Today it´s a very special day for us: exactly 6 years ago, we arrived in Dublin to start a new life. We didn't have an idea of how long we would stay or if we would like it here. Now, six years later, we feel like at home - our family has grown, and we are not planning to leave any time soon.
To celebrate, we've decided to spend this lovely and sunny morning (although very cold!) at St Anne´s Park, in Clontarf.
St Anne´s Park is one of the first places we fell in love with during our first spring/summer in Dublin. We used to go there with a picnic basket and a blanket when our older son was still a baby. We would have lunch there and enjoy the sun and the good atmosphere of the park: always full of children running around, on their bikes/scooters, playing football, flying their kites or just wandering around with their parents
Time has passed very very quickly, and our oldest son still enjoys going to St Anne´s (both our sons do!). He learnt to ride his first bike there:
And still loves riding it @ the same place (a different bike now, without stabilisers :-)
I particularly enjoy taking a stroll around the market at the entrance of The Red Stables on Saturday mornings. I buy myself a cup of coffe and walk around the different stalls selling all kinds of things (normally food and crafts)
The kids and Dad always end up buying a crepe (nutella, ham and cheese...)
We normally take a ball to play after eating our crepe. There is so much space around that the kids can play freely without disturbing anybody:
Or, sometimes they prefer to ride their ezyrollers or their bikes, like today: there is a huge avenue perfect for bikes, scooters, skates or just long strolls:
One thing we always do when we go to St Anne´s is visiting the playground: heaven for the boys!
It's not a very big or very sophisticated playground, but all the children love it:
What Dad and I specially like about it is the seating area just outside the playground, where we can relax while we see the boys running around in the playground area. This morning this seating area was specially nice, with the sun shining and no wind:
Everytime we go to St Anne's Park, I take the camera because there is always something I like to "capture", even though I am a terrible photographer (worse than terrible!). Over the years I've taken some pictures there that I really love, because if someone asked me what St Anne's Park means to me I would say: it's Ireland's urban nature at its best! It's the confirmation that you do not need to drive for kilometers to enjoy life outdoors - you find it in Dublin!
Here are some of my favourite pictures of StAnne's:
I'm sure you've gone to St Anne's with your kids. If you haven't, please go! You'll love it, I'm sure.
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