illycostal-blog

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Caspian purposely waited until we got home to take his first steps! And to make me feel extra special he said "Mama" to me the same day!!!!!! Shout out to @sofjes for being camera woman!!#CaspianCostaKeith #firstSteps #WalkingBaby #SecondWordWasMama #ImNotMad

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This was the view from inside the airport in Madeira! I'll miss being able to see the sea everywhere I go! The airport in Madeira is unique in that in order to fly in and out, you need to make a crazy sharp turn due to its proximity to the mountain side and the ocean. Didn't scare me or Caspian much but Andy looked a bit worried! Now that I have my phone back (left it in Ireland) I'll be able to post more pictures of the trip that I took on my camera :-). #Madeira #MadeiraAirport #TravelingWithBaby #SallySoldSeaShellsByTheSeaShore (at Aeroporto da Madeira - Funchal)

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Gaaahhhh I love these guys!!!!!!! Caspian finally kept them on after he saw Andy put them on. And by "them" I mean Caspian's. Haha once Caspian let us put them on , Andy threw his pair on, they stared at each other a bit, and then I managed to snag this picture! Having Andy in the back seat of the car is a great way to keep Caspian from crying as he still hates being in the car seat. He especially hates it when we go through the tunnels (there are tons here in Madeira). Gotta love Andy's silliness!!! #CaspianCostaKeith #9monthsOld #Funchal #Madeira #SillyDaddy #StunnaShades #TravelingWithBaby (at Funchal, Madeira Island, Portugal)

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Beautiful day in #PaulDoMar!!! Clear skies and crystal clear water... And sure enough this guy is always smiling! Paul means flat something, forgot exactly what...but they call it Paul do Mar because it's a flat section of land close to the ocean. Most of Madeira is mountainous all the way up against the ocean. #CaspianCostaKeith #Madeira #Sunshine #LifesABeach #9monthsOld (at Na Praia - Paul do Mar)

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The bond these two have is unlike any other. I'm so glad and fortunate Andy got so much paternity time and that he decided to save it for when Caspian was older. At first it was difficult having Andy go back to work when Caspian was only 2 weeks old but it was so worth it! There are times now when Caspian visibly chooses Andy over me and it melts my heart! I love these two so much and I'm so glad we get to spend a part of his paternity leave here in Madeira! #Madeira #PaulDaSerra #CaspianCostaKeith #DaddysBoy (at Paul da Serra)

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Taking it all in. Theres so much beauty you can find at the top of Madeira. It's the one place where you don't get a view of the ocean but that doesn't really matter because it makes up for it. Once you get your manual car up the steep roads all the way to the top, there is a large flat area that is called "Paul da Serra". It's my Tio MiriMiri's favorite place in the world. We made carne espeto, which is meat cooked over a fire on a spit. We ate it with papo seco (bread), beer, and homemade wine. My uncle likes to point out that this wine was made by crushing his own grapes with his own feet. Tastes pretty damn good. We were all so amazed at the different climates and terrain you can find here in Madeira. One second your sweating by the beach, and another your literally in a cloud with your windshield wipers on. Here in Paul da Serra it was very much like Lake Tahoe, hot in the sun but with a cool breeze. #PaulDaSerra #Madeira #CaspianCostaKeith (at Paul da Serra)

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It's rare when I get to go out dancing and I love Euro-dance music, so getting a chance to go out here is especially a treat! Went out with my cousin from Ponta Do Sol, my brother, and our good friend Ryan while Andy stayed back with Caspian. Turns out I'm not that great of a wing woman when I'm so busy getting my groove on! I didn't even care I was dancing by myself! (Yes I was that girl) Had a blast! Found this picture of me in the set the photographer took for the night. #CopaCabanaCasinoDaMadeira #FunchalMadeira #MomsNightOut #Madeira #PinkLights

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Fun in the sun na Praia da Calheta! I used to visit this beach practically every other day when I was here 6 years ago! So cool to get to bring Andy and Caspian here. Totally different experience with a baby. For example, as I was putting on sunscreen I set Caspian down for just a second. In the short time he managed to shove his face in the sand as the most efficient way to get sand in his mouth. I guess he couldn't get enough with just his little fist. Those non sand beaches commonly found here in Madeira don't sound so bad now!!

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Took a gondola up to the top of Funchal with Andy, Ryan, Seb, Caspian+stroller so that the big boys could take the "carro do cestos" (wicker sleighs) down a steep slick road while two men wearing traditional Madeira fits guided the sled down. Since it was a bit too treacherous (think dodging cars) Caspian had to miss out, so we took the gondola back down by ourselves. He is not scared of heights! (at Funchal, Madeira Island, Portugal)

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And then there are days that make up all for all the rest.   We woke up at the small Bed and Breakfast, only we had to go to another Bed and Breakfast down the road for the breakfast. All three of us opted for the Irish breakfast which included one over easy egg, ham, sausage, beans (baked, not pinto), roasted tomato, toast, and pudding. Everything was excellent including two coin like slices of fried something that to my knowledge was unaccounted for in the description. One was a light brown the other was almost black. Turns out THAT was the pudding. BLOOD pudding.  I would have eaten more but I have a thing with blood. I tend to pass out when I see it so the thought of eating it made me feel funny. From there we headed off to the cliffs of Moher. The drive there was GORGEOUS!  A sea of greens of all shades.  We realized why green was Irelands color.  Green easily popped out against the typically grey skies.  We joked that we lived in a green and white world in Ireland.  We saw old dilapidated stone structures, many of which could well have been castles.  In the middle of nowhere, a tall stone tower caught our attention.  We joked it was Rapunzel's tower because that's exactly was it looked like.  We drove towards it and discovered it was part of a cemetery with more than one crumbling stone structure.  The tower was meant for Monks to seek refuge in case of an attack in the mid 1800's. The oldest tomb stone we could read was from 1860 but there were many that were completely illegible weathered old stones.   We continued our way to the Cliffs of Moher.  Unfortunately, half way there it started raining :-/ but that wouldn't stop us.  We got to the big parking lot that was almost full and got out the stroller and the other hundred items you seem to need when toting around a baby.  The funny part is that about more than half the time you don't end up using anything. The thing is that when you do end up needing it, it can be crucial... Like a hat or a sweater if it gets cold, or baby wipes if it's a disastrous mess, or Tylenol or a teething toy for a crying teething baby... You get the picture. We cross the road and get to where all the shops and cafe is located.  You can either go right to get a beautiful view of the cliffs or you can go left and hike the 3-4 cliffs. We decided it would be best to look at them first and enjoy the view before we got pooped. Caspian did alright until we got to the top and we stopped moving.  He loves being in the stroller when we are moving around because the stroller is so open.  When it rains, we unfortunately have to put the rain guard and he doesn't last as log inside of it...unless we are moving.  We took him out and bundled him in a blanket because it was so cold and drizzling pretty consistently.  He loved looking around!  And who would blame him?!?!  Because the cliffs were majestic.  They made you feel small and as if you were at the edge of the earth.  Your eyes got lost as the gray sea blurred in with the grey skies making it seem infinite. But we had to keep moving because the second we put Caspian back in the stroller he started wailing. I felt bad because he couldn't really see much between the big raindrops on the outside and the condensation on the inside of the rain guard.  We made it to the first of the cliffs and he was still upset.   The problem here was that I couldn't continue forward with the stroller because unlike the rest of the paths we had been on up until this point... The rest was not paved.    On top of that, the path was one person wide, very muddy due to the rain, and congested with people. It was so congested that people were opting for the more dangerous path that didn't have a safety fence.  One wrong step and you were toast.  In fact, right where I was hanging out while Sebio and Andy continued, there was a plaque to remember those who had died every year on these cliffs!  Andy and Sebio quickly returned because it was a bit too treacherous with the weather conditions and they weren't wearing the right shoes...buuuuut not before Sebio took a daring selfie (you can check it out on his Instagram @sebzillla).   As for me, I hung out with Caspian bundled in a blanket.  In the back of my mind I kept hoping passer by's didn't think I was a bad mother.  But he was smiling.  Enjoying the rain on his face and to my surprise, not chattering his lips at all!!! If any of you have witnessed his trembling lips due to the slightest drop in temperature you can understand my surprise. As soon as Andy and Sebio returned I put him back in, and doubled back to the car as he screamed bloody murder.  But as soon as we were in the car he was his regular smiley funny self. *sigh* until I put him in the car seat! On the road again but this time towards the Ring of Kerry, which is supposed to be the most beautiful road to drive ever.  It was still raining but along the way we decided to stop by a small town called Adare to get a bite to eat.  It was quaint yet had an air of ritz sort of like Palo Alto but nothing like Palo Alto lol.  There was a beautiful stone church where cute little girls in white were walking to do their first communion.  We stopped at the first pub we saw.  They were all so nice!  Caspian, as per usual, had a flock of cute waitresses ogling him as he smiled.  That's one thing I haven't mentioned about Ireland is that the women are BEAUTIFUL!  You have the whole spectrum here, blond, brunette, red head, with blue, green, or hazel eyes in all combinations.   We all had the best meal we'd had yet.  Andy with a sandwich, me with pasta, Sebio with a salad, and Caspian with steamed veggies.  As we ate Andy frantically looked for a place to stay for us for the night.  While not having a set place to stay gave us loads of flexibly with how we had spent our day, it was stressful once we got closer to the evening.  Suddenly, a string of bad luck:  The Skype app wouldn't download, then his account was suspended, and THEN he couldn't put any money. So finally he turned to the Google gods and they granted us access to place a call!  But then we didn't know exactly how to dial from a US number to an Irish number while in Ireland. Google again to the rescue! He called several places with no luck until one gave us a number to call of a lady she thought would have availability.  When we called, she said the same.  Andy must have called 6 people. We were so close to being homeless for the night until Andy found a place an hour away!  He didn't care what it looked like as long as it had a bed.  We paid our bill and off we went!  But not until all the older ladies said goodbye to Caspian, one of which, he decided, would have to hold him!!! You read right, he decided.  Oh boy! So on we go to our 4th drive of the day.  It's still sunny outside even though it was 9pm. Which is great for long adventures like these!  Our drive took us from a regular road to a smaller road to and even smaller road as we approached a great big mountain with clouds flowing down its front as if it were a waterfall. Andy hadn't seen any pictures of the place so we were ecstatic!  When we get to the actual Bed and Breakfast it was nestled close to a lake at the base of the mountain.  Pictures didn't do it justice. We spoke with the owner who had THE THICKEST Irish accent I had ever heard (I understood 25% of the words she said) and quickly unloaded.  I did my best to try to put Caspian back to sleep but I think he picked up on our energy and was just as excited.   We asked the owner if we could take a walk.  From what I could understand she said yes and something about no animals and hay. That was fine with us so we bolted. We went the only way there really was to go:  back around the house. It seemed that she also stored the big trailers for trucks on her property. There were storage areas and equipment and piles of rubble.  We turned one corner and the smell was out of this world disgusting.  As I pushed Caspian I wondered if he had yet developed the ability to distinguish when something smelled bad.  If he did, his face didn't express it.  Andy looked around and found where the smell was coming from. It looked like a pool of shit.  Later we found out that it was indeed... a pool of shit.   They call them slurry pits and people die in them each year.  That would be the worst way to die!   We continued on the path until we were stopped in our tracks by the sound of CRASH! BOOM! THUD! We called out Seb's name thinking nothing of it since we were used to his shenanigans...once, twice, a third time. The panic must have been obvious on my face because Andy looked at me then bolted towards where we heard the noise. In my mind I imagined him split in half by one of the large trailers.  I ran behind Andy with Caspian bouncing along in the buggy.  He must have sensed something was up because he didn't make a peep.  We found Sebio laying on the ground in a shed and above him was a giant hole in the ceiling. He said he was climbing the roof and that the first few steps were on aluminum but that the next were on rotted fiber glass.  He never saw it coming.  He was honestly super lucky to be alive, because, aside from the super sharp machinery laying about, there was a pile of wood and random smaller tools, and not to mention the dreaded slurry pit that could have easily been under where he had fallen.  Luckily, below him was the only empty flat piece of cement there was.  He had passed out for a split second but got up and shook it off.  But he wasn't unscathed, he landed on his knee and had a gash on his elbow.  We laughed but we all admitted we were pretty shook up by it. But it didn't stop us from investigating what was around the corner.  When we all saw it our jaws dropped.  Before us stood the biggest field I had ever seen up close.  I mean, I had seen those large smooth hillsides from a far while driving...but never this close, and never this accessible.  All of a sudden the thick Irish words that I had managed to understand came back.  "Free to walk".  "No animals". "Mowed hay".  Now it made sense!  Sebio forgot all about his injury and I ran with buggy in hand and Caspian laughing his diaper off.  We felt so free!  There was no danger and no fear of getting in trouble. We felt this weird freedom by knowing we were the only ones there.  We frolicked like we had never frolicked before.  By 11 pm with enough light still out to see, we headed back to the B&B to rest for another day.  Who knows what greatness it would bring!

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Everyday, when on vacation can't be epic. You can and will have bad days too. I was prepared for that. Yesterday was one of those days. The plan was to head out on a road trip for the weekend and this is how it would start: Andy was going to get off of work early, I would pack up to make the most of time, Andy and Seb would pick up a rental car and we'dhead out to our first stop: Galway (on the west coast, Dublin is on the east coast). Andy did manage to get off early and I did manage to get packed up but when they went to go pick up the car it wasn't there. The people who had rented it hadn't returned it yet and they only had ONE automatic. They drive on the left side of the road here, with the steering wheel on the right, which means if you drive stick (which all three of us know how to do but in varying proficiency) you have to use your left hand for the stick shift. We all agreed that remembering to stay on the left side was going to be hard enough as it was without having to add the difficulty of trying to be ambidextrous. So they waited 3 hours until the car was returned. In the meantime they ate and me and Caspian played and napped back at the apartment. Once we got the car we set sail across the width of Ireland (only a 2 hr drive). But not before getting gas and food for me since I hadn't eaten. I got Chinese food right next to the gas station at a restaurant that only did take away food. That seems to be pretty common out here. I can't really think of an example of one back home right now but it's basically just a kitchen in the back with a counter and a few chairs for you to wait while your food comes. I ordered shrimp chowmein. Let's just say I'm not getting Chinese food for the remainder of the trip. That's not to say there isn't good Chinese food here. Andy had "the best Chinese food he's ever had" but if you know Andy, you know he says that a lot lol! Oh and another thing out here with food is that if you want extra or any sauce at all it will cost you $1-3. I thought that was nuts! We got back on the road and halfway we realized we had till 9:00pm to check in to the B&B (minus the breakfast) but Google estimated we'd get there at 9:30pm. We tried calling the place with no success. We figured we were doing it wrong so we googled how to place a call. Still no success. We weren't sure what we would do if they were closed by the time we got there. By some miracle, the guy ended up calling us and they were cool with us b int 30 minutes late. Nice! One win for the day :-). Ok so now we were hungry. We ask the guy what was good around here and he says "everytin roun ere is closed, but eres a good take out that delivers" and hands us a Chinese food menu. *Lilly smack for head* doh!!! Andy hops on their wifi to Yelp somewhere that's open and not Chinese. Not very many but one was like a fast food burger joint. 9 minutes later we're in the epitome of Irish downtowns with lively music playing small cobblestone streets. Colorful banners hanging above. Just what I wanted to experience. But everything was closed except for a pizza place, the fast food burger joint, and the mega lively pub. This normally wouldn't have been a problem except that we had señor Caspian fast asleep in the buggy. By this time it was already 10:30. We ended up eating at the burger joint. I ordered a cheeseburger. The picture looked great and like it would be filling, what I ended up getting looked like... The saddest cheeseburger that ever lived. The bread was ok. The lettuce was the tiniest shrivels of Lettie I ever did see. The meat. Oh the meat. I've heard of things "tasting like cardboard" but this ACTUALLY did. It was thin like cardboard, tough like cardboard. Actually, you'd have a hard time convincing me it wasn't. I'm in no way exaggerating here either. And I don't think of myself as a food snob either. I can definitely get down on greasy pizza, salty nachos, fries... You name it. But this was HORRID. The only saving grace of that place was the fries aka chips. Andy wanted something to dip them in so $2 later we had a curry dip. Haha our food night was over. We had given up. We left that place with no words. All of us wanted to ctrl+z the food we just ate. For future reference... Yelp is an American thing, TripAdvisor knows what's best out here. Duly noted.

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A little fairy wonderland for kids (and kids at heart) in the middle of Dublin. They have the best park stuff out here! #CaspianCostaKeith #UrbanPark #MerrionSquare #DublinIreland #IThinkHeLikesIt (at Merrion Square)

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You're either a big city person or you're not. And I'm not. And I've known that about myself but it's not to say I'm not enjoying myself. I'll tell you what I like about big cities. They're entertaining. Something new and different around every corner. They're diverse. You meet people from all corners of the globe. And they're navigable. Be it by foot, bus, or train, you can get to where you need in a reasonable amount of time. But if it were up to me I'd rather be in a small town with only a few tourists experiencing life as if I were from there (with the exception that Im on vacation). I guess I like to live life in the "what if" scenario. Like "what if my parents were Irish and I lived here instead of California?" What would life be like? Because I'm convinced that life is beautiful everywhere. Different but still beautiful. It's a roll of the dice as to where you are born and its up to you to continue living there (well sometimes unless you have crazy courage). I so happened to be born in California and I love it there, I'm used to It, it's home, but I can admit it's not "the best". There is better weather, food, people, music, beaches, landscapes, way of life, government, education, etc in all sorts of places but maybe not all in one place (or else I'd live there!). And mind you this changes depending on a persons personal preference... Some like it hot, some like it cold, some like it loud, some like it quiet. So while this magical place that has the best of everything doesn't exist, I'd like to think it does if you choose to call that place THE WORLD. But of course I'm privileged. I come from a country where I can make an adequate amount of money such that I can sustain myself AND put some money aside to be able to travel and my country allows me to come and go as I please. That's not the case everywhere. In some places, you have to make sacrifices, like never seeing your family again or worse. Sounds crazy but it's more common than you might think. My dad for example, hasn't seen some of his own family in Venezuela since the day he left when he was 18. Sure, most of the time it's cousins or aunts/uncles but sometimes it's sisters/brothers, moms/dads, sons/daughters. And even when it's distant relatives, go ahead and pick a random person in your family close to you and think about not seeing them for 45 years. What I'm getting at here is that I (along with many others) have this unique opportunity to travel, see the world from a different perspective, and pretend for a moment what it would be like to live somewhere else... Because that is the reality for so many others. So I would like to do it in its purest form.. By going somewhere that is a good representation of that country. For me, that's not big cities. Big cities start to blur together once you've been to a few. Dublin reminds me soooo much of San Francisco, which is similar to New York in someways and similar to Boston and Los Angeles in others. I want to go somewhere that's especially [Insert Country Here]. And even then, I would be wrong with the impression I would have from that ONE place. Because even in the US, California is drastically different than Taxas or New York. But I get it, big cities are easy and quick for when you want to sort of experience it in a jiffy. Today, I did that... Walked around Dublin and explored this big city. There was a lot that was different from SF. For example, Pubs serve a lot of food and often times in a buffet style (but they still serve you). You can bring kids into Pubs (thank god!). Bus rides are way cheaper ($3 to get somewhere 30 mins away). No one IDs you... But I haven't been out in a while to test if I would still get id'd back home. Irish people seem friendly but not afraid to speak the truth even if it's brutal. Something that doesn't seem to change no matter WHAT big city you go to is the amount of cigarettes smoked... YUCK!!!! That smell is stuck in my nose even when it's not around! What do you call a disclaimer when it comes after the fact? An apology maybe? Well in any case here it is: I've had a few Guinness (so delicious out here!) and this is just my perspective on things. I acknowledge that everyone's journey in life is different and thus their perspective will be different as well. So I'm in no way saying that the way I live is the way all should live, just attempting to explain why I do what I do. Good night!

[illycostal-blog]

We come from the sea you and me...so to the sea must we always return. #CaspianCostaKeith #IrishSea #HowthIreland #Howth #Ireland #TakeMeToTheSea

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Yesterday I selfishly took advantage of the fact that señor Caspian was still jetlagged...it's the first time in 8 months I've slept in (till 10:30) can you blame me?!?! So we didn't get much out of the day but today was different. We decided to take a day trip to Howth which is a 30 min bus ride from Dublin...and well worth it! We were super close to not going at all because we encountered a few bumps along the way. We had to get Caspian some to go snacks at the local grocery store, buy a Leap card (like a fast pass for busses), find the nearest bus stop, go back to the apartment because we didn't think to find the bus stop/time before hand, go to said location of bus stop, realized it was the wrong bus stop, looked everywhere for the right one and eventually asked and found the right one. When we got there we immediately liked it. What's not to like about a quaint town by the sea? And the cherry on top? It was sunny!!!! The first blue skies we've seen in Ireland :-). First thing we did was find a place to eat. Asked a local and he directed us to "the best fish n chips in all of Dublin". I'm honestly sure it was..but I don't think I'm into fish n chips. But the cool part was that it was strictly to-go so we ate it on the grass right next to a park. Caspian loved watching the kiddies play... He didn't like the side of "mushy peas" I got for him though. At this point I think he likes holding his food and feeding himself. After eating we decided to head for the lighthouse off in the distance not really thinking much of it. I walked along the long cement pier that was protected from the wind by a cement wall. My brother being the adventurer that he is claimed the stairs up on top of the wall to scope it out. What is great about traveling with him is his can-do attitude. It's easy for me to let my "buggy" (i.e. Stroller) limit me from doing things...I'm sure you guys recall the restaurant incident. So it's great when I hear the words "we can do it!" come out of his mouth especially since he's always analyzing the situation. So up we went with Caspian, again being carried like a pharaoh...and what we found on the other side was truly breath taking! A literal sea of deep aqua blue contrasted against lush emerald green with a light blue sky as the backdrop. My jaw dropped. The three of us stared at the beautiful sight. I've always felt at home by the ocean no matter the country and this wasn't any exception. My brother felt the same. We walked up and down that wall down to the light house. My brother contemplated jumping in a few times...he said the water was calling out to him...and he would have if it weren't for....the shallowness one time, the jelly fish a second time, and a sign that said "no jumping" the third time lol! I was ready at any moment to be camera lady haha after all, what is a sister for? As far as Caspian went, he overall was great....especially when you factor in that he was teething. As of today he has a total of 6 teeth with one definitely breaking through one of these days. Breast feeding is the only thing that seems to help. Doing that in public can be tricky but I've managed to get it down so that I'm not exposed...long hair, although in danger around little grabby hands, helps! After the walk on the pier we sought out a little pick me up at an ice cream shop. Affogato's are truly amazing... Ice cream + espresso= happy Lilly :-) The owner of the ice cream shop was training a Brazilian girl that seemed to just be learning English. While we were there a swarm of Italian students flooded the shop. It was a good thing we ordered when we did! What stuck us while we were there was how diverse of a country Ireland is! So far we've met people from, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania, Japan, China, Poland, France, Portugal, Spain, Croatia, Germany, Canada, and the US. I guess it makes sense, though, since they're so much closer to all of Europe where it's dense with countries of very different cultures, whereas the U.S is huge, only has two direct neighbors and countries in Latin America tend to blur together to the untrained eye. At this point we were going to go back to Dublin until I got a text from Andy asking if he should meet us out here after work. I didn't hesitate in telling him he'd be missing out if he didn't! The great thing about Ireland in the summer is that it doesn't get dark until 11! So there was plenty of sunlight when Andy got there for him to explore. I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but Andy came to Ireland for work, and me and my brother Sebio tagged along for fun :-) So unfortunately a lot of my adventures are without Andy. But if we keep up what we did today, we can work it out so that Sebio and I scope out a place and lay it out for Andy to do in a shorter time span. We shall see if it works out again!! Keep posted on more Howth pictures! As me and Sebio kept saying when we were there, every where you look, looks right out of a post card!!

[illycostal-blog]

Andy knows how to speak my love language...flowers, muffin, THE CuTEST card in existence, and coffee! Every day is an adventure with this lovely soul. Some days more so than others but every day is chalk full of love. These past two years have been amazing and I love you (@newdawnguitar ) more each day! Let us never sit still together and make every year more memorable than the one before. That won't be so hard now that we have señor Caspiano! I love youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!! (at Dublin, Ireland)

[illycostal-blog]

Today we decided to take care of the necessities (money and diapers) and get our bearings on our location. We took out money from a nearby ATM since they didn't do currency exchange. Plus, I needed it to by diapers. Only banks on the main street (Wall Quay) do currency exchange. After we got $$ we were on the hunt for somewhere that sold diapers. When I asked, they directed me across the street to a Chemist...sounded fancy but that just meant the pharmacy lol! After that we stopped at a Cafe to get a caffein boost... Much needed after what I went through the night before... A teething jetlagged baby was NO GOOD for my sleep! I got English breakfast tea served with a side of milk. According to a friend of mine who lived in Ireland, the Irish are more about their tea than coffee. That's fine with me because caffein wise it had the same effect. We went on to explore the city center. It was very similar to San Francisco minus the hills and plus some monuments. Eventually when we got hungry we asked one of the guys that promoted bus tours where a good place to eat was, he directed us to a place he claimed had typical Irish food but the prices were outrageous! Note to self: don't ask promoters. Oh and he had the THICKEST Irish accent! Cracked me up! We continued to explore to see what we found but didn't have much luck so we decided to stop someone and ask. The guy walking behind us had food in his hand and definitely looked Irish so we asked him. Turned out he was from Mexico!!! Haha us Mexicans come in all shapes and sizes. He pointed us in the direction of a neighborhood that had pubs and little restaurants. On the way there, while crossing a busy intersection, my brother had a close encounter with a pick pocket. He said he sensed something strange looked back and saw a guy reaching for the zipper in his backpack. He had nothing in there but we both took a second to shake off that feeling...of ick. We get to said area and find plenty of pubs and restaurant. A few were pricey so we moved on and then there was one that was reasonable but we couldn't find a spot to sit that would accommodate the stroller... So off we went again... Hungry disappointed..and a bit anxious even, due to the stroller issue... But determined to find a place to eat. By this time it was 2:30. No more than a block later a lady handed us a menu, I took it out of politeness. Her accent sounded Portuguese so I asked where she was from, "Brazil" she said. We chatted a bit and I found out her sister lived in San Jose! What were the odds?! I took another look at the menu and realized they were crazy good prices... The only issue was that it was two flights of stairs to get up and with no elevator. We weren't about to give up this time! My brother took the front of the stroller and I took the back and we lifted sleeping King Caspian up the stairs like a Pharaoh lol. When we get to the top we saw there was plenty of room and all seemed good and well UNTIL...dun dun dun!... The host said... "There's no room for your buggy, you'll have to leave it at the entrance". "but he's sleeping in there... I replied, with a big face of disappointment. "sorry" was all I got back. So I said "ok" and we slowly started for the stairs. I guess he saw the hunger and sadness in our eyes or something because he immediately told us we could have the corner table as long as we crammed the buggy in as much as possible. I had noooo problem with that! Besides, he was sleeping! Ha! Jokes on me! The table next to us was full of boisterous Englishmen. So he only lasted asleep for 5 minutes while we were there. Good thing we didn't leave! But all was well...Caspian hadn't eaten since breakfast anyway. We ate a beef stew with mash. Yummmm was it delicious! The beef was from Kilkenny. Not sure what that means but from what I gather, they also make good silver. I'll have to look it up later. Our waitress was the complete opposite of our host. She has a 1.5 year old daughter and was incredibly accommodating for us. Brought us a high chair and took away out buggy (lol I love that word for stroller!) On our way out as I was saying goodbye she says "that guy doesn't like kids and doesn't have any so don't mind him!" I chuckled back "I can tell!" He heard but took it well! After that we headed home, Caspian took one last nap, played, took a bath, and went to sleep around 8. Hooray for getting baby Cas on Irish time!!! Hopefully that means a good nights sleep for me!