…sent from the US. I tend to do that. Buy my postcards on vacation, write them and never get to a post office and end up sending them from home. I wanted to blog live! from our trip but either I was (a) tired (b) catching up with family (c) had no internet access whatsoever or (d) all of the above.
Flying baby
We got to the airport in plenty of time to get a bulkhead seat / row to Frankfurt. Mads was the ideal passenger, slept for the first 2.5h! Just as she was settling into her night’s sleep, we’d begun our descent into Frankfurt and with all the excitement on the plane, she just didn’t want to sleep. We’ve got a few hours before our flight to Par-ee, so we make our way from one end of terminal 1 to the other (FRA airport is HUGE!). Mads still hasn’t had a proper sleep since her nap on the plane, so you can imagine what she was like on the 2nd flight – NIGHTMARE! She did manage to fall asleep before take off, but decided instead to show off her lung capacity by screaming her head off the whole flight. Yes, the whole flight from Frankfurt to Paris. (Fly direct next time. Curse you United for cancelling the SFO-Paris flight!)
We hung out the first few days catching up with family and friends and getting over our jet lag. Our nephew, Leo, took to Mads immediately and vice versa. His mama was telling me that was so excited to meet her and to spend time with his first cousine. It also helps that they share a birthday – how crazy is that?!
Saturday evening we met with the Deacon who was going to officiate the baptism on Sunday. After a few minutes talking with S and I, he sensed that we weren’t the model Catholics the other families must have been, so he gave us a booklet with “appropriate answers” for the ceremony.
Sunday was a warm, but humid day. Family from all over came to Mads’ baptism and the reception following. She behaved well during the ceremony and even got the deacon to crack a smile. She didn’t even scream as the deacon poured water over her head! We had a lovely reception in the church hall with the tastiest food (the tabouleh and ratatouille were especially delicious!) and twist on the traditional croquembouche. The after party spilled over to chez Rebaud where few family members stuck around and ate even more.
Fries with a side of potatoes
Before you know it, it was Monday and S & I were about to leave Mads together for the first time for a mini-vacation to Ireland. Grany & Granpy were thrilled to be spending so much time with la petite princesse! S & I were thrilled just to be able to sleep in.
Our vacation got off to a great start: we left our map and guide books in our room at Chez Rebaud. Lovely. Thank goodness I had our hotel information packed in our backpack!
Since it’s taking me FOREVER to get this post out, I’ll have to give y’all highlights (in no particular order) and not the complete narrative on the trip to Ireland…
1. Sleeping in
2. Irish brown bread
3. Pubs & pub food – if you order fish & chips, you get a side of potatoes with your chips!
4. Dingle, Greenmount House B&B and the drive along the Dingle peninsula
5. Meeting the one french ex-patriate in the small village of Doolin
6. Did I mention sleeping in?
7. Spring in Ireland means lots of little lambs running around in the fields – cute!
8. Kissing rock in Blarney
9. Cliffs of Moher – I still think the Na Pali coast is prettier
10. Old Jameson Distillery in Midleton
Before you know it, we were back in Paris with Mads, who totally changed over the 5 days, packing up to head back home. All in all it was a nice vacation…