Quiet day in Cork...

So today I took Mike to work so that I could go to the GP with Shaun. I actually got to Pepsi without the GPS and Mike only had to correct my misdirection once...I must be getting the hang of this. Yesterday I could barely drive and talk at the same time (plus I had 2 hands on the steering wheel like a new driver). Today I'm driving without the GPS, talking and only using 2 hands when on the smaller roads. So much progress in just one day...I'm pretty proud of myself. 

So Shaun and I visited a GP to get an idea how the shots are given here verses the states. They are on a very different schedule than the states if course but the bad part (for us) is that there is really no flexibility. So after taking to the GP for about 10 min I got to pay my €50 fee. Freaking €50 for a consultation visit...that's crazy. Well it looks like we might have to make our Dr visits in the states, at least we have some decisions to make. The boys are in good health so it's nice to have options with their healthcare.  Once I got back to the apt I got sucked into a Rocky marathon...it gets me every time. Somehow I managed to pull myself away from the marathon and headed to the city for our daily walk. It seems like every day I meet someone new on our walk, today it was Mary...we are on a first name basis now. She lives close to the place we are staying and apparently she walks to the city center often so I'll probably see her again. She was so nice, we had a nice chat about the buggies and dummies...that would be strollers and pacifiers. Love learning the lingo :-)

So in the city today I stopped by another salon to see if they could do anything with my hair and they were even more loss than the first place...they don't even do chemical straightening. I am so SOL it's not even funny. And you might ask "are there no other black women there?" That's a great question...answer is yes there are quite a few "women of color" here but from what I can tell most of them are African and have their hair braided, full of weave or just natural. Then there is another group of women that have straight nappy hair. So no help to me...I'm guessing there has to be another sister out here that perms or straightens her hair...so it will be my mission to find her!! It's going to be a rough 3 yrs if I can't find someone to straighten my hair. Oh the stress. 

Otherwise Shaun and I just hung out in the city center for a little while to pass the time. The weather just continues to be beautiful which is nice but this place is not prepared for this kind of weather at all. I went to this Mediterranean restaurant to get a bit of AC and rest and they didn't even have any AC. It seems like most of the places are without any real AC, which I can understand. I'm sure they would only need it a few days a year, if that. So basically no AC break for me. Maybe if I would have went to a department store but I wasn't in the mood to stroll the department stores. 

Our evening was just as quite as our day. I made roasted parsnip, carrot and potato and they were actually pretty amazing...first time ever cooking parsnip. I see it being used on copped all the time and its all over the grocery stores here so I figured I would give it a go...Mike at all of his and even got seconds so it must have turned out ok. After dinner Mike and I were talking about Lino...the little guy is on heaven with Nini & PopPop. He had reverted a little with potty training but now he seems to be on his way to being fully trained...it only took 2 M@M's for going pee pee and 4 for going poop! Dear god, that kid is spoiled. But that got us to thinking..should we be missing him???? Some patents might be going through withdrawal at this point but we were in agreement that we were not there yet. Don't get me wrong we love Lino and miss his comedic behavior but we also are enjoying his time away. I think it makes us just love him even more. We get these cute txt and picture updates from Nini and you can see just how happy he is. We are glad that he gets to spend such quality time with his grandparents...we know a lot of people who wouldn't dare leave their kid with the grandparents and grandparents that wouldn't want to keep the kids for that long...so we are blessed for that. But we do miss him :-)  love you big boy!

Lino is always in his skivvies at Nini's house...and with the weather being so nice they are always near or in the pool...he loves the water! 

Lino dancing...looks like a momma move??? 

And of course I have to add a pic of Shaun. We are making due with what we have so it's bath in the sink for him. Another lover of the water 

I am so blessed to have a freat husband and 2 wonderful boys in my life. I love them more than life!