Moving to Ireland -- the arrival

We arrived in Ireland on March 5th and were able to drive right to our new home in Ballina, Co. Tipperary. The landlords had left the house mostly furnished, which was wonderful because it meant we had beds to sleep in and pans to use for cooking.

The house and grounds are simply gorgeous! And the set-up works very well for the kids. We give them the run of the kitchen and sunroom and just shut the door to the rest of the house. When our sea shipment arrives, we'll use the baby gates to block off the tv and the stairs and then we'll be able to open up all of the downstairs (except the master bedroom) for them to roam.

We were lucky to receive our air shipment only a week after we arrived in Ireland. In that shipment were the cribs, high chairs, and the all-important Runabout Triple Stroller. We can walk nearly everywhere in Ballina and nearby Killaloe, so this stroller has been a lifesaver.

I walk to town most every day, either with my parents, Jeff, or by myself. We walk by the most gorgeous scenery.

We live in Ballina, Co. Tipperary, and we can just head across the bridge to go to Killaloe, Co. Clare. There's a few more shops over there as well as the post office.

And on Sundays, they have an outdoor market we've been to about every week now. It is in the parking lot in front of the church pictured below.

The kids get a kick out of the market, but mostly they like it when we go to feed the ducks in the nearby water.

There's also a pretty spot to sit and feed the ducks on the Ballina side of the River. This is the River Shannon, but we are just at the tip of what they call Lough Derg, a lake that forms (basically a wide spot) in the river.

Moving to Ireland -- the flight

On March 4th & 5th, we took a flight from Austin, Texas to Newark, New Jersey. We then spent 8 hours in the airport until we got onto our second flight from Newark, New Jersey to Shannon, Ireland. We waited at the Shannon airport for almost 90 minutes between immigration and straightening out our rental car. Then we drove to our new home in Ballina, Co. Tipperary, Ireland.

But this is about the flight. We had so much stuff with us since we were going to be (and had been) living out of suitcases for a long time. We checked 5 bags, then we had 5 carry-ons, plus the kids' pea pods, plus 3 carseats. The worst part of the trip was getting on and off the plane. Security could've been a nightmare, too, but a wonderful woman helped us through the line. Once we were on the plane, things went very well. Especially on the first flight.

The kids slept and were easily entertained on the flight to Newark. We got to the airport and Jeff immediately went in search of United/Continental's club. Meanwhile, we let the kids loose in the terminal.

Jeff got us in there and into the family room, which was fantastic. The kids were able to run wild with toys and we even got in some naps!

The food court was nice and the kids did okay with McDonald's cheeseburgers and even tried some pizza.

Before the red-eye to Ireland, I put the kids in their PJs, hoping that would signal for them to sleep. Unfortunately, we were still in the holding area when bedtime rolled around and the kids just lost it. They couldn't get comfortable on the plane, either. They slept some, but Adele and Walt finally did better when we took them out of their seats and laid them across our laps. Gordon was up for quite a while. I tried to get photos of this, but it was too dark on the plane.

Finally we landed around 6am, Ireland time, and the kids did really well through the whole airport process. We were all exhausted, but somehow we survived! And we are so happy to be here.