Filed under: Bray
Earlier this week we all trekked to Bray. We were trying to think of some fun things to do before we headed home. Bray is always good because they have a video arcade sort of a place and the beach front. Plus the Bray Fest is going on right now so there were carnival rides too.
So we started with a turn at Fun House. Or the kids did anyways. Then we hung out on the beach. It wasn’t warm enough for most of us to wear our swimsuits – but it was plenty hot for Aine as you’ll see. For the rest of us it was more fun to skip stones and look for shells rather than get wet.
Then we thought we’d hop up to the top of the Bray Head. I didn’t quite realize what we were getting into at the onset. You might notice in the picture (or if you can picture Bray yourself) that there are three bumps on the top of Bray Head. On the first bump is a cross – we climbed up that high. It starts out very easy – but really it’s a big climb. The view from the top is amazing!! Although I spent most of the time shouting at Aine – Get away from the edge. Quit walking to the cliff. Stop trying to run down the hill! Just quit moving. It was a fine combination of my abject fear of heights and Aine total disregard for gravity.
One the way up the hill we saw a hill runner on his way down. The hill/mountain runners just run straight down the hill. That was an idea that Aine liked. She really wanted run down too. There were a couple of key differences – starting with the fact that she was wearing flip flops. And not just any flip flops – flip flops that are broken so that they fly off all of the darned time. By the end of the trek even the girls were yelling at her. We don’t yell at Aine that often – but we were all afraid of making the news!
Anyways – we survived. And when we got to the end of the road we popped into the arcade to play the 10p machines. Well, they’re 20 cents machines now. Those are the machines where you try to knock coins off one shelf, onto another and into your hands. The first time I saw them was a Quadrophenia pilgrimage to Brighton, England. I could play those for hours!
Last weekend, we went to two children’s plays. On Friday night we went to see the Internal Teen Machine, the musical. A play put on for kids by kids. It was cute. The girls seemed to enjoy it. We took the girls’ friends Ailbhe and Cait. We had dinner before at the Fanciest McDonald’s in the world. (We have McDonald’s about twice a year so that was a treat of sorts.)
On Sunday we went to see The Girl who Forgot to Sing Badly at the Ark. We didn’t know it beforehand but it was a one man show. But it was one seriously energetic man! It was a great show. It’s the story of a little girl who saves the townspeople from cashing (in a boat) into a cliff. There’s not much point in giving away the story – but the staging was amazing. The little girls is a packer (she packs things, not a football fan) – and all of the props fit into a wooden crate that opens in a hundred different ways. (We have a picture of the star with some of our group here.)
We love the Ark but it always invites at least a little audience participation and there’s always one kid who takes it too far. And for some reason the parent does nothing to stop the mouthy kid! It’s kind of frustrating for the better behaved kids. Now my kids aren’t always the better behaved kids – but they do know when they’re taking it too far in a public setting – like mouthing off to an actor on stage. For those of us with normal boundaries it’s as cringe inducing as watching the Newlywed Game.
Filed under: Bray
Kate is officially a double-digiter! She turned 10 on Friday. So we went to an arcade in Bray to celebrate. She brought a friend from school, Anna. The arcade is really the junior front for the casino. Those of you who know either grandma will not be surprised that Kate likes to gamble. (One grandma likes lottery and competition bridge; the other likes Texas Hold’em and Black Jack.)
Aine, Lisa and I walked along the beach in Bray for a while. After the arcade we had a nice Italian dinner.
The following day Patrick took the girls into town. I needed to catch up with work. They took one picture; that’s why they need me. They also got hot chocolate at Café en Seine. A fancy pub/disco at night I have to assume it’s OK for kids during the day.
Filed under: Bray
On Patrick’s birthday we went to Bray for a nice dinner at Shelby’s and the Bray One Act Festival at the Mermaid. We saw Old Saybrook by Woody Allen. It was kind of funny; I’m not a big Woody Allen fan. The second plan, however was great – Forward to the Right by Lily Ann Green. It was the story of Joan of Arc’s last few days and the friendship she develops with her guard. It was an amazing play and acted very well.
Filed under: Bray
We went to the Bray Fun Fair in the rain. It rained pretty much all day. We walked along the strand in the rain. We met up with our cousins in the rain. We played on bumper cars in the rain. We went bowling.
Bowling is not as cheap in Ireland as it is at home.
We topped it off with an actually pretty good dinner at a pub on the strand – maybe it was called Katie Gallagher’s.
On Saturday we went to the Dublin Book Festival. Patrick got to see a conversation with Joseph O’Connor (we had dinner with him in the Fall) and Dermot Bolger. I got to hear Medbh McGuckian read her poetry. (For those who don’t know I did by MA dissertation-ette on Medbh McGuckian.) She read with Joan Newmann, who I didn’t know but whose poetry I really enjoyed.
We thought that there would be more events for kids – but there weren’t. A photographer from the Irish Times was there and took a picture of Lily and Aine – we’ll let you know if they make it in the paper.
We did get to eat birthday cake for the IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) so that took the edge of for the kids. Also we ate at Eddy Rocket’s – which also makes the kids happy. As it should; it’s not very good but it’s very kid-friendly.
At night Patrick and I trekked out to Bray to meet Conor, a fellow PhD candidate. He is friendly and we both enjoy him. He brought us to a pub on the sea called the Harbor Pub. It was really 3 pubs in one: alternative music with a psychedelic feel in one room, a snug, and more traditional room – where they actually started playing traditional music. We were there fairly early and had prime seats near the bar.
The bar is near Ardmore Studios and apparently patrons from the studio have brought props to the bar – so there’s a very eclectic feel. I wish there were something like that closer to our place.
Filed under: Bray
On Sunday, Kate had a big birthday party in Bray today. There were 23 girls at the Bray Bowl – and two very brave parents.
Fearghal kindly drove her to the party. So we all hitched a lift to Bray, which is on the seaside. We’ve been up there a few times before. Lily, Aine and I enjoyed skipping stones. I am the champion, if anyone is asking.
I took some pictures and videos. The weather was close to perfect for February. I hope you can see the rainbow in some of the pictures. We do see a lot of rainbows here.
After walking down the strand we went back to get Kate. She was playing an arcade game where you drop coins onto a shelf in hopes that they will push other coins down for you to win. She is pretty hard core about it. She could play for hours.
Then we all got muffins and treats on the way home.
Filed under: Bray
The girls were off from school on Thursday and Friday. We didn’t have a very exciting day but we went to the library, the coffee shop and the park in Cabinteely.
The weather was pretty good and our timing seemed to be good all day. We arrived at the library just in time to drop off our books before they closed for lunch. (We pick up books on the way back home.) There was exactly one table left when we got to the coffee shop and it sat 4.
The park had a lot of kids. But we weren’t there too long as it was kind of cold and I was freezing!
We had dinner at Shelby’s in Bray. It was a romantic restaurant – especially on Valentine’s Day – but we promised to be quick so they fed us. It was a nice meal
Thursday afternoon we headed to the Mermaid Theater in Bray to see Lily’s friend Ailbhe (Alva) in a play – Gone with the Breeze. She was great. The play was very fun. It was created by kids for kids so it was not unusual to have someone answer the phone before it was done ringing or for someone to get a few offstage line prompts.
Ailshe won a bear after the show, which she very kindly delivered to Aine the next day as Aine had coveted it the night before.
Filed under: Bray
St Stephen’s Day is the day after Christmas. Everything is closed on Stephen’s Day. I realized this when I walked down to the grocery store to get Diet Coke and they were closed. Very sad.
We spent most of the day relaxing but eventually we all piled into Fearghal’s car for a trip to Bray. It’s about a 10 minute drive from Patrick’s mom’s place.
There’s a nice walkway on the beach in Bray. The weather was pretty warm. So we had a very nice walk. The girls and I enjoyed skipping stones. Patrick was sick so we went to get something for him to eat. Fortunately or unfortunately the best place we could find was an arcade. So the girls got to play games while we waited for the food.
The weather was absolutely amazing today. It was actually hot and super sunny. So we went to Bray. There is a boardwalk of sort in Bray – but really we spent most of our time walking in the sea.
We took a bus to Bray, which was about 30 minutes. We are at a horrible Chinese Restaurant. Word to the wise – don’t order house fried rice here. Then we walked through the town, which was a cute town until we got to the Esplade – the walkway near the beach. It wasn’t too busy but there were quite a few people – some wearing swimsuits. We should have brought Aine’s suit too – she was soaked before the afternoon was out. But it was so warm that it didn’t really matter.
We hung out for a long while and then to the Dart (commuter train) into the City Center to get Lily’s birthday present. It was fun except that I had no idea where the toy stores might be and Aine had a huge meltdown.
All in all though it was a very good day!
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