Christmas Swim for Wayne and the Runners

Since we'll be gone to Vienna for Christmas (countdown, 7 days (!!) until we meet Vickie, Pete, and Reese for Christmas in Vienna!!) - anyway, since we'll miss the huge Christmas Day Swim at the Forty Foot in Dublin this year, we decided to hold an early one. First it was just going to be Wayne, Graham and a couple friends but then we managed to rope in a bunch of the running group to jump in, as well. This swimming spot, The 40 Foot, is a place men and women jump into the Irish Sea, every single day of the year. No fail. Every single day. So, while we thought it was very exciting to have a group jump in, the 20 regulars were there, thinking nothing of it. (I did not take the plunge today since I've been sick this week and we have to fly next week. Although, had I been 100% healthy, would I have done it? Not positive.)

 So, after our group's normal Saturday run, and the cafe, we all made our way down to Sandycove (the 40 Foot) - the far left point in this picture.

 The actual "40 Foot" swimming spot, is just around the corner from this but the surf was too rough today.

 Wayne, Graham, and Clare (mid-air)

 "get me outtttta here!"

 This water is 7 Degrees Celsius (45 F!!).

 Graham's facial expression looks like he's running away from a monster!

 

There are our 6 bat-crazy swimmers on the far end.  

 Donal from the group, finally succumbed to the peer pressure and jumped in. I call this the "Chair Dive".

Perhaps he's in shock here?

 And...then he jumps in again.

Looking back at the swimmers. Most of these people are in their 70s, some in their 80s, and as I said, they do this every single day of the year. Not sure I want to join their ranks but I think it's so amazing. After chatting with a friend whose wife is a nurse -  I know there's some real benefit to it. She often sees these swimmers for check ups and says, despite being in their 70s and 80s, physiologically, they're like 30-40 year olds.

Norah's photo on 12/12/2012 at 12:12 pm in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland

 And then... some time later. We had been couped up in the house for 5 or 6 days at this point with both Norah and myself being sick, so I took her into town and she had her first ever hot chocolate.

The Dykstras are on the Move

This past week and half has been a real blur. Long story short: Our landlords raised the rent, and we decided to find a new place. After going on a few viewings around town, we found a place we really like and the location is so perfect we keep waiting for the deal to fall through. For not having a car, there is not a single place closer to everything we need. We are still in Dun Laoghaire, which is now "our village" but now we're directly in the heart of it. Still across the road from the water, directly across from the main train station, directly across from the stops where all bus routes originate and 2 blocks from several grocery stores, cafes, etc.

And you know, I am compelled to show pictures so here they are: These first six photos are of our actual unit. This place is a tiny bit smaller than our current apartment (I know what you're thinking), but just barely. It's still close to 650 square feet - which feels like more than enough to us now. Honestly, compared to our current apartment, we feel like this one is a palace and we've surprised ourselves at how excited we are to move there. We'll make the big move on January 11th!

Naturally, I googled our building to find more pictures since the photos of our unit didn't show the bathrooms. So, after the first six, you'll find pictures of other identical units (which are clearly taken with wide-angle-misrepresentation-trick-lenses).

One: Living room, taken from kitchen

 Two: Looking back at kitchen.

 Three: Our kitchen with gas stove! (this picture most accurately shows it's size. You'll see one photo below where it appears larger)

Four: Looking down hall, directly into Norah's room. In this hall are the 2nd bathroom, the utility closet with washing machine and at the end (to the right), our Master Bedroom.

 Five: Norah's Room (looks smaller than it is). Alright, it is small, but not AS small as it looks here. 

Six: Our Master Bedroom (looks smaller than it is)

 Living Room Variation 2 (not ours and clearly taken with a wide-angle lense) But this is identical to our space.

 Living Room Variation 3 (not ours)

 Other photo of the kitchen (see? looks bigger)

 Master Bedroom from windows. You can see the closets here and the en suite bathroom with a bathtub!! This is the one thing we are most excited about - Norah will have a bathtub!

 View of same en suite bathroom. Again, this is not identical to ours as we don't have that red tile accent.

Norah's Room/Guest Room

 Bathroom in the hallway with double-size shower. And view back to living room. (not our place, again, this is the fancier version with granite floors and art work)

 Identical to our balcony, though we're one floor above. So we look down on the parking lot of a hospital but when you look to the right, you see this, below.

 View off balcony, to the right. The Royal Irish Yacht Club.

 View of back of building, where our front entrance will be. 

 

 Street View. This is directly across from the train station (DART), across from the point where all bus routes originate.

 

Before we move, I'll do a little picture homage to our current home (mostly so we have the record of it for reminiscing). Until then, we'll enjoy our last few weeks in our first little Irish home:

 

Also, our poor little one has been very sick this week. She was meant to start Play School today, December 10th, but we had to 'call in sick'. Poor thing. We've been talking about it for months, and for the last week, we've been counting down to Monday. Thankfully she can't keep track of days yet and maybe she won't notice.....

 under the living room rug

 Our poor little zombie. She was miserable! And I know...it's terrible to take her picture but she was so out of it and we couldn't help it. 

Second Half Marathon on the Horizon

Well, I've signed up for half-marathon #2 (which will be Wayne's 1st) and we're running it together! April 7th, 2013 is the Connemara Half Marathon (and full, and ultra) and I decided, what better 30th birthday present to myself than 13.1 miles of moutainous punishment in a race, known internationally, for it's difficulty?? (I'll turn 30 on the 3rd of April)
No, I can handle the hills, the real reason I'm doing this is not sadistic punishment but because I've been told about this race by every single running friend for an entire year now. I've met at least 30 runners who have completed this race, not once, not twice, but many four and five times over. So, it may be grueling but they also say it's some of the most spectacularly beautiful scenery on planet earth. That is why I signed up. And...also because I'm fiercely competitive and if someone says it's the hardest race in Ireland, well then, I've got to give it a try. Honestly, I'd rather train for a race that everyone is a afraid of, because I know I won't ever delude myself into thinking I'm ready. I'll train fiercely, up until the day, out of pure fear (in a good way).

As you know I like to do, here's the description from the website:
"The key to the event's success has been its ability to offer a unique package of experience. The popular sport of long-distance running is transformed for runners and walkers in the dramatic setting of mountains, glacier lakes, rugged green-brown landscape which winds in and around the challenging mountain wilderness of Galway in the west of Ireland. The course meanders past bogs, hills, lakes, and the Twelve Pin mountains rising up over the great expanse of Killary Lough, through the quiet village of Leenane, around the Maam Turk Mountains and all the way back up to Maam Cross. International participants enjoy the Irish welcome, the sense of comradeship on the lonely route and unmistakable buzz throughout the day. No other sporting event sends people away with such a taste of Ireland and all its highlights."

http://www.connemarathon.com/course-profile

There are already six twelve of us from my running group who will make the trip for this race and that's only after one week of peer-pressuring the rest of them into joining. I think we'll end up with quite a large group which will make the road trip even more amazing. (Connemara is about a 2 1/2 hour drive, straight West, from Dublin) Now, who wants to fly to Ireland for the weekend of April 7th, to watch Norah while Wayne and I kill ourselves on this 13.1 mile trek through the mountains? Any takers???

One Year Anniversary in Dublin

Today we have lived in this apartment, in Dublin, Ireland, for one year! To say this has been an incredible year would be a gross understatment so... I won't say that. As with every year in life (and even more so when you have children, I've learned), years go flying past you. This one was no different but it has also been one of the best of my life (if not the best) because we had to learn so much, we had to adapt to so much and we've come to love it all. Not to mention, we've seen more in these 12 months than many will see in their entire lives. That's not lost on us, in the least. You only have to glance through the 135 blog posts from these 12 months to see the list of all we've fit in. Maybe this next year the novelty will wear off but as of now we still marvel at the fact that we live here and all we get to see. 

 At the beginning, we tried to be consciously aware of how lucky we are to be here and after one year, I can say we kept that in mind, every day. Yes, there were hard weeks here and there (missing the "normal" life we left behind, adjusting to life with less) but we wouldn't want to be doing anything else.  

A place becomes your home surprisingly quickly and Dublin has been no different for us. Last year, when we arrived, Dun Laoghaire had their Christmas lights up through the village and I thought it was so magical. Well, this year, I got to see them go up again and I snapped this picture the first day they went up. It made me feel like we've come full circle and made this place seem even more like home.



She thought it was hilarious to read stories in our bed with Daddy (we always read in her bed) and tell me that I had to sleep in her room instead.

 

Another amazing reminder of coming full circle was hanging out with Joe and Kara yesterday. You may remember them from other posts (and Richard and Julia, you obviously know them well) =) but Kara is related to one of our close friends of the family, in Seattle. Well, Richard set us up with them last year and we met here in Dun Laoghaire for the Christmas festival. We walked around the Christmas shopping booths, had coffee and the little ones, Geordan and Norah, went on the merry-go-round. Geordan was nearly 2, Norah was 1 1/2 and Kara was pregnant with their 2nd child.

Well yesterday, we met again for the Dun Laoghaire Christmas festival and much seemed the same except Kara was no longer pregnant and instead we had 9 month old, Rory, with us. So amazing! (of course we've seen them through the year as well, but this inadvertant 'one year anniversary' meeting was a nice way to sum up the full-circle of this year.)

December 1st was the first day of the whole festival, so while they didn't have the Shopping Stalls set up yet, they did have "Santa's Arctic Kingdom" where we were fortunate enough to stand in line for one hour twenty minutes! Yeah!

 We were in line for about 25 minutes before we rounded this corner where the price was first listed. I, naively, thought it was free. We thought this reindeer also looked alarmed at the €10 fee. (of course, later we found out this included a present from Santa, a magical journey through Santa's workshop :) AND a 5x7 photograph. Then I felt like that the €10 as a little low)

Nice facial expressions...

This elf looks surprisingly creepy in all the pictures I snapped. She wasn't so scary in person. 

 Of course...this makes me want to say "WHAT time is it??"

 Not so fast Mister.

 And here is every toy Norah owns.

 We were joking that Norah and Geordan could be siblings.