Living The Irish Life Part 1

We have been spoiled here in Ireland. We arrived to a solid week's worth of sunshine and temps in the 60's. We didn't even notice that we forgot to pack Soren's rain jacket until this morning when the rain came pouring and the real Ireland finally showed her face. Rain or Shine, we have been having a wonderful time. Soren has adapted marvelously, taking everything in stride and loving every day's new adventure. Thank God he inherited that adventure gene from his mum and dad. We spent our first week traveling along the West Coast of Ireland starting at Galway for St. Paddy's Day, then onto Clifden, Connemara and then to Ballycastle, our home for the next 6 weeks.


Our little music man takes in every possible opportunity to listen to the street performers, popular in the streets of Galway.


Watching the St. Paddy Parade.


Bagpipes in the parade.


Randy and Soren at the parade. Soren made a quick friend with Siva, sitting to the left him in the picture.

Living The Irish Life Part 2

Playing on the beaches near Galway


On the pedestrian streets of Galway it is easy to be lured from one music performer to another and Soren is keen on getting in on ALL the music action, even while Randy tries to juggle a buggy (stroller), bag and active toddler.


Hanging out at Kylemoore Abbey in Connemara.


Soren's favorite mid-day snack, a baby gingerbread man, popular at all the bakeries.


After a week on the road, we arrive to our home in Ballycastle. We are just off of the sea - on the right of the image, and the wind is fierce so we have to bundle up.

Passports - Check, Tickets - Check, Adventures in Ireland - Priceless.

The Luck of the Irish

As an artist, I have been blessed with a wonderful opportunity to be a visiting artist at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in the Republic of Ireland. I have been blessed even further that the residency encourages family to come, so Randy, Soren and I are off to the Green Isle for the next 8 weeks with my mum joining us for the last 4 weeks.

I will try my best to keep the blog going. We will be in a small village and the internet connection is known to be spotty from there, but we look forward to sharing our adventures. We start the trip with St. Patrick's Day in Galway and promise to send a toast of Guinness back to you.

Shoveling up some Spring Fever

Singing Strings

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra along with Target offers music programs to little children throughout the year that one has to enter a lottery to get tickets to. We finally won some tickets to last weekends Singing Strings concert. The performance lasted a half-hour, the perfect toddler length. After the concert they have activities such as make your own string instruments (rubber bands, stickers and a plastic dish), face painting, coloring and to Soren's delight, playing a violin. Suzuki, here we come!

Sleeping Beauty Re-worked

It has been 6 months since that fateful transition from crib to big boy bed. From peaceful sleeping to a momentary dive into crazed rebellion (remember the room cleansing over the gate?). Now I am thankful that it just takes a few good books for Soren to knock himself out with and his little sweetheart Helen to kiss him awake. The road has been long and bumpy, but at least the drama has been entertaining and fun to visually document.