Irish Rovers: Part III

Tuesday, May 29: Headed south to County Clare. We stopped at Athenry and went to Athenry Castle. We loved it! It was just a dinky little "Tower House," as they were called, hardly a castle at all, but another of the not-so-super-touristy stops. We walked around the town a bit and had the signature Irish ice cream cone, a vanilla soft-serve with a Flake bar stuck in it, yum! Then we left. We got to Shannon and went straight to Bunratty Castle. Very touristy, and probably very cool, but we didn't actually go see it. We did go to the gift shop. Then we went looking for the B&B we had reservations at. When we got there, the proprietor's son told us it was closed as his mother had been in the hospital and was still very ill. Hopefully she'll be alright, and that was a fine reason to close the B&B, but it meant we had to go find another place. Sigh. After a couple of stops at full B&Bs, we had almost resigned ourselves to staying at the Shannon Bunratty Shamrock Hotel. Yes, that is its real name. I think they left out a few words, "Leprechaun" should probably be in there somewhere, as should "Guinness." But anyway, we found a B&B and guess what the hostess' name was??? Betty! Can you believe it?! Not Ann! We ate at a pub that night, then turned in since it was off to the airport the next morning.

Wednesday, May 30: Betty had asked us to come down for breakfast at 7:30, as she had a full house and really started breakfast at 8 and didn't want to be overwhelmed. The other guests had it in for her, though, as two other couples decided to slip down early and showed up right after us. Betty was a little stressed, but she pulled it off beautifully! This was the only day it rained. Every other day was nice and sunny (occasionally we had a brief shower, or that crazy hailstorm). Good thing we brought two huge umbrellas and no sunglasses...We turned in our rental car, got everyone and everything to the airport and made it onto the plane. Flying back to the States was a bit crazier, as it was daytime and the babies did not zonk out as we would've liked. Probably as the whole flight would've liked. Overall, they did well, though. Zachariah had to change 4 poopy diapers and one poopy outfit on the 6 hour flight, what a trooper! He rebelled at the last one and tried to get me to do it, but I quickly determined that Nuala was hungry and avoided the task. Phew! The food was great again, it seemed like we ate every hour or two, kinda makes up for the chintziness of domestic flights. We got to NY and decided we are not impressed with TSA and their security measures, but survived and finally were on the last leg to DC.

Whew! Home! Our neighbor Laura picked us up in our minivan, it was great to get inside and start getting our exhausted babies ready for bed. They've transistioned back to their normal schedule pretty well. They did so amazing on our trip! We were a bit apprehensive, but really couldn't have been more pleased with how well they adjusted. They were such a hit everywhere, and soooo good. We do think a week is about their limit for travelling about so much, but organization really is key to travelling with little ones...and awesome, light baby tents...and gallon-size ziploc bags...We loved visiting the family, it was so good to see everyone and they're so generous and welcoming to us! We can't wait to go back for longer! (And, nobody in Ireland asked twice about Nuala's name :)

Bran trying on hats, and Nuala trying out her driving skills...