Baggage Gone All 'Mavericky'

We made it! We arrived at Shannon at 5:20 a.m. on a dark, chilly Atlantic morning. Unfortunately, our luggage decided to stay the night in Boston. Our eight suitcases have gone renegade on this trip once already, hijacking Del and Carol's car and forcing them to go to the wrong terminal at MSP on Wednesday afternoon, so it's no surprise that they opted to take in a Bruins game and some beers in Boston. Aer Lingus was wonderful, and will send our bags here to us in Spiddal tomorrow. Sam and Theo don't seem to mind the lack of an underwear change.

We have been greeted by the wonderful Foyle family, who have opened up a cottage at the Park Lodge - home of the CSB/SJU study abroad program in Ireland since 1984. Three of their boys, Michael (13), John (10), and Tomas (8) go to Sam and Theo's respective schools, and came up tonight to spend time with us. Such a great gift to our kids to have some new friends already.

We passed GMIT on our way into the city, and it looks like a vibrant place! Tomorrow we'll venture back into Galway, rent a car, and meet with the kid's schools.