Dublin Archives - Weary Wanderer

A very, merry happy New Year to all you lovelies 😉

It’s that time again. An introduction. A blank slate. A chance to start over, continue being amazing, set new goals, or aim to keep the old ones. AND …. it’s reflect-on-the-past-year time, too. 2025 was a good travel year, for us, with lots of love, laughs, cuddles, and adventure. Here’s what we got up to.

January

In January, Chris and I booked it to Florida for a quick 48-hours so he could run his 10th marathon. We hadn’t been away from the girls overnight in about two years, so it was really quite fun to take that time <3

Chris ran his marathon in three hours and eight seconds. LEGEND.

February

In mid-February, Steph, Rosalie and Robert flew out for President’s Weekend to celebrate Valentine’s Day and Rosalie’s 6th birthday. We had such a blast!

We checked out the Bubble Planet Immersive Experience in Denver!

Lotte, Steph & Ro got their ears pierced!

Lotte sang the National Anthem at a CU basketball game with her school choir!

March

In March we headed off to Taos, New Mexico, for spring break! It was a new state for the girls, and we had such a blast.

Pottery at the Imagine Children’s Museum was an unexpected delight.

April

I posted an ode to winter at the end of April, with highlights including lots of Lotte choir singing at fun events, art exhibits, author events (both mine and other authors!), plays, fancy tea services, tons of skiing .. and lots more!

The Maurice Sendak exhibit at the Denver Art Museum!

Easter tea at The Brown Palace in Denver was delicious!

Lotte performed with her choir for a festival and we got to hang at Elitch Gardens!

June & July

You guys. June and July were epic. We met up with all three grandparents for a month in Europe that did. not. disappoint. There was the press trip at an insane resort in Portugal. All the culture and food in Barcelona. Italy. (More specifically the Dolomites and Venice. Enough said.) Driving from the Dolomites to Paris, with a stop at the city where I was born. Paris and the French countryside. The shocking adorableness of Brugges. The out-of-this-world salty attitude of Amsterdam. And the gorgeous, glorious greenery of Ireland. It was the trip of a lifetime, to say the least.

As if that weren’t enough, when Lotte and Grace had their horse camp canceled last-minute, I booked a quick trip back East for the week before Lotte’s birthday! Grace was meant to come, too, but after a month in Europe, girl needed some R&R at home, which was totally fine. She’ll catch NY next time round!

We had a lot of good food and drinks AND a lot of time to chat, which was so much fun and so different from how it usually is. My brother-in-law was a doll and watched the twins a bunch, and Lotte & Ro entertain themselves, which left my sis and myself to our own devices on several occasions. I do not take those times for granted.

August

I wrote a farewell to the Summer of 2025 covering the final few weeks of our break before we were back-to-school. It included a birthday, camp, a visit from our NY loves and one final out-of-town trip.

Phew. What a summer it was!

Just a couple’a cuties at the Denver Zoo.

Rainbows in the mountains? Can’t beat that.

You also can’t beat a National Park. This one — Rocky Mountain National Park — is near and dear to our hearts.

September

September started with a bang when we celebrated Labor Day in our own Colorado backyard. Sunshine. Hikes. Moose. Bear. Glaciers. Lakes.

Oh, Colorado. You beautiful beast, you.

November

In November we hopped on the earliest flight possible to high-tail it to New York for the Thanksgiving holiday! We saw Wicked, had tea at the American Girl Doll store, drank hot cocoa in an igloo in Bryant Park, hung out with Bluey, deep fried a turkey … and so much more <3

Hot cocoa and cocktails in a cozy igloo by the Bryant Park ice skating rink? YES PLEASE.

December

Less than one week after getting home from our New York Thanksgiving, we were back on a plane! This time, it was to Knoxville, for the AAU Youth Track & Field Championships, which Lotte ran with her team, the Colorado Coyotes. We were so stinkin’ proud of her, I could cry. Oh and also … how cute is Knoxville?!

Then we spent Christmas in Hawaii with Chris’ parents, and it was SO FRIGGIN’ WONDERFUL!

And that was our near in a nutshell, friends! We had pretty amazing travel experiences and I never stop being grateful for all of it for even just one second.

I hope you all had a wonderful year … and cheers to an even better new one!

Hello, friends! Welcome to my final Europe installment … Ireland!

It is so hard to believe that this trip has come to an end. All that planning and booking and prepping is over. And holy cow was it fun 😉 We stayed in this Airbnb about 30 minutes outside of Dublin, and the view was spectacular!

On Thursday we spent the day in Dublin. We booked a tour at the Little Museum of Dublin — which was fantastic — got tickets for Saint Patrick’s Cathedral — incredibly beautiful — checked out Grafton Street and the Temple Bar District, walked through St. Stephen’s Green Park, walked across the Ha’penny Bridge, and just generally took in the culture of the place. It was vibrant and alive and fun and festive.

We stopped in at Rolling Donut before our Little Museum tour, and it was so good! They even had vegan options for Emilia!

This tour was so good! They really catered to the kids — although it was amazingly fun for adults, as well — and was less than an hour, which was a really good amount of time for us.

St Stephen’s Green Park was so pretty. Tons of greenery. Lots of fountains and lakes and ducks. It was quite lovely.

We have thoroughly worn these girls OUT.

The self-guided tour at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral was really interesting, and the church was beautiful.

We walked past the Dublin Castle on our way to dinner, which has a beautiful garden, too.

Boeuf and Frites was a delightful steak house in the Temple Bar neighborhood, although there were ZERO options for pescatarians. Hah! I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for non-steak lovers.

The Ha’penny Bridge was fun to walk across.

And back home to a nightcap. It was a great day.

On Friday we checked out the sweet little town of Enniskerry for breakfast before we headed off to Powerscourt Waterfall (Ireland’s tallest waterfall), the Sally Gap drive (including the P.S. I Love You Bridge) and Brittas Bay Beach. We ended the night with dinner at the very cool Johnnie Fox’s Pub, which is the highest pub in Ireland. It was such a sweet little day.

The girls had a lot of fun exploring in this area for a bit.

The Sally Gap Drive was incredible, and you go past this P.S. I Love You Bridge, which is in a very picturesque area and was used in the filming of the movie.

The water was freezing, but fun to dip our toes in 😉

Then it was off to the beach! We had such beautiful weather while we were here, so of course the beach was packed. So much fun, though!

Soft-serve with sprinkles on the beach. Summer made.

Johnnie Fox’s had the most fun atmosphere. There was live music, tons of people, the funkiest decor and really good food.

Did not regret this pasta with salmon and shrimp at all <3

And that, my friends, is that. Our trip. Done and dusted. Four weeks. Ten countries. ALL THE FOOD AND DRINK. So many memories. It was honestly the best time. And the fact that we had the grandparents with us just pushed it over the edge to amazing.

And now, excuse me while I sleep for the rest of the summer.

Until next time … bis bald, friends!