Last week we spent the afternoon with a good friend at Blue Hill Farm and oh my gosh, we had so much fun! For being a city girl, R seems really at home with the animals and was so sweet and gentile and brave with all of them (though she didn't really care much for the chickens - particularly when they were picking at our toes!)

The animals are all mostly contained but there were a few litters of piglets who were small enough to squeeze under the fences and were running all over the field. What an adventure! We spent the good part of an hour running around with them and trying to get them comfortable enough with us to come close. And, it worked! 

We spent the weekend visiting friends in Philadelphia. They live inside the city limits, yet we felt a million miles away - and R had the time of her life. Not sure what to call out as a highlight - feeding the chickens in the backyard, the trampoline, filling the bird feeders, playing on the pingpong table, chasing the pet rabbit around the house, or riding the rope swing. Everything was a hit. Thanks friends!

 

 When in Ireland, we spent an afternoon wandering the halls and grounds of Bantry House, a historic mansion overlooking Bantry Bay. It was all a little bit wild and over grown, inside and out, but gorgeous nonetheless. Lots of great patterns and colors inside. E and I were both particularly taken with a small collection of eggs on view in the parlor. I also loved the carpet on the second floor.

 We are just back from a week and a half visiting E's family in Ireland. We spent a couple of nights in Dublin and then rented a small farmhouse in West Cork. As usual, I hardly took any pictures at all. Here are a couple of r stomping around - - please notice the sweaters, the wellies, and the tights. It was not warm, but it was actually a really nice relief from the sweltering NY heat. We bundled up and slept under the big duvet covers every night - we even considered turning on the heat but thought we should try to get through a summer holiday without it.
Back home now with a busy, busy week ahead.

Whew. Little r and I just got back from what I think is the longest vacation I've ever taken and I really can't believe it's been almost a full month since I've been here.  Like I said, whew. Before I left I had dreams of dropping by every now and again to update with little posts and let you all know what we were up to, lost in the abyss. But, just like my inability to get my act together to take photos on vacations, I also cannot get on a computer to save my life.
I did manage a few shots - all of little r. I guess if you give me a month I can come up with something. To keep things relevant, you may notice some previous sewing projects in action.

I'm afraid the closest thing to a tip I can offer is this peek inside R's travel bag.
Despite being a frequent flyer and her young age (with family all over the map, it's hard not to be), R is not good on planes. She gets way too exhausted to play nice and way too riled up to fall asleep. On almost every flight we've taken, I've been the embarrassed mom in the back of the plane trying desperately to get my little beast to stop crying. I don't know why I haven't figured out the magic to getting her to relax -- it is magic, right? It seems to be the only possible explanation as I've tried everything else. The one thing I have learned is how to make an awesome travel bag. Her favorite thing is the pom-pom fringe, but the sock comes in a close second.

Did I say I'd have tips?? Hardly. But I do have a couple more shots.

We stayed two nights in Old San Juan, but really only had one full day to explore. The old colonial architecture and pastel painted buildings were as beautiful as I had heard, but sadly the parts of the neighborhood we walked around felt more like a touristy mall than the caribbean paradise we were hoping for. I would say 98% of the people we walked past were tourists, probably 75% of them had just gotten off one of the cruise ships docked up the street.

We ended up spending most of our time exploring the old forts & city walls lining the shoreline, and I'm glad we did. The buildings were really amazing - I had never seen that kind of Spanish Colonial Architecture in person and loved it! I felt like I was walking around the set of Bizet's Carmen. You would think that, because I liked it so much, I would have taken loads of pictures, right? Wrong. Mostly I just shot Ruth looking grumpy, and became kind of obsessed with this one look out room covered in modern, "I wuz here" style graffiti. It was the only part of the whole place that was defaced, but man did people go wild in there. 

After two nights, we took a small prop plane to the island of Culebra. You can also take a ferry, but we had heard the ride was REALLY rocky and I am so glad we opted for the flight. There were only 5 of us on the 6 seater (including the pilot) and the views were incredible. You could see all of San Juan as you left the main island and then, as we flew over the ocean, the water was so clear you could practically see the fish swimming under the surface. Someone we spoke to claimed he actually saw turtles from the window. It felt like the type of plane ride island tours I imagine millionaires take, but the tickets were pretty cheap and it was really very practical.
And then, the beach. Flamenco beach is advertised as one of the top 3 most beautiful beaches in the world, and it measured up pretty well. Unfortunately, R was not impressed. She was not really interested in the sand and the waves of the ocean totally freaked her out. The only thing that got us through the week was that she LOVED the pool back at the hotel. So, she's going to be one of those types of travelers. . . We should have just booked her on the cruise ship when we had a chance in Old San Juan.

My mom, my sister and my sister's two kids are coming to visit next week (My mom gets in tomorrow!). Everyone is staying in our tiny apartment. It's going to be a serious adventure. I am really looking forward to it. We don't have much on the agenda, but I am looking forward to being a tourist in the city. It's always so fun when we have visitors in town and we can just let go and gawk at this beautiful place. 
Do you have any exciting weekend plans?

We've decided to take a spring trip to Puerto Rico! We haven't gotten very far in planning except that we know we want to go, and go soon. Neither E nor I have ever taken a full-on beach vacation and we're really looking forward to it. We think we'll spend a little bit of time in San Juan, but want to do most of the trip on the quieter island of Culebra.  The only prep I have really been able to accomplish so far is getting R a suit for the trip. Can you believe I found this at Old Navy on sale for $12.00!? Seriously people.

Have you ever been to Puerto Rico? Do you have any tips or recommendations?