Finally made it to Ireland to see Oliver. We hung out in Malahide mostly - he showed me all his favorite playgrounds and where to get the best pepperoni pizza, which is his favorite. The kid can put down 4 or 5 decently-sized slices - it's pretty impressive. We had movie night every night. I also got to meet his teacher and see his classroom (which was incredibly nice since the kids were actually on break this week and the teacher came in on her day off). Oliver seems to be finding a groove at school and his teacher seems to understand and have a good way of dealing with his energy.
Oliver and I took the train into Dublin a few times (about a 30 minute ride) and painted the town red - had lunch and dropped in on a few museums and parks. Highlight was the Natural History Museum (also known to the locals as the "Dead Animal Museum" because - you guessed it, it's full of dead animals). Good place for kids and, despite the lack of upkeep on some of the taxonomy, it's actually a pretty impressive collection of dead animals from all over the world.
Oh, got to spend about half a day in the US Embassy waiting to not have Oliver's passport renewed - that was pretty cool. Oliver really enjoyed the white linoleum floors, the buzz of the fluorescent lighting and the "please be quiet" library atmosphere. It was a lesson for him in the elegance and efficiency of federal bureaucracy. Anyway, aside from that, the trip was a joy.
Bottom line is that Oliver and I were both really happy to see each other and spend some time together, even if it was brief. All told, I spent 2.5 days traveling and 3.5 days on the ground with Oliver, but it was definitely worth it. Tomorrow night, I'll be headed to the opposite corner of the globe, so I'm glad I made this trip first.
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