Home again

Friday was our travel day. Our flight was at 13:40, so we had time to hang around the hotel, pack up and eat breakfast.

 The Dublin airport had a little kids play area that amused the kids while we waited for our plane.

 The flight went pretty well. A good thing about not letting the kids watch many screens at home is that they are quite a novelty on the plane.

 Once we landed in Toronto, it took 2 hours to get to our gate and collect our luggage. Jasper and Ellis progressed from sleepily lying around to being completely wired, running and dancing around the baggage carousel. They were a bit hard to calm down to get into bed at 8:00 EST (1:00 am Dublin time).

This morning, Ellis was up at 4:00 and Jasper not long after. It will be a couple days to readjust. At least 4am also feels late in the morning for us too!

Bru na Boinne

This morning we had to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa and make our way towards the airport. Jasper was sad to say goodbye, because I don't think he understands that we'll see them at home in less than a week.

After a quick stop for supplies at Tesco, we went on to Bru na Boinne, a set of prehistoric tombs just North of Dublin.

 We visited the visitor centre and booked a tour for the Newgrange tomb. You have to take a bus to the site at a specific time. We hadn't booked ahead so we were lucky to get a spot that afternoon.

 Unfortunately, our time slot was right at nap time, so Ellis fell asleep immediately and Jasper slowly fell asleep as we walked around.

 We got to visit the inside of the tomb, but no pictures are allowed inside. There is a fairly narrow tunnel that opens up into a cavern on the inside. It was pretty crowded with the 24 other people on our bus, and both kids were fast asleep.

 The site is pretty impressive, especially considering the technology available at the time. Newgrange is 1000 years older than Stonehenge.

After the tour, we drove back to our airport hotel and went to a local mall to get some airplane supplies at the Euros store.

Glendalough

We spent today with Grandma and Grandpa in Glendalough. 

 Jasper tried black pudding at breakfast. He was not a fan.

It was a beautiful hot sunny day today. We went on a long hike (for the kids) this morning, to a waterfall, an old mine, 2 different lakes and lots of rocks and forest. 

 Jasper was having a bit of a rough day. He still managed to walk most of the way back from the mine town.

Ellis was very interested in all the rocks on the ground. This became a bit challenging when the trail was gravel.

On the way back, we stopped for lunch at takeaway spot in the parking lot, that was surprisingly good. I think the kids might be getting used to having chips (french fries) with every meal.

After nap, we went to see a sheep dog demonstration. It's amazing how well the dogs are able to wrangle those sheep.

The kids got to feed a baby lamb some milk from a Miller Lite bottle.

The lamb was very friendly and like to follow people around. Jasper loved being "chased" by the lamb, and Ellis was terrified.

There was also a puppy border collie, who might grow up to be a sheep dog if she has the right temperament.

Grandma and Grandpa!

This morning we packed up and drove towards Glendalough. We stopped at Castlecomer Discovery Park on the way for the forest playground and fairy and elves park.

 There were dozens of school kids at the playground, so we went to check out the elf park instead.

We arrived at Glendalough a little bit before Grandma and Grandpa. They walked up to our room and surprised the kids. Jasper was shaking with excitement to see them!

We tagged along with Grandma and Grandpa's tour group to visit the Glendalough monastery site, which was right next door to our hotel.

 It is a very popular site for tour busses to visit, so every once in a while there would be a huge pack of people touring through. 

It was hilarious to hear Jasper yell "Grandma!", and about 30 different women looked over. 

After touring the site, we hiked up to a lake. Jasper was doing amazingly well with the hiking, and he always wanted to stay next to Grandma. He and Ellis even found themselves hiking sticks. 

Of course, Jasper had to stop for a little dancing break before going on the hike.

Smithwicks and Hurling

After a short and rainy play at the playground and a cafe snack, we went to the "Smithwicks Experience" brewery tour.

 The tour was not quite as Disney as the Guinness tour, but it was still pretty slick, with many videos and interactivity.

 The tour mostly kept the kids attention, especially with a promise to Jasper of some Fanta at the end.

 We enjoyed our sample pint while the kids collected dozens of coasters and stacked them up in various shapes.

 After the brewery tour, we went to drop Pat off at the meeting spot for the Hurling experience tour. He spent 2 hours learning the basics of the sport with an instructor from the Tipperary hurling team, and a German family on a family fun trip to Ireland (complete with matching shirts).

After the tour, Pat got to take his picture with the Liam MacCarthy Cup (the Championship Cup for the All Ireland Hurling Championships). Kilkenny holds the record for the most cup wins. Kilkenny also had the most kids walking around with hurleys (hurling sticks) from the towns we've visited.

He didn't get any action shots from the experience, so here is a video that shows what he did.

While Pat was hurling, the kids and I went for a picnic in the park...

 ...then a long walk along the river while the kids napped.

 Ellis is getting pretty heavy to carry around in front carry for that long!

We met back up with Pat at the hurling bar and walked home to spend the rest of the evening around the house. Tomorrow we head to Wicklow to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa.

Kilkenny

This morning we were in no rush to get out the door. The kids made some pretend soup, and then the soup bowls became hats at some point.

We walked into town along the river walking trail and went for a ride on the Kilkenny road train tour.

 

The kids were excited to go on a train ride, and didn't seem too upset that it didn't run on tracks. Our train driver had lived in Toronto for 7 years.

After a short play in the castle playground, a potty emergency brought us into the castle for a self-guided tour.

The castle is a restored historic site, and it was pretty tough to keep Jasper from touching everything.

We had better luck running around the castle grounds and gardens.

 Ellis tried her best to climb into that fountain to get a stick she found.

We stopped to get groceries on the way home, and the kids had fun playing on the mall toys while I shopped. The double decker bus broke down, so Jasper had to fix it.

 Before dinner, we went back into town to check out some Sunday afternoon traditional Irish music.

 The musicians were quite good, but the bar didn't serve any food, so we couldn't keep the kids occupied for too long.

Rock of Cashel

Today we had to drive from Kenmare to Kilkenny, so we decided to break up the 3 hour drive with a stop at the Rock of Cashel.

It was a bit of a hike up to the site, and as soon as we got to the top, Jasper announced that he had to go potty (the toilets are at the bottom of the hill).

 I have no facts to share about this place, since Ellis fell and gave herself a fat lip during the educational movie. I will read up on Wikipedia later.

 The kids were pretty wired from sitting in the car for so long, so they burned some energy by running around. We managed to get them to stay on the paths and off of the historical artifacts.

 Ellis was pretty excited about all of the rocks inside the gravel-floored cathedral.

 There were also little peep holes that were at just the right height for the kids to look out.

 I was somewhat concerned that Ellis was going to squeeze herself through this hole and jump into the moat below.

 The kids napped as we continued our drive to Kilkenny and checked into our next AirBnb. We're in a town house in a complex that is full of kids.

 We took a walk to the park by the Kilkenny Castle before dinner, where the kids finally got to blow off some steam.

Ellis is really starting to talk a lot. She likes to point at objects and say the word when she knows it, and she's also starting to say things like "park fun". Her current catch phrases are "turn left" from copying the GPS and "I like soap" (I have no idea where that one came from!).