What with one thing and another I haven't had time to write much about our holiday, and here it is the last day already. But we've been having fun, going to the beach and splashworld and the park and other fun things, mostly aimed at kids, but stuff that the grownups have been enjoying as well. We're taking (or rather, Geoff is) the girls back to Splashworld this afternoon (an indoor water park - a pool with waves, water slides, fountains, water cannon, etc). Last time the babies went too, and although Aine enjoyed it quite a bit, Alex wasn't quite so keen, so David is going to get off work a little early this afternoon and he'll take Aine with him and Geoff will take the girls. Cathi and I will stay here (and Alex) and perhaps go for a long walk or something, depending on the weather.

The weather hasn't been quite what we'd like - not much sun - but at least it hasn't been chucking down rain, so it's not too bad. We've still managed to get out and about a lot, and the girls had a whole morning of playing in the very nice playground in the centre of Waterford. Yesterday we took advantage of the brief period of sun to go for a picnic on a secluded beach fairly near to Waterford. It wasn't hot, but at least it was warm enough for us to eat lunch outside and for the girls to mess about in the rockpools without freezing.

Back home tomorrow after a long ferry trip and a long drive - I'm going to let Sarah stay up as late as she wants tonight, as that makes it more likely she'll sleep in the car on the way home. On the ferry on the way over they were showing Harry Potter 2 in the kids' cinema, so if we're equally lucky on the way back, that part of the trip shouldn't be too bad.

Well, here we are in Ireland, which is cool. As expected, Cathi's baby is very sweet, although she's obviously going to be a handful, even at a young age. She's about 2.5 months older than Alex, so it's fun to watch her and predict what he's going to be like at the same age. Not that I haven't been through that age before with the other kids, but you do tend to forget at precisely which age they do what...

We spent yesterday driving around doing stuff, went up to a car boot sale outside Kilkenny and then went to lunch in Kilkenny, which looks like a very pretty town. Geoff bought me a lovely piece of pottery as a belated anniversary present (it was 10 years this year, astonishingly). Today, we'll probably not go quite so far afield. i don't think the weather will be nice enough for the beach, but perhaps we can have a trip to "Splashworld" later today, if it's open and if it fits into the schedule. If it doesn't rain, perhaps there will also be a walk over to the local castle or something like that.

The best thing, besides visiting with old friends of course, is that they have a big hottub on their deck, so every evening, after the kids are in bed, it's out to the hot tub for a soak and a gossip & to sort out world affairs and all that. perhaps that's what's wrong with the UN - they don't conduct their business while soaking in a hottub with a nice drink.

Off to Ireland early tomorrow morning. Staying with Cathi and Dave and as Cathi is at least as much of an internet addict as I am, I'll be checking email and blogging as usual, if I have time (and if she's not already online). But in case there's a lot of silence, well, you'll know why! Just hope the weather is better than it has been here this week...

well, today we had a first - solid food. Alex, that is. The rest of us have been on solids for a while! Anyway, he's a little young for it, technically (3.5 months rather than 4) but he's a very hungry baby in the daytime and has recently taken to chewing on his fist, so I reckoned it was time to at least try. And though he's not entirely sure what to do with the food (we had some pear puree today), neither does he spit it back out, scream and make faces, so I think we're on the right track. I just want him to keep sleeping through the night most nights - it's a hard thing to give up, once they've started to give your nights back!

Last night was Olivia's annual ballet show - this is the first time she's been in it, but as ballet looks as though it's here to stay, I'm assuming it will be an annual event. She used to be in a different ballet class, which only had little ones, but now she's going to a different place, which takes all ages. She's only in with tiny little ones, but there are other classes for older girls, so we had a whole show, from 3 year olds up to about 18, I reckon. It was quite sweet. In many ways, the little kids were better than the older ones, as they were much less self-conscious.

After the show, we had Thalia around for a sleepover (she was in the show, too, and both her folks were away, so it was practical, as well as fun), which is our first proper sleepover. We did have Thalia once before, when Lana went into hospital to have Keir, but this was a "real" sleepover. And much more giggly. They did eventually go to sleep, though. Eventually. I can see that the main problem in future will be that Thalia is an early riser, which would be fine, except she woke both the other girls up, too, and they really need a bit more sleep, especially after a busy, tiring day like yesterday. At least they are old enough not to need me to get up with them when they get up at 6.45 on a Sunday morning...

Well, it's been a while since I wrote anything; those of you who read the blog regularly may have guessed that this is because Geoff's dad died, later on the same day as the last entry. We've been very busy since as Geoff's been up to his mum's house twice - we went the second time, this past weekend, for the funeral and so forth. Everything went very well, it was a lovely service with a good turnout and all that, but it was still obviously a bit of an emotional visit. Geoff's doing well, and his mum not too badly. It does help that Stuart is able to be there with her I think.

The oddest thing, of course, is being at the house without Geoff's dad there. Even Sarah noticed it - she said "It's different here without granddad, isn't it".