Sterling - 30th Sept

Another rainy day... worse than yesterday. Everyone is under the weather and I am predicting that I will get sick once I get home. Not happy about this at all!

We tried to make a go of our last full day. We headed out to Sterling, MA and the Davis Farmland. We saw such amazing fall foliage on this drive. We also saw many beautiful houses, barns and fall decorations on porches and in yards. We got to Davis Farmland and were some of the first in. Liam loved the animals. He was followed around by a baby goat and when the goat jumped up on a bench with him he told the goat to 'get down'. Liam interacted with chickens, sheep, goats and emus. He was adorable trying to say 'Llama'. After time in the farm yard he went to the play town and enjoyed the miniature store and tool shed. Afterwards he played in the musical maze. Unfortunately Aidan was feeling really poorly so we decided to head back to Natick. So no apple picking this year but we will definitely be back in the future.

The rest of the day required me to drive the car, as Aidan was out for the count. It has been a while since Aidan loves to drive while we're on vacation. I got everyone sans Aidan from the hotel to the mall in one piece. Shopping with Liam proved to be interesting on my own. At first he walked with me and then due to the number of people and strollers in the mall I got one of the little cars that they rent out to parents. He lounged in his police car as I tried to do some shopping in an hour before I was to meet up with Aidan's parents. I hardly got anything accomplished. Either I wasn't inspired or Liam was rearranging the displays. I guess I will be doing the bulk of my shopping at home this year!

For dinner I dropped Aidan's parents at The Cheesecake Factory and picked up some dinner for my little family. I was the only one who ate though. Liam was asleep and Aidan was not in any shape to eat when I got back. So we had a quiet evening with PBS on tv and decided to do our packing in the morning.

Boston - 29th Sept

Sadly we woke up to another rainy and grey day with Aidan's parents feeling a bit under the weather and Liam was fighting a bit of a tummy bug as well.  We tried not to let that keep us indoors. The day eventually cleared up so that was good. We started with visits to Home Depot, Lowes and Target but we didn't find anything that we had been looking for. We then headed to Babson for me to get a few things from the bookstore. After that we drove through a residential neighborhood to see some of the fall foliage. We dropped Aidan's parents off at the Museum of Fine Arts and headed into Brookline for a few hours.

We parked near the library and walked to Pizza Dante for lunch. We then visited a speciality pet shop and Liam played with the owner's 3 dogs. We began to head back to the car but stopped in at Magic Beans first. Liam was into everything but when he got into the play area he decided that he wanted to sit in the kid armchair... crazy! We walked back to the car and Liam wanted to go to the library because he could see the kids reading in the window nooks as we walked past.

We picked up Aidan's parents and headed for the Natick Mall. It was a bit busy and therefore perhaps a little overwhelming for our group. Aidan's parents had lunch at Deangelo's and then we split up to shop. We managed to get Liam's outfit for his school pictures and grey pants for the winter/his Hallowe'en costume. We also got his feet measured at Striderite (5.5). Liam ended up with a bad dinner (chicken nuggets) but that's only one day out of a week away!

Our lovely sitter arrived around 7pm and we headed into Boston. The Wang Theatre was lovely. I can't believe how long it has been since I had last been there. Idina Menzel's show was good. She wore a lovely strapless ballgown with bare feet and told stories between songs. I enjoyed many of the songs and the concert flew by. I am glad that we got to attend.

Dublin - Boston - 28th Sept

Talk about a busy day! I was up at 5.30am Dublin time finishing up packing and loading pictures onto Snapfish. Our goal was to get out of the apartment by 7.30am, allowing Liam to sleep for as long as possible. That part worked as we managed to pack, get dressed, have breakfast and get out of the door relatively quickly. There was some morning traffic but we made good time to the airport. Aidan left us at the terminal while he took the car back.

Liam was quite amiable through the wait for Aidan to come back and check-in. He was selected for the extra search, which resulted in me being chosen as the second person to be searched in order to go with him. Once we got through everything we didn't have much of a wait for the flight to board. 

The flight took 6 hours and Liam slept for maybe 1.5 hours. He played with Aidan, visited with his grandparents and watched a children's show about penguins. I got through a few movies but really wanted a nap... no luck there with our busy little man. 

Once we landed we got the car and had to deal with lots of rain and traffic. Aidan dropped me off at Babson on the way to the hotel to allow me to attend the Alumni class. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was able to catch up with Prof. Donnellon and Prof. Lawler. I also managed to visit with Paula and to spend some time at a reception. Aidan then collected me and we got some milk and food for the evening.

Sandyford, Dalkey, Dun Laoghaire, Wicklow Mountains - Sept 27th

So it looks like I have been tasked with writing up another day. Apparently, my deputy would be short on detail if she did it.

We headed out just before 9:30 to Sandyford and the Imaginosity Children’s Museum. We went in and Liam had a great time for about 2-1/2 hours. The exhibits are hands on for children of all ages. On the first floor there were miniature versions of a grocery store, a diner, doctor’s office, garage, house, and garden. There was also a great train set that kids (and parents) could climb into the middle of. There were a lot of exhibits I wanted to try also. We did try out the Rally car in the garage. On the second floor there was a tv station, theatre, science stations, a music area, a fish tank and a construction area with balls and pipes and a working crane. Liam participated in the teddy bear picnic. Such a place would be great for Bermuda.

Following this, we drove to meet Dermot who took us to Martello Tower No 7, which overlooks Dalkey - just south of Dublin. One of his Royal Naval Officers Association colleagues , Niall O’Donoghue, has been restoring the tower for the last 6 years. He is still restoring the ammunition store and some of the details. We travelled around the defensive fortifications and he showed us how the various shapes and materials of construction deflected shells and other projectiles fired from the sea. Inside the tower the internal fixings had been restored as close as possible to the original. Several modern fixings had been added, such as windows over the musket ports and a stair for modern convenience and for health and safety for visitors. He also showed us a video of the forging and proofing of the replica cannon he had built for the top of the tower and the history and first firing. It was a superb private restoration and we were privileged to have been afforded the opportunity to visit.

After this, we travelled through Dalkey and Dun Laoghaire and had a late lunch at a shopping mall in Blackrock. Then I drove through some smaller roads back to the Merry Ploughboys Pub. This was the beginning of a trip up into the Wicklow mountains, this time over the Sally Gap. We were very lucky in that the clouds were lifted and the sun was partly out, so the visibility was excellent. We travelled over the top and then down the other side. At a particular crossroads, we went towards Blessington and drove along a valley, over the Liffey and around the north end of the Pollaphuca reservoir. It was quite a few feet deeper than last Sunday. We then headed back to the apartment to prepare for our departure tomorrow.