Bray Head - Nice exercise and rewarding views from the top!

Bray is ALWAYS a great idea!

Le Petit Breton (Dublin 9) - good crêperie!

What can I say: we love crêpes!

They are a fantastic meal - you can prepare them with everything: savoury for lunch, sweet for dessert or for an afternoon snack (one of my kids would kill for a warm nutella crêpe), they fill you up, but do not make you feel heavy after eating them and can be eaten at home / in a restaurant  or on the go... perfect for all tastes and demands!

Well now there is a new place in Dublin where you can enjoy perfect crêpes the French way: Le Petit Breton in Drumcondra (1A Drumcondra Road Lower).

Union Cafe (Dublin 14) - Perfect for the summer

Dublin weather during the months of May and June is usually really nice (OK, OK.... it is now pouring down with rain and the sky has a really intimidating dark grey colour!) I mean in general... or let's say I'd love to think that in general, Dublin weather can be really nice :-). Rather difficult to talk about the weather in this country eh?

Bunsen (Wexford Street-Dublin 2) - Best burgers in Dublin? The kids said so...

Saturday, 2:00pm... we're in the city centre (near St Stephen's Green) and we're very very very hungry!

Different places come to mind and we're discussing which would be the best place that would please us all - highly difficult task for us to reach an agreement :-(

Deer Park , Mount Merrion - Dublin 14. Nice area to visit with the kids

Back from holidays... what can I say? Coming back is not being easy (it never is!). So now what are we going to do????

First of all, let's put on a cardigan :-), then take a map, a ball, some water bottles and go out to discover Dublin. We do not want to waste time. Some post-summer amazing places in and around Dublin are waiting out there!

Our first one:

Last weekend we visited Deer Park in Mount Merrion, Dublin 14. A very nice medium sized park located right here:

We had seen the park many times (every time we go to Dundrum town center) and we always used to say: "we have to visit this park one day; it looks very nice, and the views must be amazing". Well... we were right.

We arrived and parked beside the Mt Anville Road entrance.

First thing we liked: paved broad paths (perfect for pushing a buggy) with great views of the city. 

What the kids saw and looooved: a football pitch! Let me explain that for the last year every time we go out -anywhere- we have to take the ball with us, because playing soccer at least once or twice a day has become the first item in our to-do list no matter the place we're visiting. This park looked super promising now!

For the joggers, there is fitness equipment to work out beside the path - definitely for adults! One of the kids wanted to use one and Dad had to lift him to be able to reach the parallel bars.

We took a walk along the path for approx 10 minutes (kids playing with the ball beside us).... 

and found the lovely playground: really worth exploring!:

Seesaws, swings, slides webs... it has all of that. 

And then it has some others, not easy to identify (am I getting too old???) but you know kids: the weirder the artifact gets, the more interesting

is that a cage? tied to the ground? what is it supposed to do? never mind- the kid liked it!

After a good half an hour playing around in the playground we continued our walk up to see the whole park. Came accross ther Deer Park Tennis Club and a lot of happy kids playing Federer and Nadal and then our more than mandatory stop to play soccer in the pitch.

Believe me, if we had let the kids do what they wanted we would still be there, playing soccer, but thank God (really really: thank you God!) after 20 or 30 minutes it started raining and we had to rush back to the car.

It was already lunch time, so instead of going home, we decided to go down Mt Anville Road and try The Goat, literally 5 mins away from the park. Perfect end of a perfect morning: good lunch while we watched... yes soccer! for a good price

Expat First Communion in Ireland

Children grow so fast, don't they? It feels like yesterday when we arrived in Ireland (thinking: oh, we'll be back in Spain in two or three years), and we've already celebrated our 7th anniversary in Dublin!

We've been ticking boxes here: first day of creche, the day they said their first word, the day they started walking, first day of big boys school.... and last May it was the day of Samuel's First Communion!

Lunch + sunny afternoon @ Bray

Any excuse is good for us to go out for breakfast, or lunch or just to discover a new place (and I really mean "any"excuse)...

Some weeks ago we celebrated my husband's birthday: that is more than a good excuse!  Aaaand the day was bright and warm: what else could we ask for??!!

Plan nr 1 for this mid term break with the kids

Yes, it's mid term break.... and my kids are off school the whole five days!

I took some days off work to be home with them and last week I decided that this mid term break would be special: not just a "let's hope the days pass quickly and in the meantime let the boys play PS3" week but much more of a "let's enjoy every minute of the time we have, in spite of the weather" week, and I say in spite of the weather, because the forecast is not very promising... we'll have to remember that quote (and I write it in capitals): THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS BAD WEATHER, BUT BAD CLOTHING...

Mexican fast (but very good!) food in Dublin: Pablo PIcante & Pablo Tortas

My husband was born in Mexico (you probably know by now if you have read my previous posts). 

Over the years I've learnt that all foreigners miss the food of their countries of origin, but Mexicans... they miss it even more! At least the Mexicans I've met over the past 15 years.

That is why my husband was so so happy when we first tried "Pablo Picante" on Baggot Street. Big burritos to go, prepared as you order them with good quality ingredients: chicken, beef, pork, vegetables... everything tastes really good and (most important): the girls were Mexican!!!! 

Rathfarnham Castle, Playground and Tea rooms

Rathfarnham Castle is a beautiful 16th century castle with a fascinating history.

The building is not very big, and neither are the gardens that surround it, but it truly is a must-see attraction.

Winnie's Craft Café in Booterstown

Yesterday morning my husband had some free time (very rare) and we decided to treat ourselves go to Winnie's for a nice cup of coffee and something to eat.

Celebrating Father's Day in Andersons Creperie

It was Father`s Day last Sunday. The weather was horrible in the morning and we didn't feel like visiting any park or playground and get all wet and muddy, but we still wanted to do something special to celebrate such a special day...

Café and Japanese Garden in Cabinteely Park (Dublin 18)

Here again talking about our favourite places to go with the kids. And this time it's also a beautiful café which is located inside Cabinteely Park.

Not long ago, I wrote a post about Cabinteely Park and playground: one of the best in Dublin. Even though we've known the park for quite some time, we only found out about its Café and Japanese Gardens a couple of weeks ago...

Avoca café in Kilmacanogue (Bray)

As I've said many times in older posts, we love discovering new places to have our Sunday breakfast.

We normally don't go out for dinner or lunch....only in very special occasions, but we really enjoy getting up early in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays and enjoy the peace and quiet, the weather (good or bad) and the smell of fresh coffee and yummy pancakes in one of the many many fantastic cafés spread all around Co Dublin.

Having lunch at Johnnie Fox's

I'm sure almost all of you have heard about Johnnie Fox's: being expats, like us, you must take quite a few planes during the year.... well if you've ever taken an Aer Lingus flight and gone through their CARA magazine, then at least you've seen Johnnie Fox's ad there.

That's how we got to know this place: through the Aer Lingus CARA magazine. But we had always thought: it looks nice, and the food certainly looks good, but... it must be one of those places which are sooo focused on attracting tourists that they really look "fake". So we had never tried it before.

Enjoyed pancake Tuesday? - Nice and "sweet" tradition

Hi everybody,

...and sorry - I have been trying to write this post for three whole days, but I have had not time at all, not until this exact moment.

And I wanted so badly to write this post because I wanted to tell you about PANCAKE TUESDAY  (also know as Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Pancake Day....) which is celebrated every year on the day before Ash Wednesday (This year, it was celebrated this week).

If you are an expat originally from a non-English speaking country (like myself), probably you hadn't heard about Pancake Tuesday before.... I remember our first year as expats in Ireland - I was so surprised when I heard that everybody eats pancakes on the day before Ash Wednesday - what a funny way of celebrating the beginning of Lent!

Nice cafe in Dun Laoghaire

It was my birthday last Saturday!

We had initially thought of going out of Dublin for the day, but the weather was not very promising, so we changed our minds in the morning and decided to stay in Dublin and go somewhere nice for brunch.

Hobarts: a perfect place for a Sunday brunch in D6

Last Sunday we went to Ranelagh for brunch....

We love the area and have tried some of the retaurants and cafes there. Without a doubt, our first choice for breakfast/brunch is Hobarts (55, Ranelagh Village).