We had a busy start to July. Grandma Roxie and Grandpa Dan arrived on July 3 from Maui. On July 4th we had a lazy day, bbq'd in the back yard before heading into San Francisco to see the fireworks. It was a very cloudy night and all we could see was colored clouds but getting all kids and adults on Bart and around the city at night was half the adventure. Tues was Ciara's and my birthday. Ron and I took the day off and Ciara got to stay home from school. First on the agenda was to get Ciara's ear's pierced. She has been begging to get it done for almost year now and Ron decided he would provide moral support and get his ear pierced too...Ron went first by which time Ciara had lost her nerve and was hiding at the back of the store. She had to be held down, we looked like awful parents but I was done with the begging for pierced ears, it was going to happen. After that we went and had lunch and then Ciara, I and Grandma went to see the new Pixar movie WALL.E, and a little shopping after that. A good birthday was had by all. Debbe and Jim were also in town this week so it has been busy, everyone just doing a lot of hanging out. At the weekend Ron and I got to escape, Dan and Roxie very kindly offered to babysit for a night. Luckily we were able to get a reservation for some spa treatments and a night in Napa, it was so relaxing and so nice just to get away, I do not think we were even missed at home the girls were having such a good time with Grandma and Grandpa. Dan and Roxie left this morning and I think Tara misses them the most, she was a bit out of sorts tonight. So it is just us again........

Ciara's Pre-School Graduation

Well it's been a while since we've updated the Blog. Busy as usual. Ciara graduated from preschool last week and we've posted a video that i took of the ceremony. Ciara is getting so big. Really turning into a young lady. Grandma Roxie and Grandpa Dan are here for the next 10 days. We are hoping to see some fireworks tonight. Summer has begun here in the Bay Area and the weather is geting nice so we are playing outside more.....YEAAYYY. Ciara and Marie's Birthday is Tuesday and a big day is planned. Ciara and Daddy are going to get their ears pierced :-) and then lunch and a movie. We'll post an update on the birthdays. So that's it for now. Don't forget to check out the Video and Pics of the kids

Disneyland Trip

It has been almost 2 weeks since our trip to Disneyland and I am just now getting around to getting some photos up. We did a package deal and flew from Oakland to Orange County with all 3 kids, my 2 brothers Diarmuid and John and a friend of their's Mark in tow. For once the adults out numbered the kids which helped a lot. We stayed in a hotel about 2 blocks walk from the park entrance which was also nice as only Tara was in the stroller.
We spent the first afternoon, Tues, in the California adventure park where Ron and I eager to avail of our extra help and do some thrill rides for a change hoped on the river raft ride first, got soaked and spent the rest of the evening drying out, it was fun though. Needless to say nobody else did that ride that night. I think everyone enjoyed the Elevator ride the most, Ciara is exactly 40 inches and was able to go on most of the thrill type rides. That one was her first experience and she came off it with such a shocked look on her face I thought she would never go on a ride again but she proved me very wrong, she became quite the thrill seeker.
Next day we spent the whole day in Disneyland, it was just a really nice time, it was not that crowded and the wait time on most of the rides was only 5 to 10 minutes, except for the Finding Nemo ride,it was a submarine type ride with a 3D view from the submarine windows of Memo and friens, that one is new and we waited about 30 mins, it was worth the wait though to see Fiona's reaction, I think she really belives she was down there in the ocean with Nemo.
The next day the boys left us and headed to LA for the day to some sight seeing there, we did some more of the young kid friendly rides that day, took in some shows, some princesses and spent some time in Toon town.
Before we knew it was Friday, we spent the morning in California adventure getting in some last minute rides and then it was time to head for home.
Back in Emeryville our boys left is one by one, Mark left for Chicago on Sat, Diarmuid left for Ireland on Sun and John left on his travels to Mexico and South America on the following Wed, so it took a while for us to get back to normal and used to just being ourselves again.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!!
Hope everyone had a great day. The girls and I had a really nice Easter day. We got a visit by the Easter bunny and he left some baskets for the girls. Then we hid the Easter eggs and the hunt was on...then we did it again...and again...and again..for a total of about 6 or 7 Easter egg hunts. It seems to be one of Ciara's favorite pastimes. She wished we could have Easter egg hunts all of the time. It was a beautiful day so we loaded up the bikes and the Burley trailer into the truck and went to the marina for a family ride. Ciara and Fiona really are doing well on their bikes. We rode from the Marina around to a little Beach and had a picnic and let the girls run around on the beach. Fiona almost made it all the way (about a mile I'd say) but all of a sudden just got off of her bike and started running. I think she forgot we were supposed to be riding bikes. Anyway since I was hauling the burley trailer I put her bike in the back and she rode the rest of the way home with Tara in the Burley. It was a good day all around. The only thing is we didn't go the Horse races this year like we have for the last few years. It had kind of become our Easter tradition. Oh well....next year. The girls loaded up on chocolate and cake and candy and crashed about 8 pm.. All in all it was a nice day. there are some pics I took in the slide show below.

Spring has finally sprung here in Emeryville. the Freesia and Tulips are showing off in the garden right now. I'm proud of my Tulips this year. It's the first time I have had good luck with them. Bought some bulbs at a REAL nursery this time (not Home Depot or OSH) and they really came up beautiful. There are some pics of the flowers in all their glory below.

There is a great article on Amyris in the April issue of Popular Science. No links yet but the issue is on the stands. I recommend it.

St Patricks Weekend

Life is just going by at the usual pace in our household. The girls are out the door to daycare every week day by eight and the evenings are filled with playing, taking little walks around the neighbourhood now that the evenings are a little longer, dinner and the bedtime routine. They all are doing great at school. Fiona is going to move into the Pre K 1 classroom beginning of April, she is ready to move on and is excited to catch up with some of her old friends who moved on ahead of her. Tara is really starting to become her own little person and loves hanging out with her sisters now. She loves sitting in the doll stroller and have one of her sisters push her around and they in turn love to push her around, I think she will always be the baby.
Ciara has been proud to call herself Irish this week, they put up St Patricks day decorations at school and learnt about St.Patrick and Ireland. We had all planned to go to the parade in San Francisco this weekend but I caught some nasty flu and just was not up to going. Ciara really wanted to go so Ron, Fiona and Ciara headed off. It turned out to be a lovely day despite forecast for rain and they had a great time and they all came home happy and with their pockets full of candy.

Valentines Day and Presidents Day Weekend

Valentines day was very exciting in our house this year. Ciara had been learning all about it at school and would come home all excited about the party they were going to have and the cards she was going to get (Here in the US it is traditional for the kids to give little cards to everyone in the class). Fiona picked up on this excitement and thought that Valentines was some great place we were all going to go to. This year Ciara wrote her name herself on all her cards and Fiona put a heart sticker on all hers. On Valentines Day she cried and cried when she figured out she was still going to school and not to Valentines but I think the day redeemed itself as they also had a party in her classroom and she came home with a bag full of cards and treats.

We had a nice relaxing Presidents Day weekend. Saturday was catch up day for household chores and running errands. Fiona got to go to the store and pick out her own "princess dress". Ciara has a Cinderella princess dress which Fiona has gotten to love lately and she puts it on everyday when she comes home from daycare, along with her 'special pretty shoes' and she is very proud of how she looks. She has being doing very good on the potty, no more diapers during the day so she got to get her own dress. Some how Ciara has managed to still persuade Fiona to wear the "Cinderella " dress and she parades around in the new one the "Aurora" dress.
On Sunday Ciara, Fiona and I went to the Oakland zoo, they have a great childrens section there, we had a really nice time, we went on the sky ride at the end. Ciara has wanted to go on that one for a long time but we always said no, for some reason I always thought there was a height restriction but there isn't. It is like a ski lift ride but it goes up over some of the animal enclosures, Fiona and Ciara thought it was great, I have to admit I was a bit nervous at times, then we went on the train that goes all around the zoo, that is Fiona'a favourite. We topped the day off with trip out for ice cream. The girls had gotten money from their grandparents for Valentines day with instructions to go for ice cream so they made sure we didn't forget about that.

Our baby turns 1

Tara turned one year old on Jan 28, we can hardly believe a whole year has gone by already and our little baby is a baby no more. She is walking all over, can climb up and down the stairs faster than you can blink your eye. She only crawls if she needs to get somewhere really fast, like snag a toy from one of her sisters. She is finally sleeping through the night so we are really starting to feel like we are leaving the baby stage behind.
We had a little party on Sunday, her Uncle John came from Austin for the weekend to celebrate with her. I think her sisters were way more excited about her Birthday than Tara was and went to store to get balloons and Elmo paper plates and napkins for her party and they bought her some little presents which they told her she had to share, but it was all good fun. Tara did burn her finger on the candle, while we all stood around and watched her do it so I hope we have not instilled a fear of birthday cakes in her for the rest of her life.
On her actual birthday we had planned on going out to a restaurant. Ron and I felt we deserved to celebrate surviving our first year of 3 kids with our sanity still intact, or so we like to believe, but Ciara had some sort of a stomach bug and was not really up to it, so maybe we will try to get out next weekend.