Aye! The Luck of the Irish!

Yes folks, I have a true teenager on my hands...

Ireland's Rugged Beauty

Ireland really is as beautiful and green as you could ever imagine.

We were in awe with its landscape and terrain. We were able to spend the kids' fall break with Barb and Wayne in Southern Ireland just outside of Cork. Grandpa served his mission in Ireland almost 50 years ago and it was such treat to
 visit this beautiful country and see it through his eyes. 

But first we had to get there...

 The kids had a rude awaking when they realized we were flying coach :)

 

Spencer and I searched high and low and found the most amazing home to stay in while we visited Ireland. It was called the Brownes Farmhouse. It is owned by Naoive (pronounce Neive) and Paul, who were the most gracious hostess/host. Extremely hospitable and helpful. Their accents were beautifully Irish and we only had to ask them to repeat what they said a few times! It was located east of Cork about 50 miles just outside of Dungarvan (be sure to draw out the 'arr' when you say it). This home was built in the 1850's and used as a meeting place in the wars, and has been in their family since 1945.  Naoive completely renovated this property and it was SO SO perfect for our family. We loved building fires at night and we each had our own beautiful bed and bathroom to use. I highly recommend this home to anyone who is considering visiting Ireland. Below are a few pictures of the property...

 We could see the sea 
from our bedroom window  

One of the biggest highlights of the trip was sitting around the kitchen table in the morning and listening to Grandpa tell stories about his mission and some of his amazing experiences. The kids listened and laughed as he would tell us many of his adventures. He said he was surprised at how many of his experiences came back to him by being there. 

We ventured into Dungarvan when we arrived, in order to get something to eat and go to the grocery store to get breakfast items.  

"Green and Gold" (LCI Rams)-Spencer's HS colors (I mean colours)

Castle in Dungarvan...but it was closed till spring :(

All of these southern villages are built on the pier. Such a maritime feel, really beautiful.  

The next morning we drove about an hour and a half southwest to a highly recommended town called Kinsale. It was so worth the drive. Charming and quaint. 

We visited Fort Charles first. It is shaped in a star pattern in order to protect its boarders from attackers. It was actually only attacked once in 1650 and thereafter used as a soldier training fort. The kids had a great time exploring the grounds.

A firetruck? "rut-roe"... 

 Then we ventured into the town of Kinsale. 
It was so colorful with narrow streets and lots of little shops and quaint treasures. 

Anne was particularly fond of the chocolate shop Gram-Gram found. 

(We went back twice...)

My Irish "Newsy"

We ran into another ACS family in Kinsale!
Norma (mom), I can't remember her husband's name..whoops, Ava (Ike's class) and Ricky (Anne's class)

The boys chillin' while the girls looked.

The little boys loved making loom-band bracelets at night

Can you say wellies? (rain boots)

Discovering the seashores and the millions of shells.

We took a morning walk from the house down to the ocean. It was SO beautiful.
We started around 7:15 and saw the sunrise. 

Going onto Ardmore Cliff walk 

Starting our bike ride along the coast in Dungarvan

Ty giving Joshy all the "in's and out's" of bike riding!

Ike

Brittany

Grandpa

Ty

Anne

Gram-Gram

The ride was almost 10 miles long. I believe Ty and Joshy went twice as far, their little legs were spinning so fast as they were peddling. Josh was worn slap out!

Our last morning walk to the beach

Irish traffic jam

Drying out our wellies before we left

Discovering Blarney Castle 

and 

Kissing the Blarney Stone

The legend states, "All who kiss the stone will have the gift of eloquence."
So we added our kisses to the millions of others who hoped for the same gift! 

Even Ty's school pet "Barkley" got to kiss the stone!

When we finished, we all looked at each other and said,
"That's a little gross when you think about it...."

Good news though!...Ty is convinced that it worked and he no
longer needs to take speech lessons!

The grounds were stunning though

Gram-Gram and Grandpa danced the Polka to a live band. They were great!

This tree was SO cool. It had one main root, but the one root (on the left of the picture) had come up out of the  ground and started the trunk for the tree standing next to it. It was so interesting.

 Anne did the most perfect handstand - held it for about 10 seconds

Funny Story: I was so excited for all of us to ring the famous Shandon Bells at St. Anne's Church in Cork right before we headed to the airport. So, the church closes at 4:00 and we got a little lost getting there and arrived at 3:50. We all ran up to the door as two ladies were coming out and were closing the door. We looked at them and asked,"May we still ring the bells!?" (note: we were all happy and smiling- quite entergetic). The lady replied, "No. It's closed. We open again tomorrow." Ike then said politely, "But our plane leaves tonight and we won't be coming back, maybe ever." She replied with ZERO Irish charm, "We open tomorrow," and walked away, while we all stood there dumbly not knowing what to do.
Needless to say, here is a picture of the church and we didn't get to ring the bells. sniff sniff

 We decided to head into central Cork and wander the streets. There was a jazz festival going on with lots of street venders and singers from around Ireland. It was pretty cool.

  (Not as cool as ringing the bells would have been though..)

 Yep! And that was our sweet Irish trip! I really hope to go back sometime. 

What a beautiful country.

Sunday dinner!