The "other" Ireland post

Alrighty, we're flying away in 9 hours... leaving Bulgaria for good... It's very difficult to really believe that's happening, as it's been our home for the past three years, and it's been a very good (overall) home. But that's another post entirely.  I figured I should at least get the rest of our Ireland trip up here before the madness that is the "Home Leave Summer" begins.  I really need to get a bunch of little posts up, not because I think y'all need to read all this stuff I have wanting to pop up here, but because I'm trying to keep a good family record on this here blog! And I keep getting behind!! Alright, enough blabbering... On with: The REST of Ireland.

Because we got in late Friday night, we stayed the night in Dublin and then drove to Ballinamuck Saturday morning.  On our way we went to Newgrange.  And look! I'm wearing Maeve! I remembered to bring the mei tai this time, and I'm so glad I did. She fell asleep and was out for a good, long, comfortable time in there.  (I forgot a baby carrier last year, and was really, really, REALLY wishing I had one. So yay!)

There's Newgrange, a neolithic tomb, back behind Z and Bran.

And again. Behind Nuala this time.

And...again.. But closer and with all of us!  Maeve is awake at this point. Then I just got to be fashionably draped in the mei tai.  The opening of the tomb is lined up just perfectly so that at the winter solstice the inside is lit up by the sun.  Very briefly, one day a year.  The guide turned out all the lights inside so we could see how dark it was.  And yeah, you couldn't see a thing.  On the bus afterwards, Bran asked me, "Mommy, did you like it when I tickled you?"  I said, "Ummm... when did you tickle me?"  Apparently, during that moment of pitch-blackness, Bran reached behind himself and tickled me.  By "me" I mean the lady standing next to me, and directly behind him.  When he realized what happened he got very quiet and embarrassed, even though she wasn't around. It was pretty darn cute.

On the bus back from Newgrange.

Then we went to Ballinamuck and saw all the fam, so just imagine the family post riiiight above this picture.  THIS lovely picture, which is of Z standing in front of Bunratty Castle.  The kids liked this place (Bunratty Castle... AND Folk Park) so much they decided to call it "FUNratty Castle."  Me: Did you like going to Bunratty Castle?  Kids: Oh, you mean, FUNratty Castle? hahahah!

It was very fun.

Besides a castle with stairs and towers and cannons and big rooms, there was, like I mentioned, a Folk Park.  Lots of little cottages showing us how fishermen, or farmers, etc. lived.  Complete with little piles of smoldering turf.  It was really cool! Also, lots of animals, and also a cottage where some ladies were making breads and cakes and scones right in front of us! And then they sold it all at the tea house. And a church. And stuff like that.

All three of them totally fell down within a span of about 10 minutes.  They're all trying to show us their wounds.  Nuala was the most recently injured here, so even though it looks like she's being dramatic, she's not. Well, she IS, but genuinely dramatic, not re-enacting it.

Bran with a bunch of... brans... Bran means "raven" in Gaelic, so anytime we see big black birds, we say, "Oh, look at those brans!" Anyway. There were a ton here, outside the little tea house, and they kept hopping over, trying to get handouts. There was a gigantic one, but he wouldn't get close enough for a picture.  Clearly he was intimidated by the even gigantic-er Bran...

Irish Wolfhounds! I love these dogs! So did the kids. And Z. And they're really big. Which is obvious.

Maeve watching some piggies.

The kids feeding Irish Deer.

And, playing on the big wooden play castle.

That evening, we went to a medieval banquet inside the castle.  Here's the butler! He was pretty hilarious.

Enjoying mead or juice (we had the juice, just in case you're wondering) while listening to harp music before the meal.

Waiting for our grub!

It was one of those things where everyone is dressed up as people from those olden days, and there was music and singing, and you only got a dagger, aka, steak knife, to eat with.

The parsnip soup was DEEEElicous. We loved it. Except for Nuala, which was awesome because I got to finish hers. Haha, Bran and Nuala were worried because the butler, while telling us where the emergency exits were, said something along the lines of, " in case our enemies, the so-and-so's, attack us, please go this way...etc." So all evening they would ask, "are we really going to be attacked?" Ahhh, to be five again... Oh! Bran said the funniest thing about the food. But I'm trying to make this quick, so that'll be in a later "Quotes" post. I know. I'm such a tease.

Just on the road. They're cute.

We kept going south, along the Ring of Kerry.  It sure is a pretty drive!

We stopped to walk to some cliffs.  We passed these cute fellas. I absolutely plan on owning a donkey or two sometime in my life.

Replicas of little beehive huts that some monks lived in.

Annnnd, the pretty cliffs we were walking to!  Quite lovely, indeed.

Ooooh.... Ahhhhh....

We stayed in a hostel that night in a little town called Port Magee.  We had originally planned to go to Skellig Michael, an island off the coast there where some monks had built, quite painstakingly, a monastery. It really looks like it would be amazing. After a little more in-depth research, we decided the odds of us coming back from Skellig Michael as a family of five we slightly lower than we were comfortable with, and we'll postpone that trip until our little kids are no longer little. And maybe they'll put in a railing or something...

So, we went to a neat little museum about Skellig Michael, and drove around, and walked around (this was the wettest, chilliest, rainiest day.). We had wanted to at least take a little boat ride, hopefully go see a little dolphin Tanya had told us about, but no one was going out on the water in that weather. Oh well! We still had fun.

We found an awesome little castle: Ballycarberry Castle. Just the type we like. Abandoned, where you can run all around it and explore.

It was the perfect ending to the day! Well, except then we went to a little pub and had dinner, which wasn't very tasty, but the owner was friendly (of course. We were in Ireland!). Bran broke his glass that was FULL of orange soda, so that was especially awesome. The owner was quite nice about it, but you can believe he got a very good tip.

The next day we left, and it was beautiful and sunny! Look at that non-Irishy Irish weather!

We stopped at the Rock of Cashel, and did some more romping.  We were HOT! Hot, I say!

Maeve made a little friend, Adan.  They were super cute.  I'm peeking out trying to get Z's attention so he'll stop taking pics of the walls and get a picture of this adorableness. He got the message.

Oooh, I forgot about this shot! (I loaded up the photos about a week or so ago) I think it's pretty cool! Could be better... sharper... not so washed out in the background... whatever, it's still nifty. Maybe I'll play around with it more somtime. Hmmm... 

Look how huge that collapsed Celtic cross is! I remember standing by it 5 years ago, when Nuala and Bran were babies, and trying to discreetly nurse Bran behind its large stump. The rascal was quite fussy.

There was much hill rolling.  Only by the kids, because really, any adults out there that don't get physically sick even THINKING about rolling down a hill? I mean, I used to love it. Now, not so much.

Look at the view from the top of the hill! Beautiful.

We went to a cave the next day.  We stayed in Kilkenny, and the cave was called... shoot... aha! A quick google search for "cave near Kilkenny" tells me it was Dunmore cave.  It was.. a cave. I don't know. Caves aren't all that different or SUPER super interesting. This was neat, because people used to hide in here. About 40 bodies were excavated. All women and children. They were victims of a Viking raid. Apparently they were hiding in the cave when the Vikings came, and the Vikings tried to smoke them out so they could capture them and sell them as slaves. Unfortunately, the Vikings were not too up on what happens when you light a fire in an enclosed space. It sucked up all the oxygen in the cave, PLUS filled the place with smoke, and everyone died. Just a few years ago, one of the cave guides found a Viking treasure buried in there. Oh! And the IRA used to hide their guns inside. So, it has interesting stories, and that was neat. This pillar is very Irish. It's supposed to look like a hand holding a glass of Guinness. See?

Then we went to Tara Hill. Or, as Z liked to call it the whole time, "Auntie Tookies Hill." The kids, at this cute and gullible stage, asked, "Is that Uncle Marcus's church?" about the church there. Here's The Lia Fáil (Stone of Destiny).  When the rightful king touched it, it was supposed to scream or wail or make a very loud noise of some sort.  Unfortunately, no high kings of Ireland in our little fam. Maybe they have to mature a little.

Nuala thought it was hilarious to skewer this chunk of cow patty and poke it towards people.  Hilarious, indeed.

Handsome little Muffin Man.

I took this picture. Hard to tell, I know.

We got 99p cones there! WITH the Flake bar. They were big and yummy, and made me feel like a kid back in Ireland again. Until they started melting all over the children (especially Maeve) and I had to be a responsible adult and try to clean her up with the skimpy napkin AND eat her ice cream AND mine so they wouldn't drip... Sigh... it got stressful.

Oh yeah! We got stuck in Paris on our way back.  We had to stay the night. The airline put us up in an airport hotel, and we took the afternoon to go into the city.  It was really, really, really hot there. Oh, it was lovely and hot in Ireland those last couple of days! It was amazing! But it felt even hotter in Paris.  Nuala rolled up her black yoga pants like so... put my headband on like so... kept posing like so... doesn't she look like, as she herself said, "an exerciser!"  From the 80s.

Ahh, look. We made it to the Eiffel Tower. I, too, rolled my pants up and my socks down. The height of fashion. Or at least comfort. Which is infinitely more important.

Only Bran had any desire to climb it.  Z and I have been up it, so I graciously allowed Zac to go again.  They went just halfway, and the girls and I got to see them going up.  Man, Bran was bounding up those steps! It was amazing.  Z wasn't really bounding, but he did decently... ;)  Then Bran got bored and wanted to come down.

The girls and I were sitting here, in this lovely grassy area.  See that bit of the Tower? That's where we saw Bran and Zachariah.  Also, Bran saw us (we were closer to the edge of the grassy area then, watching for them) and totally started yelling, "Mom! Nuuuuuaaala! Maeve!" Everyone could hear him.  All the heads around us turned in sync to the tower. And of course we yelled "Hi, Bran!" back to him. But only once or twice. Darn loud Americans.

Waiting for the metro.  We made it home the next day. Yay! So, there was our last trip to Ireland from Bulgaria.  We'll be back.  And NOW, I think I'll go to bed, since we have to be up in... five hours to catch our flight. Woohoo...