Again, like the last post, this one will be a bit of a photo dump. I hope, in the coming weeks to write more so check back for captions and stories. We're now 5 days from turning in the Ph.D., 2 1/2 weeks from our move back to Seattle after 3 1/2 years living here and I'm 7 months pregnant. BIG things are happening here. :) And last week was such a gleaming and beautiful break in the stress from everything where we were treated to a fairytale St. Patrick's Day experience, all thanks to my Aunt Mary and my Uncle Dan, Uncle Marko and cousin Megan.
Here's a bit of the few days where we had Aunt Mary to ourselves before the other 17 guests arrived. I have helped Aunt Mary to plan this big trip (for the 21 guests) since this last September and it couldn't have been more fun. I helped research hotels, restaurants for lunches and dinners, a literary pub crawl evening, an outing to County Wicklow to the woolen mills and then the extravaganza that was St. Patrick's Day. So here are a few leading up to the big day and our unbelievably decadent St. Patrick's Day breakfast - fit for Royalty (or at least he Dowager Countess). 
Aunt Mary, after flying all the way from San Francisco, looking like a million bucks.
The Merrion hotel hosts an art collection that is borrowed from the National Gallery of Ireland. It is unreal! Here is a painting by Jack Yeats (brother of W.B. Yeats) - slightly talented family.
These were little pots of shamrock you could buy and the proceeds went to a local charity.
(Ok, I'm typing captions now...)
Dinner at Chez Max on the first night - delicious!
When we returned to Aunt Mary's suite - the Merrion did not disappoint. They left 4 small cupcakes with "Welcome to the Merrion Hotel" written in chocolate sauce and a bottle of champagne on ice.
I kid you not, Norah laid on this couch, sighed, and then said, "I could get used to this" (and we said, "Please don't".) :)
And if the trip wasn't enough, and dinner and all the spoiling, Aunt Mary came bearing gifts.
And on Day 2, Aunt Mary rented a mini coach to take four of us about an hour south to the town of Avoca (where the original woolen mills started).
Tommy & Irene are dear friends of my Aunt Mary's and they are so lovely. So happy to have met these two.
And the rest of the family descends on the Merrion - UD, Uncle Marko, Megan and Nancy arrive from Seattle.
And not only did they not pass out immediately, we all had a lovely breakfast together and chatted for a couple hours.
(Uncle Dan is not on his tip-toes)
While they all went to rest up after their flights, we walked out of the hotel to find this massive street carnival for St. Patrick's Day. It was kind a cross between an cirque du soleil circus and a street fair. And all hosted in the Irish language so it was really fun. They had circus-type-skill tents and Norah spent about an hour playing. And we were sucked into a performance as well with a really talented mime-type character.
She made Norah a paper crane hair clip out of newspaper.
This girl was tickled pink to be included....
Such a nice dinner with Megan and Uncle Dan down near our place in Dun Laoghaire. Despite them arriving that morning, they came down that evening for dinner while the rest of the big group was at the Dublin literary pub tour.
Having lunch with Andy and Uncle Dan and he showed up in nearly identical Tommy Bahama sweaters. Andy lives here in Dublin, has been like family to us here and he is Julia's brother/Richard's brother-in-law. Richard is one of Uncle Dan's best friends in Seattle. We had a good laugh over this:
UD - seeing Andy after 30 years: "Nice sweater, is that Tommy Bahama?"
Andy: "I don't know...ya, I think so. I'm not sure, Richard gave it to me"
UD: "Wait, I gave that sweater to Richard!"
Uncle Dan was very happy to get this emerald green wool scarf here in Dublin.
Norah riding away on Andy's Vespa
UD and Norah on St. Patrick's morning.
Tommy, arriving in style. When ELSE would you wear those pants?
Aunt Mary greeting all the guests and giving me a toast for helping with the planning. So, so lovely.
She made me this banner! I was pretty impressed with her craftiness (especially given she said this is the first crafty thing she has done in her entire life)- she cut and taped each letter spelling out "Madame Secretary of St. Patrick's Day".
At this point, after our unbelievably fancy breakfast, we started to make our way to the big parade. More to come on that very soon but suffice to say, this breakfast was not the best part of the day's activities (if you can believe it).
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