Trip to Ireland

Last weekend, we took a few days of vacation and went to Ireland for the wedding of some friends from New York. The wedding was in Cork, so we flew into Cork and spent the whole time in the Cork area. The hotel we were staying at had some really amazing gardens. They were heavily planted with many flowering shrubs, arranged so there were woodland-style paths among them. All the paths led back to the hotel, so the kids couldn't really get lost. The shrubs were amazing. They had azalias that were 20 feet high. I've never seen them so big. They also had a grass tennis court which was really cool. If I ever have a lot of land (which probably won't happen, considering my views on suburbia), I'll set up a garden just like this.

Let's start with the pictures from Ireland:
The beautiful bride and handsome groom


The groom is a friend of Bernie's that he used to work with. Here's the crew of Bernie's friends from work.


Cork City


Pascale made a friend and ran around with her for a whole day. Unfortunately, she lives in Singapore. The bride and groom have lived all over the world, so loads of guests came from places like Japan, Dubai, and New York. Pretty neat.


Pascale and me in the garden


Since we were on vacation, every time we saw a ride like this, we let them go on it.

Pascale running in the garden at the hotel


A typical pose for Josephine


Pascale in the garden


Josephine burying her toy in the gravel


Walking in the woods


Playing with gravel


The view from the hotel room. We looked out onto the hotel spa in the middle ground, and a community of Irish mcmansions in the background.


Back in London


Josephine has improved her scooting by leaps and bounds. She did many laps around the local park.


Suitcases are an irresistible toy


Another amazing face painting at a birthday party. Imagine that.


Josephine jumping off the furniture in her pajamas


Pascale did this painting. It's Uncle Vince, obviously.


Today when we got back, we celebrated Fathers' Day! This is the card Pascale made.


I asked Pascale what she wanted to get her dad for Fathers Day. I suggested a tie or cuff links. She said she wanted to get him a shirt from a store that we walk by on the way to school. Apparently, she's been thinking about this for a while.