Chapter 20… Hello Ireland!!
Well, the time had finally come! After filling in the whole day eating and drinking and shopping in Montreal, it was finally 10pm! Time to fly to Ireland! Yayyyy!
So I guess this is the time for a little background on my sister and her family. My sister is Trish, who married Mark, 6 years ago. Trish is 5 years older than me, but she’s my favourite person ever. She’s always been my best friend and the one person who I look up to and take advice from, even though she drives me a little nuts at time, as sisters tend to do.
So 4 years ago, Trish and Mark decided they were going to move to Ireland to live! Oh nooo! Mark started up his own pharmaceutical company over there, and they love Irish life! Not long after they arrived in Ireland, Trish announced she was having a baby! Yayyy! Except booo, because she was so far away from us in Australia!
To cut a long story short, I went to Ireland to visit at Christmas in 2004 to visit, and we had a lovely Christmas together. Trish was due to have her baby on January 18th, but she was overdue. I had to fly back to Australia on January 22nd, and Trish finally had her first baby on January 26th, 2005. I missed being there by 4 days! Oh noooo!
Their first baby was a gorgeous girl called Stella. She’s two and a half now, and just the cutest thing ever! Maybe I’m a bit biased, but I think she’s pretty cute. Trish has brought her to Australia for a few big visits, and we chat on the phone every second day, so it doesn’t really seem like we’re so far away from each other!
Anyhoo, Trish was due to have her second baby on September 22nd, and we arrived in Dublin on September 30th. Eeek! So yep, she was overdue again! We were hoping and hoping that I wouldn’t have to leave before the baby was born this time!
So back to our flight from Montreal to Dublin. It was pretty uneventful really, except that we had to fly all night and I hardly slept! We flew to London first, then caught a transfer flight to Dublin. So by the time we arrived, it was lunchtime in Dublin. With hardly any sleep, and crossing timezones, my body was definitely out of whack!
But yayyyy! We finally arrived in Dublin! And guess what! Mark and Stella were there to meet us on arrival at the airport, but no Trish. I asked where Trish was, and Mark replied, “She’s at home, having contractions!”
Whaaaaaaat!?
At first I thought he was joking, and thought she was going to pop out of a hiding place somewhere, but no! He was actually telling the truth!! She’s started having contractions that morning, but the hospital had said to wait until they become much stronger and closer before she should go in. Wow!!! What timing!!!
To cut an even longer story short, Trish had slow contractions all day and night, and they finally went into hospital at around 3am. DF and I stayed at their house and looked after Stella (and slept!), and the new baby wasn’t born until lunchtime the next day! Wow! A baby boy called Milo! Yayyyyy!! It was a long delivery, but everybody was happy and healthy! Yayyyy!
That afternoon, Mark came home and picked up DF, Stella and myself, and we all went to visit Trish and baby Milo in hospital. Stella loved Milo straight away, and couldn't stop touching his little arms and cheeks, and saying, "Awwww, babby!" Here’s some photos at the hospital... Milo hadn't even been bathed properly yet! He was only a few hours old!
The new family - Trish, Mark, Stella & Milo... (Trish would kill me for posting this photo - she's not at her most glamorous!)
Me with Milo and Stella...
DF with Milo...
So really, we arrived at the perfect time! The next couple of days were spent looking after Stella, while Trish and Milo were still in the hospital, and Mark was going back and forth visiting Trish and making sure we were okay in their house! On the other hand though, it was a bit sad because I hardly got to see Trish!
DF and I did have one “day off” from looking after Stella, when we went into the city of Dublin and did lots of touristy things, like visiting the Guinness factory! Here’s DF with lots of beer behind him! Actually, it might be water…
And here’s me with a Guinness which I didn’t drink, cause I’m really not a beer girl – fresh Guinness or otherwise! But hey, it’s fun to pose with.
And lastly, here’s DF with his Guinness which he loved, overlooking the rooftops of Dublin!
As I said, I’d been to Ireland before, so I’d seen the sights already in lots of detail. But DF hadn’t been before, so I felt a bit sad for him that we only had one day to explore. He liked what he saw though, and by that stage in our 7 week adventure, we were feeling pretty exhausted, so it was nice to have some time at home – even if it wasn’t our home! It was lovely to spend time with Stella too. Here’s DF doing some drawings with Stella… Awww!
So Trish and Milo came home from the hospital on our last night in Ireland, so it was great to spend some time with her then – and have big cuddles with Milo, of course! Trish and I stayed up until 3am chatting and catching up, before DF and I had to get up the next morning at 6am for our flight back to London, and then back to Australia! Oh nooooo!
It had been a fantastic 5 days in Ireland, spending time with Stella and getting to see a bit of Ireland, and being there for the birth of Milo! Yay! On the other hand… I wasn’t ready to leave yet! Trish and I were both in tears saying goodbye, because we both wanted a few more days together! It would have just been too hard to change flights at such late notice though, so we really had to leave. Boooo!
But nevertheless, we were on our way back home to Melbourne, Australia! We flew to London first, then caught another flight to Melbourne, stopping in Hong Kong for a few hours on the way. We both basically slept the whole way home, I think!
It had been a fantastic, fabulous, exhausting 7 weeks full of laughter, tears, adventures, engagements, babies, and… FUN!! We had visited 3 different countries and 11 different cities, and as many of you reading this trip report noted, it truly was the trip of a lifetime. We saw so many incredible places, did so many fun things, and really just had the time of our lives. Awwww.
And then… we were home!! One day we were overseas having fabulous adventures, and then the next day, we were home and back to normal life, in the blink of an eye! How did that happen!?! But the best thing though, was that we got to see Annie, our cat, again!! Yayyyy! She’d been staying with my brother, so the day after we returned, we drove to his house and picked her up. Yayyyy! I had missed her ridiculously – what can I say!? She’s our baby! Here she is, in all her fluffy and chubby glory...
At that stage, we were still living in Canberra, but with plans of moving back to Melbourne as soon as possible. So in quick succession, this is what happened…
• We house-hunted for a new rental property in Melbourne.
• We found a new house which we loved!
• We moved back to Melbourne in November last year.
• We started planning our wedding for December 29th, 2007.
• I applied madly for teaching jobs in Melbourne for 2007, and finally got one, a week before Christmas.
• We had Christmas Day at our house, with both of our families.
• Trish, Mark, Stella and Milo came to visit, and stayed at our house for 3 weeks in January.
• We had our engagement party on January 22nd.
• I started teaching on January 25th.
Whew!!! It really was a whirlwind few months, and it wasn’t until things had settled down a bit that we really started thinking about our trip, and talking about how much fun it was. It sounds weird, I know, but things were so hectic as soon as we arrived back in Australia, that it seemed like our trip didn’t happen at all, which I felt really sad about.
It was probably around February when we started to talk about our trip and remember silly things that happened, or fun places we’d been. And since then, we really do look back on our trip with so much fondness, and we realize that it really was the trip of a lifetime.
And so, I guess this is the end of my trip report! How sad!! It took far, far longer than I expected it to – I’m sorry!! But I loved that you were all so interested in hearing about our trip – Disney or otherwise. You’ve all been so nice and fun and silly and encouraging – you really have kept me going on this trip report, so… THANKYOU!!! I’ve had a ball reminiscing about everything, and it’s been so nice to be able to share our story with such a lovely and friendly group of people!!
So what’s next for us? Our wedding, of course! There’s a little under 6 months to go until December 29th, and we’re very organized. Yay! Really though, we never wanted a big fancy wedding. We just wanted a fun party, and we wanted to be married to each other! I just can’t wait until we’re married and headed for Hawaii on our honeymoon!
And knowing us by now, you know we’ve got more plans ahead of us. Hehee. We’re thinking next year we’ll be saving money to buy our first house, but we’re also hoping to head back to the US for one last big holiday before we have babies and all that stuff! So far, we’re thinking 3 weeks in September, 2008. A few days in New York, then 10 nights at Disneyworld, then a few nights in Miami and the Florida Keys. Yayyyy! We really loved what we saw of Florida, and would love to explore it some more – including Kennedy Space Center again, of course!! But most of all… Disney!!! Maybe Wilderness Lodge!? Hopefully free dining again, so I can stock up on that cheese popcorn!
So you never know – you might read another Disney trip report by me next October!! Yahoooo!
Until then,
THANKYOU again for joining in on our adventures!! It’s been a blast!! Have fun!!!
