Good thing he wouldn't take them off...

I'm sure you've all seen and/or heard on the news about the flooding in Ireland. It's fairly horrendous and widespread, especially in the west and midlands (Shannon River region). We've been watching the water come up and up and up, but thankfully it has not come into the house and it seems as though it has levelled off. It hasn't started to go down yet, but at least it's not still coming up! This November was the wettest on record. Winter rain here is usually a fairly constant but soft-falling variety, but this month we got days of heavy downpour and there was just nowhere for it to go. Anyway, with all that rain, we were resolved to try again to get Eamonn into a pair of wellies (rubber boots). Our first attempt did not go well, he wouldn't even put his foot all the way into them to try them on. This time, I found a pair that were one size too big but I thought hey - he'll grow into them. They have Thomas the Tank Engine on them. I guess that was the kicker, because when he saw them he grabbed them, sat down and tried to shove them onto his feet. James helped him to get them on and all day long they did not come off:



Life got even better for Eamonn when he realized that he could walk in the puddles and even splash around in them without getting pulled out. And yes, I know the hat his aunt Cheryl gave him is now to small for him, but he loves it and sometimes absolutely insists on wearing it. Like now:




Seriously, I thought come bedtime there was going to be a major battle to get them off to go to sleep. But no, he took them off himself and put them at the end of his bed. First thing in the morning I hear this tap tap tap coming my way, and there is Eamonn in the door to the bedroom wearing his pajamas and his wellies! I had to stifle a laugh so that I didn't wake up Tomas!
Turns out to be a good thing that he loves those wellies so much with all the rain. The water has come up way too high for him to walk through, but James blew up the inflatable kayak so we can cart the boys over to the vehicles (on higher ground) or bring groceries and such back to the house.




It looks as though Eamonn does not want the water to go down any time soon!

Here's a few photos of the lake we now call front yard:





A beautiful rainbow that came out yesterday:



Eamonn, sippin' on some juice and chillin' in the window, wearing his mommy's old snowboarding hat, looking out at all the water:





Kai came for a walk with us one day. Unfortunately, the water is now too deep for her to come along:


Me looking down at my own wellies, which by the way are child size. The adult ones are all too big for me!


But in the end it all comes down to this - we may be inconvenienced by not being able to drive to and from the house, but we are safe and dry and we have a place to go if it all goes pear-shaped and the water keeps coming. And hey - we don't have to pay rent next month :)