Cousins in Ireland!!! - The Kings' Visit - Part 2

On Monday, the Kings wanted a day to rest after traveling over the weekend.  So Brent stayed home with the little boys and Rachel and I headed to the grocery store after taking Jack and Kate to school.  

On Tuesday, I arranged for our sitter to pick up Jack & Kate from school and Luke and I headed to Glendalough with the Kings.  They can add this National Park picture to all of their others!

We did a 1 mile loop trail and saw Poulanass waterfall along the way.

They could have spent all day throwing rocks into the river.  But a storm was moving in so we headed back to the car.

After the storm passed, we walked around the monastic site.

On the way back home, we took a different road through the mountains and came across this pretty waterfall.

We saw lots of Irish/Sitka deer.  

Tuesday evening, our sitter watched all 6 of the kids and we headed into Dublin for dinner in the Temple Bar area.

On Wednesday morning, Brent and Rachel left their boys with me and they headed out on a day trip.  They went down to Waterford and toured the crystal factory.

Then they drove up to Kilkenney.

The boys and I ran a few errands that morning.  I had planned to take them to the park after we ate at McDonald's, but it was raining.  Grant, however, told me that getting to go to McDonald's was better anyways.  He also told me that he wanted to live in Ireland because when it rains at his house he got to watch movies.  I think it was his way of letting me know he wanted to watch a movie when we got home!  Ha!

Seriously, how have I not gained a hundred pounds??!!!

Thursday morning was a rainy and cold day, the King boys were prepared!

Can you guess whose house we found??!!

After scoping out Bono's house, we headed down to the beach nearby.  It was freezing cold and windy!  

For some reason Luke was terrified anytime I went near the water.  

Although the weather was yuck, the boys did manage to find some special treasures to take home.

After lunch, I headed back to Rathcoffey to get Kate and then Jack from school.  The Kings headed up to Trim to explore the castle.

Friday morning, Jack & Kate played hookie from school and we went north of Dublin to Malahide.  One more stop at the ocean was requested.

Grant's "wellies" came into good use.....and then got filled with water!

at Malahide Castle - I chose this picture because of Luke.........

Colter's favorite color is orange, so of course I got a picture of him in the orange room!

the children's bedroom

After the castle we toured the gardens

When we were finished at the castle, we drove down to Howth for a late lunch.  Brent finally got his fish and chips meal at "The Bloody Stream" restaurant. (The name has to do with a battle that took place there hundreds of years ago...)

We watched about half a dozen seals in the harbor.

After lunch we headed back to our house.  We ordered pizza that night for dinner and Jimmy and Brent went pub hopping in Maynooth.

At the airport on Saturday morning - the week flew by all too quickly.  We are so grateful that they made the trip to come see us out here!  We had so much fun and we miss them so much already!

Cousins in Ireland!!! - The Kings' Visit - Part 1

Uncle Brent, Aunt Rachel, Grant, Hayden & Colter were the first cousins to come to Ireland to visit us.  And boy did we have fun!!!  Rachel brought a few more missed USA products for me and Jimmy and a treat for each of the kids.  The cousins played non-stop no matter if we were out sightseeing or if we were at home.  The adults enjoyed quite a few evenings laughing and Jimmy & Brent enjoyed an evening exploring the pubs in Maynooth.  Unfortunately the week ended all too quickly........

Can you tell how excited our kids are that some of their cousins are in Ireland?!!  And of course, we headed north for a weekend trip as soon as they landed!  They wanted to go to Belfast and up to County Antrim coast.

  This is Falls Road in Belfast, the dividing line between pro-Ireland and pro-England neighborhoods.

The Titanic was built in Belfast.  We toured the Titanic museum that afternoon.

Inside the museum was a "ride" that took us through the steps of building the Titanic.

If you were in 1st Class, this is what your room would have looked like.

We ate dinner that evening at "The Goat's Toe" in Bangor (east/southeast of Belfast).  Jimmy got a kick out of this sign near the bar.

This is the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at in Bangor.

The Dark Hedges

The Kings wanted to go to Carrick-a-Rede Bridge.  Since it hadn't been that long since we had been there, we played among the rocks at a nearby abandoned quarry.  

This is our view of Carrick-a-Rede Bridge.  You can see the bridge where the cliffs make a "V".

some of my mountain goats!

Mama and Jack looking for the perfect rock

Hayden and Grant on their way to the rope bridge

crossing the bridge!

Do you see the Boswells?

After the rope bridge, we headed down the road about 10 minutes to Bushmills.  While Jimmy, Brent & Rachel took the tour (children under 8 are not allowed on the tour), I took the kids inside to the cafe and we ate lunch.  After Bushmills, we drove up the road to Giant's Causeway.

Hiking down to the Giant's Causeway

  Here are 2 of the 6 mountain goats we had with us that day!

Kate took it upon herself to help the twins on "the causeway".  Here she is showing Hayden where to step.....

The Kings really enjoyed Giant's Causeway!

hanging out on the Giant's Boot

We decided to take a hike.  The trail led us just around that bend to a natural amphitheater.

Can you see the trail along the side of the bluff?  As it goes up the bluff, those are stairs we climbed.  Then we walked along the top of Giant's Causeway.  Although it was windy and that made it chilly, it was a gorgeous day!  When finished up at the Giant's Causeway in the late afternoon/early evening.  So we headed towards Rathcoffey only stopping at McDonald's in Belfast for a quick bite of supper.