Ethan 4 months

Ramping up for Canada – a handy guide from us to you!

Alrighty, it’s the weekend again! As we are heading off to Canada on Wednesday morning (yes, the time has finally come!) we have lots to do this weekend. For those of you who don’t skip and hop over the Atlantic Ocean much, here is a quick checklist on what you need to do/pack/think about for a smooth trip:

To do before the trip:

• Laundry. It is boring and tedious, but a necessary evil
• Buy travel insurance – you’ll thank yourself later
• Make sure your credit cards and phone will work abroad
• Print documentation: E-tickets for your flight, hotel confirmation, car rental confirmation, travel insurance policy
• Bring documentation: Passports (obviously), proof of address in your home country (and also useful sometimes is proof of address in Canada – but this is more important for the US)
• Get a haircut! (At least if you name is Peter and you are in the process of growing a healthy mullet)
• Pack your bags wisely – within set weight limits, if you go above, the airline will charge extortion prices for the extra kilos.
• Check in online if you can – it’ll save you time and you get to choose seats before everyone else who check in at the airport

To bring in the carry-on:

• Food for baby – it is allowed as long as you taste at least 50% of the bottles in the security check – Yummy!
• Travel pillow - because the pillow you get on the flight is about as thick and comfy as a cocktail napkin
• Entertainment to keep yourself busy - After all, we are talking about a 7 hour journey in a confined space with limited leisure options.
• Something extra to wear – it is cold up there
• What not to pack in your carry-on: No liquids or sharps, no chapstick or nail clippers, no mace or knives, no guns, car battery or poison. They’ll just make you throw them away. Bummer.

To pack in the suitcase:

• Clothes and shoes - Not too much, you can often do laundry on location (However, if you are travelling with Shaena – bring extra socks. Remember Italy, darling?)
• Toiletries - Canadians like people who smell good more than people who smell like socks and fish soup
• International converter suitable for North America - Their plugs are a bit funny over there
• Pressies - If you have any. We are of the opinion that it is always more fun to receive than to give.
• Remember to leave room in your suitcase for anything you might bring back, like souvenirs, food, gifts etc.
• Everything else that you are not allowed to bring in your carry-on (This is your opportunity to bring your liquids, sharps, chapstick, nail clippers, mace, knives, guns, car battery and poison.)
  

Please print and save for future reference.

What is 64cm and full of giggles?

Ethan had a visit from the health visitor today and she measured and weighed him as usual. He is now 64cm long and weighs 17.5 pounds, which is just perfect. It is very reassuring to have her come by from time to time, just to get confirmation of what we already know; that he is a perfectly healthy little boy. The health visitor also brought Ethan a goodie-bag with a little drinking cup, a toothbrush, books, CD’s and DVD’s, among other things. Zenk you NHS!

As you can imagine, we are so incredibly proud of our little boy and we love him so much! Being new parents is fantastic and it is just incredible to watch him grow and develop every single day. We have definitely been blessed with the most wonderful, happy little boy! (Biased much? Don't think so!)

A huge portion of awesomeness coming up!

When will it ever stop? There is no end to the awesomeness right now. Our friends Jessika & Bain just told us that they are treating us to a photo shoot with the amazing Brian Rudolph when we are in Winnipeg! Brian has photographed Danika since she was a newborn, and has taken some of the most amazing photos we've seen in a long time. Now we will get an opportunity to get some professional photos of Ethan, and some pretty family photos. We could not be more excited and more grateful at the same time!

Jess & Bain: You guys are so awesome! We can't believe you are doing this for us, thank you so much!

Couples night with ‘Fun-time Heather’ and Andrew

"What better to do on a Monday night than to visit the Harrison-Helin's, order Chinese food, and play Wii?”, Heather and Andrew thought and came by our house last night. We had a great time pigging out on delicacies from Rice King (read: Lice Kiiiiing) and playing Shaun White Snowboarding on the Wii. As always, good times!

What else? Today I have been working from home to catch up on work after a manic couple of weeks. Incredible how productive you get when you get a chance to just sit down uninterrupted and plug away. Think I’ll have to propose a work-from-home set up for myself to my manager. Will she go for it? Only Mr. Jebus knows!

Oh, and really cool to see that the entries for the song writing competition are starting to come in! You guys are very creative, I must say. Keep 'em coming!

COMPETITION TIME! WRITE A SONG AND WIN A PRIZE!

The name of the game: “Ethan's song”

The prize:
An Amazing 50 photos of Ethan, from his time in mommy’s tummy and up until his 4 month birthday, printed and sent to your door wherever you are in the world!

The rules:
This Crazy competition is not going to a Bed of roses, for many it will be hard work from 9-5, but Always remember that You can go your own way and that One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble.

1. Choose a fairly recognizable song (We don't practice Santeria, we ain't got no crystal ball.)
2. Write new lyrics to the song on this theme: “Ethan little buddy” (English and Swedish both allowed)
3. Submit your song as a comment below this entry. If two songs are very similar, the timestamp of the entry will determine who the cheater is! ;)
4. Only One entry per person
5. The winner takes it all (Nothing else matters)

Last submission date:
Sunday bloody Sunday the 15th of November (Nothing lasts forever, even cold November rain)

If you don’t win:
Don’t cry! Please don’t take it so hard, and please don’t take it so bad. Your heart will go on!

PS. You also get extra credit if you can spot all the song references we’ve sneakily included in this entry!

”You’re in the jungle baby!”

I have probably spent too much time on the road and in airports lately, but I've been thinking; Why is it that a lot of stuff for newborn babies has a jungle motif, or some kind of reference to the animal kingdom? Don’t get me wrong, it is nice and cute and all, but is there a reason behind this?

For example: We have a baby jungle gym for Ethan, he has a clothes storage thingy on the wall in the shape of a frog, a laundry basked shaped like a fish, his new swing is called 'Kangaroo', Kaloo is some kind of brown possum and has an elephant on his/her shirt, most of his books are about animals, and a lot of Ethan’s clothes have monkeys and lions and owls and dinosaurs on them.

Also, as Ethan’s clothes and toys come from many different sources around the globe, due to the generosity of all of our guests this summer, so this cannot be a coincidence.

Is it because animals are cute?
Is it because they are colorful?
Is it because there are so many different kinds of animals?
Is it because we are all mammals after all?

I have also done extensive research by browsing the shelves at Toys 'R’ Us, and it seems like there are a few reoccurring themes: Blue, Pink, Animals, and Winnie The Pooh.

According to http://www.babiesandshowers.com/:

Here are just some of the most popular ideas for baby shower themes
based on our research:

1) Winnie the Pooh theme - This is one of the most popular themes for a baby shower. Everyone loves Winnie the Pooh and friends and it is not surprising to see this as the top theme in our research study.

2) Jungle baby theme - A lot of people may not expect it, but a jungle theme is very popular for baby showers. This theme is great for decorating as there are many possibilities. Asides from jungle trees and vines, a wide variety of animals are often used, like giraffes, pandas, and other baby animals.

3) Baby duck theme - Baby and rubber ducks are the third most popular theme. There are many items that suit this theme including baby shower decorations, plates, cups, favors, and games. This theme is probably the easiest for baby showers since almost every baby shower supplier carries some duck themed items.

Tomorrow afternoon, we are going for a walk with Piers and Lesley and their giant dog, which will also be Ethan's first encounter with a real life animal. Hopefully he'll like dogs and hopefully he won't be frightened, as it's of course very important that he and Tank can play well together.

Honey! I'm home!

I just got back from my work trip to Sweden, and what a whirlwind it was! I am very happy with what we achieved businesswise and I had a chance to catch up with my brother John and a few work colleagues and friends.

I flew out on Tuesday evening, and arrived at my brother’s new apartment in Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm city just before 1am on Wednesday morning. What a very nice apartment, by the way! Very bright, modern, and Scandinavian-IKEA-esque. John had prepared a real Swedish snack, as per request. The snack was made up of a few key ingredients:

1. 'Norrlands Guld' beer
2. 'Polarkaka' bread
3. 'Bregott' butter
4. 'Kalles Kaviar' (Swedish smoked fish rye – and yes, it is good stuff, not gross at all!)

On Wednesday morning I headed over to CareerBuilder’s Sweden-office (which in my opinion is one of the nicer ones in Europe, by the way) where a packed agenda awaited. I teamed up with Ulrika, who is one of our sales reps in Sweden and someone I have worked closely with ever since I started with CareerBuilder, and we had scheduled meetings and workshops with a few key clients. It was great to get an opportunity to finally meet these clients that I have been working with for so long and only communicated via email and phone.

On another note; Ulrika is also on a crusade to get us to move to Sweden so I can work with her in the Sweden office, and she has even offered to phone Shaena and ’sell’ Stockholm to her. Shaena on the other hand has previously expressed her concern over the fact that Sweden does not have Starbucks Coffee, so imagine Ulrika’s reaction when it was announced this week that Sweden is finally getting its first few Starbucks shops!

On Wednesday evening, John and I took to the streets and we had my favorite Swedish junk food, MAX hamburgers (they are awesome!) and then drinks at Kelly’s, a Swedish rock bar with very very cheap alcohol, sticky tables, and good music. Who can ask for more?

On Thursday moring, our new team member Linus arrived to the office for some face time and meeting and greeting, and I think he handled it very well. We also had a couple of more meetings, internal and external, and in the evening some of the guys from the office took us out for a nice dinner at a Belgian restaurant - and my old buddy Thomas also came by to say hi! It was really nice to see him again!

On Friday morning we went for the mother lode, the main event, the big tamale. We had organized a workshop for one of Sweden’s largest recruitment companies, obviously a bit nervous, but great fun as well! We think it went really well, and our participants were really appreciative and seemed attentive and interested in the topic we delivered on. They even took us out for lunch afterwards as a token of appreciation. How ‘bout that?

I have to say, Wednesday thru Friday’s activities are a bit of a blur, we just did so much, met so many people, and had a great time. As always though; there is no place like home!

Oh, and John: Sorry I pinched your toothpaste! It was just sooo good!

Geocaching at Gary's

Ethan and I decided to take a stroll today through the beautiful streets of our hometown and we stopped in to visit our friend Gary whom runs Wolfits (the BEST sandwiches in the world I may add!) and outside was this strange fellow making shapes with his body.

Turns out that above Gary's shop is a geocaching web cam! For those of you that have not heard of geocaching it is the recreational activity of hunting and location hidden objects/places by means of GPS coordinates posted on a website.

The strange guy was posing for the cam that refreshed every 4 seconds and was spelling his name with his shapes! If you're interested to see the cam, take a look at this link: http://www.swiffed.com/geocache/

Another interesting point today is that Ronan O'Gara is coming to town as I have found out from this invite:

Just because we ♥ bureaucracy... here we go again!

Now that we are all sorted and everyone is allowed to both stay in this country as well as leave it, we are slowly going to start looking into getting a permanent residence permit in Sweden for Shaena. Not that we need it right now, but it could be good have ready, just as a preparation for the future, in case we would want to go down that route.

Since we are considered an EU/EEA family, me being Swedish and all, and since Ethan is a Swedish citizen from birth, Shaena not having the permanent residence permit would not really pose an issue for us if we wanted to move from the UK to Sweden – we would just have to apply for it once we get to Sweden, at some point.

The really sticky situation would occur if we, as an example, ever wanted to do a year in the US whilst Shaena is still on a UK visa, as the UK would probably not let her back into the country after that year. Therefore, with a Swedish permanent residence permit up our sleeve, we would have a great contingency plan for getting back into Europe without hassle. Also, it would be a great thing to have, just in case we at some point also wanted to apply for a Swedish citizenship for Shaena.

Unfortunately, the application has to be submitted in person at the consulate here in Edinburgh, and an interview in person would follow, also at the consulate. Our last experience with the General Consul was fruitful but irksome. He wasn't a spoon full of sugar as we were expecting, and after having watched the movie ‘Up’ I see a lot of similarities between the fictional Mr. Carl Fredrickson and the General Consul. (However he did warm up after he found out Shaena was born in Edmonton! Go Oilers!):

I took a bath in the kitchen sink today...

...and then I project managed the artsy picture project:

Thanks!

Thank you all for your crossed fingers and toes! Tank's surgery was a success! Although he is a little loopy from the dog morphine, he is now in recovery and will soon be back to his old self!

Hopefully our trip to Winnipeg will be a great introduction for Ethan and Tank to get to know each other. This will be our determining factor whether Tank is UK ready! So again people, cross your fingers and toes that they hit it off!

Unfortunately this costly surgery has limited our Christmas options drastically. The only stop on Santa's Christmas tour this year will therefore be on Walker Street.


Can you believe we're already talking about Christmas and we haven't even celebrated Halloween yet?! Ethan's costume is all ready...now for Mommy & Daddy to decide. I am sure we are all excited for Trick or Treating too!! It's been FAR TOO LONG!

KISS Army's newest member

You guessed it! Moi, Peter, just joined the KISS Army! I just stumbled upon a sign up form when researching tour dates for their tour of North America, and though: "What the heck, why not!" Now I am a proud member of one of the most famous rock band fan clubs in the world! So now, if or when we go to one of their concerts, I can feel a little bit more relaxed and at home, as I will be surrounded by my peers! :)


Here's a classic unmasked KISS anthem from the early years:

Touristing in Winnipeg (or: Keith, your list is ready!)

As Keith has taken it upon himself to keep us entertained during our time in Winnipeg and has agreed to take us out sightseeing, I have, as promised in an entry further down, compiled a list of potential tourist attractions and locations of interest, bearing in mind that all summer activities are off the table. I found this amazing website, www.destinationwinnipeg.ca, with a lot of useful information about Winnipeg. I'll keep researching and will add to this list if I find anything else of interest in Winnipeg, or Toronto, Grand Forks etc.

Oh, and by the way: For those of you who are Canadians/Winnipeggers, please feel free to share your thoughts on the list with everyone.

Keith: Over to you!

Winnipeg:
Geocaching and GPS Adventures
Exchange District Walking Tours
Haunted Winnipeg Bus Tours
Mennonite Heritage Village, Steinbach
Scots Monument
St. Boniface Cathedral-Basilica
Osborne Village
Springhill Winter Sports Park
Transcona:)
Winnie the Bear Statue
Manitoba Moose game
U-Puttz Black Light Miniature Golf

And to our friends and family in the Toronto area, here is your list:

Toronto:
CN Tower
The Distillery District
Niagara Falls

Ron’s last day

Today was Ron’s last day at work in our office here in Edinburgh, so we had a nice banter in the office, had a few leaving-gifts prepared (both nice ones and silly Scottish crap ones, as you do), and we also got taken out for a nice steak dinner. Sweet!

Ron is moving back to Atlanta to take on a new role after two years abroad. I am sad to see him go, but we all knew it was coming sooner or later. He is originally from Atlanta, and that is also where he has his home and his base of family and friends, so I am sure it is nice for him and his family to go back home after their stint over here, and settle down into family life.

Ron has taught me so much about our company, shown me how to approach different tricky situations from new angles, and given me long lectures on strategic business reasoning among other things - truly an inspirational leader, and I am also proud to call him my friend.

Thank you for everything Ron! I will see you next time I am in Atlanta, and you can take me out for Krispy Kremes again!

Tanky

Poor Tank is not doing too good right now. He has been having various issues with his health lately and the vet did an x-ray today and found a kidney stone the size of a dime! Obviously, for a tiny Jack Russell, that is a big deal, so Tank is now scheduled for surgery. The vet says he will be fine after the stone is removed and after medication, but it is still tough for him right now, of course.

So, keep all your fingers and toes crossed for the next week or so, and soon Tank will be his normal happy self again, reeking havoc with his buddy Coda!

A visitor from Harrison, NY!

How cool is this? We have just had our first visitor from Harrison, NY here on harrisonhelin.com! Someone must have Google'd 'Harrison' or maybe 'Harrison Scotland' and found us. Very exciting! (If you are a nerd!)

"What is this? Wait a minute! Where am I?"

We ask ourselves the same question from time to time. But don't worry, you are still on our blog, we just decided to slap some make-up on the old dame and give her a little face lift. Kind of like a squeaky old wooden boat; sometimes it is good to take it out of the water and give it a lick of varnish. It lasts longer that way. Expect some tweaking in the next couple of days, but the major changes have already happened. Hope you like it! Enjoy!

Cara & Brad

That was nice! Cara & Brad made it in to Edinburgh and came by to visit us this evening. They have had quite the trip so far, and not everything has gone according to plan unfortunately. They told us all about their hassle with canceled flights coming over here and their drive around Scotland that wasn’t always as straight forward as they would have hoped it would be. They also showed us photos from their wedding day and a series of photos taken by a professional photographer. We should definitely try and get a few nice professional photos of Ethan, and a few family photos taken while we are over in the Peg!

They were quite tired after their weeklong road trip, and we were quite tired after the weekend, so we just had a nice chilled out evening with Chinese food and a few beers. Can’t beat that! We will try and get together with them for dinner tomorrow evening again, and I am sure we’ll get a chance to catch up back in Winnipeg in November as well. Hopefully their trip home on Wednesday is a little bit easier than the trip over here. Fingers crossed!

Simply too funny not to share...

Ok, we don't normally post jokes and funny pictures from the web here on our blog, but this one is just too funny not to share! Swine flu has reached the fairytale world!

More Ethan

International Lampoon’s North American Vacation

It is decided, booked, done and dusted! This morning, as you can see in the previous entry, Ethan got his passport, and this afternoon we got/found an offer we couldn't refuse and booked our tickets to Canada. It was a bit last minute, a quick decision making process, and very much the way we roll.

In the beginning of November we’ll be heading out from Glasgow and fly direct to Toronto where we will be spending a few days with friends and family. Really something I am looking forward to as: 1) So far, I have only met Jean Noel from the Fortin side of Shaena's family and am very keen on meeting a few more family members. 2) Our friends from the Dublin-years live in the area around Toronto, and they have all visited us here in Scotland, and now it is our turn to meet up with them on their own turf!

Our tour of North America continues to Winnipeg a couple of days later where more family and friends are eagerly waiting. Keith has promised to take us sightseeing outside the city of Winnipeg, which I am really looking forward to as I haven’t really seen much of Canada besides Winnipeg in my last two visits. I have also never met Danika, our friends Jess & Bain’s gorgeous little daughter, so I am very much looking forward to that as well! Last but definitely least - the KISS-concert! Still working on the tickets for this, but that would really be the icing on the cake for this trip!

We will also be paying Aunty Nini in Grand Forks, North Dakota a visit and possibly even Minneapolis, Minnesota for some world class shopping! Nini has promised to front the $6 it costs for us Swedes to cross the US border in Pembina. Obviously, that sum of money would otherwise be a complete deal-breaker, so who can resist such a generous offer? :) Can’t wait to see what Nini has done with the house since last time we were there!

I am going to commence work on a very ambitious list with 'tourist attractions of interest' which I will then post here on the blog for everyone's review and comments, but mostly to help Keith with his budgeting on how many jerry cans he'll need to keep in the back of his truck for our drive.

I am not sure if Keith is fully grasping the extent of what he is getting himself into by offering to take us out driving. We can be quite very ambitious tourists when we need to! Over the years we have become quite good at blitzing many tourist attractions in a short period of time. For those of you who followed our old blog; remember that time in Italy when we did 4 Italian cities in 5 days?

Needless to say, we are very very excited right now and we are so much looking forward to a couple weeks of holidays and meeting family and friends! Thank you very much to everyone of you who are helping us out with this trip, every offer of a place to stay in your homes, every offer to take us out for a drink, borrow cars, strollers, car seats, and more.

International Family

Well it took long enough and lots of red tape to cut through but we have Master Ethan's passport!! WOOOOOOO!
Now it's time to book a trip but where to? We will spin the wheel of fate to see where we end up for Ethan's first ride on a zoom zoom!

Ethan did have his first ride on a chew chew this week. Glasgow was brilliant! He has his Halloween outfit all sorted...now time for Mom and Dad!

This weekend will also be a visit from Mr. & Mrs. Betker! Brad and Cara decided to come to Scotland for their Honeymoon and are spending a few days in luxurious Edinburgh.

Oh, and for those of you following the X-Factor, tonight is the first of the live shows!

Trip #1 to Sweden - Booked!

Today I've booked the first of my two remaining work trips for the rest of the year, trip #1 to Sweden and our Stockholm office. I have a feeling this will be a good, valuable and rewarding trip. One of the sales reps I am working with a lot is very excited that I am coming out there to meet her clients, as she has been talking to the clients about the work I do for them for so long, and finally we'll get an opportunity to meet.

Just to give you a taste of some of the work I do, as I have been accused of being a real-life 'Chandler Bing from Friends' when it comes to explaining what I work with, here is what the trip agenda will look like:

On the first day, the Wednesday, we are delivering a training workshop on 'job advert optimization for the internet' together for a well known recruitment company in Sweden, and for the rest of the day we'll be swishing around from meeting to meeting with clients, discussing stats, areas of improvement, and returns on investment. Kind of like talking a person through a Google Analytics report, but with an added online-recruitment-advertising-twist. On the Thursday, I will spend the day in the office to further build relations and introduce one of my team members to the sales team, and the Friday will be a mix of meetings and office time. Exciting stuff, eh! Pfft!

Most exciting though: I get to hang with my brother John! I opted not to stay in a hotel during this visit, as I normally do in Sweden, so that John can make me his famous Swedish breakfast with Hono-kaka (or possibly his flavor-of-the-month-bread), Kalles kaviar, Swedish cheese (which is much, much better than our bland British cheeses, by the way), Butter with sea salt, maybe some chocolate milk and a drop of O.J. Sure beats the crap out of continental breakfast!

Goes without saying that I'll be missing my little family a lot, but luckily we have two weeks of holiday time coming up soon, so lots of time to hang and chill out. Still to be decided what we are going to do, but whatever we decide on, it will be awesome!

Edinburghers, Glaswegians and visiting Canucks

Intriguing title, eh? What is up for the rest of this week then? Well, for me, working is a given. Shaena and Ethan on the other hand decided to tag along with Orlaith on an ad-hoc shopping trip to Glasgow tomorrow morning. Should be good times, and Ethan will get to go on the chew-chew for the first time!

Glasgow is very different from Edinburgh in every aspect; it is bigger, more densely populated, people have a different attitude, the accent is very different, the architecture is more modern - and not the good kind of modern, the city is more dangerous supposedly (ever heard of 'The Glasgow Smile'?), and some say that Glasgow is generally less friendly than Edinburgh. There has always been a kind of love-hate relationship between the 'Edinburghers' and the 'Glaswegians' and the Glaswegians are claiming that Edinburghers are stuck up and snobbish (I can agree with that to some extent) and that they definitely are the friendliest of the two cities, and the other way round. The fact of the matter is; some of the worst parts of Glasgow city currently has the lowest live expectancy in Europe due to poverty, drug abuse and violence among other things. That is a scary notion!

Who knows, but my personal opinion is definitely that Edinburgh is the place to be. It seems to me like Edinburgh is generally cleaner, better organised, safer, and less run down. Basically, the difference between a blue-collar city and a white-collar city, to use very broad (and harsh) strokes.

I am guessing this mindset will be completely different if you are born and raised in one of the two cities. For us as expats, it is easy enough to make up our minds based only on what we see on the surface, but as a native Scot it probably goes deeper than that.

To sum up: If you are looking to relocate to a Scottish city, my suggestion is that you set up your camp here in Edinburgh where it is nice, clean and safe, and visit Glasgow only in broad daylight. :)

On another note: On Sunday we will hopefully meet up with Shaena's friend Cara and her husband Brad. Cara and Brad just got married and are driving around Scotland on their honeymoon. They have booked a package deal complete with a rental car, B&B's etc. Sounds like a good time, and I am sure we'll get the whole scoop on Sunday. Will be great to meet Cara again, and I have never met Brad, so another acquaintance to befriend on Facebook! :)

Spoilo McPresentson scores again!

Tonight we had a visit from our two resident Godmothers, Orlaith and Jen. Orlaith had kindly bought Ethan a gift from Ireland and presented it to him tonight. It was a really nice Irish rugby jersey. Thank you Orlaith!

Orlaith is clearly trying to influence Ethan's national sports loyalty in a way that of course worries me a bit, but as we don't have any noteworthy rugby teams in Sweden or Canada, I guess that's ok. For now. However, if Ireland would ever try to break new ground and venture into the breakneck world of winter sports such as ice hockey or curling, loyalty discussions would have to be held in order to avoid confusion and clashes. This is of course not very likely at this present moment or in any foreseeable future, so no cause for alarm as of now.

The Na!

The weekend started off as planned... Me, Orlaith, Maeghan and Jen were all set to board our flights to Dublin for our weekend in Ballina. Unfortunately for Maeghan and Jen, Ryanair have a policy that foreigners must have their passports re-checked after online check in to ensure they have a valid visa to re-enter the UK. This was something that we overlooked on the Ryanair website as it is not custom for airlines to do this!

It should have been okay but the Servisair people were complete knobs and so rude! They wouldn't re-print the boarding passes after the girls bolted down to the check in desk (with time to spare!) so they were unable to join us on the weekend! I am currently in the process of writing a letter of complaint to Servisair for their lack of customer service!

Not to start a posting with a negative but the weekend went on from there and improved greatly!

Orlaith and I arrived in Dublin city to be met by Henry Travellers (a large blow up doll from the movie "I love you man") and Cormac (my very good friend from when I lived in Dublin!) We headed into town to 'Copperface Jack's' and met up with Orlaith's best friend in the world Tracey O'Hora (...yes Swedish people, that is a real last name!) and her boyfriend Graeme. Let me tell you; I had forgotten how expensive Dublin was. €23 Euro and 3 drinks later we were cutting it on the dance floor.

Tracey and Graeme graciously hosted us on my first sleep away from Ethan, sharing a bed with Orlaith. Not the way I pictured my first full night's sleep. Orlaith is a cover hog!

The next day we started our trek to the west. The Na is everything Orlaith said it would be and more! A quaint little village with Orlaith's mom's flower shop on the main drag. Orlaith has been telling us about her Grannie all this time, and this was my chance to put a face to the name, and she was on form. For a lady that is 91 years of age, she is sharp as a tack. Orlaith has also promised that she will appear on here on our blog with a guest-entry about Grannie's new camel coloured coat, so keep your eyes peeled for that story. It is a belter! (Bit of Scottish slang there for ya!)

That night we went clubbing and danced the night away. Can't forget the 3am after-club stop at 'Super Mac's' for greasy burgers. No need to go into details, the pictures will speak for themselves!

The following day was like home away from home. Marie, Orlaith's mom, nursed our hangovers and made us endless supplies of tea. Thanks for the tea, Marie! :)

Finally, our last stop was to see Grannie again before we hit the road back to Dub. I hope I am half the woman she is when I am that age. Cormac collected us once back in Dublin and whisked us to the airport for our flight home. T'was a great weekend and I can't wait to do it again, next time with Ethan and Peter.

Ethan's groovy dance video

Relaxing Sunday

It is a beautiful autumn day here in Edinburgh with a clear blue sky and the sun is shining. Yesterday was really windy, so we didn’t go out at all. Ethan and I have had a good night’s sleep and a nice relaxed morning and are about to head out for a walk, as soon as Ethan wakes up from his beauty sleep. Think we’ll head down to Princes street garden or Dean Village so that he can get a bit of fresh air and look at ducks and birds and puppies.

Shaena is reporting that she is having a great time in Ballina with Orlaith! I am happy they were able to get away for their girls weekend, and I know that Shaena has been eager to see the legendary 'Na'. It is definitely well deserved! Shaena has handled the whole pregnancy, birth, and taking care of Ethan every day fantastically, I am very proud of her, and I can't wait until we get to go on our first family holiday together!

What a wonderful day!

Ethan and I are having a fabulous day today! We woke up around 8am after a good night's sleep, Ethan only woke up once at 4.30am for a quick snack, and then he was out again.

We had breakfast together, then we cleaned the kitchen for a while before Ethan decided to go back to sleep instead - and who can blame him? Cleaning the kitchen stinks!

When he woke up again, he had a bath whilst listening to music like Israel Kamakawiwo'ole and Aerosmith (again), and then a some singing and a Skype call. All that and it is only noon!

I see skies of blue..... clouds of white
Bright blessed days....dark sacred nights
And I think to myself .....what a wonderful world!

T.G.I.F!

It has been a long and intense week, and we are pleased it is finally the weekend! Shaena and the girls took off for Ireland this evening – or so they thought at least - and Ethan and I are just hanging out, watching music videos. Or I should say watched music videos, because Ethan fell asleep mid-playlist! Typical!

Shaena just called from the airport and Jen and Maeghan were not allowed to board their Ryanair-flight and won't be coming with them to Ireland, because they got hassled by crazy-airport-service-desk-guy-with-nothing-better-to-do-on-a-Friday-evening. Incredible that one person can just take policy in his own hands and decide if he is in the mood to be helpful or not. This guy did not feel like being helpful. At all.

Anyway, enough moaning. I am sure the remaining girl-troop, Shaena and Orlaith, will have a smashing time in Dublin and the Na!

Update on pressies: Did Ethan get even more pressies? Yes he did!

Aunty Nini sent us a parcel with a very nice winter coat and matching winter hat for Ethan, along with a Halloween-pumpkin-bib! Thank you very much Nini for the lovely gifts!

Speaking of Halloween by the way; we need to figure out what to dress Mr. Ethan up as for his trick or treating. All suggestions are welcome (except for 'Casper the friendly ghost', that is way to easy and Casper is a bit creepy!)

The Good, The Bad, and The Awesome!

The Good:
Ethan had his first real giggles yesterday! It is the cutest thing and so contagious! You just can’t keep a straight face when you hear it. Mommy and Ethan were laughing and giggling when I came home from work, what a joy!

Another thing to add to the ‘Good column’: We had a really nice visit from Piers and Lesley on Wednesday evening. They are a couple and Shaena’s acquaintances from work. Such nice people, and we are definitely going to head over to theirs in Dean Village to introduce Ethan to their dog. He is a mix between a German shepherd and a Doberman, so a giant dog, but apparently the most baby friendly dog one can imagine.

The Bad:
Yesterday Ethan afternoon was due for his second round of shots, which is of course a very good thing in itself, but poor Ethan’s legs were tender after the shots and he was really tired and cranky last night. Today he is so much better though, and he woke up with a giggle. He is such an amazing little person!

The Awesome:
Passport Canada phoned us yesterday to let us know that Ethan’s passport application has now been processed and approved! Our little man will get his passport by next week, so we are no longer hostages in the United Kingdom! :)

Another Swede turning 30!

Weekend in the Na!

So Peter kindly suggested the idea that us girls finally take our trip in Balina (Orlaith's hometown) this up coming weekend. I booked a flight for Orlaith and I and we are all set to arrive in Dublin on Friday night, drive to the Na on Saturday and back to Dublin on Sunday. Funny enough, Ryanair had a seat sale a few days after I booked our flights through Aerlingus (Damn Ryanair!!) But I had an epiphany! I decided to book a flight for Maeghan and Jen so the 4 of us could rock it like a hurricane in the emerald isle!

I figure when we arrive we'll head into Temple Bar for a few cold ones and then off to bed for Saturdays 3 1/2 journey to the West Coast. We will get to meet Grannie whom is famous over here as told by the many stories from the Brogan ladies and see Marie (Orlaith's mom) and go to her flower shop! It will be nice to see where this crazy Irish chick has sprouted from!

Of course there will be shopping. Finally I think I will have a passion to shop as I have Ethan to shop for. Going to get him some good green gear!

Peter and Ethan will be having their first weekend just the two of them. A Boy's Weekend.

Note to family: Skype may be down this weekend so don't fret if you can't get a hold of us!

You know, it will be interesting to head back to where this all started! I haven't been to Ireland since we moved to Edinburgh! That is almost 2 1/2 years ago!!

Happy Birthday big brother!

Today is my big brother John’s birthday; he is turning 30!
The big 3-0! Definitely a milestone in life and definitely worthy of a decent present. We’ll have to find him something really nice and typically Scottish. John is probably thinking: "Oh no, not whiskey…again!" right about now. So instead, we were thinking about a year's consumption of shortbread or haggis? How does that sound?

There is a shortbread factory right next to my work where you can buy a 2 pound bag of rejected shortbread or mint chocolate cookies for £1. So 50 of those suckers would probably do the trick. The best pressie ever! :)

Hope you will have a fantastic day dear brother, and we’ll catch up next time we meet!