Beautiful sunset from the community pool in the new development. The weather has been so unbelievably hot here, and the pool has remained open, so we’ve been going every evening after dinner for an hour or so to swim and cool off.

Our new table has arrived. Or should I say tables? We couldn’t find one big enough for ten, so we bought 2 smaller ones and put them together. The next birthday celebration can be held at home!

An afternoon at the park got rained out when thunderstorms arrived, but we made our own fun.

Getting the school room ready for our new year! This is the before picture…well, to be honest, this is the half-way picture. I didn’t take a photo of the room before we started, but it was wall-to-wall boxes. We went through all the boxes and took out everything from our book list for this year; grades 1, 3, 5, 8, and 11. The rest stayed in boxes and was moved into the garage because we just don’t have any storage space in the house.

This is just part of the 11th grade pile. Maggie will be spending every waking moment with a book in her hand!

Here is the almost-done photo. Just have to hang the maps and put together two more chairs.

First day of school was Monday, August 26. Here in Tennessee, the public schools started around August 15, so we were late compared to them. As I write this blog post, we are almost at the end of our first quarter!

And speaking of starting school, Maggie and I helped Mary get settled in for her Junior year at college. We made the 10 hour drive with Mary, unpacked the car, organized her room, took her grocery shopping (she has an apartment with a kitchen this year!), went to Mass together, and flew home the next morning. Mary gets to keep a car on campus this year. Being a junior has its advantages. The photo on the left is Nora giving Mary one last sleepy hug at 5 am before we left.

In other news, we have taken up archery! We always wanted to do it, but could never find a place in NJ that offered it. Tennessee has a very active 4-H, and they have an archery club. I went for a weekend 4-H workshop and became a certified archery instructor, and Maggie, Colleen, Kelly and I practice on Saturday mornings in a local park.

Because of Bobby’s love of American Ninja Warrior on tv, we braved the ridiculous heat and humidity to attend a Junior Ninja Warrior day in Collegedale. It was sponsored by a local martial arts school, and they did a great job! They set up a long obstacle course that included balance beam, ropes, hula hoops, tires, a haystack to climb, and a bouncy house at the end. The kids could go through as many times as they wanted! Bobby, Kelly, and Nora had a blast, while mom tried to find some shade and took pictures.

Once school started, we were looking for activities to take the place of gym class on a weekly basis. We found Defy Trampoline Park, which has a homeschoolers discount membership. So much fun, and we can go as often as we want, any day or time that works for our schedule.

I tried to get them all in one picture, but who wants to stand still when you could be bouncing? Time for action shots!

Another milestone reached…Bobby’s first meal that he cooked by himself! He was so proud, and he even shared some with his sister. Not exactly gourmet food, but every good chef has to start somewhere.

Another birthday! This time it was Maggie’s turn. She wanted spaghetti and meatballs, and guess what? Ice cream cake! Happy Sweet 16, Maggie!

That brings us almost up to date, so you are all filled-in with the Brogan news. I’ve got one more post with pictures from our vacation last week and then that will be it for a while as we buckle down and concentrate on school. We are hoping to be in NJ for several weeks at Christmas and we don’t want to have to bring any school books with us, so that means we have to do extra work all through October and November to stay on track. UGH! But, it will be worth it to have a nice, relaxing Christmas break.

Love you and miss you all!

The first night in TN! We got everything out of the cars and truck and then headed to the pool at the apartment complex where Bob was renting while we were away. Pizza for dinner by the pool, then back to the rental house for a good night’s sleep!

Check out the train car behind the pool! It is a real, decommissioned train car. There are trains and all things train-related all over Chattanooga. This one they have set up with tables and fans inside, it’s very cute!

This one is a little blurry, but it is a moving shot of Bob’s office building, called Liberty Tower. It’s an easy 15 minute commute from the rental house.

First trip to TN Aquarium. Admittedly, we have been spoiled by our previous adventures to Baltimore and Camden Aquariums, but this one was pretty good. Here are the kids inside a giant sea anemone.

On the top floor of the Aquarium was a butterfly house, which was amazing!

After settling in for about 2 weeks, our sweet Mary celebrated her 20th birthday! We had not yet gotten our kitchen table and chairs delivered, so we went to the common room in Bob’s apartment building.

Residents are allowed to use the kitchen facilities there, and they have a great table big enough for all of us. She requested grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, and butternut squash for dinner.

And ice cream cake, of course! Some things never change, no matter where you are living 🙂 I think Mary has asked for ice cream cake every year since she could talk, except for when she was 4 and asked for a Barbie cake.

Happy Birthday, Mary Catherine!

Sorry for the delay in posting, but we’ve been busy!

We arrived in NJ on Sunday, July 1 around midnight. The next 7 days were a blur of activity, seeing friends and relatives before leaving for our big move to Tennessee. We had so much fun!

Tuesday dinner at the Thai restaurant with Aunt Carrie, Uncle Joe, and cousin George.

Relaxing on the love seat at Mema’s house. The jet lag is real!

Daddy’s girl! We really enjoyed sitting on the porch in the shade, with the ocean breeze and salty air.

Fourth of July trip to the boardwalk and playground at the beach.

Friday morning we went to First Friday Mass at St. Martha’s and then headed to the park with friends. Once again, we were so busy having fun that I forgot to take pictures until almost everyone had left. Luckily we got some good pictures with Katie.

How many hugs can you squeeze into one morning at the park? A lot! They have to hold us over until Christmas!

Friday afternoon and evening Aunt Barbara, Debbie and George came to visit. We had such a nice time together, and a yummy dinner from Federico’s! Mary went in to pick it up and got to see the friends she used to work with.

Saturday morning trip to see the world’s best chiropractor, Dr. Shari! We missed her and boy, did we need our adjustments!

Right after the chiropractor we headed to the park by Belmar Marina to see Thomas and Robert. It was hot, sweaty fun. We will miss them bunches!

Then we headed to the train station to pick up Aunt Jacquie and Marc. We spent the day and evening with them and Uncle Tom and Tanya. Lots of laughs and good food!

On Sunday morning, we were up bright and early. We packed the car, ate breakfast, showered, stripped all the beds and did some laundry, gave Mema lots of goodbye hugs, and left at 9:45 to pick up our packed U-Haul truck.

Thanks for a great week, Mema! Love you so much and we will miss you like crazy!

We got to go to Mass at St. Martha’s one more time, and even got to bring up the gifts. Thanks to our friend, Kim, for this great picture 🙂

Saying goodbye to all of our church friends was so very hard!

Our “last meal” was at our favorite pizza place, Pat’s. We dreamed about their pizza in Ireland (where they put cheddar on pizza…yuck!). It tasted as good as we remembered!

There’s always time for one more picture. Thanks, Aunt Carrie, for coming to Mass and lunch with us. Love you so much!

We headed right from Pat’s to the highway, in a caravan of two cars and one medium sized U-Haul. Bob was driving the rental truck, Thomas, Mary and Sean took turns driving the minivan, and I was at the back with the rest of the kids in my truck. This is a shot of us officially leaving NJ over the Delaware Memorial Bridge.

We hit tons of traffic and didn’t get to our Virginia hotel until almost midnight! We were tired and cranky, but everyone fell right to sleep. We arrived at the rental house outside Chattanooga at about 3 pm the following day.

Bob visited this one on his own, just before dark on the last night. It was ruins of an old stone fort.

Monument to the Spanish Armada ships that were shipwrecked off the rocky coast of Kerry in 1588.

This seagull visited every morning while I had my coffee. If I sat outside on the patio, it would sit right on the table near me. It liked to bang on the glass door with its beak to get my attention.

I think perhaps this dove was looking for a place to nest. This was right outside our bedroom window on the second floor, and it sat there for the longest time, cooing.

Dinner on the last night of the trip. Fish and chips one last time!

Everyone was tired and a little giddy, lots of silly faces and laughter. We enjoyed the food and one last night of live music.

Returning the VW Caddy to the airport rental lot at Kerry Airport at 7 am on Sunday. Thank you for bringing us everywhere safely for these last 6 months!

Waiting for the airport staff to arrive and begin checking us in. Our flight was 9 am and we did not begin the check-in process until after 8 am. In fact, the airport doors were locked until almost 7:45! This airport was so tiny that we parked the car, checked in, went through security, waited by the gate, and walked onto the tarmac to board the plane all in the space of about 700 feet.

You know it is the beginning of the trip because they are all still smiling.

We flew from Kerry to Dublin, then Dublin to Stewart, then drove from Stewart (upstate NY) to Avon. The whole trip took almost 24 hours due to delays. Needless to say, we slept very soundly that night in Avon!

We are all so thankful for these past 6 months, for all the people we met and places we got to see, for all the history we learned in an up-close and personal way, for getting to experience life in a different country, for the beauty of God’s creation in Ireland and its amazing landscape, for cows, sheep, dogs, flowers, and all the other things that brought us joy. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience and we made some amazing memories! Thank you all for following the blog!

Some family and friends have asked us to continue the blog so that they can follow us on our new adventure in Tennessee. I think we will do that, but there won’t be as much to blog about since we’ll be busy unpacking and getting ready for the next school year. Stay tuned for one more post about our week in NJ, and then it will probably be a few weeks until we post again. Thanks again for following the blog!

Another amazing sunset off Slea Head. Bob definitely brought the good weather with him! I told him to pack a sweater and jeans, which we were all wearing the week before, but most of the last week we needed sunscreen and shorts. Everyone said it was a “heat wave” LOL! As if! When I googled the weather today, the temperature in Dingle is back down to 65.

Dunmore Head, which we could see from the house. What an amazing view!

A return trip to our favorite beach, right down the road from Didean, the first house we stayed in. We looked for the black dog, and found her sitting in the yard but she wouldn’t come to us. She was sleeping in the shade of a big tree and only opened one eye when we called her. Maybe we should have brought some bacon with us 🙂

The beach was crowded today; there were about 10 other people!

The girls climbed their favorite rock.

The sneakers came off as soon as we got to the sand!

The tide had taken most of the big rocks out and there was lots of soft sand to walk on.

The water was cold but refreshing.

Such a peaceful spot! Glad we got a chance to visit one last time!

Has anyone seen my beach chair?

This picture is one of my favorites from the whole trip. When we get settled in Tennessee, I think I am going to frame it and hang it in the new house.

When everyone started to get hungry, it was time to head back and pick up the boys to get some dinner. We were happy to be delayed briefly by the cows because it gave us one last chance to see them up close.

The local people who live in this quiet farm/beach neighborhood must be some of the luckiest people in the world! It really was an amazing spot to spend our first 2 months in Ireland, and we were blessed to find it!

The sunsets over Slea Head were beautiful! The farm buildings in this picture were across the road from the house, and one of the farmer’s fields was directly behind the house. When the windows were open, we could hear the sheep and cows.

This one is a little blurry because we enlarged it quite a bit. The house we stayed in is on the far left of the picture. You can see all the sheep on the hill behind the house.

We visited the Blasket Island Center, which was a museum about the history of Great Blasket Island. The next day we took a boat trip across to visit the island. No one has lived there since 1957, but it has been turned into a living history museum.

Nora loved the boat ride!

It was tricky getting out of the boat without getting our shoes wet.

Picnic on the beach; the black spots in the water behind them are seals!

We had a picnic on the beach while watching the seals swim. They were so close!

Some of the original buildings are intact, others are in ruins.

Looking back at Slea Head on the mainland.

Inside one of the small buildings on the island, which housed 10 people. The cottage was built into the side of the hill and had a sloping floor so that water could drain downhill when it rained. Respiratory illness was common due to the dampness and mold in the houses.

The climb back down to the dock. The tour guide said that the residents of the island lost several people (mostly children) to their death by falling from the rocks!

Hard to imagine how difficult life on the island must have been! If it weren’t for some of the last residents writing their memoirs of life here on Great Blasket, the rest of the world would never have learned about it.

Wow, did we all miss Dad! It’s been 2 months since he was here for Easter and it felt like forever. So glad he was able to join us for this last week of the trip!

The first thing the kids voted for was a trip to Murphy’s Ice Cream.

Delicious!

Then a visit to the famous statue of Fungi, the dolphin.

So happy to be all together again!

The marina in Dingle Harbor, noticeably more crowded than it was in February. In the distance on the hill is Eask Tower, which we climbed on our first day in Dingle back in January.

The final week of our trip will be in Dingle, County Kerry, where we began it almost 6 months ago. This time, the home we are renting is at one of the most beautiful spots in Kerry; Slea Head. We arrived from Donegal on Saturday evening around 5:30, after a 7+ hour drive. Bob arrived from Dublin airport just a short while later, and the whole family was together again for the first time since St. Patrick’s Day.

Great Blasket Island is visible from the front of the house.

From the driveway in front of the house.

The kitchen…we are back to an electric hob, but I guess I’ll manage for one more week. The good news is that the master bath does NOT have an electric shower and the hot water works great! No more chilly showers or washing dishes in cold water.

View from one of the bedroom windows.

Relaxing after a long day in the car. Everyone is excited to spend the last few days in Dingle and revisit some of our favorite spots.

For our final day in Donegal we visited Seaview Gardens in Mountcharles. This was one of 16 gardens on the Gardens of Donegal Trail (along with Salthill, which we visited two weeks ago). Each garden on the trail keeps its own hours for visitors, and we got lucky with this one being so close to the house as it was only open for 3 days this season. The owner was taking donations of 5 euro per person to give to a charity that digs wells for clean drinking water in Uganda.

It was a small garden, maybe only 1/3 of an acre, but beautifully maintained and everything was in bloom.

The gardener had chosen such a wide variety of flowers, and the colors were amazing.

The garden sloped down and away from the house, which you can see in the background. The center of the garden was lower than the sides so as to leave an unobstructed view of the water, thus the name; Seaview Gardens.

These were a few of my favorites. It was a perfect day for viewing the garden, and we all were glad the rain stopped and the sun came out for a few hours. After the garden we headed home to pack up and get ready for our drive south tomorrow for our final week in Dingle.

Maggie and Colleen finished school two weeks ago, but we finally got around to sending their books home today!

The tiny post office in Mountcharles

Goodbye, books! We sent the first batch of books back to NJ a few weeks ago, and these are the last of them. We are not sad to see them go.

We visited the Belleek Pottery museum and store today. We didn’t realize it until we got there, but it is actually in Northern Ireland, so now we can say that we visited the UK, too! It’s only a few hundred feet over the border, but it counts.

This amazingly detailed piece was on display right inside the entrance. It won a gold ribbon in an exhibition many years ago and is a prized piece for the museum.

They had a series of cases holding pieces from different time periods. This one is from the 1960’s.

This case showed pieces from the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. All the details of those many flowers were made by hand and then assembled.

Mid to late 1800’s

We visited the shop as well, but talked ourselves out of buying anything out of fear of it breaking on the way home. Everything in the store was beautiful, though. They had everything from tiny Christmas ornaments, tea sets and china, to lamps and very large statues.

Love these girls! So glad they have each other!

This is in the little garden and picnic area outside the store.

Here is the full moon rising over the bay a few nights ago. Hard to see in the photo, but it was pink. Look how light the sky was at 11:15 pm!

Our most recent adventure was to Bundoran, a town about 30 minutes south of Donegal town, on the border with County Sligo. It was a cute town and kind of reminded me of Seaside or Point Pleasant. Lots of outdoor and summer activities, lots of seafood restaurants, but quiet this time of year because school is not out yet (not to mention that the temps are still in the 50’s). The tent and ferris wheel belong to a business that is still closed for the season.

We headed to Waterworld, an indoor water park. It was loads of fun!

There was a school trip to Waterworld, so it was more crowded than I expected it to be today, but still loads of fun! This is the first school bus I have seen in all our travels here. The kids walk or are driven by their parents to school each day and the bus is used only for trips and sporting events.

I didn’t get too many photos inside because I was afraid of dropping the phone in the water, but this one is cute. Interesting to note that all of the parents were in the pool and playing with the kids. This stood out to me because at home I usually am the only mom in the pool, unless it is a day that is too hot to sit in the sun.

Nora had a blast and fell asleep within seconds when I started to read to them at bedtime. You know it’s been a great day when you are exhausted from too much fun!

We stumbled on this little cafe as we left Waterworld and went in for lunch. Absolutely everything was delicious, from chai tea latte to homemade sourdough bread and soup. We made sure to give them a great review online!

They worked up an appetite swimming 🙂

Here’s an aerial view of the town of Bundoran that was on the wall of the cafe.

Next stop, the Bundoran cinema! Big kids saw the new X-men movie and little kids and mom saw Life of Pets 2. A great time was had by all, except maybe mom, who almost fell asleep.

The Donegal Railway Museum is located in the former Donegal railway station, which was closed in the 1960’s.

These are authentic railway cars, cars #15 and #16, which were sold and used as mobile homes when the railway was decommissioned. Later, when the museum opened, they bought back the railway cars and refurbished them. Now they rent them out for business meetings.

Very neat to walk through them!

A train planter…too cute!

A local man donated this model train layout, as well as many paintings of trains, to the museum. It brought back happy childhood memories of my Grandpa’s train layout in his basement. We spent many hours down there with him.

Lots of memorabilia from the original train routes through County Donegal.

Some fun activities for the little kids, too.

My favorite was all the old photos. Many thanks to the man who worked at the desk (I did not ask his name!) who was a wealth of information and answered all our questions, not just about trains but also about local history. We learned a lot!

Saturday morning was sunny and bright, the perfect day to be outside. We wanted to go somewhere without having to drive too far, and on our local map we saw Lough Derg, so we thought we would give it a try. I was surprised that it is not mentioned on any of the local tourist brochures, but as it turns out, it’s not meant for the average tourist!

For you Latin scholars, the sign over the gate says, “Purgatorium Sancti Patricii,” which means St. Patrick’s Purgatory. It is referring to the island in the middle of the lake.

Statue of St. Patrick the Pilgrim

In the middle of Lough Derg is St. Patrick’s Island. On the island is a retreat center dedicated to St. Patrick, who frequented the island. Historical records indicate that the island was a holy site to the Druids, before Christianity came to Ireland, and that Christian pilgrims began visiting the island as far back as the 500’s. The current buildings can house up to 500 pilgrims, but they rarely get that many.

The center does a variety of retreats for visiting pilgrims, but they are famous for their arduous 3 day retreat. This includes 3 days of fasting, little sleep, and lots of prayer on the knees, all while barefoot (yes, even in winter). Not for the faint of heart! I’m guessing that is why they are not on the popular tourist maps. There must be so much history on the island, but it is only open for tours a few days each year, so we had to satisfy ourselves with pictures from the mainland.

The very friendly cat and dog who live in the house next to the visitor’s center.

The dog was thrilled to see children! She followed us everywhere, tail wagging.

This boat was built in 1923 by local shipbuilder, Charlie McLaughlin, right on the site where the statue of St. Patrick now stands. It was meant to hold 150 passengers heading to the island, and it was rowed by 12 men, using the oars that are hanging above it. It wasn’t until 1960 that a motorized tug began to be used to push/pull the rowboat across to the island. This rowboat was in continuous use until 1988, when a larger boat with an engine began to make the trip.

After Lough Derg, we explored some local roads that we had not been on before. We finally found the local beach! Nothing in this area is signed, unlike most of the rest of Ireland that we have visited, and none of the roads lead in a straight line to anything. This beach is about maybe 1km from the house, but we had to drive at least 10km out of our way to find it! If anyone is a science geek like me, check out the 4 different kinds of clouds in this picture!

The sand was soft and the water was warm. If only the breeze wasn’t frigid! In the middle picture you can see tractor tire marks in the sand. This must be where the local farmers cross over to the islands at low tide to tend the animals there.

These clouds looked like storm clouds, and they were approaching very fast because of the wind.

Behind us, back by the house, it still looked clear and bright, but overhead it was getting darker and darker. Time to head home! We enjoyed this peaceful day in Donegal.

Kelly, Bobby, Nora and I gave up on waiting for the big kids to wake up, and we went out early for breakfast and to run some errands. We started with french toast, eggs, and tea at Toni’s Bistro in Donegal.

Then we did some grocery shopping, and took Bobby for a haircut. These are the before and after pictures. He wanted an “Irish haircut” like all the lads here have. The lady who cut his hair said he was grand, which made his day.

When the big kids finally woke up (I won’t mention how late it was, but we stopped for dinner on the way home!) we took a drive to Slieve League Cliffs, County Donegal’s answer to the Cliffs of Moher.

The last mile of the road up was treacherous, but it was worth it! There was a big gate, which we had to open, drive through, and then close so the sheep couldn’t escape.

It’s been a while since all 8 of them were in the same photo!

These are some of the highest cliffs in Europe. The view was magnificent!

That is County Sligo in the distance. We were hoping to see some puffins, but we were about 2 weeks early for puffin season.

We all thought this would be the perfect place for a pirate ship and some smugglers. There were caves along the bottom of the cliff at the water’s edge.

So many sheep!

The tower way out on the cliff is one of a series of signal towers built during the time of Napolean’s reign to guard against a French invasion.

Someone has been hard at work making a sign in the cliffs with small rocks. It looked unfinished, but I think it will say “Welcome to Ireland” in Gaelic when it is done.

Admiring the view and waiting for the other kids to finish their climb to the top of the cliffs. So glad we made this drive, it was a great day!

This is the eastern sky at 3:30 am, a lovely pink, but boy does it make it hard to sleep!

We have had so many milestones happen during our trip. Here’s another one…Nora’s first lost tooth! She was beyond excited! The Irish tooth fairy leaves 2 euro coins 🙂

The weather forecast looked a little sunnier and warmer than it has been, so we booked a ride on the Donegal Waterbus. After our Seafari adventure, we learned our lesson to avoid boats on cold and cloudy days.

The sun was out for the beginning of the ride and it felt wonderful.

The boat took us around part of Donegal Bay for a closer view of the 7 islands in the bay, where farmers keep cows and sheep. No one lives on the islands, but you can walk across the sand to reach them at low tide.

Do you think cows like being by the ocean as much as people do? Maybe that’s why the milk and butter here taste better.

Up on the hill is the village of Mountcharles, which is about 10 miles west of Donegal town. The house we are staying in is one of the ones about half way up the hill.

This is a view from the water of the Donegal Franciscan Abbey, also known as the Abbey of the Four Masters, who wrote the history books I mentioned a few days ago. The Abbey was built in 1474 (same year that Donegal castle was begun) but then the land and all the monk’s belongings were confiscated in 1607 by invaders. The abbey is only about a quarter mile from Donegal castle.

When the boat turned around and we were going into the wind, it got really cold, so some of us headed down to the lower deck to get warm. There was a man playing traditional Irish music to keep everyone entertained.

We had lunch here right after the boat ride. It is next to the castle and just up the hill from the boat dock.

We got some hot cocoa and coffee to warm us up, and some soup too. Irish soup is usually served with brown bread and it is always good!

Salthill Gardens is only about 2 miles from the house we are renting. I saw a notice in the church bulletin for a gardening talk on Monday evening, so I decided to go. The speaker was June Blake, who apparently is famous in Irish gardening circles, and there were about 60 people there (I don’t think the whole town has 60 people in it!). Her talk was great, even though some of it was over my head, but it motivated me to bring the kids over to see the garden the next day.

The amazing flowers began before we even got inside the gate.

This is the courtyard between the owner’s house and the farm building that is the entrance to the garden. The yellow flowers smelled so good, and the black lamp post reminded me of the beginning of the story of Narnia.

This is the opposite side of the courtyard wall and you can see the house in the background. All of the buildings have these rain barrels to collect water for the plants.

Throughout the garden, there are old architectural details that the owner left intact and incorporated into the design of the garden. The archway and wall on the left of the picture are some of those details. The sign in the entryway said the walls were constructed between 1770-1820.

The garden is only a few hundred meters from the sea, so in many places the buildings and walls were decorated with scallop shells.

This is a close-up of the same arch from the picture above, and you can see all the wonderful scallop shells and smaller clam shells. Someone spent a lot of time collecting.

So peaceful and quiet under the canopy of leaves.

The peonies were the first flowers we saw when we stepped through the gate into the garden. They always make me think of my Grandma, so they are my favorite!

There were so many roses! They were in every corner of the garden, and they smelled so good. We did a little experiment and found that the different varieties of roses have different scents, and each of us had our own favorite scent.

An unusual variety of rose

Lots of the flowers were growing taller than the children!

The purple foxglove was well over my head, it must have been close to 7 feet high. Kelly couldn’t help but quote her poem about spring and, “…the foxglove’s spire.”

The owner/gardener seemed partial to purple and yellow. Here’s one I had never seen before.

And another new one, just beginning to bloom.

And that was the end of our tour of Salthill Gardens. It was truly beautiful, I don’t think our pictures did it justice. In the barn there were photos of the progress of work from when the owner began, and it really was just an empty field when she started. I can’t imagine how much time and energy and work went into it, but it was a labor of love and we enjoyed our tour.

During our Sunday drive, we found a hotel on Lough Eske and we made a reservation for afternoon tea the next day. Mary and Thomas were not here when we did tea at Drumoland Castle, so we wanted to give them a chance to have tea, too!

We were the only ones there! Monday must be a quiet day for the hotel.

Before they served the tea, they gave us all a sample of their soup of the day in a tiny espresso cup. It was celeriac and apple, which none of us had ever had before, and it was delicious!

Finger sandwiches, scones, and desserts. Everything was wonderful!

When tea was finished, we took a walk outside to see the lake and garden.

To take this picture, we went out onto the helicopter pad! Yes, really! It looked like a dock with a rounded end to me, but our waitress, Roisin (pronounced Rosheen) told us that they have some very wealthy residents in the hotel who travel to London by helicopter for work.

Panoramic view of the lake from the helicopter pad

It was a wonderful day to be by the lake.

There was a path along the lake through part of the grounds. Here’s an interesting thing we noticed…there are so many amazing views in Ireland, and places to stop and admire these amazing views. There is NEVER a place to sit! If you are looking for a business opportunity, come to Ireland and sell comfortable outdoor chairs.

Had an urge to test the water…it was cold, but not too cold, and very clean and clear.

Some flowers along the path, almost as pretty as the lake view!

After church on Sunday, we went into town and walked around for a while. It is a small town, easily managed on foot once you find a place to park the car. There is quite a bit of traffic though, and crossing the streets is tricky.

The town is nice and clean and has lots of flower boxes and planters everywhere. This is the first place we have seen taxis, as well as the first place that has a take-away restaurant that delivers! We haven’t tried it yet, but most of us do like Indian food, so we may do it one night soon.

While in town, we went back to the park we visited the other day. This time it was packed with people and everyone enjoyed their time there.

Just a few miles outside of Donegal town is Lough Eske, so we decided to take a drive and see what we found there. So glad we did! We found Lough Eske Castle hotel, which looks so lovely and has a garden and wooded paths to explore. They even have a spa, so we might come back another day and check things out more closely.

On the road leading up to the castle hotel, the woods were so lovely and there were lots of people out walking and hiking. We found these plants with giant leaves, the kids called them “dinosaur plants”. We’ve seem them before, in Caherdaniel, but never took pictures of them. The leaves can grown up to 4 feet wide and they have something that looks like a giant green pinecone.

The scenic drive around Lough Eske was peaceful and beautiful, but there were no safe places to stop and take pictures, so we just pulled into a driveway and took these 2 very quickly.

It was a very peaceful Sunday!

Glencolumcille Folk Village is about an hour from Donegal town, in a pretty remote part of County Donegal. It was an idea started by the local parish priest about 50 years ago when he arrived to find very little infrastructure in this poor and remote area. The area didn’t even have running water until the late 1960’s! Fr. James McDyer designed and oversaw the building of the little village as a type of museum to draw in tourists and business to the area. The local people volunteered their time and talent to help in building, and even donated all of the items in the cottage museums.

When we arrived, the parking lot was filled with vintage cars. So cool!

The first cottage in the village was a replica schoolhouse, and inside were desks complete with inkwells. They were playing a very old movie in which Fr. McDyer himself talked about the building of the living-history museum village.

The largest of the thatched roof cottages gave a chronological history of the local area, from stone burial mounds to the Bronze Age to the arrival of Christianity in the 500’s when St Columcille is believed to have arrived looking for a quiet place for contemplative prayer. A small village grew, the local people farmed and fished, and became known for their excellent woolen knits. The potato famine affected the village, but not as much as it did the rest of the country, and they lost about 10% of their small population.

Modernity came to the village much later than it did to most of Ireland. They were one of the last places on the island to get electricity and phone service, and as I mentioned above, running water didn’t arrive until the late 60’s. This is a real switch board, although there was no indication of how long it remained in use.

This photo gives you an idea of the layout of the village. There were 7 cottages in total. To show visitors what life was like in the area, they made a 1700’s cottage, an 1800’s cottage, and a 1900’s cottage, plus the school room, the history cottage, the fisherman’s cottage, and a shop/pub. Then there were also a modern tea room and gift shop.

We took a lot of pictures, and I’m having trouble keeping them straight, but I think this was the 1700’s cottage. It was just one room, very sparsely furnished.

The 1800’s cottage was a little bigger, with a larger fireplace and more furniture.

The 1900’s cottage had 3 rooms and noticeably more furniture.

It even had a fancy parlor, with a wood floor, while the other rooms had stone floors.

This tiny cottage was the shop on the right side, and the pub on the left side.

The fisherman’s cottage, complete with nets and buoys. Look at the sign to the left of the door. This part of the country (along with a small part of County Kerry) is called “An Gaeltacht” which means it is known for still widely using and speaking Irish. All of the signs are in Irish first and then in English (every once in a while just in Irish).

You know I can’t resist taking pictures of the flowers!

The round tower, a replica of taller towers in the area that were built as look-outs.

Looking down at the village from the path up the hill.

Flowers lining the path up the hill

Outside the tea room there was a play area for the kids. They had built small houses to resemble the school room and one of the thatched cottages. There was even a gazebo with a tiny picnic table for the kids to sit in, and a small wooden fishing boat.

The tea house where we went for lunch.

Before heading back to the car, we followed the path down towards the beach.

We had fun and learned a lot on this beautiful day!

After the tiny electric stove (or “hob” as they call it here) in the last house, I was excited to find this large gas stove in the current house! It took us a while to figure out which knob goes with which part of the stove because they are not labeled, but we’ve got the hang of it now. It is a very old stove, and the burners have no pilot so they need to be lit with a match, but it works so well and I haven’t burned anything yet 🙂

Mary was inspired to make homemade pretzel rolls late at night (those teenagers are nocturnal!) so we woke up to these amazing rolls sitting on the stove in the morning. She also made delicious chicken salad, so our lunch was top notch!

We went into town to go to the park and do some shopping. What a great little park!

Walking the tightrope

Zipline

Bobby was so excited to buy a baseball hat to keep the sun out of his eyes.

This is the late evening view from the kitchen window. The sheep always gather on the sunniest part of the hill.

And this is the view from the bedroom window at 10:45 pm, while I was getting ready for bed. It makes it so hard for the kids to fall asleep while it is still light out! It doesn’t get really dark until about 11:30 and the sky begins to get light again at about 3:45 am.

What an amazing amount of history we found at Donegal Castle, right in the center of town about 10 minutes from the house we are staying in.

There are several parts to the castle. The oldest part was begun in 1474 and the newer part was done in the 1600’s. Then much of it was refurbished and updated in the 1800’s-1900’s and then again in recent years. Prior to this castle being built, archaeologists believe it was the site of a Viking stronghold from as early as 800. It’s perfectly situated on high ground above a bend in the river.

The walls in the older part of the castle are almost 4 feet thick.

The display in the store room.

This is Maggie and Thomas standing inside the fireplace of one of the halls. That’s a big fireplace!

The entryway to the newer part of the castle.

The kids insisted that the “guardarobe” picture be included (aka a potty with a wooden seat and a hole leading down to a cesspit below the castle…yuck!)

These very narrow stairs were purposely built unevenly to give the residents the upper hand if invaders ever made it inside the walls.

The Great Hall on the second floor, recently refurbished and so beautiful!

The stone fireplace in the Great Hall

Nora and the other little kids were given a paper with photos on it as a treasure hunt activity in the castle. With a little sibling help, she found them all. Some of them were pretty tricky!

Some of the most important books of Irish history were written and preserved by monks from this part of Donegal (the history seemed to indicate that this mural was included because the family that owned Donegal Castle, the O’Donnells, was instrumental in commissioning this work as a way of preserving some of their family history).

Our very own Game of Thrones

To end our historic tour of the Donegal Castle, we arrived home to clearing skies and another rainbow over the bay.

A really late dinner on our first full day in Donegal. The house and table are big enough for 14, so if you haven’t visited us yet, now is your chance!

The view from the master bedroom window

Little kids playing outside while Maggie and Colleen finish school; they are almost done!

Front of the house; kitchen is on the right, living room on the left.

We haven’t seen a rainbow since we left Dingle in February! This one only lasted long enough to take the picture and then it disappeared.

We went for a walk down by the water. It was cold and windy, but we got a few pictures before heading back to the car. The weather here in the north feels more like March than June. People are still wearing winter coats and hats!

Hoping the weather improves soon. Maggie and Colleen should be done with school in the next few days, and then we have lots of adventures planned.

Second to last day in Caherdaniel, Co. Kerry

After many days in a row of cloud, fog, and rain, the sun came out on the afternoon of our last day. This shot is from the top of the driveway, the roof of the house is on the right.

The house was not big, but it had a very efficient use of space and was very comfortable. Goodbye, Beach View House, we are sad to leave you!

Down the hill for one last trip to the beach.

Colleen’s jellyfish

Sean and Bobby looking for the tiny fish that hide in the sand

Sand art

Saturday morning we packed up and headed north to Mountcharles, Co Donegal, about 7.5 hours away. Here’s a good shot of driving on the left side. Notice the lack of barrier on the side of the road, over which is a very steep cliff down to the ocean. This was on the Ring of Kerry, just outside of Caherdaniel, but luckily the roads further north (once out of Kerry) were much easier driving. We even got to do about 100 miles on the motorway, that was a treat!

Our car gets amazing gas mileage. Even after a 7.5 hour trip (about 300 miles), we still have a little over half a tank of gas! The tank holds about 55 liters, so half is about 27.5 liters, or 7.26 gallons, which equates to 41 mpg for our 300 mile trip.

We arrived safely at about 6pm and then found dinner at a nice Italian restaurant in Donegal town, just a few minutes away. Passed these lovely flowers on our walk from the car to the restaurant. The best news of all is that there is a Lidl right in town, and I don’t need to drive 45 minutes any more 🙂 Pictures of the house and town in the next post!

Tuesday morning we woke up to see horses down in the field below the house. They have never been there before!

Bobby and Thomas finally got their turn to ride on the beach. Bobby rode Lexi.

Thomas rode Clancy. (Sean opted not to go as he’s not overly fond of horses)

Off they go!

And about an hour later, they were back. They had a great time! Bobby was excited to report that they got to trot on the beach.

Bobby had been thinking about this birthday for a long time, and he had his birthday menu planned out weeks in advance! He asked for oatmeal playa bowls for breakfast. This is a homemade version of his favorite thing from the PlayaBowls restaurant in Belmar…oatmeal, strawberries, bananas, peanut butter and nutella.

In the afternoon, we planned to go kayaking at the beach. When we got there, it was so cold and windy that we were going to cancel, but Bobby had the need to do something epic for this birthday! Thomas was willing to do it with him, as were Kelly and Colleen. The rest of us sat on the sandy sidelines, trying to stay warm.

Here are Kelly and Colleen getting in their 2 person kayak, assisted by Helen, who owns Derrynane Sea Sports. Pretty sure she thought we were insane!

And off they go! Paddling into a pretty strong wind was not easy.

Oh no! Man–I mean men–overboard! They tipped it and both fell out. Undeterred, they got back in and kept going for almost an hour.

While we waited, I took some pictures of the beach and pier.

A whole host of stand-up paddleboards, one and two person kayaks, just sitting on the beach in front of the Derrynane Sea Sports hut. The paddles and wetsuits were locked in the hut, but the life jackets were also in a big, unlocked box.

I am not sure what to call this sport, but the young man seemed to be having a ton of fun! His feet were on what looked like a snowboard, and he was harnessed into and holding onto controls for the parachute/sail. At times the wind was so strong that he was lifted out of the water by several feet!

They are back, and they had a great time despite the wind and cold.

Bobby got what he wanted; an epic 8th birthday, and a (cold, wet) kayaking adventure.

The girls enjoyed it too, and were disappointed when we waved them back in to shore. Apparently half of the children like being cold and wet, while the other half waited in the warm car.

Nora and Sean would like to give it a try on a warm, sunny day.

After a warm shower and some dry clothes, it was time for Bobby’s birthday dinner. Remember, he’d been planning this for some time. There were no typical 8 year old things like pizza and chicken nuggets for this guy! His request was tortellini bolognese with garlic bread, naturally.

Chocolate cake for dessert, homemade this time because I learned my lesson when I couldn’t find a cake for Sean’s birthday in Arklow.

We used our handmade candles from our farm visit last week, which was perfect because there were 8 of them! Happy Epic 8th Birthday to my sweet Bobby!

The view from the main road at the bottom of the gravel road that leads to the driveway. This is the path we take to the beach.

This view is a little higher up the road, just before turning into the driveway.

The beach at very low tide.

It really wasn’t warm enough to swim, but that didn’t stop them.

Who, me? Cold? Never! My lips are always blue 🙂

Colleen found a comfy spot to sit and draw in her sketch book. Notice she’s in jeans and a flannel shirt. That made much more sense than a bathing suit on this cloudy day!

Check out this house just feet from the beach. It is shaped like the prow of a ship!

Running to get a closer look at the horses.

Believe it or not, they lasted (shivering) for about an hour and a half. Then we headed back to the house for warm baths/showers before dinner and Saturday vigil Mass.

What do you call it? Garbage? Trash? Here in Ireland it seems they usually call it rubbish, or in some places, refuse.

In the US, we have always taken our trash pick-up for granted. It’s always been part of what our property taxes to the town have covered. Now, there have been times when we weren’t happy about how the town handled it, such as when Point Pleasant went from once per week recycling pick-up to bi-monthly pick-up, which meant we had to go out and buy a second recycling can. Or when they didn’t pick up because of a snow storm or a holiday (our scheduled day was Monday, when all the holidays fall!). Or when they went from twice per week garbage pick-up to only once per week, except from Memorial Day to Labor Day. We bought another garbage can.

I realize this is flawed logic, but I get a little emotional over the whole garbage thing! I figure we paid property taxes (a lot of them) for 18 years to the town. The bulk of any town’s taxes go to the public school, and ours was no different. Since we never sent our kids to the schools, the town saved 63 years worth (total of all school years for all the kids for those 18 years) of what would have been spent on our kids had they gone to the schools. In effect, we saved them a ton of money. The least they could do was to be generous with garbage pick-up! Don’t even get me started on the town’s snow removal.

Anyway, back to Ireland. Each town has done something different. Dingle alternated weeks for garbage and recycling pick-up and had one can for each. New Quay did every other week and picked up both at the same time. Again, one can for each. New Quay had a compost bin for all the food scraps, and that was great! It cut down on garbage quite a bit. Johnstown (Arlkow) did every week garbage and every other week recycling, one can for each. In all the places, glass was not picked up by the truck, but each resident was responsible for taking glass recycling to the local “bottle bank.” This was usually in the center of town and easy to find, except for New Quay, where it was hidden down a residential street.

Here in Caherdaniel, there is NO garbage can as there is NO garbage pick-up! Crazy, right? The residents have to purchase special bags at the local store, one kind for “rubbish” and one kind for recycling. When the bag is full, you put it in your car and drive it to the garbage bins in town. The price of the bags is 3 euro for a recycling bag and 3 euro for a small or 5 euro for a large garbage bag, which covers the cost of the town removing the full bins. But without a can, where do you keep the bags? You don’t! They’d get smelly pretty fast, so you’ve got to take them into town as soon as they are full. Luckily the town is tiny and the drop-off place is only about 2 miles from the house.

Another interesting difference is how Ireland is trying to reduce their garbage overall. They use noticeably less packaging on all store-bought food. All packaging is recyclable. EVERYONE brings their own bags, boxes, or hand-held baskets to the grocery store. No plastic bags! No straws. Paper plates, paper towels, paper napkins are extremely expensive so almost no one uses them. Very few people get take-out food, since there are so few take-out (or take-away as they say here) restaurants, so no wasted packaging there. It’s hard to find to-go coffee, and if you do, it is always in a paper cup, never styrofoam. So in the time we have been here, I have been pleasantly surprised to see how little garbage and recycling a household of 8 or 9 has made. Having only one garbage can for 1-2 weeks has not been a problem…but I don’t think I’d ever get used to NO garbage can!

We have been trying to go for a boat ride since we arrived in Caherdaniel, but many of the local boats don’t begin their season until June. Another is usually sailing in May, but is docked due to mechanical trouble. We found one called Seafari that sails out of Kenmare, about an hour away, so we decided to make a day out of it.

Here we are on the pier waiting for the boat to arrive.

Hurray! Here it comes!

And we’re off! We sailed from Templenoe Pier, just outside of Kenmare. The captain’s name was Raymond and the only other guests were a French family with an adorable little boy. It was quite interesting to hear Raymond speak French with an Irish accent.

We sailed out into Kenmare Bay. The Iveragh Peninsula is behind us and the Bera Peninsula is ahead. The captain recommended taking a drive to the Bera Peninsula to get a feel for the non-touristy part of Ireland. The weather was very cloudy and dark, so our pictures did not come out as well as we would have hoped.

While we sailed, Evo played some music for us on what looked to be a tin whistle. Turns out that he makes them himself in France. The captain encouraged him because he said the animals like music! We were looking for sea birds and seals.

Found some seals! During low tide they come and rest on the islands in the bay, and during high tide they catch fish to eat.

Evo is playing some more music, and the seals seemed to be paying attention.

These are common seals, which are lighter in color and smaller than grey seals. They prefer sheltered spots, like this bay, while grey seals prefer open water. A few more weeks and there should be some pups! They usually have their pups in July sometime.

Here are a few more on a different island as we headed back to the pier. We never did see any sea birds.

The captain served some tea and cookies as we turned around to head back to the pier.

The tea was very welcome because we were so cold by the end! Everyone was shivering! (except Bobby)

After the boat returned to the dock, we headed into the town of Kenmare to do some grocery shopping and have lunch, and then we headed back to Caherdaniel.

Well, it has been a very long time since our Part 4 post about the differences between Ireland and the US. That last one was way back in February!

This one should more properly be called Ireland vs NJ because that is what we have been researching. In our many miles of driving and traveling, one thing that all of us have noticed is how much space there is in Ireland! We decided to find out just how much more space there is than in NJ.

Here are the details:

NJ has approximately 9 million people in about 8,700 square miles, making the average number of people per square mile 1,195. This makes NJ the most densely populated state in the US. It is the 4th smallest (or 47th largest if you prefer) and the only one to have all its counties designated as “urban.” Is it any wonder it feels so crowded?

The population of Ireland is roughly 4.8 million. The area is 26,600 square miles. The average number of people per square mile is 182. Given that 65% of the population is in urban areas, this would make the average number of people per square mile out in the countryside far less than 182, which explains why it feels like there is so much space as we drive around. Sometimes it feels like there are more sheep and cows than people.

The numbers show that NJ is 6.5 times more crowded than Ireland. Practically speaking, the difference is greater than that since we have been traveling mostly in very rural locations.

Now that we’ve bored you with all the details, here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

For comparison’s sake, we are currently in County Kerry, which is 1,856 square miles. The population of the county is just under 148,000 people. That makes the number of people per square mile 80 (compared to NJ’s 1,195). The town we are staying in is called Caherdaniel. The census data says….that the town of Caherdaniel is too small to have census data! The nearest towns are Waterville, with a population of 462, and Sneem, with a population of 288 (Waterville and Sneem are about 40 minutes away from each other, with nothing but Caherdaniel in between). In case you were wondering, Point Pleasant has a population of 18,545. Now we know why the grocery store is so far away!

The next installment of Ireland vs USA will cover the subject you’ve all been waiting for…garbage! I’ll try not to keep you in suspense for too long 🙂

Our most recent adventure was a trip to Blueberry Hill Farm. It has been a family farm, run by Sigi and Yvonne, for 25 years and opened to the public several years ago. They let everyone be very hands-on with the wide variety of animals and we had a great afternoon!

We started with feeding the pigs a combination of grain and vegetable scraps.

We said hello to the very noisy geese.

We milked and brushed Orla, the cow. The little kids got a turn to sit on her, then we fed the milk to Paddy, the calf, and returned him to the field.

Then we got to feed the baby goats and sheep. These two were Pink and Floyd, and they were the most shy of the bunch.

Even the big kids joined in.

Then everyone helped lead them back to their field.

Next up was feeding the piglets. For this, the kids were able to go inside the pen with small shovels full of the grain and vegetable mixture. I wasn’t able to get a good shot of the kids doing this since there were so many children inside the pen.

We then went up a small hill to the chicken coop and yard. We fed chickens, a pea hen, and some ducks.

After feeding the chickens for a bit, Sean took a break in the shade with Ishka, Sigi and Yvonne’s dog, who really liked belly rubs!

The goslings were very cute, and went everywhere as a team!

Perfect place for a sibling hug. They really missed each other while Mary was away at school!

Just past the chicken coop, beside the farmer’s house, was a rabbit enclosure. They had a variety of rabbits to feed and hold. I think this might have been our favorite spot on the farm!

Kelly would have stayed like that forever, but other people needed a turn, too!

Second to last were the chicks. They were just beginning to get their wing feathers. Too cute!

And last but not least, the turkey. His wattle changed from red to blue while we fed him.

The final stop on the farm was a short candle-making class. Everyone got to make their own candle in the colors of their choice. It was great fun, and the finished product was lovely.

We stopped for a quick dinner at a little place in Sneem that had picnic tables outside.

Finally, we headed home for tea and some desserts we bought in Kelly’s Bakery in Sneem. We even used our new homemade candles. Thank you to Sigi and Yvonne for a wonderful afternoon at the farm.

We have been hoping to get to Valentia Island for a while, but the weather hasn’t been cooperating. We finally made it on Sunday and it was a wonderful day.

We began at the Skellig Museum, where we learned about the history of the Skellig Islands, particularly Skellig Michael. Loosely translated, the Irish “skellig” means “rock in the sea.” Skellig Michael is named for St. Michael and was first settled by monks in the 4th and 5th centuries. It continued to be used by monks until the 12th century, when the Augustinians began what we would now call a diocese on the mainland and men who wanted to be monks began opting for monasteries on the mainland rather than the harsh and isolated life on the island.

One of the exhibits in the museum showed monks building their beehive huts on the island.

Here’s Nora working the communication system used by the lighthouse workers on Skellig Michael until 1987, when the lighthouse became automated.

After the museum we stopped for ice cream at Valentia Ice Cream Shop, run by a very nice family whose cows provide the milk for the homemade ice cream. Yummy!

Valentia Lighthouse was our next stop.

This stop was a little disappointing. The tourist info said there were tracks from what is believed to be the earliest tetrapod to go from water to land, some 380 million years ago. It was a long climb for a just a couple of footprints in the rock, even the dinosaur lovers in the group were a little disappointed.

The view was worthwhile, though.

Further up the same hill we visited the Grotto.

It was at the back of an active quary that has supplied slate for some famous buildings, such as the British House of Parliament and a famous duke’s palace. Way up in an alcove in the rock is a replica of the statues of Our Lady of Lourdes and St Bernadette from Lourdes, France.

Final stop on our island tour was Geokaun Mountain; the highest point on Valentia Island. It had 360 degree views. The drive to the top was so steep that we had to go the whole way in first gear.

The lighthouse from the top of the mountain.

The view was truly spectacular!

Skellig Islands in the distance

We headed back down to the bottom of the hill, around to the other side of the island, and over the bridge to Portmagee for a very late lunch. It was an amazing day and we were so glad we went to Valentia Island!

When we left the Staigue Fort on Friday, we canceled our plans to go to Sneem because we drove into a heavy rainstorm. We decided to turn around and head home. We were able to drive out of the storm after just a few minutes, but it followed us home. The horse in this picture was in a field across from the stable where we went last week. You can see the dark clouds behind her.

Out over the ocean the sky was still bright, so we figured we had a little longer before the rain hit. We decided to follow our road to the end, which we had never done before. We’ve always stopped at our driveway, unless we were walking down to the beach.

This photo I took from the car because the road was so narrow that there was no space for me to get out and stand next to the car. And of course there was no guard rail!

This one gives a good view of the road and how twisty and narrow it is. It continues for at least 2 miles past the house we are staying in, but that was far enough for me! When it turned to a gravel drive and got even more narrow, I found a spot to turn around in and headed back. The view was amazing, though!

It was a good thing we turned around when we did! The clouds were right behind us and we made it home just as the first few raindrops hit the windshield. Luckily, Thomas got my text and took all the laundry off the line before we got home!

I thought this little white cottage was so pretty against the grey stone and grey sky. There are no other houses around it and it is way out on the end of the peninsula. They must really like their privacy!

Staigue Fort, near Castlecove, County Kerry, is located in a perfect place for a fortress. It is surrounded on 3 sides by mountains, and the fourth side is facing the sea. It is believed to have been built between 300 and 400 AD by a wealthy lord. It is made entirely of local stone and constructed without mortar. It is almost 300 feet in diameter and has walls up to 18 feet high and 13 feet wide, with only one narrow passageway to enter it.

Currently the fort is on private land, but the owner allows tourists to visit it. There is a gate to keep the animals safe, and next to it is a lockbox and a sign asking adult visitors to place 1 euro each in the box, kids are free.

Wednesday morning we drove Ava to Adare in County Limerick to meet up with her Aunts and Grandma for their trip back to Dublin and then home. They arrived safely back in NY on Wednesday evening.

It was lovely to meet Irene, Ann, and Juliet and we can’t thank them enough for bringing Ava to us! The whole family enjoyed Ava’s stay and we will miss her very much! Luckily, it is only 6 short weeks until we return home ourselves.

Have to go back several days for this picture. I realized that I had not posted about Mary arriving! Mary finished her second year of college on Wednesday, May 8. She then drove, with all her stuff, to NJ to stay overnight with her Mema. On Thursday, Aunt Carrie drove her to the airport for her flight to Dublin, where she arrived on Friday morning, May 10. Then she boarded a connecting flight to Kerry Airport just outside of Killarney. We picked her up there, happy, relieved, and very tired from her many-legged journey from Ohio.

The drive to Killarney was a beautiful and slightly treacherous one. Here is a panoramic view in Moll’s Gap. It is part of Killarney National Park and is called “Ladies’ View,” a reference to a historic visit by Queen Victoria and her ladies in waiting. They had a picnic here in the mountains and said it was the most beautiful view they had ever seen. Personally, I can’t imagine doing this trip in a horse and buggy!

Another view of one of the lakes in Moll’s Gap

Real imported BAGELS! Mary brought us these yummy bagels from NJ. Thanks, Mary! And sorry about all your clothes smelling like everything bagels. Sadly, the peanut butter and sunscreen she also brought were taken by security 😦 Now if only we had some pork roll! The Irish could use a little diversity in their breakfast meats.

A belated Happy Mother’s Day to everyone at home! These amazing flowers arrived unexpectedly on Tuesday morning, along with lovely cards from Bob. Thanks, honey! (Did you know that the postman delivers flowers here?)

In other news, we are knee-deep in paper! Since school is finished, Kelly and Bobby are spending lots of time practicing Origami with all our left-over paper. Bobby made the swords and Kelly (with some help from Thomas) made the paper cube.

The local area has lots of farm animals, such as donkeys, horses, sheep and cows. There are very few wild animals that we have seen, except for birds. This little guy must live in the bushes beside the house because we have seen him several times now. The little kids turned it into an impromptu science lesson and educated me on the differences between a hare and a rabbit. This one is a hare.

On Tuesday we had planned to take the ferry to Skellig Michael, but their season does not begin until next weekend. We switched gears and instead went into Waterville for some shopping and lunch.

We stopped along the way to take pictures of the view. This is about halfway between Caherdaniel and Waterville, along the Ring of Kerry.

The view from here is amazing!

This is looking down at Derrynane Harbor

All those tiny dots are cows and sheep.

The girls in Waterville, by the Charlie Chaplin statue. They walked, got some ice cream, did some shopping, and then the rest of us met them for lunch at the Sea Lodge, just across the street from the statue.

Back at the house after lunch. I actually got all 9 of them in the same picture!

The girls after dinner. Not sure what was going on in the living room, but it involved a LOT of giggling! They stayed up late and tried to do some stargazing, then got at least a little sleep before our early start on Wednesday morning. It was a fun, relaxing day.

On Monday, we went to Eagle Rock Equestrian Center to ride some horses! It is just down the road from the house, so we’ve been passing it every day and finally got to go.

From the stable, they turned right onto our street. The house is about a mile ahead of them on their left. They headed to the beach, which is on their right.

They crossed over the beach to the other side, which is Derrynane. Luckily it was low tide.

Then they rode along the dunes. Ahead of them is Derrynane beach, where we climbed the rocks and found the tadpoles the other day. To their far right, just out of the photo, is Derrynane House, which we visited earlier this same day.

When they got to the end of the dunes, they turned around and headed back. The house is up on the hill ahead of them, on the far left of the photo. The whole ride lasted about an hour and ten minutes. The weather and tide were perfect!

While the big kids were on their beach ride, Nora and I stayed back at the stable and she got a special lesson! (Kids under 7 are not allowed on the beach ride due to insurance reasons) Wendy’s daughter, Lilly Mae, was her coach and they had a great time together!

She got to go several turns around the ring and the obstacles. Lilly Mae taught her how to steer the horse, how to stand in the stirrups, etc. Then she got to check out the inside of the stables and help to fill the horses’ buckets with fresh water for them because they are always thirsty after a trek to the beach.

Sunset on Monday evening. What a great day we had!

Enjoying tea with a view after dinner on Monday. It got pretty chilly as the sun went down. We all agreed the house needs a fire pit for these chilly nights.

After our fun and busy day, Nora fell asleep in seconds and slept all the way until 8:45 the next morning! She’s usually up by 7, so I guess we really tuckered her out!

The one on the left was the Drawing Room and the one on the right was the Dining Room.

And there was a trail of fairy houses in the woods. Some of them were even decorated on the inside. Bobby’s favorite was the one with a tiny toilet inside 🙂

Today was such a beautiful day! Not too warm, but the sun was amazing. We decided to go over to Derrynane Beach, which we can see from the house. It was just a short drive from the house into Caherdaniel village, over a hill and down a –you guessed it–winding and narrow road to the beach.

On the drive away from the beach, this is what we saw. Two cows on the road, being moved along by a farmer and his dog, and a field of cows just next to the road, who came trotting over to see and moo at the cows in the road. Very funny! The farmer gave us some strange looks when we took pictures. Probably wondering why anyone would want pictures of his cows.