You Know You Travel Too Much When...

...your almost 2-year old sits down on the floor right before walking through security to TAKE OFF HIS SHOES!! Yes, we and the several couples behind us were roaring with laughter as Jackson sat down right before taking Cody's hand to walk through the security machine and said, "Jackson take his shoes off." Too funny!! Even funnier, he didn't need to take them off, because this is not America! Here in Scotland, you do not need to take off your shoes...only certain ones...which is why Cody had to take his off...and thus, Jackson felt like his should be off. So, this is what started our fun vacation...full of lots of smiles and laughter and pure joy seeing yet another of God's wonderful countries! How blessed we are to be so incredibly close to many different places. So, off to the Republic of Ireland we went!!

**(It must be noted before continuing to read this post that: 1) It is long...so be prepared; and 2) We did change clothes during the trip, but had only brought one sweatshirt for each of us...thus, it appears that we wore the same thing everyday...but really, we took showers and washed clothes and changed they types of jeans we were wearing! O.K. ... carry on...)**

Ireland...what do you think of when you hear Ireland?? Well, I think of Dublin and shamrocks and leprachauns (and with that rainbows and Lucky Charms cereal, but, I digress!). Yes, we spent a day in Dublin, but the rest of our time was spent on the Southeast coastal border...absolutely beautiful Irish countryside. Here was our cottage, literally out in the country...PERFECT!!

The name of the cottage was "Shalom" and the owners had that really cool Irish accent! Anyway, here is a rundown of our trip with a few pictures to tell the story. We took over 100 pictures, so I'll spare you a photo slideshow and just hit the highlights.

SATURDAY: We arrived in Ireland at 4:15pm. Of course, it took us a little while to get everything and the cute little red car (Jackson termed it "the red car" and continues to talk about "the red car" now!) that you see next to the cottage in the picture above. We drove the 2 hours from Dublin Airport to our sweet home for the next week.

SUNDAY: And, off we went at 9:30am. Our first stop...HOOK LIGHTHOUSE. This is the oldest working lighthouse in the world.

The views from the top were amazing, and we enjoyed learning about the history of lighthouses. On our way to see the lighthouse, we stopped and viewed TINTERN ABBEY.

(We did actually get some close-up shots of it, but I thought this picture showed the beautiful countryside as well.)

After a lunch at the Hook Lighthouse cafe, where Jackson quite possibly ate the most of a ham sandwich that he's ever eaten, we traveled into the Wexford Town Centre. Now, what we discovered was the counties are huge here. We stayed in County Wexford. However, it took us a good 30-40 minutes to get to the town centre.



We traveled north a bit to the IRISH NATIONAL HISTORY MUSEUM. This was cool. Usually, anything with the word "history" in it, I know Cody will enjoy thouroughly, and I probably will, but THIS was neat! All three of us enjoyed it! It is an outdoor museum dedicated to explaining the entire history of Ireland...so good for tourists. It "houses" reconstructions of the types of houses, castles, towers, walls, palaces, etc. Here was a cool picture of the monastery example with the Celtic cross...one of those "symbols" of Ireland.

Then, it was 4:30pm...so off to the grocery store (we were staying in a self-catering cottage, so we had to feed ourselves). No pictures of that.

MONDAY: Today was the day I had been looking forward to...our trip to the WATERFORD CRYSTAL FACTORY in Waterford, Ireland. This was my favorite part of our trip. We took a tour of the factory and saw all of the master craftsman at work molding, firing, glassblowing, cutting, boxing...ah, it made me appreciate this crystal (and its price!) so much more. Everything is done by hand...no machines!! I think we all enjoyed it, but probably me the most. We spent the entire morning there. We got our "Ireland souvenier" here...a crystal harp that is engraved with "The Blakes Ireland 2008." Something we will treasure forever. We received a personalized engraved vase as a wedding gift from here 7 years ago...we thought it only fitting to commemorate our anniversary trip with another personalized piece of crystal.



Here is the man engraving our harp:


We then spent the afternoon in two different towns, the first of which was called DUNMORE EAST. Here was where we saw the "typical Irish thatched roof cottages." There was an entire village of them!

Then, after Jackson awoke from his nap in the car (which, by the way, our son is so incredibly flexible. Only once did he actually nap in a bed! The other times...the stroller or carseat!), we headed over to another town, TRAMORE. This is a kid's paradise. When Jackson is asked where he had the most fun in Ireland, he will answer one of three things, the beach, the park, or the big truck. Tramore is a beach town...a long stretch of beach bordered by a "boardwalk" of amusement parks and arcades.



TUESDAY: Today we travelled to the west a bit, to the town of KILKENNY. Here, we toured the town centre and saw the outside of KILKENNY CASTLE, where there were beautifully manicured grounds and a neat little playground for Jackson to play on. He enjoyed slipping, swinging, and sliding in the rain! The water didn't seem to bother him, and he left the park soaking wet from head to toe!



On the way home, we stopped by to tour the DUNBRODY FAMINE SHIP, which is a full scale replica of the emigration ship that was sailed from Ireland to America some years ago.





(For some reason, we have a lot of pictures of the ship with us in them...guess it made for a good backdrop?!?)

WEDNESDAY: God blessed us most of the week with only a little rain...today, it was raining. But that didn't stop us. Amazingly enough, God held the rain in the clouds for most of the time that we were out of the car. Today, we drove around the countryside and navigated our way (because the GPS had no idea where we were) to a wonderful windmill. It is called the TACUMSHANE WINDMILL.


We went about 20 minutes from our cottage to see KILMORE QUAY. Kilmore Quay is just, simply put, a lazy fishing village. But, it had so much character!! Thatched roof cottages tucked in between old bed and breakfasts and miles of water and boats. The owners of the cottage we were staying at recommended going into a pub there called JAMES KEHOE, so we went in to see it. Much to our surprise, they were prepared for children and even had a children's menu for lunch (which, we have found is a MUST for going to a restaurant...it's one of the criteria we must check before going in to eat!)! So, we had our "Irish Pub" experience then. (For those of you thinking it, no, we did not have lots and lots of drinks...in fact, I had water and Cody had one Guinness...I mean, one of us had to have a Guinness in an Irish Pub!! I had dessert in place of a Guinness!) This meal, by far, was the BEST MEAL while we were in Ireland. Fresh fish caught from just yards away...fabulous! Even Jackson enjoyed his fried fresh cod!! The rest of the day was spent reading and taking naps in our cottage, as it was pouring outside. This was a much needed afternoon of simply relaxing.

THURSDAY: This was the day we traveled to DUBLIN. We got up and were off on the road right at 8:30am. We had about a 2 hour drive. After purchasing tickets to the "Green Bus" as it was termed by Jackson, we were off to see as much of Dublin as we could in a day.


We hit four locations, the first being the CHRISTCHURCH CATHEDRAL. What a beautiful cathedral. Cody and I agreed that this was one of the most beautiful ones we've seen...and having been to many in Europe several years ago, we actually did have quite a few to compare it with.



We then popped over to ST. PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL. After seeing Christchurch Cathedral, we agreed that this one came in second. It was still a beautiful one to see, but quite different.

Jackson then woke up from a nice nap in his stroller, so we ate a quick lunch at a cafe and then buzzed over to DUBLIN CASTLE. In retrospect, this one could have been skipped. It was not the "original" castle and so the features were quite "new" compared to some of the original castles and interiors that we have seen here in Scotland. None the less, we took the opportunity to see it and snapped a few pictures. This one is of the ballroom, which is still used today for special events.


We did get to see some of the original rock walls that were underground. I cannot tell you any of the history that the guide talked about, as it was at this moment that Jackson decided to inform us vocally that he was not pleased with being "confined" in someone's arms. So, he and I left the venue early, never to hear probably the most fascinating part of the entire $12 tour. Cody didn't really hear it either...and probably no one else, as, like I said, Jackson was deciding to vocalize within the echoing confines of the original rock walls of the castle. And...I move on...

After Dublin Castle, we hopped aboard the green open top bus to hear some more of the verbal tour of Dublin and then hopped off at ... duh duh dun... the GUINNESS STOREHOUSE! Yes, the whole reason people go to Dublin...to see the Guinness Factory. It's a wopping $27 a pop to get in, but worth it. It was 5 floors of interesting info about the making of Guinness...really, it was interesting. It is essentially a museum ending on the top of the factory in what is known as one of the most amazing views of Ireland. The top is walled in glass...and is a bar...of course!! This is where there are TONS OF PEOPLE packed in "viewing the scenery" and drinking their pint of Guinness that is included in the tour. We thought it was funny that we had a stroller up there with a small child. Alas, he was not the only one up there...there were several children. Here are pictures from the storehouse.




We got back onto the green bus for the rest of the verbal tour of Dublin and ended back in the town centre, where we ate dinner before heading home at 7:30pm. Jackson did fabulous, overall, on this very long day of riding and touring Dublin. He's such a great little traveler...forced upon him, I suppose.

FRIDAY: Well, we had done just about everything we had set out to do, so we chose to go back to Waterford today, which I believe was our favorite location that we saw, and go into the WATERFORD TOWN CENTRE today. It was recommended in books that we take this walking tour of the town from a man called Jack Buschall (or something like that). So, we did. It was awesome!! This man was "authentically Irish!!" He had a thick Irish accent which made the tour that much greater! He crammed 1,000 years of history of Waterford, the oldest city in Ireland, into one hour. On that tour, we saw all the major landmarks, including REGINALD'S TOWER, THE OLD GRANARY, CHRISTCHURCH CATHEDRAL (yes, another one...the 3rd we've been to now, two in Ireland and one in New Zealand) and many other historical sites. We loved the tour and were so thrilled to have been able to see Christchurch Cathedral. This cathedral was just as amazing as the one in Dublin, but on a totally different scale. It was unlike ANY cathedral we'd ever seen. The inside of the cathedral, we were told and could see, was built like the outside of many cathedrals of it's time. It was designed more like a palace (marble pillars, moldings on the ceiling) than a cathedral of it's time.


At the end of our historical walk, we decided to go find a park for Jackson to run around in. So, to end our day, Jackson (well, and Mommy and Daddy) played at the park...the "most fun" Jackson had in Ireland. This time, we brought the camera.




Our day in Waterford ended with another trip back to Ballyhack and then Wexford via car ferry. As Jackson would say, "Put the red car on the boat."

SATURDAY: Well, sadly, our vacation in Ireland was over. We left our cute little country cottage this morning to drive back to Dublin, take a shuttle to the airport, an airplane to Edinburgh, Scotland, the bus to the train station, the train to our car and then our car back home. All three of us agreed that we had fun in Ireland.

Then, we started thinking...where to next??? We have some ideas...Spain, Paris, Prague...who knows. God is so wonderful to give us so many opportunities and choices...I am truly greatful that He created so many beautiful places to see and has given us the means to see them. To Him be the glory...wherever we are!