Finishing Ireland

OK, I know this will come as a shock to many of you but I am actually updating my blog. I have so much to write about! It is hard to blog stuff about today when I know I did not finish blogging Ireland. There is a reason for this. I blogged about my mom's old house and our experience there. The next thing to do was to blog about my dad's side of the family.

I have to say that this was harder for me to do as someone I was at one point close to had passed away since our last trip to Ireland. It was hard to come to terms with and we went to visit her grave when we there. She was my aunt Sadie.

There were 8 children in my dad's family and there were approximately 28 years between the youngest and oldest children. Sadie was the youngest and the only one who has passed away. Death is a part of life but I think that something felt very wrong for all of the Casserly siblings to bury the baby of the family.  She had a long battle with breast cancer and her girls were in high school when she passed on. I don't know if any of you have that special aunt or uncle or grandparent that you felt a special connection too, but for me it was my aunt Sadie.

I think I am finally ready to put this blog entry in. Aunt Sadie you are dearly and deeply missed. You brought so much life and joy to all of our lives and it is so very hard to say goodbye. Godbye aunt Sadie. Catch you on the flipside.

Anyone know a good carpet cleaner?

Brynn: Mom?

Me: Yes honey.

Brynn: The baby has poops on her forehead.

My 3 little troopers

Brynn came down with a fever last night. We were getting ready to go out for dinner when I looked over at her napping and saw her cheeks were red. She was warm to touch too so we spent the night inside the hotel. Her getting sick was a reminder of how much we have asked of the kids over the last few weeks.

They all slept the entire 7.5 flight to get here (after a 2 hour delay on the runway). The roads here are winding and nauseating. Poor Aidan threw up on the back roads to my mom's old house. They have loved the trip though. We have a ton of seashells from our walk at the beach. They have met and charmed countless family members.

I feel so fortunate to be their mommy and to bring Nick and the kids to Ireland really has been a dream. I will post more about the trip over the next week, but we will be leaving tomorrow (Saturday).

Roots

Mom grew up in small town Ballinagree, Cork. Her family had 8 kids in a quaint 3 bedroom cottage. They would have several kids in one bed, some with their heads along the top and others with their heads along the bottom.

The kids also helped tend to the cows and the land they owned . Their dog Sputnik helped too!

1976, 77 and 78 were tough years for the Hyde family though. Grandma died in March of 1976, Grandpa died in March of 1977, and uncle TimJoe died in December of 1978.  Timothy Joseph Hyde was one of 4 Hyde siblings that immigrated to the US.  He was killed by a drunk driver at the intersection of Meacham and Higgins in Schaumburg (by Woodfield).

After Grandma and Grandpa died, no one was able to take care of the house.  Now most of the windows are broken, shingles are all over the lawn and trees are even growing up inside of it. We always come to visit when we are here, but it is sad to see the house this way, especially for my mother.

The land is still owned by our family. Beautiful, isn't it?

We had always heard that the day my brother, Niall, was born in Chicago was the same day my grandma died in Ireland. But when we saw her stone it said March 4th, while Niall was born March 3rd. Ireland is 6 hours ahead of us, so even though she died on March 4th, my family in the US got word on March 3rd. Niall was born with a 50/50 chance of living, so no one told mom of grandma's passing until a week later- when they knew my brother would survive.

Grandma and Grandpa, I have pictures with you, but I wish I could remember. Uncle TimJoe, we all miss you dearly. 

An Irish Wedding

I have so much to share about our trip to Ireland that I decided to finally start a blog! The main reason for our trip was my cousin Ivor's wedding. He married his wonderful fiance AnnMarie in Waterford on Friday. When the kids got tired my mom graciously volounteered to stay at the hotel with the kids. By the time we put them down and got back it was 11:30. I was worried that people would be leaving. The taxi driver laughed at me. He said this is an Irish wedding. He thought it would end closer to 1.  Here's us with the happy couple around around midnight...

This is the lovely Jules. She is Australian but is now engaged to my cousin Emmet and they live in London. Don't you love those adorable hat/feather contraptions the Brits wear to weddings? Now I know what they are called!  Fascinators. This was taken around 1 A.M...

Nick enjoys chatting with Cousin Emmet. Do you want to know what the Irish debate about all day long? Hillary Clinton versus Barack Obama. No kidding!

Some "trad" came on (traditional Irish music) and my cousin Rosie (red dress) grabbed my hand to join in traditional Irish dancing. I said "NO, I don't remember the steps".  She said "neither do the rest of us" and we all faked our way through the line part laughing uncontrollably. Then we would break up and spin with different partners and come back to the line again. These were taken around 2 A.M...

We moved inside eventually. This must be normal as they had more food set out for us, the DJ set up shop in the lobby and the bartenders moved to behind the hotel bar. This was taken around 3 A.M...

The Irish sure seem to love their um...grape juice.

I had great conversations with my aunt Katheline that night. Keep in mind that she was the mother of the groom, the florist..oh yeah and she's 73! She looks amazing considering all that and that it's 4 in the morning in this photo...

I need to go souvenir shopping before I head home, who wants me to bring back a fascinator for them?

Well it's 5 A.M. people. I am tired. I took this last photo of them dancing in the lobby as I was leaving (cousin Patty is the one busting a move here).  The bride, groom, mother of the groom and many more were still going strong even though it was light outside!

I will post more on the trip later.