Moran Family Fun

The second week in December was so filled with events that it felt a little bit hectic. I'm pretty sure we had only one family dinner the entire week. Right from the start of the week, things were crazy. There was no school on Monday so the girls and I went nuts and made yummy treats for teachers, coworkers, and friends. In the afternoon we made a quintuple batch of Sister Frost's salsa which has become our favorite treat to give at Christmastime. There's so much sweetness being handed out in December and we've found that people really appreciate something salty for a change. We got out our five largest bowls, opened what felt like a billion cans of diced tomatoes, chopped bunches and bunches of green onions and cilantro, and diced up some beautiful avocados. Then it was all mixed with the perfect blend of spices and portioned out into containers ready for gifting. As if 43 individual containers of salsa weren't enough, that evening we washed out the big mixing bo...

Once we arrived home from Ireland, the busy Christmas season immediately started. The first week in December brought us concerts, sports, and one of our favorite Christmas traditions. This year Natalie chose to join her school choir. She's not really shown a huge interest in music or singing before so we were kind of surprised by that particular choice of elective, but Natalie has LOVED choir and her teacher Mr. Sands. She's excited about singing and the songs they're working on together in class each day. This is our fourth school year with a musician at the middle school so at least we knew what to expect - a hard time finding parking and kind of mediocre music. The middle school band and choir concerts are always combined with both bands and the choir all on the same night in the gymnasium. The gym floor is filled with musicians and the bleachers are packed with parents and other family members. However, her first concert with the school choir was so much better than w...

Today is our last full day in Ireland and the girls were campaigning hard for a day spent at our Airbnb playing ping pong, air hockey, and card games. To be fair, it was tempting to take their plan and run with it but we didn't want to spend a day in Ireland doing things we could do at home on any other Saturday. We ended up doing a mix of what they wanted to do and spending some time at another beautiful Irish spot. We slept in this morning and took our time getting ready before heading out in the early afternoon after which our evening was spent playing games. We've been sharing our fun house here in Ireland with our friends the Martins. Even though we've all been here together we've been doing our own thing each day and just hanging out together in the evenings. We love the Martin family! They are easy going travel buddies and a lot of fun to be around. Our girls and their boys have gotten along so well these past few days. Their son Zeke asked today if hanging out...

Today was another beautiful day in Ireland.  We've been blessed with good weather the entire time we've been here, especially for late November. Our grand plans for today included a clifftop hike at the stunning Cliffs of Moher. This was one of the main things we wanted to do on this trip and our only worry was that the weather would make it a miserable experience instead of a happy one. While it wasn't exactly warm today, it was sunny and dry. We came prepared with waterproof hiking boots, hats, gloves, warm coats (Jared and I even wore little coats under our big coats), and hand warmers to keep in our pockets or tuck in our gloves. We ended up being a little too warm once we got out there and really started hiking. The Cliffs of Moher Visitor's Center is situated right in the middle of the trails that run along the cliffs. We parked there and started by going into the visitor's center for the toilets and for some advice on our best options for hiking t...

We have four days here in Ireland. Jared planned two of the days - Blarney Castle and tomorrow's adventures - and the other two days I'm the planner. Planning things to do on vacation is not fun for me. Like shopping for Christmas presents, I feel pressure to do a good job. By that, I mean that I want everyone to have a great time and love what we do together. I tend to procrastinate when I'm feeling pressured because I'd rather ignore my problems than face them. Mature, I know. Anyway, today was one of my days and I finally made up my mind last night about what we were going to do. We spent our Thanksgiving in Galway! Our first stop was the cathedral. Unlike most cathedrals in Europe, the Galway Cathedral is not hundreds of years old. It was built in 1965 on the site of the city's old prison and it is beautiful. The cathedral has a dome instead of spires or towers and it reminded me a little of the US Capitol Building. The cathedral has beautiful stained glass wi...