is supposedly supposed to consist of 12 pints of beer at 12 different pubs.  During the course of this tour you are to follow various rules that have been outlined by the coordinator or use the standard rules as we did.  I had no idea what the rules were but I heard a lot of funny stories about different varients of this tour.  So it is kind of a pub crawl, scavenger hunt and session all at the same time (session being a group of people out drinking).  Soooooooo…we are now linked with this group for the 12 pubs.  We have been sent the rules (see below) and we are supposed to start around 6:30pm.  So our plan was to meet and have a quick bite of food before starting the night. I had a little surprise for Ha Eun when I saw her…I got us these cheesy Christmas T-shirts from Aldi that we were to wear for the night.  I had originally thought to get all 4 of us Christmas jumpers (sweaters) but I couldn’t find any that I liked and they were all like €30 each which was to much for what I wanted…anyway the shirts were perfect.  Ha Eun was exhausted too and we were convinced that after 2-3 beers she was going to pass out so I had to make sure that didn’t happen…that is an easy mission for me!  So the meet up time got delayed so we thought that we might have time to have a quick sit down dinner before our session started…that was so not possible!  Have I complained before about how ridiculous it is to get a table in Cork?  If I haven’t I shall now…it is absolutely ridiculous!!!  We started out at Tequilla Jacks which is the new Mexian place and it was busy but not all the tables were full but since we didn’t have a reservation they wouldn’t seat us…ridiculous.  Next we tried our favorite place, Elbow Lane and we already knew there was a wait there because they don’t even take reservation…ridicoulous!!!!  Gernot was determined so he even called a couple of the burger places and they all had 30-45min waits…even more ridiculousness.  We popped into a few more places before we decided to go to Burger King!  Did I say how ridiculous the dining out situation is in Cork?  I know its because of the Christmas season but even on a random Friday or Saturday night if you don’t have a reservation you are pretty much screwed and not in a good way!  So BK it was… and oh was it good!!!!!  I love these 2, they can have the classiest meals one day and BK the next and be just as happy.  You do not find many people like that…that is what makes them so special to us.  We just wanted to be out together and it didn’t matter where we ate.  We enjoyed our Whoppers and they were delicious …and the perfect base for our night out!  So since we had a quick dinner we were ready before the rest of the group so we started our 12 pubs tour!  I forgot to mention that in the mist of our night out I finally posted the red car up on done deal to sell…lets see if we get any hits!

1) Drink with bad hand

2) Use a different accent to your own

3) The parner - your buddy has to feed you your drink

4) No phone

5) No swearing

6) No pointing

7) Selfie with a stranger 

8) Pint of water

9) Get fed your pint

10) Call the barman Guiness eg 'Can I have a pint of Heineken please Guinness'

11) Hug a stranger

12) If you need a rule for last pub you haven't played the game right.

So I won't go through all the pubs but I will say we had a great time.  We made it to pub 10 but I think we combined 2 pubs into one maybe????  I can't remember going to a pub for just water but I do remember having a couple of pints of water.  All in all it was a great night and somewhere around pup 4 we met up with the other 4 guys.  My favoite pub was the accent one.  It started out hard because I couldn't get an accent but it ended up being great because between Mike & Gernot trying out 3-4 different accents me & Ha Eun were in stitches!!!!  The NYerker being German and Donald Trump and the German being French and Indian it was all to funny.  After the 10th Ha Eun & Gernot had to go so we said our goodbyes.  We had did pretty good about not crying but one Ha Eun & I hugged with our liquor filled bodies it was water works!!!  I can't remember all that was said but a lot of  'I'm going to miss you and you are the best and what an amazing person' blah blah blah.  After that Mike & I thought to try another pub to see if we could do the 12 but I had to pee then it was the end of my endurance.  I remember us trying to get a cab for a while but I was to tired to focus so we went to get some food to see if that would help but after a few fries I had to sit and lay my head down (I had on comfy shoes this time...mainly because my toes were still numb from the previous day).  After getting kicked out of Istanbul we tried to find a cab with no success...do you remember the night before?  Well it was worse!   Mike tried to get a cab for over 1hr with no luck and finally resorted to calling Mom to see if she could get us.  We could have ordered a cab but it would have been over 2hrs before one arrived so we didn't have much choice...we could have got a room but we had to be up and ready for the movers the next day at 10.  So mom came to get us and she had the boys in the car too!!!!  I couldn't decide if I was impressed or upset but either way we were on our way home.  What a night!

December 17th-19th - Packing Time!!!!!!

After all the anticipating the time has come...the packing has started.  We have been through this before so we had quite a bit of stuff tagged and ordered so we thought we were ready to go.  The first few hours were a blur…between the movers asking us what was going East and what was going West and us packing at the same it was a mess.  We originally thought to have them save the beds until the last day but we decided that it was better to just let them go for it so that we could get it done.  The requested to start packing on Sunday so we anticipated 3 days of packing which didn’t seem right because when we left Texas it only took them 2 days and we had a lot more stuff…maybe it was more complicated because of the 2 different shipment…idk.  Either way it was a long day.  I had told mom to go to the 12pm church service because that is what we had agreed with Gernot but it turned out that they went to the early service.  After we got into all the packing we just said skip church because there was just too much going on.  So Ha Eun & Gernot picked up some KFC for us after church and brought it over to the house.  2 days in a row that Ha Eun is eating fast food…I think that is more than she has had in the past 10 years combined!  So the kids got to have one last play date which was nice and we got to reminisce about our night out.  Everyone was tired but it was very nice of them to stop in and bring food.  Poor Gernot was ready to go soon after but he stuck it out for us for a while so the kids could have more time together.  Another goodbye…these kids spent a lot of time together so it will be hard.  Ha Eun was telling me about how the kids associate BBQ with us.  So every time they talk about BBQing Hanno gets excited because he says they can invite all of us over (he invites us all by name).  I don’t think Hanno and Shaun will be impacted as much as Hami & Lino but everyone will remember the other one…at least for a while.   So this to must end and our friends headed out…this will only be a see you later because there is no way we will not meet again.  I could barely look at Ha Eun without snotting up and my eyes filling with tears.  Even as I type the keyboard is damp with tears.  What great people and great memories…we are so blessed to have such great friends.  It is very hard to find a couple that matches so well and the kids get along so well too…so lucky.  We will miss this gang for sure.

The rest of the afternoon was all the same and the guys were really making a dent in the packing so we decided to get a room.  That means we will done on Monday for sure so we can start the clean up sooner.  At one point I was in a panic because I realized that I still had the boys school clothes in the drawers but the guys had emptied the clothes into the boxes already so I had to be a bit of a pain and ask to go through a box to pull out school clothes.  Thankfully they didn’t have their box of clothes taped up yet so I only had to go through one box and he had to open one box with their bedding so that I could find something else.  I couldn’t find Lino’s red school shirt but he had his other one so I just went with that…everyone at school knows that we are packing so they shouldn’t give us any problem.  Once they were all done we got our stuff to the hotel and I headed over to Michelle’s for a drink…but I was to tired of drinking so it was just for chats.  It is always good to chat with Michelle, she has such a good heart and is so entertaining.  It was nice to just relax and not worry about the crap that I had packed or not packed.  Even though I was thinking about everything that needed to be done I was also very relaxed and happy to not be doing everything that needed to be done.  I know this will not be the last time I see Michelle so there is no need to think about the goodbye that must happen…even still I was crying in the car ride to the hotel…man these people have made such an impact on our lives it is incredible.  I will miss them so much!!!!   Michelle also got us a really thoughtful gift that says in Irish 'You will always have a home in Ireland'.

Monday was very interesting…we had to get ready at the hotel but then go over to the house to make some sort of breakfast.  Why do we have to be so complicated???  Mainly the reason is that I hate to waste food but there must be something else there too.  Either way we had to go back to eat some of the food that we still had in the fridge.  I got up early because of course I couldn’t sleep so I started to clean up a bit and get organized and then tried to find cups or bowls or any sort of utensil to use for breakfast…I finally found a cup and some plastic spoons so I was sorted.  Poor Mike was exhausted too because I woke him up at like 5:45 with my tossing and turning and he tried to go back to sleep but by the time I decided to give up and go to the house he was stuck in the hotel…sorry.  So I had to clean out the cars quickly because we had people looking at both…whoppie!!!!  Maybe we will get them sold before we leave.  Next to drop the boys off…we could have kept them out but it would have been more complicated for all of us so they went to school which was good.  And the packing continued…the guys were sure that they would have everything packed and loaded by the evening which was good.  Shaun had his last birthday party later that afternoon and Lino ended up going with him because we only had one car.  I had dropped the small car off to my mechanic to have someone look at it and the guy who looked at the red car in the morning was interested but we also had about 5 calls from people off of done deal who were interested as well.  The funny thing is that we had to pack up all of our food (because we couldn’t take any food at all with us) and we had 6 huge boxes of crap to give away and the relocation people were helping us to do something with it so they sent a guy to pick it up and to look at the car.  We couldn’t tell if he was really interested or not but Mike was really trying to get the car sold.  He was making such a deal out of it I couldn’t believe the guy left without taking the car!  Mike basically was giving the car away…too funny.  When I tried to sell it for cheap he wasn’t having it but I think that is because he didn’t feel the pressure of limited time but now he was.  Anyway that guy called us back and was interested but he wasn’t able to make an offer or provide any money for a few days.  So in the mean time we had a few other views set up…one was after Shaun’s birthday party!  I got a surprise visit from Lorraine and she dropped in to say goodbye and to bring a little gift for the boys which was nice.  I met Lorraine at Cuidiu and she has always been a good friend.  It was very thoughtful of her to come by… even though she was loading me with more crap!!!!  Hahaha…I can’t complain to much.  So the plan was to drop the boys and mom off at the party and we were going to go to the city to get tattoos as a homage to our time in Ireland but the guy who wanted to see the car sounded very serious and he had cash in hand so we had to make a plan for that.  My brain was not prepared for that and neither was my patience so Mike took care of coordinating all of that and the taxi and stuff.  What we didn’t coordinate properly was the timing of the train…so after I dropped off the boys  & mom at the party and one of the movers to our storage unit went back to get Mike and finish up with the movers.  They were having a hell of a time getting down the head board from our bed.  It wasn’t funny…that thing is massive and not meant for an Irish house.  They were working on it for over 1hr and finally when I got back they figured it out.  After all the different methods they went back to the first way they started and it worked…it was crazy.  They could have had it down after about 15 min (they needed to unwrap it and turn it a special way) but eventually they figured it out.  So we sorted them out and headed out to drop the car off and race to the train station.  Why do we make everything so complicated????  We made it there and checked the board and it looked like we were just in time for the train!!!  But after the train came on the opposite side (going to Midleton and not going to Cork) we realized we had the wrong schedule and our train wasn’t coming for another 30min!  That was going to make us super late for our appointment so we had to make another adjustment.  So Mike went on and I went back to the party to chat with the other moms and be there to talk about the car with the guy.  It was nice to chat with the moms from Shaun’s school but after telling our story about 3x I was so tired.  After that the guy came to check out the car and after trying to haggle me down another €100 but I didn’t allow it…he bought the car!!!!  So we are 1 car down and 1 to go!  I had a taxi pick me up and take me to the airport and the guy who bought the car was nice enough to take mom & the boys to the hotel so that they wouldn’t have to get a taxi too.  I got the rental car and all was good.  We got our tattoos and mom got the boys to the train station and to Son of a Bun so that we could meet up with Miguel for a last dinner.  It was nice to catch up with Miguel and the boys love to abuse him…I think that is the way they show their love for him.  It was funny because they kept calling him Cesar which is ironic because when Cesar started they kept calling him Miguel.  Funny how quickly things change…but even though they had the name mixed up they knew the difference between the two.  Shaun loves to mess with Miguel’s Adams apple because he just thinks its so cool or strange and Lino loves to be a pain.  It was like old times.  When we were finished Shaun was begging for Miguel to come with us so that made it hard…so Miguel walked us to our car and we had one last teary goodbye.  The boys were not sad like we are but you can tell they will miss him.  The goodbyes are very quick and they move on to the next thing very quickly but later they always ask if they will see that person again.  Poor Miguel was just as emotional as I was so it wasn’t good…I could barely keep myself together but I knew if I let go it wasn’t going to stop so I had to be strong.  He was so good to us and the boys we will definitely miss him but we told him over and over again that there is no way that is the last time he will see us so again this is not goodbye but see you later.  Since we had to do a lot of juking and jiving Mike & I had to go back to the house to get things in order.  So we dropped off the boys and mom and went back to the house to clean up for a few hours.  Mike was not feeling it at all but I think I needed it.  There are so many emotions going through your body during this time and even as an adult it is hard to understand them all.  But for some reason cleaning felt good so that is what I did.  Eventually Mike as able to nail down how much cleaning was acceptable and when we reached that limit we left for the night.  By the time we got the hotel and showered up it was midnight…what a long yet productive and exhausting day.

Tuesday was all cleaning!!!  The boys were having their going away parties at school and I had planned to make cupcakes for them but after they packed up all of the kitchen on Sunday I knew that wasn’t going to happen.  Luckily I had made a batch of my famous chocolate cupcakes a few weeks ago and I had those frozen in the freezer ready to go so I only had to supplement a little bit with a few aldi cakes.  I was going to frost them to try and make them a little nicer but even decided against that too.  I was really going for the easy route but I think it was the right choice.  The kids really don’t care about all that fancy stuff anyway, they would just be happy to have some cake and probably would only eat a bite or 2 anyway before moving on to other things so why waste my time and mind space on it.  So I didn’t.  I took the boys to school and for some reason the emotions hit me before I could even get into the drive of Shaun’s school.  I could feel myself getting choked up and I was not prepared at all.  I dropped Shaun off and had a quick chat with Joan and Olive and I could barely breath from being so choked up…I was a complete mess!!!!  The boys have been going to Joan’s school since we arrived and she has been so amazing to them it will be hard to go.  I know that if we stayed in Ireland May would have been the end of Shaun’s time there but it just seems so much more final now.  Of course Joan and Olive were so supportive and understanding…that made it even worse!  Somehow I picked up a few pieces of strength and I managed to get to the car without completely collapsing.  The drive to Lino’s school was full of tears as well.  He didn’t notice it at all and after I dropped off the cupcakes to his class I went to talk to the teachers aid and ask her to take a picture of the class for me please and all that stuff and I started balling again…what the fuck!!!!  Seriously, his teacher has been all over Lino these last couple of months and now I am all teary eyed about the last day.  What the hell is going on with all my emotions…my fucking period!!!  Damn Eve!!!!!!!!!!  I'm not even sppose to be on my period for another freaking 4 days so what the hell is up with this???  Some sick joke apparently...ugh (if that is TMI for you then you don't know me very well). Well if its going to be like that I mine as well embraces it.  I tried to get my mind off of the fact that this was the last full day in Ireland but my body language didn’t gave away my mood regardless.  There were a few things that needed to be done so I loaded up the car with stuff to go to charity or dump and headed out.   Lorraine had told me about a dump near me so I tried and eventually found it.  It was pretty cheap like she said and they took all the stuff that I had in the car so it made things a lot easier.  After that was to the old office to finally pick up my laptop charger then to see Liam to see about the car.  He wasn’t able to sell it so we would have to come back to get it later and figure out a plan for it.  Since I was in Glanmire I stopped by our favorite locale coffee shop and got us all coffees.  We had a lot to do and not so much to do…tried to clean and fix a few things.  Tried to throw out stuff and donate stuff…all the stuff you have to do when moving.  Mike went to run a few errands and they left me at the house because I was in such a fowl mood.  Once I realized that I was going to miss Shaun’s last day of school I got super sad but there wasn’t much I could do about it.  It was mom picking up Shaun from school and she didn’t have a way to be contacted so I wasn’t able to get a last day of school picture…I was upset about that naturally so I cried again!  I made the same mistake with Lino because of my mood too…it was probably for the best that I didn’t do the pick-ups and I think that subconsciously  I was avoiding it for that exact reason.  Instead I was cleaning!!!!  Not sure how effective I was but I did something and Mike did a lot of other stuff…together I think we did all that needed to be done.  So the house was cleaned and our relocation lady came to do the walk through with us because the landlord couldn’t do it.  We are a little worried about how the walk through will go with him because apparently he isn’t the most reasonable person ever.  He made us get the windows cleaned inside and out and a bunch of other stuff which most landlords don’t ask you to do…oh well.  So that is the end of our time in the Glenmore house…it was a quick stay!  The relocation lady took away all the charity boxes that we had so we didn’t have to be bothered with that and there were a few other things that needed to be taken care of and she did that as well so that was very nice. 

After she left I raced to Glanmire with the boys and mom to meet Matha and Michelle for one last cuppa!!!!  We met up at Café Beva because it was the place where it all began.  This is where I met my first friend…Martha.  Its funny because we absolutely hate this place because the guy that owns or manages it is such an ass and is never nice to us so we never go there.  It is a shame because he could have more business but most of the people that we know don’t go there for that exact reason.  Anyway we had a nice catch up and I was able to sneak a picture of Shaun & Freya together even though Freya didn’t want her picture taken.  These guys are so special to me I can’t believe that I was lucky enough to have them in my life.  Martha is a crazy Irish lady who has a heart a big as earth and Michelle is the same.  Patrick and Tadgh were the first kids that Shaun & Lino played with really when we first moved here.  There are just so many first and last memories with them.  Poor Patrick was very sad about Lino leaving…he wasn’t crying but you could tell that he wasn’t happy.  Lino & Patrick have been best buds for a long time…it is hard for all of us.  So again…more tears and more hugs.  Martha wouldn’t even leave before us because they wanted to wave goodbye to us!  So sweet…of course Lino & Shaun do not seem as sad but I think they just express their emotions differently.  It is unfortunate for them that their mother has a hard time expressing her emotions so they start out at a disadvantage.  After that we headed over to Michelle’s to wait for Mike to pick us up.  Michelle is such an amazing friend she was willing to look out for the car for us until it sells.  We dropped the price a bunch in order to make sure it sells right away so hopefully it won’t be to much work for her.  The last for minutes with Michelle were really really hard and I am having a hard time even expressing my emotions for her now.  She is such a strong woman but at the same time so vulnerable.  We made such a good pair because she would always smack me back into place when I was lost and I was always there to smack her about her crazy emotions about not being a good mother which she is an amazing mother.  I think it is important to have these anchor of friends in your life or else you are out in an ocean called life with no way to know where you are going or where you have come from.  Michelle is a constant reminder for me and I am very thankful for that.  I know she will miss me but I know that she will make other friends and will be fine.  There is not many people that come across her that are not instantly drawn to her.  So just again…not a goodbye but see you later.  I told her I would come back for her wedding so maybe finally her and Dee will stop procrastinating and do the damn thing!!!!!  I can’t wait to be there for their marriage.  So either it will be that or something else but I will be back.  And as Martha says I’ll be back regardless and she thinks I’ll be back to live…lets see what happens because I am not sure about that.  But for now…until next time Michelle & Martha!

So for our last meal in Cork we went to Amicus because it has the best Seafood Chowder we have had!  We had a pretty quite dinner but it was good.  I had to have a Murphy’s since this is the only place I will be able to get it.  While at dinner I had the boys do a little video about there last days at school.  Lino’s was filled with parting which is great and I asked him if Ms O’Driscal was sad or happy that it was his last day and he said she was sad…I was shocked!  Shaun was just worried about missing his girlfriend Wendy…did I mention that he got a nice Christmas gift from Wendy!!!  She will miss him too!  Those too are so cute together.  I know that they are to young to remember all the details but we remember it. 

   

And with that…it is time to say goodbye to Ireland.  Mom got up early and took the aircoach to Dublin and after breakfast I had to have one last kiss from my girl Ha Eun before we headed to the airport.  Ireland has been so good to us there is no words that will ever be able to encapsulate the feelings.  Shaun had all of his first here and as a family we have had so many first as well.  This was our first country to live in overseas, our first countryside home, our first time having an aupair, our first time going to Europe together as a family, first time for so many other things.  The friends and memories that we have made here are one of a kind.  There are no people in the world like Cork people…that I believe with the bottom of my heart.  And the people who are not Cork people but live here are also included in that group.  There are so many memories here that we must come back!!!!  But for now it is time to say goodbye Ireland but we will see you later!

 Our life for the next 2 months in suit cases...and the boys needed so many cars that they needed a carseat!

School pictures and going away card fro the boys.

The boys before the flight to NY

We couldn't even get a last picture of Ireland because it was so foggy!!!  We will miss you Ireland!!!!