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On Saturday, we went into the docklands for the maritime festival. The weather was amazing. The festival nearly made up for the fact that we’ll be missing Grand Old Day this year. There were loads of booths set up with different crafts and food. We tried the paella, which Patrick and I always liked backed when we lived in Spain. This paella wasn’t quite a good.

The girls went on the merry-go-round. I think the big girls decided that they are officially too old for merry-go-rounds, especially if the horses don’t go up and down. The girls did a craft project and we just sat and enjoyed the day.

We also met up with a friend from home – Shelia, who recently got her PhD in art from University College Dublin. (Patrick goes to UCD.)

At night we met up with some of Patrick’s friends from years ago: Paul & Mary, David, Des and Tom. Well, they went to see iKeano and I met up with them later. We stayed out way too late but had a great time at Café in Seine. It’s a loud pub/disco with lots of people looking for love but it’s a fun place to go with a crowd.

After the pub we ended up at Eddie Rockets, the girls’ favorite restaurant.

Monday night we went out with some of Patrick’s friends from school. Sophie was traumatized over turning 23. I hated to tell her that my kids were closer to her age than I am.

On Tuesday Kate’s class got their Communion pictures done. It took all morning. Everyone looked great again but I have to say that I prefer the option of getting the pictures done on the day of the event.

But we were OK with hanging out since Lily had a music performance soon after the pictures. Her class had been studying African music for a few days and was doing a performance for the younger kids. I was very impressed with the girls’ ability to watch a screen for cues while playing their instruments. They did a great job!

I don’t know if you’ll be able to make out Lily in the video because she was naturally positioned behind a tall girl with good posture – but I thought it would be fun to hear her anyways.

Sunday was Africa Day at the Dublin Castle. The weather was amazing! And either the weather or tourism season seems to have people coming out in droves. There were swarms of people.

There were information booths, great music, food and drinks. Sadly we missed the Republic of Loose and Sinead O’Connor at the end of the evening but the bands we heard we a lot of fun. It was great to see some of the African dancers. You can see some pictures of Aine on the dance floor.

Saturday was Kate’s First Communion. It’s a much bigger deal here than it is at home – but it was very nice. She looked beautiful and it was fun to see all of the girls in their best. There was one little girl who had a fur jacket sort of thing. Many girls had their hair done and several had been tanning or had manicures.

Kate did a reading and did a great job!

After the First Communion w went to lunch at the Herbert Hotel in Dublin. It was very nice. We were the only table for the first tow courses, which worked out very well for us since they were able to give us full attention.

After a nap we then headed to Bray. The tide was in and the waves were really high so it was fun to be on the beach.