He promised me an ipod to entertain me on long car journeys up the country….
Speakers duct taped into box
Yup, this is what I got.
As we prepare to head on our first proper family 2 week holiday ever, he urged me to come out to the car to inspect his wonderful creation.
The mains inverter has been hooked up to the cigarette lighter in my car. This is the POWER source. Cue lots of admiring ohs and ahs from moi. This is then connected to the above contraption. Yep the functional rather than aesthetically pleasing couple of PC speakers duct taped to an old cardboard box with the wonderful photo of Max and Ruby to add interest.
The line into the speakers is connected to a Nokia phone adaptor which eventually leads to my mobile, onto which he has uploaded various podcasts and albums.
So the bags are nearly all packed, car’s getting loaded up and we’re off on our annual trip to Wexbird as the kids call it. The extended August bank holiday weekend is meetup time for Conor’s clann: his sisters, their kids and his parents. Its good fun and the kids in particular love the time hanging out with their cousins.
The packing is a pain though. I pack an individual bag for each of our kids, influenced no doubt by my mother’s giving us a Quinnsworth bag each when we were younger and getting us to pack our own stuff when heading to my grandfather’s house in Cavan from Wicklow. Then the 9 of us would pile into the navy Fiat Mirafiori and off we’d go.
Here’s hoping for some good weather and some fun on the beach. Enjoy your weekends.
Me: “Would you like some toasted ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch Fionn?”
Fionn: “No, I want flat eggs with toast.” (Sibéal’s term for poached eggs)
Me: “Are you sure, I think you’d prefer ham and cheese? I havent seen you eat poached eggs in ages and your other sister and brothers are having ham and cheese”
Fionn: “No, I want flat eggs.”
So I go and cook Sibéal and himself poached eggs and the rest of the kids opt for ham and cheese toasties.
Me: “There you go Fionn, your flat eggs”
Fionn roars: “I wanted ham and cheese” as if I’ve cunningly tricked him into asking for the eggs.
Me: “Grand so.”
Arrggghhh, this may be the start of a very long summer!
Just been messing about this morning with online photo editor PIXENATE. Its excellent. I used it to upload, crop and Warhol-esque this basic photo taken at the playground recently.
It was really easy and straightforward to use and I love the end result. Coolo, am really looking forward to using the wordpress plugin to enhance and correct my basic photography efforts.
When I was a kid, I used to LOVE to read the Three Investigators series of books. Though set in California and the three investigators being three 14 year old or so boys, Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews, they really caught my imagination and I devoured book after book.
Book cover image along with loads more info from this “all you need to know” 3Investigators site.
I loved the mysteries, the secret headquarters set in the back of Jones’ Junkyard, the secret entrances, the gadgetry and the solving the mysteries. I hadn’t thought of them in years but recently remembered and today discovered the series ran until the late 80s.
Oh the anticipation, every morning waiting for the postman to call and at last, this morning they arrived.
These are our 4 year old’s dream sandals:
Since seeing the ad and hearing her cousin got a pair, its all she’s wanted. She’s big into her clothes and dressing up and so the glitter and glitz of these just couldn’t be resisted. The sparkles of the orange flowers, the gold straps all just fabulous. I baulked at the €50+ price tags locally though and ended up purchasing on ebay for half that. Thankfully they arrived without the associated makeup or sunglasses.
The Lelli Kelly ad has to be one of the most annoying evah:
Now, how to deter the 2 year old Fionn from his insistance that he wants a pair now too…
Oisín, the 6 year old, is big into cars. So this weekend he was questioning myself and Conor as to what were our favourite cars and what car would we like to own and drive. My answer was a Citroen DS.
I know fitting the 5 kids and husband in it may be a bit of a squash: no pain, no gain
Someday soon it will be mine. photo credit: .Robert.
I’ve never been partial to singing in the bath or shower, but I LOVE to sing whilst driving the car. I’m sure it drives the kids bananas most of the time. Though they have come around to my way of thinking and even the 2 year old shouts for “Together Mammy” as he requests the classic “We’re all in this together” from the High School Musical Soundtrack CD. Mind you, it does lead to the occasional odd look from other drivers.
We’re like a gone wrong VonTrapp family at this stage. No “Edelweiss” or “Do-re-mi” but plenty of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus”, Gorillaz’s “Dirty Harry”, Arcade Fire’s “No cars go” and The Killers‘ “Somebody told me”.
Last week’s round trip to Dublin with Fionn left me hoarse. Albums and songs I hadn’t listened to in ages were rooted out and I had a marathon singalong which was deadly. Three of my favourites from that day:
