October 27 - Cork

Under the tree you might spot a little bare bottom... Yes - we let Adaline go pee-pee under a tree in a park... She suddenly had to go THEN, so we looked around, didn't see a potty for miles, and did the only thing we knew to do... You can see how proud she was below...

Bryan probably will not be glad I put this picture in, but I thought it was cute... :)


Fall has definitely arrived, and we enjoyed walking around in the beautiful weather on the bank holiday. We walked over the shaky bridge to get to the Cork City Gaol (jail).


The jail was designed by one of the people who helped design the university... The picture above is the governor's house (and by governor, we mean the person in charge of the jail - not the Sonny Perdue's of the time).

Adaline actually did fairly well even though it was somewhat boring for her. She was so good that the woman in charge of the museum gave her a lollipop, which she is proudly showing off above.
Hmmm... I think I may need to invest in one of these at home... :)

We walked from the gaol to Shandon to visit beautiful St. Ann's church. We walked all the way up to the top - and halfway up, we got to play the church bells!

View of St. FinBarre


We had to wear these beautiful headphones to protect our ears as we walked past the bells. It was loud even with the headphones - I can't imagine not wearing them!

Here is Adaline eating a rice cake and talking to Rah-Rah on the phone!
Last but not least - this is Adaline's Halloween costume. We surprised her with it on Monday, and I wish I had gotten a picture of her eyes when she saw it. She was THRILLED! It made us feel good to make her so happy. :)

Odds and Ends 3

Perhaps you have wondered where the cooking takes place in our humble apartment... Well here are some pictures to help you better envision Alison cooking in Ireland (Robin - I hear your laughter! I do cook occasionally!) Here is the refrigerator (freezer on bottom) and oven/stove. The oven took some figuring out because it has symbols instead of words - so our first batch of blueberry muffins were toasted instead of baked. Ha!
I am handwashing all our dishes every day - and I have such respect for Aunt Sharon who handwashes all of our Thanksgiving dishes... I am SO ready to have my dishwasher back. :)
We feel very fortunate to have such a nice apartment to stay in during this time - we have a washer/dryer, DVD, microwave, full kitchen, internet service, two bedrooms! It really is quite nice for a home away from home.

October 25 - Rainy Day in Cork

Well, the leaves are falling off the trees across the street from us, so we know fall has moved in. If only the rain would go away for a few days - or visit Athens which is in desperate need! We tried going to the Cork Jazz Festival (the largest in Europe!) on Saturday, but the rain made things miserable... It was a good, solid rain - not just the normal spitting we have gotten used to since arriving here.
We spent the afternoon inside, drawing on Adaline's pumpkin and having a "McCullick Dance Party" with the help of Bryan's iPod. :) Bryan can pay me later for not posting the pictures of his dance moves. Ha!
Adaline loved drawing her pumpkin's face - so next year, carving will no doubt be a hit! Bryan wanted to try it here, but I don't trust any of the knives we have in our kitchen...

Saturday evening, Bryan and I went out on a date - we actually had a student, Maebh (pronounced Maeve) babysit. We ate a wonderful Italian restaurant that was chock full of real Italians working there! It was one of the best meals we've had since getting here, but we can't decide if it was the food or the fact that we could have an uninterrupted conversation. Ha!

October 26 - Blarney

On Sunday, we decided to take the bus out to Blarney for a half day trip. Little did we know that it was going to be a beautiful day in Ireland - we had a great day in the sun!

Father Matthew is a famous figure in Cork and Ireland. His statue is in the City Centre here.While Dublin is the real capital, many in Cork think they live in the "real" capital. :)

Here is the bus station in Cork.
On our walk to the bus station, we saw some women practicing their rowing on the river Lee.
Arriving in Blarney - fall is definitely here!


It took lots of cajoling to get this cute picture... I don't know how photographers do it! Blarney Castle, obviously, is in the background.Adaline walked all the way up to the top of the castle! She had no interest in kissing the Blarney Stone, even after Bryan did.

View from the top of the castle.
We asked a nice woman to take our picture in front of the castle - but she almost cut it out! Oh well.
After we got back to Cork we stopped at our new favorite shop - M&S. We bought some food for dinner - and Adaline was thrilled that we bought some corn on the cob. As you can see - she was so excited, she didn't want to put it in the bag!

October 20 - Ballybunion

One of Bryan's early birthday gifts was playing Ballybunion Golf Club. We left Tralee in plenty of time, but on the skinny roads, we weren't able to pass the big trucks that were slowing us down...Adaline was not particularly impressed - she displayed quite the bad behavior while we were there...

The Ballybunion castle is only one-sided at this point - but beautiful. In the picture below, you can see it off to the right of the playground. Quite the nice playground.


There is a statue of Bill Clinton in the middle of town that was unveiled during his trip to Ballybunion in the 90's.

Adaline and I really liked the castle - hence all the pictures below. More amazing, however, was the 45 mph wind that was blowing... It was very cold - and the wind was so strong that Adaline in her stroller was almost knocked over!! You can see how high the waves were due to the wind below.



Since it was so cold and windy, I decided to treat Adaline to her first hot chocolate and a scone! It was a big hit...
After our hot chocolate, Adaline and I drove to Listowel to see the castle. It was my attempt to keep her warm, but it wasn't much warmer inland!

A famous artist from the early 1900's did the moulding work around Listowel...

A nice couple offered to take our picture in front of the castle, but Adaline was beginning to act a bit rotten - but that is a story for another day!

Here is Adaline in front of the Listowel castle. She was calm for about as long as it took to take the picture! :)We went to pick Daddy up after lunch. He had a great time playing Ballybunion, and we headed out to take some pictures on the 18th hole. After this picture was taken, it started hailing - so this is the only picture we have of Bryan on the course!!

Next stop - Rattoo Tower - one of the best examples in Ireland of a round tower. What was most amazing - there is no door to enter the tower! Adaline ran around it several times looking for the door, but to no avail...

Rattoo Tower was in the middle of a field, and we had great fun just running around and enjoying some family time with no one else for miles... Adaline was supposedly chasing Daddy, but apparently she was a little confused in the first picture. :)
I have been doing all the driving - and our vehicle this time around was a minivan, which Bryan enjoyed slagging me about (Irish was of saying teasing!). I was feeling pretty darn confident at this point in the trip - perhaps too confident, because when I pulled the car into the parking lot at the end of the trip, I backed it into the corner of a wall, puncturing the bumper. Here is the bumper, intact! :)

Next stop - Ardfert Cathedral! As we were pulling up, we saw multiple rainbows - just beautiful.
The picture above is Adaline's little nook at the b&b - she loved it! The picture below is the view of the backyard out our bed and breakfast window - Eileen has a dog named Toby that Adaline loved looking for each morning.