Five years ago when we first went to Tayto Park, I admit, I was confused. Was it a playground with a zoo attached? Or a zoo with a playground attached? Our kids were too small for any of the rides, and I don't remember seeing any rollercoasters - I was too busy trying not to lose sight of ...
We're half-way through. It's a bit soon for jumping to conclusions, and I'm tempting fate by writing this, and it's all going to fall apart this week just because I wrote this down. But then again, if I don't stop and acknowledge that it's happening, I might never believe that it did. September is usually HELL in ...
"We'll fit loads in over the next few weeks," I'd said to the kids two weekends ago, not wanting to say what I really meant, which was, "There are only twelve more days left of summer holidays, let's make the most of it." Because I didn't want them on the countdown that I was already ...
Two years ago, we managed to have the most unexpectedly perfect time on a two-night trip to London with the kids. Unexpected, because the kids were five, eight, and nine at the time, and I didn't think a city break would work. But we were visiting my sister and her family, so the way I ...
“We’ve been here six times,” said the woman behind me in the queue at the bakery, “and now we’re afraid to go anywhere different in case it’s not as good.” This was in Cambrils in Spain, and she wasn’t the only one who said it. One family reportedly rented the same house in Cambrils every ...
Dear Teacher, I'm writing this down because if I try to say it to you in person, I'll cry (I cry very easily) and I'll mortify myself and mortify you, and my child will never speak to me again for all the mortification, and with all that going on, I won't get to say what I really ...
It was eleven o'clock on Sunday morning, and we'd been chatting to and entertained by our hosts, Jean and Dónal, for about an hour at that stage. We'd only met Dónal that morning but we'd meet Jean two days earlier when we'd arrived in her Airbnb in Ballybunion. She had welcomed us like old friends, although having ...
After 18 months of searching, fourteen thousand buckets of tears when we walked away from our old house, seven nail-biting weeks from "sale agreed" to "here are the keys", and a month of almost-done refurbishment, we're finally in our new house. And it's bliss. Except for all the things that aren't working yet, like the oven, ...
Six o'clock. Hazy sunshine. A nippy evening chill creeping in, but these hardy soccer players don't care. Shin guards on, socks pulled high, shorts and proud club jerseys. Running to the pitch, racing for the first kick of the ball. Eight, nine, ten years old, one thing in common - a love of the beautiful game. Oh, and they're all ...
This Easter holidays, along with some very nice things (like getting keys to our new house - hurrah!) the kids and I did the following: Went to a tile shop and picked tiles Bought a towel rail Went to a kitchen shop and picked cupboards Went to the new house to meet the painter Went to ...