Sep 24, 20233 min read

Overview of summer 2023

We had such a busy summer (2023) that I am going to summarize for posterity (and my memory).

First Chris, Shar, Autumn, and Alex came in early June and it was great to reconnect with them and see the kiddos hit it off so seamlessly as well.

Sally had a sleepover with her friends Holly and Norah (first time for them!); I got to chaperone an awesome school field trip (“school tour”) to Emerald Park (formerly “Tayto Park”), the amusement park in Ireland (and then our family went back together the next month!) where Sally bravely took on her first roller coasters; David and I went to a fancy director’s dinner at the National Gallery; I got to see Bono at the Dalkey Book Festival with my friend Hilary; a sea swim or two at Seapoint Beach; Sally and I went to see first West Side Story at the Bord Gais and then Florence and the Machine at Malahide Castle (amazing!); some hikes; we got to visit Meta finally; we checked out the Regatta in Dun Llaoghaire; and the last day of school came and went (and not a dry eye in the house saying goodbye to beloved 3rd class teacher Lisa!), among many other delightful days.

Mid-June we had a short and sweet visit from Sara and Eric Lieser, who were kid-free en route to a wedding in Scotland. I put together a bit of a walking tour (happened to be Pride 2023 so the city was so busy and colorful!) with the help of Rick Steve. Of course we ended the evening with a dinner at our local (you can just know that happens with every guest). David had been in Portugal doing his 5-day cross-country cycling trip (hey, he should write a blog post about that) and arrived back in time to enjoy dinner with them.

In early July the Wagner family came to visit and we had such a delightful time. A couple of nice meals out including dinner and music at the Church, a [wait for it] renovated church on the north side that does food and trad music and dance. The venue is gorgeous and we had an amazing table right above the stage. We also soldiered through a very wet walking tour of the city and literally walked through the National Gallery on our way from rolling around in Merrion Square Park.

In late July/early August Sally and I headed off to the US to spend time with family and friends in CA and Utah. Part of that was a few-day stay up in Bodega Bay with my mom, where we enjoyed not only spending time with Suzanne but also the gorgeous weather and stunning coast. It was, as always, so nice to see everyone and went by way too quickly.

The day we returned from Cali, Emili Obara stopped through at the end of a business trip. Emili is responsible for finding Riley and kindly sharing her with us so we are forever indebted to her. We hadn’t see each other in years, but Riley absolutely remembered her and we had a nice time catching up with a good long walk!

Teg, Heather, Jasper, Honor (J’s girlfriend), Reed, and Arlo arrived early August and we were so excited to show them around our community here. We hung out in Sandymount, went Ziplining down in the Wicklows, enjoyed a quaint meal at Johnnie Fox’s pub in the mountains, and then took a train to Galway. The weather mostly cooperated and I think we all enjoyed wandering the charming streets of Galway, seeing the Cliffs of Moher, and taking in some delicious food (Ard Bia!) and music (both contemporary at Darcy’s Bar and more trad at Tig Chóilí).

Last but not least, I went to the Dublin horseshow the day the Grenager-Hughes family left us and I was like a kid in a candy store. Gorgeous show-jumpers, donkeys with themed carts, you name it! An amazing day.