Aunt Mary Has Arrived!

Just wanted to let you loyal followers know that Aunt Mary has arrived in Dublin. We successfully intercepted her at the airport and she arrived for the nicest weather Dublin has seen in the last 10 years! It's so beautiful out! (Our guest is napping now, to get ahead of the jetlag, hence me writing a short post. Just thought I should let you all know she arrived safely since it might be several days before I can post pictures.)

 Waiting for Aunt Mary to come through the "Arrival" doors. It was very exciting to get to pick her up here. (Maybe I should brush this kid's hair?)

 Back in the 'Guest Suite' at Chez Dykstra. Norah read her a full book so she could take a little nap.

And on another note. Here are a few shots of dinner last night on the rooftop terrace here at our apartments. We are ridiculously blessed.....We didn't even know this existed until I happened to meet a friend through the running group, who lives here, and he mentioned it to me.

(Vickie, Pete, and Trysh, I feel so bad we didn't know about this deck when you all were here! Though, you were here during a full-on monsoon so it's not as if we would've had a picnic up here but still... I feel like you got cheated) =)

 When it's sunny out, this place can't be beat. We live at a real jigsaw puzzle.

Second 10K Under My Belt

Well today was my 2nd 10K race and it was phenomenal! I loved it! This was a much smaller race than the first. Phoenix Park: 11,000 participants, Today: 250. This was benefitting a small charity here called Camara which refurbishes computers for low-income schools in Ireland (previously for small village schools in Africa). One of our group members used to work for this organization.
There were 7 of us who participated in this event from my normal running group so it was really nice to all complete it together. (and get our medals!)
It was a gorgeous route along the water on a promenade (similar to the road along Alki in Seattle), then we had to do 3 grueling laps around a park, then another large loop out along the water.
But how FAST did you run Gloria?? Well, I'm glad you asked. In the first 10K, I finished in 58:57 which I, of course, called "58" even though it's realllly 59. Anyway, today I crossed at 56:58 (I apparently like to hug the end-of-the-minute-time) so, an improvement of 2 minutes. Not fast by any stretch of the word but I was certainly at maximum effort the entire time. =) My friend Graham was the pace-setter and we stuck to a pretty strict "time per kilometre" that we used as our guide. It really does make things easier to focus on time for each specific "K" as opposed to thinking about running for a full hour.
Anywho here are some shots of the race, our trip back to Dun Laoghaire afterward for a quick dip in the 40 degree water (so cold it's like thousands of daggers piercing your bone marrow. Needless to say I did not jump in), and then to our normal spot - the Promenade Cafe. It was such a gorgeous day in Dublin. Today we thought, "we could live here forever if Ireland was always this beautiful".

 Slightly different "start line" than the 11,000-person race last month. You can tell this is for a small charity. (and I'm happy they're spending the money on things other than huge start lines and fancy clocks)

 Ope! And there on the back of the "Start Line" pole is the "Finish Line"! Easy enough.

"My mom will be coming from this way"

 Daddy got a great shot, mid-air.

 This is the same Sandymount Beach that I made a post about recently. Today, low tide was during the race and, I kid you not, it would take you 20-25 minutes to walk straight out, before you would reach the water's edge. The expanse of this beach is unreal.

 Two guys in the group are superior runners, this is Donal and Rob, crossing the finish at about 46 minutes. Rob is a super-duper, ultra-marathoner, (ran across the country of Spain, etc.). Anyway, he is helping to train Donal for the Dublin Marathon in October. Rob could probably finish this in 35/36 minutes but he wasn't doing it for him, he was purely there to help pace, and support, Donal. In front there, are Breda and John (taking pictures) - two other group members, both injured this week, who still came out to support us all. I'm telling you, this is a special group of people that I've met. I just adore them all!

 Me with my girl. Wayne said, as he was getting her ready to go this morning, she said "Are we going to wait for Mommy at her race??"

 Me, Anna, Graham, Claire and Killian (Killian is a good friend of Graham's and has also become a bit of a celebrity around Ireland. He competed on, and won, their version of "The Biggest Loser"). He's a great guy! He is now training to do the Dublin Marathon in October. Four months ago, he says he literally could not run for 200 metres before needing to stop. And now he's finishing 10K's in 54 minutes and on his way to run for 4 hours straight!! Unreal!

 Here is testament to how great this group is: Donal and Rob finished in 46 minutes (verry fast), then immmediately turned around to run back (more than 3K) to reach our last group member, Michaela, who was having a tough time. They always do this. When we run on Saturday's these two are always sprinting around but then they loop back and run with whoever is in the back of 'the pack' to make sure no one is ever alone. Michaela has Type 1 Diabetes and often struggles during runs but she's incredibly strong and fiercely determined so she always finishes. So they ran back to meet her and then accompanied her all the way back to the finish line. (ie, they ran a total of 16K) Told ya...this is a great group of friends that I've found. =)

 Here's looking North along the beach. I ran straight on this road and then out toward those smoke-stacks. It looks farrrr away...and it is.

 Back in Dun Laoghaire. Here we're walking out toward "The 40 Foot" (the point on the left). A very famous swimming spot that's been around for probably 80 years.

 There go Donal and Rob (of course the insanely good runners are also the first people jumping into the 40 degree water)

 And in goes Michaela! This girl is brrrave.

And finally, coffee and scones at the Promenade Cafe. "The Spot" for our running group. =)

This was a gorgeous day!!!

Onto our next adventure!

We're so, so excited that my Aunt Mary will be arriving for a visit on Monday morning. I've been preparing for weeks, getting things ready and thinking of what we want to show her. I love hosting guests and she's a fun one to have so we're all excited. We rented a car in order to pick her up early Monday so today we drove south to a cute village/beach town called Greystones. This is Irish Paradise! If we had millions, we'd buy a house in this little town and never leave Ireland. =) Except to fly to visit family for the months of October, November, December, January, February, March, April and much of May. Alright, if we had millions we'd like a summer cottage in Ireland and a couple in Seattle and Southern California. =) A girl can dream after a beautiful day in Dublin. The sun doesn't come out here much and I might be delusional.

 (Notice the 11-12 year old boy setting up his electric guitar to play on the street. And he was actually very good! So sweet to hear as you're walking through a small village)

"Sailing" aboard the Glen Marissa

Ok..I say "sailing" because this was meant to be a wind-powered sailing outing. As sailing is. But first....We had the most beeeeaaaautiful day in Dublin. It was ridiculously warm - literally, shorts and sandals.. (unheard of) and we were invited out on a beautiful sailboat by our friend Graham. The only problem, there wasn't even the rumor of wind. Not even the slightest sea breeze.

Our Girl, ready to roll. She was furious when we said she needed to take this off while we walked to the sailing club.

We arrive at the Royal St. George Yacht Club (oooo!) and had the "boat man" take us out to our trusty sailboat.

(This guy, taking us out, is the same guy who will enter our story a bit later on. Pay attention!)

So we boarded our boat, the Glen Marissa. A gorgeous, small wooden sailboat built in 1947. There a about 10 of these 'Glen' boats in the marina and they are, by far, the boats with the most character. They're small wooden sailboats each painted different colors: Green, blue, white, lavender and they all have names beginning with Glen. "Glen Marissa", "Glen Shane", "Glen Murphy", etc. - save one - named "Pterodactyl." No kidding.

 LOVE this one of Norah.

 This is the exact boat we're on, except Graham's is dark blue on the bottom.

Much better than the white. 

 Wayne and Graham "Puttin' up the Jib!" Yes, I learned some terminology on this outing.

 Baby skipper.

Here is a video of us leaving the harbour. I mostly took this so you could hear the trumpet being played on the pier. It was so beautiful! (All year round there are people playing live music on the East Pier in Dun Laoghaire and there's something so magical about it.)

Graham is telling us a story about a famous "sail around the world" trip back in the 1950s (1960s?) where one guy realized he couldn't make it (but had put up evvverything as collateral) so he just stayed in one spot, and kept radio'ing back fake locations. Anyway, this went on for 6 months, meanwhile, the poor guy lost his mind entirely and about 100 miles away from the finish line (England) he jumped off his boat and was never found. Another guy, who was set to be in 3rd place also lost his marbles (after 6 months alone at sea) and decided (50 miles from the finish!) that he would, instead, "go around again!". He made it half way around, believe it or not. Not sure if he survived it though. Apparently there is a documentary about this trip so we hope to find it.  

It's awful in the video, I know, because you want to hear the rest of the story!

Anyway, our story gets better:

 Here we are sailing. La di da di da!

 There's Dalkey Island....

There's some castle houses....no biggy

 Things are slowing down a bit....

 Lovely Girls' School. Oh wait, Graham just called his dad and used the term "Marooned". We are officially "Marooned at Sea"! We are marooned at Dalkey Island! Ahhh!!

 So Wayne and Graham get to work on the "emergency motor" which, after 15 minutes of trying, does not seem to work. Graham tried his heart out. Great, wonderful. However, thank goodness for the St. Georges' trusty "Boat Man" who was able to come and rescue us!!

 Fast forward one hour: Our rescue tow-boat, here to save the day!

 I thought this was all so hilarious and felt like this must be a one in a million occurence but... apparently it happens fairly often. I knew it could be dangerous on a sail boat (ie: too much wind) but I never quite thought about the possibility that if there is zero wind (almost an impossibility in Dublin in my experience), you can't move. I really thought we were going to have to 'fashion' some oars and row our way back. Graham said that would take several days so.... I'm glad it didn't come to that. =)

But, while being towed back, if you forgot about the boat pulling us, you could pretend we were just out for a lovely sail. And we did. That boat pulled us surprisingly quickly.

Back at 'the club'. This is the next one over, called the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Wayne and I felt like we were illegally trespassing but we just tried to stick close to Graham. Kidding. At this one, they have a barbeque every Thursday as most people come sailing after work. It's essentially a very nice pub where everyone owns a boat. We had the best time! I've decided I'd like to be a member. Not for the sailing, nor do I desire to own a boat, really just for the barbeque, the sunshine and the feeling of being elitist. Kidding again. We want to go back next week.

It was the most beautiful day and we were so thankful to be out on the water in the Irish Sea. It just doesn't get any better. We kept saying to Norah - "Do you know how blessed you are?? You're not even TWO yet and you're sailing in Dublin?" We were especially thankful for our friend Graham who shared all of this with us. He showed us one of the best days since we've lived in Dublin.