All clean!

Eoin has taken to sweeping floors of late - there may be a janitors closet in his future!

The sunny south east - Florida (not Waterford)!

We really enjoyed our time in Naples Florida in October catching some very pleasant fall weather while Eoin discovered that pools are alot of fun. We really dig his full body swimsuit (thanks gran) - it saved alot of messing with sunscreen!

Comedy time in Chicago

Ricky Gervais is currently doing a stand up (comedy) tour in the US and Biz took me to see him for my birthday last week. "Shock and awe" is how I would describe the theme where nothing was off limits and stories / jokes were laced with humurous and unapologetic cruelty - great stuff.

Billy Connolly also happens to be in town this week and we are going - I grew up watching both videotapes of his live stand up shows (my cousin John and I watched them after school) and his TV series where he explored countries while touring around the world. His sense of humor was hilariously crude (with his distinct Scottish accent) and he never failed to make me laugh heartily. I am smiling in anticipation : - )

Autumn is here and so is college football

There was a noticeable chill in the air this weekend just in time for our trip to Notre Dame for their fourth game (football) of the season against Stanford. We arrived at 10:30am (for a 3:30pm kick off) to ensure plenty for pre game tailgating. It's great catching up with friends, having a few beers, following Eoin as he runs around excited by all that is going on and generally taking in the party atmosphere in the car parks hugging the stadium. With a new coach and quarterback this is a rebuilding year for ND and the performance on the field reflected it. We are looking forward to better games ahead including the game against Navy in Dublin, Ireland in 2012!

New York, New York

I got to catch up with my friends Michelle and Rachael in New York for a couple of days - Michelle was on the final leg of her ten week round the world trip. We enjoyed hanging out in one of the great world cities and managed to squeeze in a trip to Ellis Island where we retraced the steps that twelve million immigrants (including many Irish) took between 1892 and 1954. As a modern day immigrant it was a profound experience for me (though I am very thankful that I did not have to go through the same hardships in the process).

Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks

One of the best features of the US is its huge national parks. While Eoin hung out with Molly and John in Minneapolis Biz and I spent fours days at Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks - basing ourselves in JAckson Hole Wyoming.

Established in 1872, Yellowstone National Park was America's first national park. It is home to a large variety of wildlife including grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and elk - we saw bison, elk and moose while we were there.

Within Yellowstone National Park are Old Faithful and a collection of the world's most extraordinary geysers and hot springs while the Grand Teton mountain range and valley are breathtaking - it is truly a spectacular part of the world and bowled us over.

Minnesota State Fair

Every year in late August / early September Minnesota holds its state fair. It reminds me of the agricultural show in my hometime of Charleville, Ireland but super sized! The fair is held in impressive grounds which accomodate the hundreds of thousands that visit during the course of the week. Highlights include the birthing barn (not for the sqeamish), lots of fried food such as cheese curds and deep fried pickles, all you can drink milk for a quarter and many other delictible treats (chocolate covered frozen key lime pie was my favorite) and beer galore to wash it down.

There's a beauty queen competition and butter busts of the queens sculpted from 90 lbs blocks of butter - each county winner gets to take their bust home!

Its quite the experience but not surpising from the state where huge food companies such as Cargill and General Mills are based.

Eoin loves summertime!

Taking a walk on the wet side

In the past couple of weeks Eoin has started to come to grips with walking and he is quickly getting the hang of it. Biz ran the Chicago Rock and Roll half marathon this morning and Eoin and I cycled (Eoin from the comfort of his handlebar seat on my bike) to meet her at the finish. Given how warm it was afterwards both Biz and Eoin took a walk around the fountains in Millenium Park - very refreshing!

My fingers hurt

If I could spell texting would be alot easier!

Niagara Falls

While my parents were visiting from Ireland we went on a road trip from Chicago to Boston. Along the way we stopped off at the fun island of Put in Bay (on Lake Erie) to hang out with the Mooneys and we also visited Niagara Falls. The Falls are impressive.

Feeling nervous!

We visited the Field Museum and the dinosaur exhibition - Sue is the worlds largest, most complete and best preserved T Rex - more than enough to make Eoin a little nervous!

Trip to Minnesota April 2010

Eoin and I took a trip to Minnesota recently. The main purpose of our trip was to ensure that Baby Davin would be welcomed into the world with all the comforts. With the help of Molly's friends, Brigid and I hosted a lovely shower for baby Davin who is due to arrive in May. Eoin and cousin Hayden Browne are excited to welcome a new cousin into the family. A year ago my parents didn't have any grandchildren and as of sometime this month they will have 3! Their house has been transformed into a wonderland of toys. To prepare for the week with Eoin and Hayden in town my parents borrowed many toys from fellow grandparents and my mom made a few trips to Once Upon a Child. Their efforts were well received as you can tell from Eoin's excitement in the pictures below! Thanks Mac and Moons for a great visit.

Standing tall

Eoin is pulling himself up on anything he can get his hands onto these days. Last weekend he surprised us and managed to pull himself into a standing position in his crib - he was rather pleased with himself!

PS: the crib was lowered that evening so he will have to grow some more before he can repeat that stunt!

La Feile Padraig Shona Daoibh

Happy St Patricks Day to you all.

We celebrated paddys day Chicago style i.e. on the previous Saturday - we went out and drank green beer on what was a wet and windy (an irish feeling) day here. Eoin stayed at home to mind the house from any pesky lepreuchans who might have thought about dropping in - he was ready to tackle them in his irish rugby shirt.

It's great to be Irish.
Slan.

Gaelic imports

I paid a visit to Gaelic imports recently to get some Irish provisions including real Irish sausages, bacon, black and white pudding, soda bread and chef brown sauce. You can pick up bits and pieces eslewhere but this (in the middle of nowhere) store is dedicated to bringing those oft missed necessities to the Irish diaspora in Chicago. Yum!

Haircut

I took a photo of Eoin to send to Biz while she was recruiting down in Notre Dame last week and one look at the photo and it was clear, Eoin needed a haircut.

The before:


The after (dad's handywork!):

Eoin and Hayden

Eoin and Hayden hung out for the first time yesterday. Eoin tested out Hayden's bounce chair and other cool toys (after watching Ireland beat England in six nations rugby : -)) and he was well impressed with his new cousin.

Record snowfall but no snow days : - (

It's been easy to get distracted by all the reports of record snowfall and snow storms on the east coast (New York etc) this month and 'forget' about the weather in Chicago. Apparently New York had record snowfall in February of just under 40 inches with some east coast cities getting slightly more.

I hadn't taken much notice of the fact that Chicago has had one of it snowiest Februarys on record - a full 52 inches - and while this is about five times more than average it still only comes in at number 7 of Chicago's snowiest Februarys! I clearly must be getting used to winter over here. And even with all the snow this month we didn't get a snow day (off from work) - life just goes on!

Congrats to Brigid, Mike and Hayden Browne!

Hayden Michael Browne was born on Saturday morning (a week earlier than expected - and certainly not in our thoughts at dinner the night before with Brigid and Mike!) a fine 7lbs and 4oz and 19 inches long. We are so happy for them and Eoin is looking forward to getting up to mischief with his cousin.

Having a ball!

We were at the 7th Annual Ireland Network Ball (very swanky black tie affair) on Saturday night at the plush Drake Hotel in Chicago. Membership of the Ireland Network is geared towards Irish professionals living in the Chicago area and it has a large number of first generation Irish like myself while also some second and third generation Irish and what you might call friends of Ireland.

About 200 people attended and it's really great to connect with so many Irish people and enjoy what is culturally very much an Irish night out while also supporting a good cause. There is good banter, dancing and the odd beverage (plenty of Irish coffee doing the rounds) and those of us willing to soldier on end up in a local Irish bar for a night cap (or four) until the wee hours of the morning.

This year the guest speaker was Charlie Bird (currently working as RTE's political correspondent in Washington DC and an icon of Irish journalism for many many years). He spoke about how he has come to appreciate the importance of honesty (in the media, in how you deal with the media and in general) and also about how he has 'been lonely' in Washington these past twelve months having not been able to connect in a meaningful / personal way with people there. Two large topics, the former being perceived as partly at the heart of much of our current troubles be they social, political or economic while the latter hasn't been my experience (with certain exceptions) whether that is a Mid West versus East Coast phenomenon, to do with my connections here via Biz or purely chance I am not sure.

We had the pleasure of Charlie's company over dinner and he came across as both down to earth and sincere while he did seem to be 'on duty' for the evening and not entirely relaxed. He is about to become a grandfather and has decided that he will move back to Ireland soon and we wish him well.

Splish, splash!

Eoin went for his first swimming lesson last week. He was relaxed and enjoyed the water and even seemed like he was falling asleep at one point while he was on his back (I think it was the chlorinated water in his eyes which he tried to rub out with his wet hands, poor chap!).

Brrrr...its cold outside

Ah yes, beautiful winter time in Chicago! It actually hasn't been so bad this year - some minus 20 degree wind chill days but not much snow and even its gotten above freezing several days. We did get plenty of snow this week though - over a foot of snow in the last 36 hours - see below some pics of the snow on our street, children with their sleighs in the park and the frozen lake shore with the city in the background. The photo of Biz however is not from Chicago - that's a picture from Limerick city in Ireland over Xmas believe it or not - it was a white Xmas in Ireland this year for the first time in many many years. Eoin is happily oblivious to the winter - he isn't getting out much these days but it does give him plenty of time to practice his crawling! Stay warm!

Happy New Year from Eoin