Emily over at From China Village hosts the wonderful "Styled in Ireland" series, in which she shares what to wear, bring and accessorize with while out and about on our fair isle. As a fellow transplant to Ireland who still feels like a midwestern tourist (me), I love these posts. She always looks beautifully put together and smart on her excursions, and it got me to thinking: how do I traipse about with our crew? I mean, in fairness, I do a lot of prep work beforehand, including:
- making sure everyone goes to the toilet
- refereeing at least one sibling fight
- sometimes locking keys in the house
As you can see, styled is not exactly a grand descriptor for our outings. But, inspired by Emily, I thought I'd share with you a once-off post: Thrown Together in Ireland.
We threw the crew in the car and headed towards our old stomping grounds in County Meath. Gormanston Beach is flat and wide, and when the tide is out, one can meander with the horses and a view of the Mourne Mountains (on a clear day).
This is how we roll:
- Assign each child with a water bottle, a hoodie, and a raincoat.
- Throw in two beach towels to be used for blankets or clean up.
- Grab all umbrellas. And hats. Gloves if you can find them. And wellies, too. (this is key: all children need at least two pairs of shoes for beach, mountain or country-going. We are almost always in possession of wet socks and shoes.)
- Throw all bits and bobs in oversize picnic carry-all, as well as a 12-pack multi-flavoured bag of crisps, a bag of apples, and a box of kleenex.
- Bring reading material for kiddos, ipod for tunes, and lead for dog.
- Last but not least: a puke bowl.
Per usual, whenever we leave the house to do something outdoorsy, rain clouds inevitably roll in. We are not deterred, however, and pass time with bucolic detours, coffee-stops, and unscheduled toilet breaks until the sun breaks through.
And now for the fashion portion of the post:
As you can see, most of my style is hidden by the overgrown baby with a touch of asthma. Not pictured are my Lands' End duck booties (a very wise purchase from nearly 15 years ago), my Take Me to the Sea jumper from Old Navy, other children, spouse or dog.
Oh, here they are:
Moral of the story: if you want to look like a harried mum in need of de-tangler, a trio of kids in need of tissues and a runaway dog, I'm more than happy to oblige. But if I were you, I'd hedge my bets with Emily.
PS - Check out the highly ambitious Day trips from our Doorstep for other fun family outings. We've since discovered that we think of as a day trip, our Irish friends think of as a long weekend away. We're learning.
