Family in Ireland is always a good thing!

Jimmy's brother Justin, his wife Christin and their (almost 3 year old) daughter Jordynn came to visit us the first half of December.  We hadn't seen them since last October so we were really excited about their visit!  We had a lot of fun catching up with them, listening to the kids play with each other and showing them some of our favorite places in Ireland!  

Thursday morning - they're here!

On Friday Luke and I took Justin, Christin and Jordynn around the area where we live.  For lunch we took them to a favorite of Luke's, The Orchard.  Along with a cafe, they have a garden center, furniture store, pet store and they keep these donkeys and goats there too!

Friday night we left the kids with a babysitter and we went into Dublin for dinner and a pub crawl!

Saturday we spent the day in Dublin.  Our first stop was lunch at The Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Dublin.

We then headed over to St. Patrick's Cathedral.

We took a stroll (with half of Dublin!) down Grafton Street.  

Saturday evening we went to an expat's house for an ugly Christmas sweater party.  Jimmy won first place!  (Helps to wear a ladies sweater!)

Sunday was my birthday and I got to choose where we got to spend the day.  The weather was too yucky up at Giant's Causeway so we headed to the southeastern coast to Ballinesker Beach.  Kate wrote "Happy Birthday Mom" in the sand for me.

I got to walk up and down the beach and look for seashells for as long as I wanted to.  Jimmy took this picture from the top of a sand dune.  

only a fraction of my find  :)

Monday morning Luke and I took Justin, Christin and Jordynn on a tour of the Boyne Valley.  Our first stop was Newgrange, Ireland's best known passage tomb that dates back to 3200 B.C. (it's older than Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids!)

We then went to the nearby Hill of Slane.  It is believed St. Patrick lit the first paschal fire in defiance of the High King in 433.  

The standing remains on the site are of the Franciscan Friary and College founded in 1512.

These two monkeys had fun exploring!  After the Hill of Slane we went to the Hill of Tara and Trim Castle.  I didn't get any pictures at Tara as I stayed in the car with sleeping children and it was dark by the time we got to Trim.  :)

That evening I started cleaning out the seashells we collected on Sunday.  We brought home a few little critters.......

Tuesday Justin and Christin spent the day in Dublin and Jordynn stayed with me so she could play with her cousins as soon they each came home from school.

On Wednesday afternoon, as soon as the kids got out of school, we headed off to see Santa!  But first we stopped for dinner and to mark another county off the list!

We went to see Santa at a place called Causey Farms.  The first thing we did there was go to "Bethlehem".  Mary and Joseph were inside a barn with live animals.  The kids loved seeing a newborn lamb.  

On our way to another barn we got to see a camel.  The camel is housed at the farm for the winter from a local circus.

In the next barn the kids learned of a few old Christmas traditions.  Here they each got to take a turn stirring the Christmas pudding while making a wish.

Next the kids stopped in the "post office" to help put children's letters into a naughty or nice pile.

They went to see Mrs. Claus and help her pack Santa personal bag for the big night.

After helping Mrs. Claus, we got to spend some time playing in the elves' toy shop!

finding our names on Santa's good list

We then went into Santa's sitting room where we waited for Santa.  He came down the chimney telling us he was practicing for the big night.

visiting with Santa

Santa had a present for each of the kids. 

The kids loved their experience at Causey Farms!

Last stop was to see some of Santa's reindeer.

Thursday morning Luke and I took Justin, Christin and Jordynn to Malahide Castle.

That evening Jimmy had his work group's Christmas party in Dublin and Justin joined him later for the "after party".

Friday morning Christin and I did some souvenir shopping she wanted to do while Jimmy and Justin stayed at home with Jordynn.  That afternoon we all headed up to the school to watch Kate in her class's Christmas play.  After that we headed north to stay the night up in Co. Antrim.

It was pretty cold on that Saturday, but the weather was tolerable.  So our first stop was at the Dark Hedges.

Dunsevervick Castle - an important site from the High Kings of ancient Ireland to St. Patrick until its demise from Cromwellian troops in the 1650s.

Giant's Causeway!

There was a storm moving across to the north of us.  It created some spectacular rough crashing waves!

"Mom, I really AM a bighorn sheep!!!!"

I could have stayed there until it was dark watching those waves crashing!  

You can't go to Giant's Causeway without taking your picture on the Giant's boot!

Jordynn couldn't stay awake any longer!  After we left Giant's Causeway we went to Bushmills Distillery.  We sent Justin & Christin inside to do the tour and we stayed in the car with a sleeping Jordynn!  She never knew they were gone :)

After Bushmills we drove over to Dunluce Castle.  The sun was going down by then and so it was getting colder outside.  Jordynn was still sleeping so I stayed in the car with the kids and Jimmy, Justin & Christin went and had a look around.

Sunday we stayed at home to visit and let the kids play.  That evening they exchanged Christmas presents!

Monday morning came all too quickly!  It's never fun putting family back on an airplane, but we're so glad they came and really enjoyed their visit!

Grandma & Grandpa Come Back to Ireland!

I am a bit behind with our blogs.  So bear with me!  :)

My parents came back to Ireland to see us the last week of October.  They had plans to go on to France after visiting with us, but that was when Ebola started showing up in the USA so they decided just to come to Ireland and then back home.  The kids were out of school that last week which was really nice!

We really enjoyed them being here again.  And it was another week that flew by all too quickly.  We didn't have the best of weather while they were here, but you know us, off we went anyway!  Here are some of the pictures we took while they were here.  Enjoy!

Mom and Dad arrived just as we were leaving for school.  Because the kids were not going to be in school on Halloween, they were allowed to wear their Halloween costumes to school that Friday.

Grandpa got to take Luke to his classroom too!

We spent Saturday in Dublin.  Mom and Dad didn't go into Dublin last time they were here.  Stag's Head is a pub near this spot (and one that Jimmy and Sarah really enjoy!).  No, Luke has never been but he loves this "sign"!

  Our first stop was at Christ Church Cathedral.

Mom loved the patterns and designs on the floor inside the cathedral.

The one, presumably chasing the other, became trapped in an organ pipe in the 1850s and were mummified. They are referred to in James Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake” where someone is described as being “…As stuck as that cat to that mouse in that tube of that Christchurch organ…”

After we toured Christ Church we walked across the street to Dublinia.  Dublinia is a heritage center that focuses on the Vikings that settled in present day Dublin and medival life in Dublin.

Jack the Viking

After Dublinia we walked down to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and the library.  Jack was excited to learn that this library was the Jedi library in the Stars Wars:  Episode II Attack of the Clones movie.

And of course for dinner we had to take Grandpa here!

Because we had plans to go out of town on Halloween, we took the kids to the zoo.  They had advertised Halloween themed events for that Sunday, but we didn't really find any...

However we all still had a good time.

  

After the zoo, we drove down into Dublin because Grandpa wanted to see the U2 recording studio.

And then we drove south to show him Bono's house!

Monday morning we headed down to Glendalough.  Kate read to Grandma on the way down there.

.  Earlier this year Jimmy and I had discovered this bridge and river that you can park along and walk around.  It's beautiful and there were a few other photographers there that day.

Glendalough

After we walked around the monastic site, we headed up to the National Park part of Glendalough.  And of course we had to get a picture by the NP sign!

We saw about half a dozen deer on our walk.

There is an amazing tree in the national park.  Where the kids are sitting it is very smooth from the years and generations of people sitting on it.

A hermit priest named St. Kevin settled in this area in the 6th century.  Here is my dad (also named Kevin) having a little bit of fun!

St. Kevin's cell site

Polanass Waterfall

St. Kevin

Tuesday Jimmy had to go back to work.  Dad stayed home with Jack & Luke.  And Mom and I took the birthday girl shopping!  She turned 6 years old!

Wednesday Dad drove himself down to the Ring of Kerry to climb Ireland's tallest mountain, Mt. Carrauntoohil.  

The weather didn't allow for panoramic views, but he made it to the top nonetheless!

While Dad was hiking, we took Grandma to the ocean!

We passed away the time looking for seashells.  

Thursday we headed down to Kilkenny to tour its castle.

And then we ate lunch at one of the oldest inns in Ireland!

Jimmy took off work on Friday and we headed towards western Ireland.  Mom and Dad were up for going somewhere we hadn't been yet!  Our first stop was at Killaspug Point just outside of Sligo.

The beach was covered in rocks and the kids were in heaven!

We found lots of rocks with little fossils in them.

My pretty Mama!

As we were heading back to the car, Jimmy and the kids spotted dolphins not too far out.  That was a fun surprise!

Jimmy was able to mark another county off the list at lunch!

We then headed up to Rosses Point.  

We didn't get to stay long because rain was moving in.

After we left Rosses Point, we followed some road signs to Glencar Waterfall.  It was raining, but luckily we came prepared!

After the waterfall we headed down towards Westport in Co. Mayo,  The sunset along the ocean was unbelievably beautiful!

And Jimmy knocked another county off his list at dinner!  I love this photobomb by Jack!

Saturday morning we headed west of Westport towards Achill Island.

Granuaile's Tower - thought to have been constructed around 1429.

While the weather was not ideal, it sure made for some awesome waves to watch crash up on the rocks!

When we stopped for gas we noticed that this building contained the town's gas station, post office and funeral parlor.  The pub was in the building next to this one and that was pretty much it for this town!  

We hadn't seen sheep with horns like these before!

Sunday was a bit of a lazy day.  Mom and I did a little bit of shopping while the kids hung out with Jimmy and Dad.  That evening Kate and Grandma made strawberry shortcake from a kids' book they had been reading during the week. 

Jack kept Grandpa busy with board games. 

The shortcake was a success!

And of course Monday morning came all too quickly!  The kids weren't too happy about having to say good-bye before heading off to school that morning.  We are so happy that they came back to see visit us.  We try not to think of how long it'll take July to get here before we see them again!