July 26 Marvaõ, Alto Alentejo, Portugal Late last night as we tucked the kids away to bed in the little room we are all sharing in an old quinta in the high granite hills of the Upper Alentejo, Oliver asked my husband to tell him a story. Ryan closed his eyes for a minute before… Continue reading Bedtime Stories: A Boy and a Girl With Reddish Hair
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Out on the Tiles: Living Lisbon’s Summertime
June 25 – July 7 Lisbon, Portugal It’s been a while since my last post, but I can admit to having a pretty qualified excuse. For the past two weeks, we’ve made our home the ancient and decadently crumbling neighborhood of Alfama; Lisbon’s historic and, in many ways, cultural heart. In an attempt to align… Continue reading Out on the Tiles: Living Lisbon’s Summertime
What it Means to Captain This Ship: To My Husband On Father’s Day
June 16 Vigo, Galicia, Spain This has been a challenging week, to say the least. Somewhere in the lovely Picos de Europa, our van started to sound as if it were towing a refrigerator up and down the mountains. After consulting a mechanic in Oviedo, we learned that our driver-side caliper was shot and our tie… Continue reading What it Means to Captain This Ship: To My Husband On Father’s Day
Take A Hike Series: The Clifftop Walks of San Sebastián
May 22 – 28 San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain After going several knockout rounds against the sublime pintxos bars (pronounced: “peen-chos,” Basque for tapas) in San Sebastián, our latest favorite city and first stop in Spain, we decided to go out for some much-needed exercise. Fortunately for us, the Gipuzkoa province, one of seven that forms… Continue reading Take A Hike Series: The Clifftop Walks of San Sebastián
Off the Beaten Path in Ireland: The Road to Torr Head and Carrick-a-Rede
March 19 – 24 Northern Ireland If there was a way to somehow distill the essence of Ireland such as to contain it in a bottle so that it could be taken as an elixir at the end of a particularly long and difficult day; a sort of tonic that could lift the senses and… Continue reading Off the Beaten Path in Ireland: The Road to Torr Head and Carrick-a-Rede
Happy Birthday, Little One: Kendley Turns Two (From Daddy)
May 18 Bordeaux, France Happy birthday to my beautiful little girl. From the second I laid my eyes on you, I was in awe of you. You have always filled my heart with joy and have given me a lifetime of love in only two years. While you might not understand what we are doing… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Little One: Kendley Turns Two (From Daddy)
Happy Birthday, Little One: Kendley Turns Two (From Mommy)
May 18 Bordeaux, France Today our daughter turns two years old. To celebrate, we followed our GPS for ages around the sprawling suburbs that spiral off Bordeaux’s ring road until it brought us to Récréa’Land, an indoor gymnasium/fun zone complete with multilevel play structures, slides and several enormous, child-swallowing ball pits. In the past, we… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Little One: Kendley Turns Two (From Mommy)
Off the Beaten Path in Ireland: Escaping the Ring of Kerry
April 4 – 9 Iveragh Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland Many things have been said of Ireland’s Iveragh Peninsula, which is better known for the (in)famous coastal road that circumscribes it: the Ring of Kerry. The “inspiration of poets and writers”, “magnificent coastal scenery”, a “mystical & unspoilt region”, are the words of some. In actuality,… Continue reading Off the Beaten Path in Ireland: Escaping the Ring of Kerry