Kindergarten Graduate

Nora is officially a First Grader now! We are so proud of her! She worked really hard this year and finished her books in record time. She is a diligent and very talkative student whose special talent is memorizing poetry. She loves it!

It is bittersweet for me as a mom because Kindergarten has always been my favorite. I loved being in Kindergarten myself, I loved being the Kindergarten classroom helper when I was in 3rd grade, I loved walking my little brother to his Kindergarten classroom when I was in the 8th grade, I loved it when the older kids were in Kindergarten in Catholic school, I loved being playground mom to other people’s Kindergarten children, and I loved teaching it at home to the youngest 4. I’m proud of all we have accomplished, but also a little sad to close this chapter of homeschooling.

Bobby worked hard all year, too! He is an early riser, and so we often got his school work done for the day before the other kids were even awake. He is great at math, memorizing poetry and Latin vocabulary, and is very proud of himself for finishing his cursive handwriting book (he is NOT a fan of cursive).

Kelly is officially a 5th grader! Can’t believe it! Kelly is a blessing to this sometimes tired teacher. She always comes to the table cheerfully and finishes her work with a smile and without complaint. She has worked hard all year and has made great strides in reading this year (she inherited her Dad’s dyslexia). She is awesome at Math and has never missed an answer in catechism! Her favorite poem of 4th grade is Spring by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

To celebrate, we drove into town, passing these lovely pansies while we walked from the car to the store…

…and got ice cream! We got rained on a little, but no one cared. Hurray for the end of the grade school year! Now we just have to get to the end of the middle and high school year…I think it may be a while. Colleen and Maggie both finished their online classes this week, and are done with a few of their subjects. Now to finish the rest…I think we’ve got about 3 weeks to go.

This is in Waterville, where we parked the car for ice cream. It was windy and had just begun to rain.

Early Thursday morning. The days are getting really long, and I can’t seem to stay asleep once the sun is up. I enjoy some coffee and catch up on work while the house is still quiet. Mary is on her way to us and arrives tomorrow, so there’s much to get done today! Can’t wait to see her 🙂

Church Hunting and Appliances

On Sunday, we tried to go to Mass at a church about 20 minutes from the house. Mass was supposed to be at 11:00 according to the church website. When we got there, it was empty except for one other woman, who said she did not know why there was no Mass. When I asked her if there was another church we could try, she suggested we go to the church in Cahersiveen, the name of which she couldn’t remember. Off we went to Cahersiveen, about 30 minutes further away. Thank God for GPS! We arrived with a minute to spare at a church called Daniel O’Connell Memorial church. I panicked for a moment because it was not named after a saint and I figured it was not a Catholic church, but it was! I’ve never seen a Catholic church that was not named after a saint, have you?

Turns out, Daniel O’Connell was responsible for the legislation that allowed Catholics in Ireland and throughout the British Empire access to education and government jobs. He is called “The Liberator” and was born just outside of Cahersiveen.

It reminded me of St. Aidan’s in Jersey CIty, where my high school always had Mass. It was lovely inside and so full of people! Much more crowded than any of the other churches we have been to here (but maybe that’s because there aren’t as many churches here and people come from all over to this church).

I have posted before about appliances in Ireland, and about how everything is smaller here, from appliances to showers to food packaging to cars.
Here’s a photo of the refrigerator in the current house. The kitchen is tiny, like an apartment kitchen, so a full size fridge would not fit here. This one is just a bit larger than the one I had in my college dorm…you know, when I was only feeding one person! It certainly is keeping things interesting.

The worst part is that one of the 3 door shelves is broken, so we have even less space than there should be.

I guess this is why so much of the food comes in small packages. There simply isn’t room for large ones. I do like how the milk jugs are skinny enough to fit on the door shelf.

Next we have the dryer. The caretaker of the house had to show me what to do with this one, and I’m so glad she did. The dryer will keep beeping incessantly if you forget to empty this container. And I’m not talking about the lint filter. Any guesses?
It is for water! It fills up (about a gallon of water) after about 2 loads of towels have been through the dryer. I empty it into the utility sink and then replace it. I’ve never seen this before! Perhaps it is because the dryer is not vented to outside, so it does not get too hot and it must have a different method of removing the moisture. The good news is that when I put towels in the dryer, the laundry room gets nice and warm and the clothes that are hanging dry faster. I honestly didn’t think that I had anything left to learn about laundry, but I was wrong.

This is the apartment-sized electric stove. The previous 2 houses (Bayfield and Oban) also had electric stoves. I’d like to say the I’m getting better at cooking on them, but I am not. I will say that this particular one seems easier because it is less powerful, so I am less likely to burn stuff 🙂 This brand of appliances, Zanussi, is owned by Electrolux, and is known for being energy efficient. In other words, S L O W.

This is just a picture of the stove with a regular frying pan on it, so you can see the size. Now, this frying pan is not big enough to cook food for all of us at once, so I use two at the same time; one on the front right burner and one on the back left burner is the only way they both fit. I am missing my big pots from home!

In terms of other appliances, this house has 2 electric showers that work very well. The downside is that we can only run one at a time. The washing machine is a little bigger than the others we have seen, so that is convenient! It also has an unusual configuration in that it is very shallow (it’s a front-loading washer) but the drum has a larger diameter and this makes it spin the clothes more efficiently, making the cycle faster. Also convenient. The heat in this house is under-floor oil heat. Apparently, when the house was built this was the newest trend. However, it is not very good at keeping things warm. It ends up heating the floor (and the room) around it quite nicely, but that room is the laundry room, and the rest of the house stays pretty cold. Luckily, the weather hasn’t been too bad, and the kitchen has a small space heater, so we use that a lot. I prefer the radiators that the other houses had, not only for heating the rooms but also for helping to dry the clothes.

May the 4th be with you! Happy Star Wars Day!

Today, Saturday, May 4, it really felt like Spring! We had a few nice days back around Easter, but then the weather returned to cold and rainy most of the time. The last 2 days have been sunny and beautiful, but still a little chilly. We still had to wear our warm socks in the house and turn the heat on as the sun went down. I know the kids have been wearing shorts and flip flops for a day or two, but don’t let that fool you. These kids are immune to the cold! Anyway, today we all wore short sleeves and were comfortable. Everyone’s freckles appeared after a few hours in the sun.

It was a perfect day to visit Waterville, the closest town. We found out a few interesting things, such as the fact that there is a large lake on the other side of the mountain from here, and they have kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding. Everyone is very excited about that! We also took a wrong turn down a side street and found a great little playground that the kids loved.

The view was amazing and the water was so blue!

In the center of Waterville is a statue of Charlie Chaplin. The walkway all along the bay and through town is called the Charlie Chaplin Walk. Turns out, he and his family used to vacation here and loved it because of the view and because the locals allowed him his privacy.

I’m sad to say the little kids had no idea who he was or why he was famous. Don’t worry, they know now. We’ll have to see if we can find one of his old movies on Netflix.

While I was making dinner, Thomas took them on a visit to the beach. When they came back, this cute black and white dog was in the yard. I think he smelled the chicken cooking 🙂 He was happy to play fetch for a good long time.

And of course, he loved the cuddles too. His tail was wagging a mile a minute.

Here’s something you don’t see every day; down feathers stuck to your eggs. I’m thinking it must be lucky! It is May 4th after all, and from our front windows we can see the islands where the last Star Wars movie was filmed! The force is strong here 🙂

A Beautiful Day, Another Week of School Finished!

The morning view from the master bedroom. The sun comes up around 5:30 and the sky stayed light last night until almost 10. When it finally did get dark, the stars were unbelievable! I wish I had a camera that could do a night photo, it would be so beautiful.
Caherdaniel is part of something called the International Dark Sky Preserve. The area has gained recognition as one of only 3 gold-tier level locations in the world, and the only one in the Northern Hemisphere, due to its lack of light pollution. So, being this remote has its benefits!
To find out about the IDSP, go to http://www.darksky.org

Another trip to the beach after school, this time it was warm enough for flip flops!
We just wrapped up our 31st week of school, one more to go, and then the end-of-year assessments.
Mary and our friend Ava arrive next weekend, so we will be trying our hardest to finish up before they arrive.

Not sure what kind of flowers these are, but they must like the sand. There were a lot of them!

Welcome to Beach View House

Beach View House, Lamb’s Head Beach, Caherdaniel, Co Kerry. It is so remote, we had trouble finding it!
It has 4 bedrooms, 3 tiny bathrooms, a tiny kitchen, a very tiny refrigerator, and one really amazing view.

Panoramic view from the front of the house.

Our first trip to the beach; we had seen the horse that made these tracks from the house earlier.

And the cold did not stop them from going in! Thomas, Maggie and I were reluctant (sensible?).

It never got deeper than this, but they said the sand was softer in parts and their feet would sink in quite a bit. Nora had a moment of panic, and in her effort to unstick her foot, she fell all the way into the water. Really, it was inevitable that someone would do it, it was just a question of which kid it would be.

They had quite a bit of fun exploring the rocks, but the clouds were rolling in and then the wind picked up, so I called them back.

The walk back up the hill while wet and sandy felt much longer than the walk down!

After changing out of wet, sandy clothes, we headed into Kenmare, the town with the nearest Lidl. The GPS said 42 minutes, but I don’t drive as fast as the locals, so it took us close to an hour. Most of the drive was along the Ring of Kerry, so the view was stunning, but holy cow, those roads are narrow!

Had a delicious dinner here, then did the shopping. The whole trip took almost 5 hours. I might have to bite the bullet and pay the higher prices at the tiny store closer to the house. The real trick was fitting the food into the tiny fridge.

We are thankful for the better internet here! It’s kind of surprising really, because Arklow was such a big town and here we are in the middle of nowhere. We are now officially caught up with all of our blog posts. Hurray!

Kilruddery House

Kilruddery House belongs to the 16th Earl of Meath. It has been in the family since the 17th century. The family can trace their roots all the way back to a man who served under William the Conqueror in 1066. The estate includes 800 acres, and the owners have maintained the original gardens, constructed by Bonet, a student of Le Notre, who designed the gardens at Versailles. The house itself was started in 1618, but most of what we see today was done in the 1820’s. The earl and his family welcome visitors, although the tour of the house is very limited since they actually live in it. There is no “do not touch” rule here, and the kids were even told they could climb the trees if they wanted to.

We started with a walk through the kitchen garden and apple orchard, where they keep a wide variety of chickens.

Lots of flowers along the way, plus a large vegetable garden (just started for the season), a greenhouse, and a sandpit play area for the kids.

Then we walked through the woods to a small clearing that housed a fairy play area for the kids.

So much fun! Even the grownups could fit!

Following the map, we continued around the square path to the infinity pools, and this view of the back of the palace. We followed the path toward the house and then right, to the far part of the grounds.

On the way to “The Rock,” we passed another clearing with a metal sculpture that reminded us of Cinderella’s carriage.

We continued on into the woods to find “The Rock” on the map. We passed so many beautiful old trees along the way, plus the biggest rhododendrons I’ve ever seen.

We also passed these beautiful flowers that smelled like Easter Lillies. The breeze was blowing past them and we could smell them all the way up the path. Heavenly!

And we came out of the woods and found “The Rock.” Of course we climbed it! Look at the view of the palace from here!

Outside the Tea Room. Why don’t we have tea rooms in the US? We should!

This part of the house is called the “Orangery” and Maggie said it was beautiful inside, like a museum, with a marble floor and statues.

This is part of the private residence, so the path was closed off by a small gate, but I just loved the climbing wisteria.

Next we went around the far side of the house to meet the tour guide. Sean, Maggie and Colleen toured the house, while Kelly, Bobby, Nora and I went to the Farmer’s Market. This is just next to the large gate/driveway that the residents use.

Farmer’s Market, here we come! We walked the long way around to the stables, where the Farmer’s Market was housed, so that we could see the pigs. Not very exciting, since they were sleeping, and quite smelly.

They hold the Farmer’s Market every Saturday from Easter weekend until October. Since this was only the second day of their season, it was small and not at all crowded. We got fresh eggs from the chickens we had seen earlier, and crepes from the lady in the silver truck behind the kids. Turns out, she used to live in Atlantic City, NJ!
Met with the older kids back at the car, got the report on the house tour (beautiful, but limited) and headed home. We thoroughly enjoyed our day at Killruddery House!

Lots of pictures from Arklow

At the far part of the beach at low tide

At the beach about a mile from the house during our one and only walk on the crazy road

On one of the Fridays in April, we took a drive and went to visit with a group of homeschoolers in Wexford City, Co Wexford. They meet monthly at the Wexford Franciscan Friary. What a nice group of families! They made us feel very welcome. They had 2 priests visit with the kids during the morning, and they were all very curious about homeschooling in America. Fr. Brian, a young Franciscan, said he feels that Catholic homeschooling is the future of the church. (No pressure, folks!)

After the meeting, we walked into town and found the Wexford Friday Market, where we had a meatless lunch from a lady who made her own from-scratch sourdough bread. Yummy!

Nutella and banana crepes for the little kids, grilled cheese (cheese Toastie as they say here) on sourdough for the big kids, lots of satisfied customers

In the last week in Arklow, the big kids really wanted to see Avengers Endgame at the local theater. Since there was no good movie playing for the little kids, the older ones and I made a bargain. I would drop them off at the theater on Thursday for the movie and take the little kids on a different adventure, and on Friday they would babysit while I went to see the movie (even mom can be a big Avengers fan!)
Kelly, Bobby, Nora and I dropped the kids off at the mall for the movie and then headed to the duck pond by the ocean.

We played in the playground, and also in the outdoor gym, where they have these weird exercise machines. We saw so many birds by the pond, not just ducks but also geese, goslings, swans and seagulls. We fed them all some stale bread. In the end, everyone was happy; big kids, little kids, and all the birds!

On Friday, it was my turn for the movie. Their website was down so I couldn’t buy a ticket in advance. That was my excuse for going early, buying a ticket and a coffee, and reading my book until it was time for the movie to start. Honestly, I had to finish the book and return it to the library before we left. No spoilers, but boy, the movie was great!

Avoca Woolen Mill, est. 1723

Back in April, we took an afternoon off from school to do a field trip to Avoca Woolen Mill, in Avoca, County Wicklow. It was just a short drive from the house, and it was a perfect day for a field trip.

Avoca Mill was opened in 1723, and has been in operation continuously since then. It is the oldest business in Ireland and the second oldest mill in the world.

We started with a visit to the stream that powered the mill.

Then we toured the working mill. It was free, and they let the visitors walk right through the middle of the rooms where they work and get up really close to see everything. I love to sew, and the girls love anything crafty, so this was quite a treat for us! In this photo, there was a man loading the threads onto the machine. We counted 28 across, 8 down, and 4 rows deep. That is 896 threads in the machine. They do this 4 times to make one large roll of 3584 weft threads. This is then taken to the loom and the warp threads are woven in, then the whole thing is cut to the desired lengths. If memory serves, they said one roll makes 200 blankets. We also got to see the woman who made the large spools of thread that are placed on this machine on the right of the photo. It looked very much like spinning a bobbin on a regular sewing machine, only a giant one!

In these photos you can see the different color schemes they use for blankets and scarves. In the one on the right, they had sample blankets made out of different kinds of wool so that you could feel the differences. They had shetland, merino, cashmere, and a few others I can’t remember. Up above were photos of the animals that kind of wool came from.

Then we went into the room with the machine looms and watched them making the blankets. Wow, was that loud! The warp of the machine loom moved so fast we couldn’t even see it.

As any good field trip should, this one ended with tea and lunch in the cafe and a trip to the gift shop. Inside, the walls were lined with photos of previous owners of the mill and stories from its long history. Just lovely!

When I retire, I’m coming back to Ireland and going to volunteer to work in the mill.

More from Uncle Tom’s visit

Tom and the kids outside the Wicklow Goal

Bobby and Kelly as the goaler and his wife, who was the prison nurse

Beside one of the two lakes at Glendalough, the monastic site founded by St. Kevin.
A life of quiet prayer beside a beautiful lake and nestled between green hills…those monks were pretty smart!

Bobby and Uncle Tom on the beach outside the house. Bobby was so happy to see him, he couldn’t stop hugging him. Look at all those oyster shells. There was a small mountain of them on the beach, and quite a collection of them in the backyard, too. Arklow used to be famous for its oyster fishing, but due to a ban on certain types of commercial fishing in Ireland, the local fishermen have mostly gone out of business. There’s a group trying to bring it back, but many of the oyster beds have been lost.

Made it to Caherdaniel!

On Monday, we left Johnstown, Arklow, County Wicklow and headed on a 6 hour drive south and west to Caherdaniel, County Kerry. We drove through Wicklow, Wexford, and Cork. Caherdaniel is just over the border from Cork into Kerry, about a mile from the Ring of Kerry road.

This is the view from the front door of the house.

There is a path down from the lawn to the road below, and Maggie and Colleen followed it and found the way down to the beach. They said the sand was like quicksand! The rest of us will check it out later today after we finish school.

Those two islands in the distance are part of the Skellig Islands. Just down the road from here is a ferry that makes the trip to the islands. We are hoping they run this time of year!

We had a delicious early dinner (we skipped lunch since we were driving all day) at An Corcan, which means The Pots. The waitress was so nice and after dinner she gave us some helpful hints for finding the grocery stores. She commiserated with me on feeding all the teenagers 🙂 So we headed to the Centra just around the corner and got enough food for breakfast and lunch tomorrow, and then we will take the longer drive (40 minutes!) to the nearest Lidl. We got spoiled in Arklow where the Lidl was right in town.

We were so tired from the journey that we were all in bed by just before 10. The days have gotten so long that it wasn’t even completely dark yet, but that didn’t stop us.

It seems that the internet is much better here in Caherdaniel, and I had no trouble getting the photos to upload. Now I will have a chance to update the blog with all the photos from the last month.

Continuing to celebrate Easter

This is Pizza Rustica, a traditional Italian Easter dish. It’s usually made on Good Friday or Holy Saturday and eaten on Easter Sunday. We were a little bit late and made this on Tuesday, but better late than never! It is made with eggs, ricotta cheese, and a variety of other cheeses and meats, baked inside a homemade pizza dough. (The reason we were late was because I had such trouble finding ricotta cheese and yeast for the dough!)

It smelled so good cooking that I had trouble keeping the kids away from it while it cooled!

Not bad for a first try. It was delicious, and worth the effort of 3 stores and waiting for the dough to rise. Next time, I think I would add even more meat and roll the dough a little thinner. Buona Pasqua!

The internet is once again stubbornly refusing to let me upload our photos to the blog. I got these three on early this morning, and all other attempts during the day have failed. I’m going to just post this short entry now and try again tomorrow. We will be going on to the next location on Tuesday, April 30, and I am really hoping the internet is better in the next place. Fingers crossed!

Powerscourt Gardens and Waterfall

On Easter Saturday, we took a ride and headed to Powerscourt Garden in Bray, Co. Wicklow. Tom and Tanya had stayed in the hotel here and said the gardens were beautiful and worth a trip (they are on their way to Dublin and then off to some other E.U. destinations before returning home).

You can see the Powerscourt House in the background. The gardens cover many, many acres and have been voted the #3 gardens in the world!

This was called the Dolphin Pond because of the fountain in the center. Nora was terribly disappointed to learn there were no actual dolphins in the pond 😦

This pond and fountain is directly behind the house, so it is what a visitor would see from the windows or terrace of the house, at the far side of the Italian garden. As you can see from the photos, there were tons of people there! It was the most crowded tourist place we have been to by far.

They had so many kinds of trees in the garden! There were varieties from all over the world, including giant redwoods from California. Some of them were hundreds of years old. Not sure what kind of tree this one was, but the cool breeze in its shade was delightful. It had to have been close to 100 feet tall.

After the garden, we took a short but harrowing drive up a narrow and twisty road to the Powerscourt waterfall, the tallest waterfall in Ireland. The weather was so nice, and everyone was on Easter break, so literally thousands of people were there. Many of them had packed picnic lunches and looked to be spending the whole day. Some even had hibachi grills beside their cars, like a tailgating party! Luckily, by the time we left there was much less traffic on the road back into town, so the return trip was less than harrowing. Then we headed back to the house to get ready for Easter the next day, and Bob and I had our first date night in almost 6 months! Hurray!

Uncle Tom is visiting!

Uncle Tom arrived on the Sunday before Easter, and we packed in quite a few adventures in the five days he was with us. We visited the haunted and historic Wicklow Goal, the Glendalough Monastic site begun by Saint Kevin in the 6th century, and the Greenan Farm and Maze. These pictures are from the Greenan Farm and Maze, which we visited on the day after Tanya (Tom’s girlfriend) and Bob and Thomas arrived. Thank you, Tanya, for sharing your pictures for the blog!

We visited the large barn, which was a museum of old farming equipment. They had all kinds of interesting things, such as “pig swatters,” hand cranked clothes wringers, kerosene heated egg incubators, and they even had an original hand loom from the historic Avoca Mill, which is a local attraction in Co. Wicklow. The Mill is almost 300 years old and is the oldest continuously run business in Ireland and the second oldest Mill in the world. You can see some of the farming tools in the photo, behind Nora.

Just next to the big barn was this old stone house. Before the current owners bought the farm, this building had been the home of many generations of the same family. They lived here for almost 200 years, up until 1985.

Next we visited all the farm animals. First was the mama pig and her TEN piglets! Naturally, she was napping in the shade.

We had never seen pigs this color before. Their hair was a reddish-brown color, with black spots. The sign on the fence said this color keeps them from getting sunburn. Did you know pigs could get sunburn?

The piglets were so cute! We have now added piglets to our list of desired animals for our ever-growing menagerie in Tennessee. We know nothing about pigs, aside from that they are very cute when they are small.

The peacock’s amazing feathers were iridescent in the sun.

Our timing was perfect for a display of his feathers.

Mother goose and her goslings…we counted four.

Photo opportunity in front of the chicken coop

Another flower I had never seen before. Aren’t they pretty?

After all the farm animals, we visited the maze. Everyone thought it would be easy, but it was pretty tricky to find the center. Colleen, Tanya, and Nora after finishing the maze.

Some tree-climbing while we wait for the others to be finished.

All done with the maze, but there’s always time for a hug, and one more picture.

Behind Kelly and Bob in the last photo the bushes were covered in lady bugs. There were hundreds of them!

The last picture before heading back to the car. We had a great time!

We finished up with a nice lunch at the Glenmalure Hotel and Pub, which at one time served as an army barracks for soldiers. The view from this spot was stunning, and it seemed to be a very popular stop for hikers and bicyclists as they travel through the Wicklow Mountains. Thank you to Uncle Tom and Tanya for a lovely day together!

Happy Easter! He is Risen!

Beautiful sunrise over the Irish Sea on Easter morning.

Happy Easter to all of you back home! We missed you all, but we had a lovely Easter here in Ireland. We went to Mass at Saints Mary and Peter Church in Arklow and then out to lunch in town.

This photo was taken outside the restaurant where we had lunch.

After lunch we went back to the house for our traditional Easter Egg Hunt in the back yard. This time it was more challenging because the kids did not already know all the good hiding spots like they would have at home in our yard. There were lots of good camouflaged spots to hide the eggs!

Lots of smiling faces! Missing Mary though! She called and told us all about her awesome weekend at school, complete with a 3-hour Easter Vigil Mass attended by hundreds of people, and followed by a Resurrection Party that lasted until almost 4 am. Those Franciscans know how to celebrate Easter!

The day was so beautiful that some of us even got a little sunburn. It was heavenly!

Couldn’t decide which picture I liked best, so I included them all. Then this morning, after Bob left to return home, I realized that we didn’t get any Easter pictures with me or him in them…except this one that has him sitting way in the background.

Happy Easter, everyone! And remember that the Easter season lasts all the way to Pentecost, so keep celebrating!

Testing…

One of the beautiful flowers from the gardens at Powerscourt Estate

Hi everyone! Sorry about the radio silence lately! We are having a very difficult time uploading photos to the blog. The internet where we are right now is spotty and slow, so Bob was trying something different to see if we could get a photo uploaded in a new way. Success! Now we have a lot of blog posts to catch up on 🙂

Checking Out the New Neighborhood

On Saturday, the morning started out cloudy and rainy, and all the kids slept in. By mid-afternoon the sun had started to some out, so we headed out for our first walk around the neighborhood. The lovely hill in this picture is just around the bend from the house.

We turned right out of the driveway (in the opposite direction of town), and the ocean was on our right.

If anyone knows what these yellow flowering bushes are called, please enlighten us! They are everywhere and seem to smell very similar to coconut.

After walking about a half mile we arrived at a beach. It’s the same beach as the one we can walk down the hill in our yard to get to, just a little further away and divided by rocks too large to climb. Our next-door neighbor told us that this is where the locals go in the summer. Just past that house on the left was a cow pasture, so the smell of the salt air was overpowered by the scent of cows, since we were downwind!

Sadly, the road we walked on turns out to not be the safest for pedestrians. It is a much busier road than the others we have experienced so far. It’s called the Coast Road and it is closer to a highway than a residential road as it is the road the locals take to get from Arklow to Brittas Bay, the next town. The drivers here in Wicklow are not as easy-going and patient as the drivers in Dingle and County Clare, and they don’t slow down as they pass you. All that to say that I don’t think we’ll be having any more walking adventures on this road.

We have also been experiencing very slow internet here, and we are having great trouble loading pictures on the blog. That’s why the few I have done here have been so short. I’m going to try going to the library soon and using the internet there to see if it’s better, but for now we are sticking to short and sweet blog posts 🙂

A walk down to the beach

We have been spending much of our time in the house, trying to get school finished for the year. It is slow going, and we have a little cabin fever, but the weather has been cold and rainy so we are just trying to be productive. We have lots of field trips planned if the sun would ever come out again! And we have more visitors arriving next week and the following week. We did make two trips down to the beach by way of the path in the back yard.

This is the wild and overgrown path down to the beach. It’s slippery and uneven, but the flowers sure are pretty!

This was after dinner and the sun was setting, turning all the clouds pink.

More pink clouds. The sand here is the closest to home that we have seen so far, although in places there are a lot of pebbles too. And you should see the size of the oyster shells on the beach! I’ll have to get a close up of some of them next time we go.

It was a long day and everyone was a little tired, but it was so nice to get out and enjoy the sunset and the beach.

Happy 18th Birthday, Sean!

Yesterday, April 1, started with a beautiful sunrise over the Irish Sea. The day that Sean was born was very much like this one! He was born at 10:36 pm and weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and had a full head of spiky, black hair.

When I called my Grandma to tell her Sean had been born, she said to me, “Oh, couldn’t you have waited just a little longer?” Her birthday was April 2, and she was hoping they would share a birthday. Today would have been Grandma’s 105th birthday, and this morning Sean said, “Hey Mom, because of the time difference, and me being born so late at night, today we could say we shared our birthday!”

The girls helped me set the table for our birthday celebration, complete with candles and fancy wine glasses.

Sean wanted to cook his own birthday dinner; chicken, mashed potatoes, and carrots. It was delicious!

And of course there was chocolate cake.

Happy 18th Birthday, Sean! We love you!

Welcome to County Wicklow

Sunrise on the last morning in New Quay. We will miss this quiet, beautiful spot, but we are excited to see what adventures the next place brings.

Here is the back yard of the house in Johnstown, Co Wicklow. We were a little worried because neither the GPS nor Google maps had it in their search results, so I thought it was going to be very remote. With some help from a local driver, Donough, we got there with no trouble. The ride from one coast to the other took about 3 hours and 15 minutes. Luckily the route was almost all highway, like what we are used to at home, and not the narrow and twisty local roads. We spent the afternoon unpacking and checking out the local area.

The back yard is lovely, and given that the weather is warming up and we made the switch to daylight savings time last night, I think we will be using the deck and yard a lot. When we arrived the caretaker, Liam, had just finished mowing the lawn and it smelled so good–fresh cut grass and salty ocean air.

There is a beautiful ocean view from the house and yard, and a path down to the beach.

Sunrise over the ocean on Sunday morning.

The little kids were outside in the yard before breakfast this morning! There are swings in the trees, and Nora found a plastic bow and arrow that is her new favorite.

After Mass this morning, we are going to do some more exploring of the area, and maybe go to the local movie theater if there are any kid movies playing. Then back to school tomorrow (sigh).

Last two days in County Clare

We’ve been enjoying the delicious chocolate samples that the waiter in Drumoland Castle gave to the children.

And the yummy tea that Aunt Jacquie got for us in the castle gift shop.

Carrie and Jacquie had absolutely the best weather for their time here! The great weather continued on Thursday and some of the kids decided to do school outside at the table in the garden.

There are so many flowers blooming now.

I don’t know what these are called, but I think they are my favorite of all the flowers in the garden here.

After the schoolwork was finished, we went in search of one of the local attractions that we had not been to yet, called Traught Beach.

It was windy but beautiful. There were many people out walking, one windsurfer, and one man who just rolled up his pants and put his feet in the water. We managed to stay dry this time, but just barely.

Simple pleasures are the best…a walk on the beach, love notes in the sand, and happy children 🙂

Oh, and shells, lots of shells! Oyster, clam, scallop, mussel, and the ever-popular “unicorn horn” shell on the left. She left the beach feeling very proud of herself, and amazingly, only a little bit sandy.

All day Friday was spent doing school and then packing up to move to the next house. Saturday morning we leave and head east to County Wicklow. It is supposed to be warmer and sunnier on the east coast this time of year, so our fingers are crossed for a good month of weather in April. We are looking forward to Easter and the next visitors!

Tea in a Castle!

On Monday, we were all a little tired from our long and exciting day on Sunday, so we slept in a little and stayed close to home. We had lunch in town and showed them the quay.

On Tuesday, we went to Drumoland Castle for afternoon tea!

It was very elegant, and everything was delicious! The staff was great, and so kind to the children. One of the waiters told us that he had been working there for 30 years, since he was 13! No wonder the service was so good, he’s had lots of practice.

The children’s tea had nutella, ham and cheese, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and their choice of tea or hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows.

There were beautiful, fresh flower arrangements on every table.

After tea, we investigated the castle inside and out.

Not one, but two coats of armor! So cool!

They provide boots for the hotel guests to walk the grounds on a rainy day.

We toured the castle grounds and found a lovely flower garden on our way to the gift shop. There were lots of tulips blooming, a greenhouse, a fairy garden, and a pond.

The groundskeepers must have been working hard already this spring. The flower beds were beautiful!

Drumoland Castle’s logo says, “Distinction since 1543.” It is in Newcastle-on-Fergus, County Clare, and was begun in the 1500’s on the site of a prior tower. The current castle was completed in 1836 and is mainly used now as a hotel. They have lots of special things to offer hotel guests, such as falconry, archery, skeet shooting, horseback riding, golf and golf lessons, a spa, fishing, and horse-drawn carriage rides. We didn’t get to do any of those, but we sure can vouch for an excellent afternoon tea! We made some pretty amazing memories to last a lifetime.

Wednesday was the end of our visit with Aunt Jacquie and Aunt Carrie. We had a wonderful 4 days together and squeezed in all the love and laughter and hugs that we could. Thanks for coming all the way to Ireland to see us!

Aunt Jacquie and Aunt Carrie

Aunt Carrie and Aunt Jacquie arrived on Saturday afternoon to much rejoicing by some very boisterous children! We all went for a long walk along Flaggy Shore and showed them the neighborhood.

Just taking in the view.

Naturally, we had to take them to see the cows and calves and get some ice cream.

Sunday morning we were up with the sun and headed about 90 minutes north to County Mayo to search out relatives from the Brogan side of the family. We started with breakfast at the Mayfly hotel in Foxford, where Jacquie had found and spoken on the phone to Annie, who could give us some tips on where to find Brogans in the area. Thank you, Annie!

The next stop was Mass at Saint Mary and Saint Michael Church, which was just around the corner from where we had breakfast. Jacquie had spoken with the pastor ahead of time and he was so helpful and kind. He had some leads for us, and he even made an announcement at the end of Mass because he knew there were Brogans in his parish.

We went on to a smaller parish called St. Mary’s in Massbrook, which is where the Brogan relatives originally came from.

In the tiny cemetery outside of this church we found the grave of Bob, Carrie, and Jacquie’s great-grandparents, Maria and Michael Brogan. Several other Brogan relatives were buried there as well.

While Carrie and Jacquie went to Ryan’s Pub in Kiltimagh to search for more relatives on the Delaney side (whom they found!), I took the kids to the Shrine and Basilica of Our Lady of Knock.

We lit lots of candles and prayed for all of your intentions at the Basilica.

Bayfield House

I realized that we have been here almost a month (we only have one week left!) and I never posted pictures of the house. Well, we cleaned and organized this morning to get ready for our visitors, so it was the perfect time to take photos of the inside to show you.

The kitchen is very big and open. It has an electric stovetop, or hob, as they call it here. I am not used to cooking on electric at all, and it has taken me the full three weeks to adjust to it. The timing of everything is very different. There are 2 small refrigerators, side by side, and one tiny freezer. There is a compost bin on the counter behind the sink, and we fill it with food scraps (egg shells, vegetable peelings, apple cores, tea bags and coffee grinds) and then empty it into a large bin outside the gate. That’s a new one for me as well!

In the oldest parts of the house, which has stone walls about 2 feet thick, there are these amazing, deep window sills. This one is in the kitchen.

The very spacious and comfortable living room.

This is a close up of the corner of the living room. From what I can guess, this was the back door of the original (much smaller) stone house. On the other side is now the master bath. The living room was added on much more recently, with its great big windows to make the most of the lovely view.

A wonderful farmhouse table is just next to the living room and off the kitchen. We usually eat in the kitchen and do school at this table, unless there are visitors, then we need this big table.

This is officially called the garden room, but we’ve been referring to it as the freezer because it is so cold in there! When the kids watch tv at night, they bring hot water bottles and blankets with them. When the sun is out, it is especially lovely in there.

This cozy spot is upstairs, tucked in between the two original upstairs bedrooms.

This bedroom is part of the original house. It is just next to the original front door and it used to be the living room/library, according to some old plans of the house. All the bedrooms have names on their doors, taken from local attractions. This one is Aughinish, named for a small island with an old tower on it. The other first-floor bedroom is just across the hall and is very similar to this one. It was originally the dining room and still has the original built-in cabinets that were used to store dishes.

The little kids share this room, called Flaggy, for the Flaggy Shore walking path just around the corner. All of the bedrooms have the most amazing down comforters and soft linens on the beds. They make it hard to get out of bed on chilly mornings because they are so cozy!

This one is called Bay, after Galway Bay, which we can see from the windows at the front of the house. The deep windows in this room have old-fashioned wooden shutters that are so pretty. Mary and Lucy shared this room while they were here, and now Aunt Carrie and Aunt Jacquie are using it.

The family history of the owner’s family has several artists in it. One of them did this mural of the surrounding area. All the local attractions (and the bedroom names) are on it. The location of the house can be seen toward the top, between Finavarra and Aughinish.

This is the front of the house from the road by Flaggy Shore. The additions to the house are partially visible on the left. The main part of the house is over 200 years old and was built by the current owner’s great-great grandfather. In some old photos and paintings, it had a thatched roof and the trim was painted red. Some of the surrounding trees on the property look to be at least as old as the house.

The additions are more easily visible from this angle. The big living room is the part with one stone wall and one white wall with the big windows. The garden room is the smaller part on the far left. Behind them is an older addition to the original house that includes the current kitchen, mud room, laundry room, and an extra bed/bath/garage that are locked and not in use at the moment.

From this angle, there is a good view of the oldest addition I mentioned above. In some of the pictures, it looked like the courtyard we are standing in was used for chickens and it is surrounded by a tall stone wall. Photo credit goes to Aunt Carrie and Aunt Jacquie.

These photos are hanging in the kitchen. I’m not certain, but I think they are of the original owner/builder of the house, or possibly his son. So much history here!

Next installment will be all about the Aunts, so check back again soon!

Burren Nature Sanctuary

We did a little Kindergarten science project with the apple blossom from the tree outside. It is so cool that the flower shape remains while the apple grows from the blossom. God’s design is amazing! We saved the seeds to plant in the orchard.

On Thursday we visited the Burren Nature Sanctuary, just a short drive from the house. We arrived just in time to help feed the baby goat.

Next, we got to hold and pet some guinea pigs. They made the cutest little squeaking sounds.

In the field outside the barn there was Frank, a very friendly alpaca. He came right over and waited to be pet. He even rested his head on my shoulder for a snuggle. Now the kids want an alpaca, too! That’s a little more tempting than some other animals they have asked for.

After seeing all the animals, we took the route through the woods that was shown to us on the map. There we saw the remains of a pre-famine village. This circular structure was believed to be a pen for animals. There were also several small houses, which were harder to see because they were covered in ivy. There are plans to excavate the site in the near future.

A little further along the path there was a little wooden sign with an arrow directing us through a vary small opening in the underbrush into a magical, mossy fairy forest. It looked like The Shire in miniature, and there were tiny fairy doors hidden in various places. Some had signs indicating which fairy resided there.

Our next stop was the cafe, where they served tea and scones on the way through to the other side of the property. After tea, we played in an amazing playground with a zipline and a giant seesaw. Even the big kids had loads of fun!

Friday was spent doing schoolwork and getting ready for Aunt Carrie and Aunt Jacquie’s arrival on Saturday. We did take a walk down the road to the local fish restaurant, Linnane’s, for dinner. Their fishing boat is docked behind the restaurant, behind those parked cars. Needless to say, the fish was very fresh!

We stopped to pet the neighbor on our walk home from dinner.

This was the view of the sunset on our way home from dinner. Hoping it’s a good omen for better weather for the weekend.

Found some pictures of the chocolate factory from last week on Maggie’s phone. On the left is the the man making dark chocolate sheep. In the center is the roasting room; it smelled so good! On the right is a happy group, full of chocolate samples made from beans from Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela.

Chocolate and the End of Phonics

We decided to check out more of the local area when the sun came out the other day. We drove over to the far end of the Flaggy Shore because the little kids would never make it 8 km on foot, then we walked from the furthest spot. The view was beautiful.

Bayfield House is at the other end of this drive, at the beginning of Flaggy Shore.

This is one of the dairy cows in the field behind Linnalla’s ice cream shop. She was very friendly! Along one side of the field is a walkway that leads from Flaggy Shore drive up to the shop, so people can get an ice cream half-way around that 8 km walk. It has to be the most remote ice cream shop in the world! This time of year it is only open on weekends.

We had visited the Hazel Mountain Chocolate Factory while Bob and the kids were here last week, but I forgot to take a picture! They roast their own cocoa beans from various parts of the world and make their own chocolate. We got to see them making dark chocolate sheep and chicks in preparation for Easter. And of course we tried some samples! This week we returned to try their cafe, which makes all gluten free and organic cakes and pastries, as well as hot cocoa with their own chocolate.

Nora and Bobby loved the tiny chairs! Nora called this her date with Bobby, a brother-sister date.

Yummy!

In other news, we are a few steps closer to being done with our school year. Nora has finished her Handwriting book, and Kelly has completed her Phonics book, which means she never has to do Phonics again, since there is no Phonics in 5th grade!

We are happily using our completed workbook pages to feed the fire in the wood burning stove. It’s very cathartic 🙂

Happy Spring!

Today we photographed all the signs of spring in the yard around the house.

There were daffodils blooming along the drive when we arrived on March 1. This daffodil just bloomed in the last day or two and is different than the others because it has an orange center.

These little daisy-type flowers are everywhere in the yard. They remind me of clover in our yard at home because they are low to the ground and grow mixed in with the grass.

The garden just outside the living room door.

Just a few days ago these buds were not visible at all.

Apple blossoms! There is a small orchard planted on one side of the house. This tree is sheltered between the house and the garden wall and gets the most sun. It is the only one blooming so far.

The kids gave up on finding and photographing flowers and switched to nerf football before dinner.

They were having so much fun (and making so much noise) that they attracted the attention of the neighbor’s horse, who came over to say hello. Hurray for Spring!

Another sure sign of spring was a field full of calves yesterday at the ice cream place. We counted 15!

Below is the poem Kelly is currently working on in 4th grade and it fit so nicely with today’s post that we thought we would share it with you:

Spring
by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Dip down upon the northern shore,
O sweet new-year delaying long;
Thou doest expectant nature wrong;
Delaying long, delay no more.

What stays thee from the clouded noons,
Thy sweetness from its proper place?
Can trouble live with April days,
Or sadness in the summer moons?

Bring orchis, bring the foxglove spire,
The little speedwell’s darling blue,
Deep tulips dash’d with fiery dew,
Laburnums, dropping-wells of fire.

O thou, new year, delaying long,
Delayest the sorrow in my blood,
That longs to burst a frozen bud
And flood a fresher throat with song.

Spring Break, Part 2

Bob and the older kids loved our pictures of the Birds of Prey Center, so we took them there to see the birds themselves.

The staff explained that they like to rotate the birds they exhibit each day so that they all get a chance to fly and be out of their cages. That means we got to see three different birds than we did the last time. The first one was a crested caracara named Raul. The caracara has a bill like a hawk, but is in the same family as a falcon.

Next up was a vulture. It was an enormous bird, and when it flew right over our heads (there was a stand just behind us) we could feel the wind from its very long wings.

The third bird was a falcon, very similar to the one we saw on the first visit. Only the trainers hold them because they are a little skittish. Watching this one fly was truly amazing! It went so fast that we could barely see it as it dove to catch the bait the trainer was using.

The next day we braved the elements and ventured a little farther from home to see several famous attractions in County Clare. The first was the Cliffs of Moher. It was very impressive and beautiful! We had planned to take a boat trip to one of the Aran Islands and view the Cliffs from the boat, but rough seas canceled the boat trip and we had to settle for a land view, but it was worth the trip.

It was very cold and windy! We could barely hear each other over the sound of the wind and waves. Maybe the boat being canceled was a good thing!

After the cliffs, we went to The Burren Center, a small museum that combined the science and history of the The Burren region of County Clare. It also had an adorable cafe that served a delicious lunch!

Just next to The Burren Center was Kilfenora Cathedral. This cathedral was built in 1189 on the site of an earlier monastery. It was dedicated to St. Fachtnan and is famous for having several well-preserved high crosses, such as this one. Another interesting fact is that the Bishop of Kilfenora is the Pope.

Our last stop of the day, quite close to the house, was Corcomroe Abbey. This abbey was founded in 1195 by Cistercian monks, who chose this spot for its remote location and fertile land. Its patron was Conor O’Brien, king of Thomond, an ancient kingdom in southern Ireland.

The architecture was beautiful. According to the plaques on the wall, there are several carvings in the abbey that are not found elsewhere in Europe. The cemetery on the grounds is still in use by local families. The abbey was in use until the mid-1500’s.

Sunset of the last day with everyone here.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Just after breakfast they headed to the airport, and just like that, spring break was over. How did seven days go so fast?

Everyone arrived home safely and jumped right back into their routines of school and work.

The rest of us here were a little sad, so we went for a nice long walk…

…and got an ice cream!

This wonderful little ice cream store is at the far end of the 8km walk along the shore by the house. It is owned by a local family that runs a dairy farm, so the milk and cream come right from the cows in the field outside! Delicious!

We are all so thankful for a wonderful spring break week and the whole family being together again.

Spring Break Week

Sean, Mary, and Mary’s friend, Lucy, arrived last Sunday for Spring Break.

The other kids had the week off from school, except for a few online classes.

Then, Bob arrived on Wednesday and the whole family was together until Sunday. It was a busy but very fun week, filled with lots of hugs, kisses, laughter, good food, daytime sightseeing and nighttime movie watching.

Taking a walk and showing the new arrivals the neighborhood. This is the beach at Flaggy Shore, along the Wild Atlantic Way.

Day two included a trip into Kinvara for lunch and a walk along the quay.

Then we went just a little past the town of Kinvara to Dunguaire Castle.

It was closed for the season, but we walked around the outside on a narrow path. The wind was so crazy that day!

Then the girls checked out the grounds while I made dinner. The property has a little over 3 acres, including a newly planted orchard! The next-door neighbor is a lovely white horse, and across the street is a small dairy farm.

The next day, Bob arrived and got settled in. Then we all spent a day in Galway City. First stop was…

…everyone’s favorite kind of store, a bookstore!

They had directions to all of our favorite places! We could have spent hours here, and we could understand why it was voted “Ireland’s Best Bookstore!”

Next up was the Spanish Arch, built in 1584, on the River Corrib to protect merchant ships from looting. It is one of 2 remaining arches from the Medieval wall around the city.

We also did the Galway City Museum and the Claddagh Museum. There was so much to do that we will have to go back for another visit to fit it all in. The rest of the week’s adventures will be in tomorrow’s post.

All the kids are here!

I got up at 4:30 on Sunday and drove to Shannon airport to pick up the kids. Their flight landed at 6am. That airport is so easy and manageable! We were so busy catching up that I forgot to take pictures on Sunday. Monday they slept almost all day, catching up on sleep from the night before when they didn’t sleep at all. Hopefully we will have some adventures today, and then Bob arrives tomorrow. Hurray!

Everyone who was awake went for a walk in the late afternoon. It was cold and windy, but the ocean was the most beautiful shade of green.

Love having them all together in one room!
Eight Brogans plus Lucy (Mary’s friend from college) = a lot of hungry kids.
Nora and Bobby call this the Harry Potter table, because it’s so long and it has benches 🙂

Question for you

Hi everyone! Bob and I just realized that when he leaves a comment on the blog and I respond, he does not get a notice that there was a response. For those of you who comment, I have responded to almost every single comment. Do you get a notification at all?

Hi, everyone at home! We miss you and love you!

Aillwee Cave and Birds of Prey

All this week we have been locked away doing schoolwork at record speed. We were trying to squeeze 2 weeks worth of work into one week, so that we could take next week off but still finish in May. Mary, Sean, and Mary’s friend, Lucy, arrive on Sunday morning. Bob arrives on Wednesday morning. We can’t wait to see them, and we want to be able to relax and enjoy them being here!

After 3 very long school days, and lots of rain, the sun came out on Thursday. Then we finished up as much work as we could and headed out for a science field trip to Aillwee Cave and the Birds of Prey exhibit for the afternoon.

Our guide, Clodagh, holding Batty, an African species of eagle (I forget the name!)

After his demonstration, everyone got a chance to hold him.

Bobby holding Batty. His favorite part was that the eagle’s feet and beak can turn color when his mood changes. They are red in this picture, which means he is happy and relaxed.

Last was Colleen. Mom and Maggie said, “No thanks.”
Did you know that eagles can see ultraviolet light? It lets them see the difference between flesh and other objects from a great distance.

Second bird of prey was Jess, a barn owl.
Since we have been reading the Harry Potter series, everyone immediately thought of Harry’s white owl, Hedwig.

Bobby was so excited to hold the owl! He liked the owl so much that he would like to have a barn when we get to Tennessee so that he can have a barn owl.

Kelly came next.
Did you know that owls have terrible eyesight? The instructor described it as like trying to look at your own feet with a pair of binoculars.

Barn owls have excellent hearing and have asymmetrical ears. One ear is up high and one is down low, giving them the ability to differentiate sound left to right and also up and down. They can hear a mouse’s heartbeat from quite a distance, making them good hunters despite their poor eyesight.
Sadly, many barn owls die after eating mice and rats that have been poisoned.

The view from outside the cave. Part of Galway Bay is in the distance. The cave was very interesting, but too dark for pictures. It is the longest cave in Ireland, formed by an underground river and discovered by a local farmer in the 1940’s when his dog chased a rabbit into the tiny cave opening. The farmer did find his dog, but never told anyone about the cave until the 1970’s when he met visitors interested in caving and showed them where to go.

In the distance you can see the brownish-gray hills that make up most of The Burren. It is a vast area (250 square km) made up of glacial-era limestone formations. It gets its name from the Irish “bhoireann” which means “a stony place.” On our drive from Dingle to this house, we went through The Burren, which seemed to go on forever. It was very barren, just gray rocks as far as we could see in every direction, and I was getting a little nervous wondering what we were getting ourselves into. But at the end of all those gray hills was the ocean, and lots of cute little towns along the Wild Atlantic Way. (We are about 40 minutes from the nearest big store, though, which is so weird!)

After the bird exhibit and the caves, we tried to find our way to a neat circle tower out on a peninsula in the water. We had to drive down a very narrow road (of course!) and at one point it was basically just a wide sidewalk about 2 feet above the rocks, with water on both sides and no guard rails. Yikes! But we did eventually get to it and the view was amazing!

There was a water view for 270 degrees, since it was on the end of a peninsula.
(More gray hills of The Burren in the background)

Here’s the tower, but there was no description or marker for it, so we have no idea what it is or how old it is. No door either, just a rope with knots in it.

Panoramic view from the peninsula.
We had a great science and history field trip, and it was so nice to have a break from regular school work!

Our First Walk at Bayfield

The driveway is lined with trees and daffodils.

This is the entrance from the driveway, with a great mudroom for all the messy boots.

This is the closest house to us, and the first thing we passed once we turned right out of the driveway.

Only a short walk from the end of the driveway there is a small beach, with stairs down to it from the road. When the tide is high, the sand disappears and the water comes all the way to the rocks. The seaweed is plentiful, with very large, fat, brown leaves.
Just as we got here, the skies opened up and we were pelted with hail. We almost turned around, but it passed pretty quickly.

This amazing view is just around the corner from the house!
So glad we didn’t give up when the hail started because then the sun came out and we kept walking for almost an hour.

We found another friend! In the far left of the picture is a black and white dog who played with the kids and followed us all the way home. This path goes for several kilometers in a large circle and seems to be very popular for walking and bike riding.
Stay tuned for more pictures of the house, as well as our walk in the opposite direction.

Goodbye, Dingle Hello, Galway Bay

On Thursday morning, there was another beautiful sunrise.

We finished up our packing and took our last walk to the beach, and then left the lovely and cozy house in Dingle. We had a wonderful stay there, and we will miss it, especially the dog!

We will really miss coming to the beach every day!

Packed and ready to go. Everything 7 people need for a 6 month trip. We tried so hard to pack light! (The books were put in the car the night before)

Three and a half hours later, we arrived at Bayfield House on Galway Bay. There is a lovely tree-lined driveway with lots of daffodils,
and this great view of the southern side of Galway Bay.

Bayfield House was built by the current owner’s Great-Great Grandfather. It has been added onto several times. This photo is of the original building.

After unpacking the car, we headed into town to check things out. This short pier had no guard rail or anything!

But there was a great view of the bay and the sailboats.

Dinner at L’Arco, a great Italian restaurant in the nearby town of Ballyvaughn. We were so excited to have good Italian food (we’ve had our fill of fish and chips and beef stew for a while). They even had real Italian gelato! And we met the waitress, Nell, who is from Philly and attending a local art school for a year. She has an aunt who lives in Point Pleasant Beach and has great childhood memories of Jenkinson’s and riding the Himalaya! What a small world!

A Trip to the Beach…on Horseback

Monday morning started with a beautiful pink sunrise. This has only happened once or twice before as most mornings have been very cloudy (although we are not always up at sunrise).

We started school right away so that we could be finished in time to go horse back riding. Kelly, Bobby and Nora were all finished by 10 am. This might be a new record for us! Maybe we should get up at sunrise every morning…well, maybe not.

Everyone was so excited to ride! Kelly is our biggest animal lover, and I think she was the most excited. We went to Long’s Riding Stables in Ventry, which was not far from where we held the baby lambs a while ago. John and Christine were great with the kids and made everyone feel comfortable.

Before riding, we had to put on boots and helmets. (I need shoe storage like this at home! Right next to the giant coat rack from the hotel in Killarney.) They had boots in every size, from Nora’s toddler 12 to Thomas’ size 15, complete with a conversion table from US to European sizes!

Once everyone was ready, they brought us over to where the horses were waiting and helped everyone mount.

Bobby rode Oreo, Kelly rode Raggles, and Nora rode Marley.

This is Thomas on Captain. We rode in a single file line down the mountain onto the beach. The view was amazing!

Here’s all of us on the beach. You can see that the horses are on the small side. They are Irish Cob horses, which is a breed native to Ireland. They have been bred to be small and wide, but powerful and easygoing. Perfect for riders of all ages and ideal for pulling carts and wagons. They have especially long, thick manes and tails, and also feathering (fluffy hair) around their feet, like a Clydsdale.

Then we rode back up the hill to the farm. The whole ride was about an hour, which was perfect (our backsides are a little sore today). The weather was great, and it got even warmer in the afternoon, so after lunch we continued our outdoor adventure.

We drove over to Inch Beach, which was only about 20 minutes from the house, but in the opposite direction from the horse farm. We had passed it on our way to Killarney last week and wanted to come back to it when the weather improved.

There was a famous scene from the movie Ryan’s Daughter that was filmed here. Inch, or Inse in Gaelic, means “sea meadow.”

Here the cars can drive right onto the sand. In summer, you can even camp on the beach overnight.

We started out with boots and coats, but that didn’t last long.

Nora found a razor clam shell and turned it into a shovel.

My innocent children were attacked by a rogue wave, which got past the boots to the socks and pants. Naturally, the boots and socks came off. Some lobbied for the removal of the pants too, but I had to draw the line somewhere.

…well, what difference will a little more water make, right?
Let’s just say that some Brogans rode home in just their underwear. Luckily it was a short ride, and the sun was nice and warm! I tried to remind them that the laundry is my nemesis, and sandy laundry is my kryptonite, but no one was listening.
The boots will take days to dry!

While the little kids were getting wet, Maggie, Colleen and I looked for shells.

It was a spectacular day, and we were so thankful to have spent almost all of it outside! Thank you, Long’s Riding Stables and Inch Beach. We enjoyed every minute!

Last Weekend in Dingle

Our 2 months in Dingle are almost over. We leave on Thursday morning, so we made the most of the last weekend. Luckily, the weather cooperated.

The first thing the kids wanted to do was one last Friday afternoon of rock climbing, so that was where we started. Thank you, Steve and Roy, for 2 months of climbing adventures!

(Nora is in blue, Kelly in gray on the left; Bobby is in red and Colleen in maroon on the right.)

Saturday we went into town to do some souvenir shopping. Many of the stores have been closed for the season since we arrived, but some reopened on Friday. There were crowds of people, lots of tourist buses, etc. Must be a school holiday.

In the middle of our shopping, we stopped to share a few banana and nutella crepes from the crepe man. The kids were so excited that he was finally open!

After our shopping adventure, we went for a really long walk. It was such a beautiful day!

One of our neighbors down the street.

More neighbors! They are very friendly.

Nora stopped at every flower along the way. She was so happy picking dandelions and smelling them that her face was all yellow by the end! Thank goodness she doesn’t have allergies.

Almost sunset by the cove, and the tide was coming in fast. We could actually see the water rising as we stood there.

In just a few minutes, the sandbar was covered.

Happy faces and all looking at the camera, it’s a photographic miracle! Now if only the oldest 3 were with us! This is my new favorite picture 🙂

Can you see the tracks? A car could drive from the road at the bottom of our hill and keep going right into the water! I think in the summer people come here for fishing.

Nora found a bone of some kind and was indignant that I could not identify it. She decided to become a scientist when she grows up so she can identify bones, and nicely asked me to hold onto said bone until she is ready!

Sunday was a little quieter. We went to Mass and then to the movies to see How to Train Your Dragon 3. This time, I think the theater had their heat on! We were able to take our coats off and our toes weren’t frozen at the end of the movie.

Stay tuned for Monday’s adventure. I’m not going to give it away, but it will be good!

“The sun! Quick, get your shoes on!”

The day started out cloudy but warm, after 2 days in a row of heavy rain. When the sun came out around 10am, we headed out for some exercise and fresh air. It only lasted about 45 minutes, but we made the most of it!

It is hard to tell without perspective, but these waves were about 7 feet high.

The dog joined us, as usual.

Bobby was teaching Nora how to throw rocks so that they made the biggest splash. Big brothers have a wealth of knowledge!

Since the tide was so low, we got to really explore the rocks today. It is fascinating how much the cove and beach can change from one day to the next!

Maggie took this picture of tiny snails hiding in a crevice in the rock. It is enlarged quite a bit as the actual crevice was only about an inch wide. There were so many of these tiny spaces along the water line in the rocks, and every one of them was filled with these tiny snails, and sometimes tiny mussels or barnacles too.

Kelly got all wet inside the cave today, where there is always dripping water from the rocks above. Then she found this nice, wet, slippery spot to use as a chair…good thing I haven’t done the laundry yet today!

We only have one week left in this beautiful spot, and we are really going to miss it here (and miss the dog).

The clouds were rolling in very fast because it was so windy. We could see much darker clouds heading our way, so it was time to climb the hill and head home.

Nora came running to me and said, “Mom, Mom, Mom! Maggie is up too high, it’s not safe!”

On our way home we saw this caterpillar in the road and stopped to watch it for a few minutes. If we google the image and find out what kind it is, I’m counting it as science for the little kids 🙂