Grandma & Grandpa's Visit - 3

We had decided before Mom and Dad came to visit that the kids would be "sick" on the Monday of their visit so we could go on a 3 day "holiday".  We stayed in Cork on Sunday night and on Monday morning we went to Blarney which is just on the NW side of Cork.  The sun was out that morning but it was cold!  

the Blarney Castle - this particular keep dates from 1446

Before the castle was built, a hunting lodge stood on the grounds.  That is the only remaining watch tower from that time.  

Ok, so Mom and I had a little too much fun, but....we convinced Kate that those were dragon eyes and some of the new shoots that were poking through the dirt a few feet behind the eyes were the spikes on its tail.  Later on we saw some leftover morning fog coming off of some rocks near a hole and told her that the dragon must be waking up!  Ha! 

inside the castle

Jimmy kissing the famous Blarney Stone; it's suppose to give you the gift of eloquence.  We were allowed to take pictures of someone kissing the stone, however we had to stand on this side of them.  Their camera was on the side where you could see the stone but you had to pay for that photo.

Grandpa's turn!

then Grandma's turn!

I tried, but I didn't scoot close enough to the edge before I bent backwards to kiss it and I freaked out!  It gave Jimmy a good laugh!  I had kissed the stone 10 years ago when Jimmy and I had visited Blarney Castle and it didn't help me with the gift of eloquence then so I don't think it would of helped me this time either!

The kids were too small to kiss the stone, but the guys up there offered to let them sit in front of it and us take their picture.  If you look at the bottom of the rock wall and see the large smooth dark rock, that's the Blarney Stone.

outside of Blarney Castle - Hi Grammy!

On the grounds of Blarney Castle there is a Rock Close.  This was a cool area full of neat rock formations and a Druid sacrificial alter and circle.  Here Dad is walking up the wishing steps.  It says that if you go up the stairs and then back down again while keeping your eyes closed the entire time and thinking nothing except for your wish, it'll come true.  Hmm..we all took a turn so I guess that only time well tell!

And of course since we had so much fun convincing Kate about the dragon, we convinced her that a real witch lived in the Rock Close.  The sign next to this rock said to keep the witch happy one needed to put money on the top of the rock, which the kids gladly did.  As soon as I was able to snap this picture, Jimmy started making witch cackling noises from behind a tree!  It was great!  Yes....this did come back to bite me in the butt at bedtime later that day.......

25 miles east of Cork is the town of Ardmore!

Ardmore is believed to be the oldest Christian settlement in Ireland.  

The weather was finally nice enough for us to enjoy some time at the ocean.  We stopped at a beach just outside of Ardmore.

I love this picture of Kate looking for the perfect shell, and rock, and shell, and rock....

looking for treasures in the rocks with Grandpa

Ardmore in the background

When we were finished at the beach, we headed back north to our house which was a couple of hours away.  We had a great time.  And the best part has been when I tell a local Irish person of where we went and what we saw over that 3 day weekend, the gasp and the mouth drop from the disbelief that we did all of that in that amount of time!  Ha!