Top of the Morning To You

Oh the Ireland post....this will be long.  We had such a wonderful time on this trip, and it was surprisingly, very relaxing, that is, outside of the traveling there and back.  I envisioned that we would be going, going, going, because that's the way it seems to go when traveling abroad.  You want to get as much sightseeing and experiences out of the trip as possible.  But, we stayed in the country for a whole week, and Dublin for three nights, so most of our trip was very laid back...waking up late (yea right, Jude slept terribly and in the bed with us every night), getting going after we had some coffee, eggs, bacon and toast (blueberries for Jude...huge hit, but very nasty poo!), and traveled around the little towns near our cottage and having dinner at the local pub.

Before we left, of course, everyone that I talked to about Ireland said the food was TERRIBLE, so I went in with extremely low expectations, and anticipated that I would just eat packaged potato chips the whole trip, and that Jude would starve to death because he wouldn't eat the nasty food.  I was of the mindset that they don't have fruit in Ireland....I'm so dumb, of course they had fruit!  And Whitney and I were worried that they wouldn't have pasteurized milk, another duh moment....it's not the 18th century anymore.  Everyone has pasteurized milk!  Anyway, I had bottom of the ocean expectations regarding the food, but Lonnie and I went in with a strategy.  Whenever the opportunity would present itself, we would eat any other type of cuisine besides Irish food.  So, we actually had yummy Italian cuisine a couple times in Galway, decent Chinese takeout a couple nights in Oughterard (but, we had to educate them on Egg Drop soup, very strange), Romanian Italian in Dublin, and some pretty good fish and lots and lots of chips.  Jude nearly turned into a potato, with how many chips he ate.  The only time our strategy let us down, was when Lonnie and Waller ordered a supreme pizza from a little restaurant in Oughterard...it tasted like an armpit, literally.  It had anchovies, slices of ham, CORN?, and who knows what else, but it was disgusting.  So, there's my take on the food.  Buy groceries and eat your breakfast and lunch at home, and eat other cuisines when out in public.  Works like a charm.

So backtracking to the travel.  I was so super proud of myself and still am to this day, because I packed perfectly for Jude.  I didn't forget one thing.  I double and triple checked my packing list that I had been working on for weeks, and brought all essentials, but didn't go overboard.  It was still a lot to handle to and from the airports, but with the support of Mimi, K Pa, Waller, Kitty and Lonnie, we made it!  We got to Louisville airport ready to go to New York to catch our direct flight to Dublin, and of course, we were delayed.  We enjoyed some gossip magazines and Jude rolled/crawled around the airport to pass the time.

The rest of the trip there was not quite a disaster, but close to it.  Coming home was definitely a disaster, but not because of Jude.  Some quick highlights on the way there - Jude wailed, screamed, cried the entire two hour flight to New York on a plane that carried 30 people, so everyone heard it.  That plane was hotter than Hades, and we stripped Jude down, and finally 20 minutes before we landed around 10:30ish, Jude passed out.  We ran, literally ran from to our next gate with sleeping baby, stroller, car seat, carry on, and made it - YES! - to our connecting flight to Dublin.  As we were boarding, Jude decided to wake up, and flirt with some Irish people boarding the flight and was awake until 2:30 in the morning on our flight to Dublin.  He was ringing the attendants on the switch above our heads, crawling in the aisles, crying, eating, drinking, playing peek a boo with trying to sleep passengers, and then zonked out for the last couple hours of the flight.  He was a lap baby, which meant he didn't have a seat, and was supposed to be in my lap the whole flight....yea right.  We arrived around 10am their time, met my mom and dad, caught a bus and made our way to the hotel.  After a quick nap, we did a little sightseeing and had dinner in Dublin.

We pretty much went to sleep soon after that, and by the next day, we all had adjusted to the time change, even Jude.  Lonnie, Waller and K Pa picked up the rental cars, while the ladies and Jude had some breakfast at a cute little restaurant, and we hit the road for our ride to the country.

On the wrong side of the car and road --- Lonnie did a great job.

We headed to the Castle Trim (Braveheart Castle) on that absolutely gorgeous day. 

We then headed to our cottage in Oughterard, a city 15 miles outside of Galway, and settled into our cottage near Quiet Man bridge (bridge featured in The Quiet Man with John Wayne...the Irish love pointing out where American movies were filmed).

A tired little lad.

And what we woke up to every morning.

The next day we headed to the Kylemore Abbey, which was gorgeous.  It used to be a private residence that a wealthy man built for his wife as a gift...nice gift!

The mini cathedral they built on the property.

The place where the couple was laid to rest on the property.  It was such a sad story, she died in Egypt, when she was only 45 of some disease she caught while there, and her husband was very distraught and never remarried and died at 85.

The gardens that he had made for her.  If we were there a few weeks later, everything would have been in bloom, but you can still tell how beautiful it was.  Funny story, we got stranded at the gardens since the bus didn't come back and pick us up...it started raining, and Lonnie ran back to the car (about a mile) with Jude, I walked, and my Mom found some random employee to go pick pregnant Kitty up at the top of the hill.  We made it out of there though!

The next day was ugly and nasty, so we stayed close to the cottage and went to a local castle.  Jude met his first horse outside the castle and loved it!

I sneezed that whole night and next day.  So allergic, but I love them.

The next day we headed to Westport and visited the Westport House, and it was on such pretty grounds.

Jude loved doing this...pushing his own stroller.

Some photo ops on the beautiful green grass.

The next day, Lonnie went to play golf at a local golf course, while the rest of us ventured off to the Cliffs of Moher...my absolute favorite place we went the whole trip, and Lonnie missed it.  They are so beautiful, the day was beautiful, and driving in the country was beautiful.

Hanging out with Mimi.

 We missed Daddy that day and had to get some snuggling in :)

Lon and I went to Clifden the next day with Jude, and he let me drive...it was fun!

And we took some adorable pictures of Jude in the local park.

Clearly, I think my child is cute...so many pictures!

We ended out trip back in Dublin for a couple days, and we saw the whole city on a sightseeing bus.

The Dublin Castle

The gang

Street in Dublin

Christ Church Cathedral

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Jude enjoying the sightseeing bus.

Somewhere in Dublin.

And Jude learned to walk in Ireland.  Here is a super lengthy video of his first steps at 13 1/2 months old.

The whole gang in Galway.  We had such a great trip!  And thanks to K Pa and Mimi for making it all possible, we love you two so much!

Now the trip home really was a disaster.  Not only would Jude not hold still for the 7 hour flight back to New York, but once we got to New York, our flight was delayed 6 hours!!  And on top of that, there was no air conditioning in the terminal and it was so hot and crowded.  We passed the time by letting Jude wander around the terminal in his socks and diaper, ate ice cream (which ended up all on Lonnie), complaining, and sweating.  Jude started the trip with long sleeve pants and a shirt, and ended it in his diaper due to a pee mishap.  To say we were excited to get home was an understatement!  We were thrilled.  We kissed our doggie girls and hit the hay.  It was a great trip and I am so excited that Jude is already a little world traveler.

Almost Spring

Eery year I forget how much Winter sucks!  I hate it.  And with a baby cooped up in a house on the verge of taking his first steps and getting into EVERYthing, it was more challenging than past Winters.  Thank goodness we had Jude's first birthday to bring us some excitement this Winter, as well as anxiously awaiting our trip to Ireland.  February and March showed glimpses of Spring, and we got out of the house as much as we could, but here's how we spent those last few weeks of winter.

The weather reached 45-50 degrees on a day in February and this family had to get out to the Zoo!  Here's Daddy showing Jude the elephants.

My cute little guy hanging at the Zoo.

Not quite ready for his own photo on the elephant structure.

He watched his Daddy cut his hair.  Lonnie and I were afraid he wouldn't know who Daddy was without the hair, but we're silly.  Of course, he knew Daddy with or without the dreads.

I don't think Jude likes this idea.

People asked us all the time, "Are you going to do dreads for Jude?"  I think not.

I did a little bit of Spring cleaning, and put up some clothes that Jude couldn't wear anymore.  Lonnie asked me if it made me sad, putting up his baby clothes, and of course it did.  I can't believe my little baby is turning into a little boy.  It's so exciting to see him grow and learn new things, but like most Moms, I can't believe he's not my baby anymore. He helped me take out some items I packed into a huge Tupperware bin for the next baby Gardner boy....one day maybe.

We hung out with the Willett/Schulz family while our favorite New Yorker was in town.  Of course Laura spoiled Jude rotten with books and golf clubs, which Jude LOVES! He sees Daddy playing with his clubs all the time and love hitting the ball and people with them :) Thanks Laura!

On St. Patty's Day, we had gorgeous weather!  We went to the parade down the street to get ourselves in the Irish spirit before our big trip.

Enjoying his Daddy and his sucker.

Wearing his Ireland gear and beads.

Trying to get a look at the fire trucks -- he did not like those sirens.

We enjoyed a super hot Spring day, and had dinner at Tumbleweed on the river followed by some playing at the awesome kids' park they have nearby.

And we later met up with some of our Tennessee family that Jude hadn't met yet!  We love these guys and they gave us some awesome tips for our Ireland trip.

And of course, there was lots of Spring cuddling with my baby, guess I can't say that for much longer.

1 Year Old!

Our precious baby boy turned one year old and we can't believe that he's already been in our lives for a whole year.  He makes us so happy and thankful everyday, but his first birthday was something special.  I had to go to Indianapolis at 5:30 that morning for work, so I didn't see my little birthday boy before I left :(  Daddy did a great job though, and sang Happy Birthday to him first thing in the morning as Lonnie got Jude out of his crib.  What a sweet Daddy.  I tried to get home from work as soon as I could, but 5:30pm was the best I could do.  Even though it was a Tuesday, and Jude's party was on Saturday, we had to celebrate the real deal.

Here he is holding his balloon and sitting in front of the sign Momma D made him.

Of course I had to sing him Happy Birthday on his real birthday, at 6:07 pm. Here are some pictures of him trying his blue cupcake that Dada picked out.

That Saturday, we had a birthday party for family and some friends, and got to celebrate the little man with everyone.  It had a jungle theme, and here's the cake we got made for Jude.  I loved it!!

Birthday boy with a very happy Mommy and Daddy.

Not the best picture, but here's his birthday chair and hat.

In his I am 1 lion shirt.

Unfortunately, Jude didn't like his second cupcake as much as his first.  I think he was a little overwhelmed by everyone singing Happy Birthday to him.  But, it was a great, special get together.  And we are so blessed and thankful to have so many people in our lives that love our little Jude Thomas Gardner.  This past year was amazing, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for our sweet baby boy.