Norah's Weekend

Of course, the day after Nana leaves, Dublin produces this, just off our balcony. Come on!! It was sideways-raining for 2 weeks straight (only when it wasn't dropping tiny cannon balls of hail) and then we have the most beautiful, clear weekend in a month. Come on!!

When Nana was still here, our two year old saw a tiny advertisement for a play-place (slides, ball-pool, tunnels) on a tourism map and she became fixated on going there. I mean, when she first saw it, she started crying when I told her we couldn't go there that moment. It's called KidZone, of course. For four days I had to explain where it was, what time it opened, how we could get there, who has the keys, what day we would go, which roads to turn on.......I'm not kidding. So, we bit the bullet - took one for the team - and took the 45 minute train ride to Wicklow's KidZone. (All in all, we spent €20 on the one-way train ride, €5 to get in, and €20 on the 2 hour bus ride home (there are only 2 trains per day and we weren't waiting until the 8 pm train to come home). To say it was a mission would be just a slight understatement. (also, I found out the next day, there's one in Cabinteely which is a 20 minute bus ride from us) Was it worth it though? Yes. Absolutely.

If for nothing else, than the moment she got off the elevator and saw this:

Norah, dumbfounded.

Train ride, beautiful day

 Super Fast Slide action sequence! (1)

 (2)

 (3) Wooo!

Parents weren't technically allowed in the "play structure" but I was playing the odds until the told me I had to get down. 

This is just the "tiny" structure in the corner for 2 to 4 year olds and it was HUGE. Here I am about 15 feet in the air on the top level, looking down on the cafe (I hesitate to call it a cafe, it's more like a seating area in a roller skating rink that serves chips and coffee from an automatic machine). 

Wayne up at the top too. We decided we'd tell them Norah was stuck if they scolded us.... 

I wish I could show you these next ones in a sped-up slide show. Hilarious. She was a crazy banshee runnin' around, going over everything head first with her legs flying up in the air behind her. Despite how some of the pictures look, she was never hurt and never cried. haha!

She looks like she came flyin' through that hole at 40 miles an hour!

Ahhh! I'm having so much funnnnn!!!!

Yes!! Wooooo!

Love Wayne squeezing through the foam circle in the background!

Wayne was saying "here, take my picture and call it, 'Father of the Year'" but I kept telling him, "Quit it! People don't know you're joking and they'll think you're some drunk Irish Dad passed out in the corner." And there's Norah flying off the stairs again.  

Now these pictures are for my nephew Marko - this is in the BIG play structure for 5-7 year olds and this is the MEGA SLIDE! 

Or maybe these are the mega slides. We'll have to try them out and figure out which are better. 

Here's a side view of the MASSIVE "big kid" structure that Marko can take Norah in. This is only one side of it, (not even able to fit the whole thing in the shot) and then it's as DEEP as it is wide. Mimi, if we go here, we better bring a sleeping bag and maybe, as Wayne said, a flask. =)

People's Park New Year's Festival (the festival paid for by Dun Laoghaire to help us all make it through the winter). It was scheduled to "ring in the New Year" but was moved because the weather was so bad - so we had it on February 3rd instead. This is Kevin, the face-painter and he's really good at his job. Not to mention there was a perpetual line-up, 12 kids deep and he did each of these in 2 minutes flat. 

They had 10 or 12 bouncy castles, games for kids, balloons, and face-painting, all free of charge. (plus the normal farmer's market) All in all, they did a pretty good job.

Seeing herself in the mirror!

Grrrrrr! (Dalmation, in character)

We said, "What's your name puppy?". And she replied, "Jennifer, ruff, ruff".

 

This weekend, we were good parents.