Mitchelstown Caves and Cahir Castle

February 3, 20148 Comments

This week brought several storms through Ireland–blustery wind, chilling rain, and even snow in the “mountains” (the quotes are there because Irish mountains are nothing like Washington mountains. They are simply taller rolling green hills than the rest of the rolling green hills that dot the countryside.) Nevermind the storms, though, adventures were still out there waiting for us. I found a nice indoor activity for our family that would get us out of the wind and the rain: cave exploring. After a quick stop at our new STARBUCKS (!) in town, we were on our way.

The caves we went to are called the Mitchelstown Caves, and they’re only about 45 minutes outside of Cork. We drove up early Saturday morning and we were the first (only?) visitors of the day. I guess other Irish people don’t have my same sense of let’s-go-cave-exploring-in-a-storm adventure.

The caves were discovered in 1833 by a farmer who was doing some work on his farm when his crowbar fell through a crevasse. His family explored and developed the caves, and to this day the same family still owns the caves and leads tours through them. Here we are at the cave entrance, anticipating the wonders that await us below:

Once you get inside the caves, it is absolutely breath-taking. Stairs lead you down into the caverns where you can see all sorts of stalactites (the mineral deposits that hang from the ceiling like icicles), stalagmites (the little mounds that form on the ground beneath stalactites), pillars (where the stalactites and stalagmites eventually meet to form a floor-to-ceiling column), and “curtains” (intricate patterns of mineral deposits that cover the cave walls, looking like a gently-folded piece of cloth). Limestone stalactites like these form at the rate of about 1 inch every hundred years, so you can imagine how long some of these bad boys have been growing. I didn’t know that rocks could be so beautiful.

Photo courtesy of Google Images since we weren’t allowed to take photos inside most parts of the cave.

Back in the 1800’s (and well into the 1900’s, in fact) the only way to see the cave was to carry a candle into the dark abyss where you would spend hours climbing over boulders and through tiny crevices. Thankfully for us, that is no longer the case. Today, the cave is fully lit with electric lights and has a cement pathway with handrails that lead you 1/2 a mile into the cave . When you get to the end of the trail in the “developed” section of the cave, there is a large natural platform surrounded by huge pillars. They actually use this platform as a stage, and during the summer the Cork Opera House brings in musicians to play in this unique performance hall. David and I sang “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” from the stage and, I have to say, we never sounded so good. Here we are standing in front of the stage by a large pillar that they call “The Dragon”:

We all loved the caves and will definitely try to return again some day.

After our morning of cave exploration we were ready to head home. At least, we thought that’s what we were going to do. The great Irish road system had other plans for us, though, and after a wrong turn that led to a 16 Kilometer detour the wrong direction on the highway, we ended up in the town of Cahir. Turns out Cahir was a good place to unexpectedly turn up as they have one of the largest and best-preserved castles I’ve seen in Ireland:

Since we were already there we decided to check out the castle. So, after some quick refueling in the car:

…it was on to Cahir Castle!

The weather was absolutely horrendous by this point–you can’t tell from the photos, but the rain was blowing sideways and it was freezing cold. We had to make pretty quick work of the castle, then, to avoid becoming human Popsicles. In the end it was all worth it, because the castle was really amazing. There were cannons all over the grounds that David used to help defend the fortress:

And iron gates that could chop your head off if you got in the way (not really, Grandma Doreen, they’re just for show…):

There were several rooms of the castle that we could walk through. Even though the castle was built in 1142, the preservation work that they have done in this castle is beautiful and really gives you a picture of what life would have been like inside these walls. This was the banqueting hall. Note the huge ancient Irish Deer antlers hanging on the wall. These animals weighed between 800-1000 pounds and stood over 6 feet tall, with antlers nearly 12 feet wide. I would have loved to see one of those creatures in real life!

Back outside the castle there were lots of little nooks and crannies and holes in the wall (literally) to explore:

As we came to the outer edge of the castle wall I marveled at how the town of Cahir just exists here. With a castle across the street. I wonder if the people who live and work and shop here realize how cool that is.

It was a day full of adventure–and misadventure turned into adventure. But isn’t that what adventure is all about? The planned and the unplanned, the known and the unknown. The journey. Even if that journey takes you 16 kilometers out of your way.

Beach Day in Youghal

January 24, 2014Leave a comment

This week Jon is away on a business trip in the Ukraine so it’s just me and these two munchkins holding down the fort:

I wanted to take a special “field trip” this week to help break up the time. We actually got some nice sunny weather in the middle of the week which reminded me of summer which reminded me of the beach…so, we went to the beach! Yes, it’s January and it’s still frigid out there, but the boys were up for the adventure. I decided to check out the beaches in Youghal (pronounced “yawl”) because they’re not too far from our house and I’ve wanted to go back there ever since we visited the town’s medieval festival in August.

Our day started with a picnic lunch on the beach. Jacob approved.

After lunch we spent a couple of hours playing on the beach. David had fun digging in the rocks and the sand:

And the boys made themselves a “house” on top of this rock. David collected a few dozen rocks that he used as the “fire” and the “plates”. Jacob mostly just stomped around destroying everything that David tried to build.

Once he’d tired of his menacing brother, David moved on to “sand sliding”. He loved climbing up this little sand dune and then jumping and sliding back down.

After we’d had our fill of beach fun we decided to drive through the town before heading back home. Youghal is an ancient walled city and there are still some pretty cool relics from its medieval past.

We drove through this, Youghal’s clock gate. It was built in 1563 on the former site of Trinity Castle, one of the five principle gates into the walled city during the late 14th century.

As we continued down the road we passed Tynte’s Castle. Now set among shops and restaurants on the main street of Youghal, Tynte’s Castle is a 15th century urban tower house–the last tower house that remains in Youghal today.

Finally, we came upon the crowning glory of the medieval town: the town wall.

The Youghal town wall was built in 1250 and it is the second-longest surviving stretch of town wall in Ireland. The sections of wall that still remain stretch for about 1 Kilometer–not bad for a fortress nearing its 800th birthday!

We had a grand time climbing to the top of the wall and peering out through the windows where guards used to patrol with bows and arrows.

The view wasn’t too shabby, either:

And, since David’s newest obsession is the Disney movie Tangled, we had to check out the tower to see if Rapunzel was hiding out inside (she wasn’t).

After walking along the top of the wall we decided to climb back down and see what was on the other side. Just inside the wall is St. Mary’s Collegiate Church and Cemetery. What? A medieval cemetery? I just had to see this.

While we were wandering through the cemetery we came upon this section of the medieval wall. See the coffin-shaped cutout in the stone work? A coffin actually used to reside there. This was the former location of the “pauper’s coffin”. When someone too poor for a proper burial would die, their family would first put their body into the pauper’s coffin. Then the body would be wrapped in a shroud, buried, and the pauper’s coffin would be returned to the wall for the next body. Craaaaazy.

From the cemetery we continued down into St. Mary’s Church. The first church built on this site was a monastic settlement in the year 450. The church that stands today was begun in the year 750 and completed in 1220. The original Irish Oak roof is still intact and the timbers have been carbon dated to the year 1170–which means the roof was constructed before saw mills were even invented. Somebody (rather, somebodies) went out into the woods with an axe, cut down giant trees, and hewed each piece by hand to an exact size and shape before fitting it into the roof. It’s incredible, really. And the church is beautiful–stained glass windows, intricate stone work, and fascinating tombs line the walls.

After exploring the church it was time to go home. As we were heading out of town we passed by this restaurant, The Old Thatch. This restaurant has been in business since 1662. People have been drinking beer here since about the time the Mayflower set sail for the New World. I wanted to go in for a snack but, seeing as both boys had already conked out in the back seat of the car, I decided it was best to just keep driving.

It was a wonderful day exploring with my two little sweeties. And now we’re one day closer to Daddy coming home!

Christmas in Cork

December 13, 20131 Comment

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…CHRISTMAS!!! And, for the first time ever, I get to experience this magical season in another part of the world. In many ways, Christmas in Ireland is very similar to Christmas in America–there are trees and lights and carols and Santa. Some things are a bit different, though.

For starters, the beginning of the actual Christmas season is a bit more ambiguous here. Without Thanksgiving and BLACK FRIDAY (ugh.) to mark the official beginning of all things Christmasey, you start seeing decorations and marketing for the holiday amp up right after Halloween. Another difference in Ireland is the big guy in the red suit. Santa is everywhere here–even more prevalent than America, which I didn’t expect. But he’s cooler here, too. Instead of just getting a photo and a 2-inch candy cane when you sit on Santa’s lap, he gives all the kids actual presents. Proper presents. Like MagnaDoodles and marble mazes and books and farm sets complete with tractors and all the animals. Man, Santa is already so busy with the Irish kids that I’m not sure he’ll have enough loot for the rest of the world come December 25th.

Differences aside, Christmas is Christmas no matter where you are in the world. It is a special time of year full of tradition and festivities. Here are a few highlights from our Christmas season in Cork:

We walked through downtown Cork to see the big wheel and the “German” Christmas market. We ate bratwurst and felt like we were in Leavenworth. It was grand.

The city was all decked out with lights and wreaths and Christmas trees. David liked the Christmas trees the best because, obviously, they were covered in balls. Lots and lots of little red balls that he tried to rip off every tree we passed. Luckily for us, the city planners anticipated his ornament-swiping attempts and they actually zip-tied all of the decorations to the trees. Cork:1, David:0.

We did some holiday baking so Mommy could eat some sweets. I found a kit at the grocery store to bake polar bear cupcakes. They turned out super cute and tasted as good as they looked.

December has been really pleasant weather-wise with mild, dry days. We’ve had fun getting outside to play with our friends:

…and even take a trip to the zoo:

After a failed mid-week attempt to go to a local “Christmas farm” I begged Jon to take us back on the weekend. He’s a good husband, and he obliged. Rumley’s is an “open farm” (a real working farm that they deck out so the public can visit it) and they had lots of animals and fun activities for the kids. They had quite a range of animals for a farm–it was really more like a zoo. They had water buffalo, alpaca, sheep, cows, donkeys, pigs, birds, lemurs, monkeys, mongoose, ostriches and even camels.

There were go-karts to drive:

…and golf balls to drive (David’s favorite):

We rode on a tractor pull:

…and got to pet some cute cuddly creatures:

And to wrap up our Christmas in Cork we celebrated with David’s first-ever preschool Christmas pageant. David was the cutest little shepherd I ever have seen (I wonder if real shepherd’s wear dish towels on their heads?). Here’s our little shepherd David with his friend Jack the donkey:

And here’s the whole class getting ready to perform (there were about 30 preschoolers and about 5,000 parents in the audience):

And, finally, here’s David with his sweet teacher Miss Aisling:

We have had such a wonderful time here in Cork celebrating the first part of this Christmas season. Tomorrow, though, we leave Ireland for our big trip home to Seattle for Christmas. We will be spending three (3!) glorious weeks with our loved ones. I can’t wait to go home and see everyone and everything that I’ve been missing but, truth be told, I will also be missing Ireland. Merry Christmas, Ireland–we’ll see you again soon!

Mom and Dad’s Visit To Ireland

November 4, 20134 Comments

I just had the most amazing two weeks with these two: my mom and dad (or, as they are better known around this house, Nana and Papa). I can’t even begin to tell you how wonderful it was to have them here–to hug them, to show them our new home, to explore Ireland with them, to marvel together at how quickly my boys are growing, to introduce them to our new friends, to laugh with them, to have conversations that are not only between the hours of 3 and 9 PM (which happen to be the only times that we’re all available with time zone differences). It was…incredible. And I never wanted their time here to end. But, alas, the time has already come and gone. Now all we have are the memories…and lots of photos. LOTS of photos (we’re talking in the tens of thousands here, folks). So, I’ll try to do their visit justice with this little (read: LONG) photo diary of our adventures together in the Emerald Isle.

Cork City

Mom and Dad flew in to Dublin and spent a couple of days there exploring the capital and celebrating their 35th(!) wedding anniversary. I love that they are still in love and that they always keep things new and exciting in their lives. Although they have traveled all over the world, neither of them had ever been to Ireland before. It was my mission, then, to win them over to this beautiful country.

After their brief stay in Dublin, Mom and Dad took the train to Cork where two VERY excited little boys were waiting to greet them at the train station:

For our first full day together, I took them on a whirlwind tour of Cork City, the real capital of Ireland. We started at the old Cork city gaol (jail)…not because I wanted to send any subliminal messages, but because I had already purchased a Groupon voucher to use there and I wanted to make sure we got to it before the boys got cranky (which is basically any and every time after they’ve woken up in the morning, so I don’t know why I even try). The gaol is a beautiful 200-year old building with a colorful history. We got to walk through the hallways where the guards would have kept watch and even go inside the cells where the poor miserable inmates would have worked away their sentences. Let’s just say I was glad we had the freedom to leave that place when we were ready!

After exploring the gaol we went to another part of the city called Shandon. We hiked up a big hill to St. Anne’s Church, home of the famous “Four-Faced Liar” clock and the ever-ringing Shandon bells. We played a few songs on the bells (yes, they let anyone who pays the 4 Euro admission price ring those giant church bells to their little heart’s content) and then we climbed the steep, spiraly, claustrophobic stairs all the way to the tippy-top of the tower.

When we got to the top of the tower we were rewarded with a gorgeous panoramic view of Cork city. Definitely worth the precarious journey.

Once we got our feet back on solid ground, it was time for some lunch and shopping. We strolled through the city and crossed one of the many bridges that cross the quays (wharfs) that divide the city. This was about our (and by our, I mean the boys’) limit for the day so we called it quits and headed back for a quiet evening at home.

Morning Run

My parents are both avid runners. I always feel a bit like a lazy slob when I’m around them because they’re up at 7 AM every morning lacing up their running shoes before I’ve even rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I happen to have a few favorite runs around here, though, so I was ready for them. After we dropped David off at preschool on Thursday morning we went down to the pedestrian path that goes along the waterfront. Since my dad is the fastest, I made him push Jacob in the stroller (nothing like pushing a baby through a head-wind to even out the pacing!). Our turn-around point on this run was Blackrock Castle (and, like me, they were adequately impressed at being able to run to an actual castle).

As you can tell from the plastic-wrapped baby in this photo, it started to rain a bit on our return trip. All the more reason to run faster all the way back to our car!

Later that day I converted my dad over to “The Darkside”: I taught him how to use Facebook. And now, instead of running, this is what we might all look like at any given moment:

Now, since we all needed something worthy of posting to Facebook, we decided to go out and listen to some local trad (Irish music) downtown. Unfortunately for us there was a jazz festival going on that night so every SINGLE pub in town was featuring jazz musicians. No trad for us, but we did get some pints and some good music after all.

Cliffs of Moher

Jon was actually able to take a few days off of work while my parents were visiting so we took a couple of bigger day trips while he was with us. The first outside-of-Cork trip we did was to the Cliffs of Moher on the western coast of County Clare. On our way up to the cliffs we came across this beautiful old abandoned church. We got out to stretch our legs and snap a few photos before continuing on.

The cliffs are one of the most dramatic natural sites I’ve ever witnessed. Truly magnificent.

The cliffs were the perfect backdrop for a family photo-op:

There are miles and miles of trails that you can hike around the cliffs, but we decided to stick to the main paved path with our two little darlings. After all, you never know when a lovely stroll might turn into a full-on fit because you aren’t allowed to swim in a giant mud puddle:

Note: I should have just let him swim in the giant mud puddle because about 20 minutes later he FELL in an even BIGGER puddle and had to get showered off in a public restroom.

It wasn’t all bad, though. We did find some fun activities at the Cliffs, like throwing pebbles in drains:

And catching some sweet air with Papa:

After a few hours (and a few thousand photos) at the cliffs, it was time to pack up and move on. We had a dinner date at…

Bunratty Castle Medieval Banquet

Yes, that’s right. A medieval banquet. I know it may sound cheesy (ok, I KNOW it sounds cheesy!) but it was so much fun that I don’t even care. Actually, I think this is one of my favorite things that we’ve done in Ireland.

The castle has a folk park that is set up like a medieval village, complete with houses, shops and animals–like this “piggery”:

The castle itself was built in 1425. Incredible. Just to imagine the things that have happened in this place…

When we walked into the banquet we were greeted by our hosts who were wearing period dress and handing out mead (honey wine). I liked them already. There was also a harpist and a violinist (who, we discovered, studied at Juliard) playing for us in the entrance hall. I love this photo I got of David sneaking Daddy a kiss as we all settled in:

After we all had sufficient mead it was time to go downstairs to the banqueting hall. We were all seated at long tables (except our family, who they sat in a secluded table away from the other paying customers. I wonder why…). There was much music and merriment.

We were served course after course of delicious food (and bottomless wine. Did I mention that this is my favorite place in Ireland?). David and Jacob both consumed ribs like they were rabid little baby beasts. It was awesome.

And then Jacob had a meltdown. It had been a very long day for a 1-year old, and I felt his pain. Literally. I ended up eating my dinner standing up while holding a screaming, flailing, eye-gouging, hair-pulling baby. All I can say is, thank goodness for the loud music. And the bottomless wine. That helped, too. In the end, though, it really was an amazing experience. Perhaps we will return again some day with baby-restraint devices in tow.

Cobh and the Titanic Museum

Our next outing was to the quaint town of Cobh, about 20 minutes from our house. Formerly called Queenstown, Cobh was the last port of call for Titanic before her fatal voyage out to sea. Curiously, it is also the location where survivors and the bodies of those who perished in the sinking of Lusitania were brought ashore.

We started our day at the Experience Titanic museum, housed in the former White Star ticketing office from where passengers departed for Titanic.

The museum is an interactive experience where each guest is given a “ticket” with the name of an actual passenger who boarded Titanic from this very spot over 100 years ago. As you go through the museum, you see mock-ups of the state rooms, the loading dock where passengers said their final good-byes, and audio-visual presentations.

At the end of the tour you can search for your passenger to see what their fate was on Titanic (sadly, all of our passengers perished). It was a fascinating museum to visit.

After our time at the museum we went outside to explore a bit more of Cobh. In the center of the town there is a Lusitania memorial. My dad actually has a relative who died in this shipwreck, so it was pretty humbling to stand in this place.

We walked past rows of brightly-colored houses:

All the way to the top of a huge hill where an even huger church stands guard over the town and her harbor:

After sufficient exploring was had by all, we headed back home. To save us a little driving time we took the tiny car ferry that runs between Cobh and Passage West right up the street from our house.

Kinsale

We actually had a few days between our visit to Cobh and our visit to Kinsale. We celebrated David’s 3rd birthday (detailed here), we enjoyed a fun Halloween (yes, they dress up and trick-or-treat here!), and Jon and I went on an over-night trip to Killarney and the Ring of Kerry (read all about it here). While Jon and I were in Kerry, Mom and Dad took the boys to Fota Wildlife Park and the Rock of Cashel. I think they’re pretty brave adventuring alone with our boys!

After our refreshing trip to Kerry, I was ready to continue my role as local tour guide. Next stop on the tour: Kinsale. Like Cobh, Kinsale is a cute little harbor town with a character all it’s own.

Kinsale is known as a “foodie” capital and has some of the best restaurants around. We ate lunch at my favorite cafe in town, the Lemon Leaf. After lunch we walked around town and saw some of the beautiful sights: the harbor with its pristine white sailboats, Desmond castle, shops (where I bought my first pieces of Irish art–I’m in love!), and beautiful old churches. This is St. Multose church, built in the year 1190 and used as a place of Christian worship continually since then. In fact, they were even having a church service there while we were walking around.

At about 3:00 I excused myself to take the boys home for naptime while Mom and Dad continued exploring. They had a pint at The Spaniard pub and then checked out the impressive Charles Fort.

Blarney Castle

I wanted Mom and Dad to go out with a bang, so for their final full day with us it was a trip out to Blarney Castle and the famous Blarney Stone.

The stone (which is said to impart the gift of eloquence on all who kiss it) is actually built into a precipice at the top of the castle. We hiked up flight after flight of stairs until we reached the roof of the castle.

To kiss the stone, you actually have to lean backward, hang onto support bars, and dangle upside down from the top of the castle. Mom was the only one brave enough to actually kiss the stone on this occasion, so we’ll just have to let her do all the talking for us from now on:

After exploring the rooms and staircases and crazy defense mechanisms built into the castle, we spent a couple of hours exploring the beautiful grounds. There are actually lakes and rivers and forests you can hike to within the castle grounds so it was the perfect place for David to get out and run around.

Seeing such an amazing castle was the perfect ending to an amazing trip!

It really was the visit of a lifetime. So many fun times were had and so many lasting memories were made. I think I did a good job showing them the local sites–and left just enough out that they may have to come back and visit us again. Miss you already, Mom and Dad!

Big Ships

October 20, 2013Leave a comment

Cork is all abuzz this week because it is “Cork Rebel Week”. You see, back in the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War the people of Cork–and the city itself–got quite a reputation for being, shall we say, enthusiastic fighters. They were rebels. They fought for this place. And still to this day, the people of Cork have such a sense of pride over their city that they often refer to it as a separate country (“The People’s Republic of Cork”) or as the “Real Capital” of Ireland. It is fitting, then, that there would be a whole week each year devoted to all that is wonderful and Rebel.

There were several events happening all week–parades, concerts, even a bouncy ball race down the steepest hill in the city (for David’s sake I’m actually pretty disappointed that we missed that one. There’s always next year). Today was the last day of Rebel Week and we managed to make it to one last festivity: The International Naval Festival. And, in all honesty, it would have been pretty hard for us to miss it. The ships were literally stationed in the water right across the street from our church. So, after church we walked across the street to check out all the action. We grabbed some Thai food from a food truck and then explored the marina.

On display were ships from Ireland, Russia, France, Amsterdam and Germany. This is an Irish vessel. We asked a sailor who was stationed in front of this ship if he could tell us a bit about it. He started: “It’s really old…it was built in the 80’s.” Well, I guess that makes me ancient by Irish naval standards.

All of the ships were open to the public to walk on board and have a look around. David only tried to jump overboard 3 times.

Even Jon had a blast on the ship. Get it–a blast? Hehehe…

And, even though this was last Sunday, I thought I’d include one last Big Ship that we saw this week: a Dutch Submarine. It was massive and loud and I’ve decided I would be terrified to ride in a submarine. It was incredible to see it up close, though!

This week we are getting our first visitors from home: my parents! I am so super-duper-incredibly-excited to see them and show them around Ireland, so expect a few blog posts soon with some of our adventures!

Blackrock Castle Observatory

October 7, 20133 Comments

One of the first things that struck me when we moved to Ireland was the number of castles. You’ll just be driving or walking along here, turn a corner, and–BAM!–castle! They’re everywhere. Some are just little piles of rubble and others have been beautifully restored. Coming from Seattle where the oldest thing we have is a crumbling piece of highway called The Viaduct, the castles have made quite an impression on me.

There’s a really neat castle down the road from Jon’s office called Blackrock Castle. This particular castle was recently restored and is now home to a restaurant and an observatory/science center. It’s right on a pedestrian path that goes along the waterfront, so I frequent the area on my runs. Until this week, though, I had never set foot inside the castle walls. Friday happened to be “Free First Friday” at the castle and, since “free” and “castle” happen to be two of my favorite words, I just had to go.

All of the exhibits were open to the public for free in the evening, and they even had some little workshops and a guest speaker available (we didn’t burden the guest speaker with our presence). We did have a great time exploring the hands-on exhibits inside the observatory.

David colored a rocket ship picture (and it must have made quite an impression on him because now his favorite game is to turn every box in our home into a rocket ship):

We looked out a “moon window” at a cargo ship floating past us in the harbor (I pointed out that this was the same kind of “big ship” that carries little boys’ balls and toys from places like Seattle to places like Ireland).

The boys moved metallic objects around a table with giant magnets:

And David got to experiment with sand and water to see if he could make land formations like they have found on Mars (he really just built sandcastles, but maybe someday they will find sandcastles on Mars, too):

As we were leaving the castle we saw another Irish icon: a beautiful rainbow arching over the dimming horizon:

Goodnight, castle. Goodnight, rainbow. Goodnight, Ireland.

Spike Island: “Ireland’s Alcatraz”

September 30, 2013Leave a comment

I’ve been going a bit stir crazy this week. You know, home alone with two rowdy (and sick) little boys while Daddy is away on business and it decides to rain all week so we can’t leave our house to DO anything. Bleh. So when we got a break in the weather this weekend, I seized my opportunity and packed the boys into the car for “an adventure” (this is what I call all of the crazy things I make my children do with me so they’ll think they are fun and worthwhile ventures).

My “Plan A” was to go to this place I’d read about called Mizen Head. It is the southern-most point in Ireland and it’s got this really cool suspension bridge out to a lighthouse. And, it’s in the same county we live in so I thought, Hey–we’ll just hop on over there this morning! But when I punched in my destination to my GPS and it came back at 2 hours 26 minutes, I decided I wasn’t up for a hop quite that long.

Plan B: Spike Island.

I’d also been wanting to go out to this place called Spike Island, also known as “Ireland’s Alcatraz”. As part of it’s colorful past, this island was a sort of prison purgatory for criminals awaiting transport on prison ships to Australia or Tasmania (at times throughout history it was also used as a monastery, a smuggler’s cove and a naval fort) . Plus, it was only 20 minutes from our house. That’s the kind of hop I could do. We drove down to a town called Cobh where boats ferry visitors out to Spike Island. We got there at the crack-o-the-Irish-dawn (10:00) so, naturally, the place was deserted. The kiosk that sells boat tickets out to the island had a handwritten sign stating that the first tour of the day would be at 12:00. Hmmmmm….

As I was contemplating what Plan C might be, I noticed a group of people walking down the pier toward the docked boats. Perhaps, I thought, there is an early bird boat after all! I whipped the boys out of the car and ran down the pier after the other tourists to see if I could catch whatever boat they were taking. When we got to the boat, the captain was standing on the pier helping passengers aboard. At this point, quick observation of the scene told me that I was probably in the wrong place. Every person boarding that boat had silver hair and a Canon SLR the size of an actual cannon. And none of them had tickets. When I asked the captain how I could purchase our tickets, he simply stated that this was a private tour, but I could board “for a bit of charity”. While I smiled knowingly and racked my brain for what “a bit of charity” might mean, I noticed another rogue passenger slip the captain a 20 and climb on board. Ahhhhh…charity.

“Oh, yes, I have money. Hold on a sec.” (Tell David to NOT MOVE ONE INCH CLOSER TO THAT WATER, take the baby backpack off, rifle around in the backpack for my wallet…keep searching…I know it’s in here somewhere…Ah! Found it! Open the wallet. See that there’s no money. Tell the captain that he can have all of my change. Proceed to empty a bunch of loose coins into the confused captain’s hand. Smile sheepishly. Put baby backpack back on. Get David out of the water. Climb on the boat.)

Once we stowaways were safely aboard the vessel, it was actually a really nice ride out to the island. As we were pulling away from Cobh, we passed the Titanic museum and the pier where the last passengers departed for Titanic over 100 years ago. 126 passengers boarded from this pier in Cobh, but only 44 of them survived. Kind of crazy to think about. Thankfully, we had a much less eventful boat ride than those poor Titanic passengers. We were able to sit inside the boat (good, because it was windy and COLD out there!) and it was a quick 10-minute trip across the water to Spike Island. Once on the island, we had a great time exploring. We threw rocks into the ocean (David’s request): And we spent about 3 hours walking around the island (my request): We saw the remains of some army barracks and old buildings (built in the 1700’s): The old Navy fort (built in the 1800’s): And some more modern prison cells (built in the 1900’s). I told David that this is where I’d send him if he left his Legos lying around for me to trip on again. We rounded out the day with some sand castles on the beach before we boarded our boat for the return trip back to our car: Things didn’t all go as planned, but they rarely do. And sometimes, the best memories are made when our plans go out the window. Here’s to a future of ruined plans and many more great memories to come!

A Visit From Flat Stanley

September 16, 2013Leave a comment

I love getting mail. Especially mail that doesn’t contain the words “statement”, “due” or “billing”. And I really, really, really love getting mail from home (hint, hint). We were all excited, then, to receive a special package a couple of weeks ago from a friend of mine back in Washington. Inside there was a letter from her first-grade son and a paper cutout of a little boy: Flat Stanley.

If you have ever met Flat Stanley yourself, then you know what a special treat it is to welcome him into your home. If you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, then let me enlighten you. Flat Stanley is a children’s book (actually, now, a series of books)–it is incredibly entertaining, and I actually used to read it to my class every year. The book is about a little boy named–you guessed it!–Stanley, who gets squashed flat as a postcard when a poster falls on him. Now that Stanley is flat, he can do all sorts of things that he couldn’t do before: slide under locked doors, fly like a kite, and even fold himself up in an envelope to travel the world. And this, of course, is how Stanley came to arrive at our house in Ireland.

We had fun taking Stanley with us around town to show him what life is like here in Ireland. And, although we didn’t have any big adventures planned for the time that he was here visiting, I think we still showed him a pretty good time.

The first place we took Stanley was the harbor town of Kinsale. It is a short drive to Kinsale from our home in Cork, and is one of our favorite places to visit. Kinsale is known for it’s gourmet food scene, art, and history (it is the site where the English defeated Spanish forces in a 1601 battle of the Spanish War).

While we were in Kinsale, we took Stanley on a walk through town. We ate lunch at a yummy cafe called Lemon Leaf, toured Desmond Castle, did some shopping, and visited an arcade to drive the bumper cars. I think Stanley was pretty worn out from all of the excitement, so we decided to head back home for some naps in the afternoon.

Later in the week we took Stanley to our favorite walking path. The path goes along Cork Harbor for miles and miles–I have no idea where it actually starts or ends because we haven’t found them yet. We did, however, spend some time on this beach right off the pathway. David took Stanley down to the shore to throw stones into the water while I tried to convince our dog to get out of the water and rejoin us for our walk (whose idea was it to let her off the leash, anyway?).

Stanley enjoyed looking at all of the fishing boats that were anchored offshore. I bet he was trying to figure out how he could act as a sail for one of the boats and carry it out to sea.

Stanley spotted this playground by the path and he wanted to stop for a little play break, so I obliged. Jacob was happy to help Stanley go for a swing.

We finished our walk in the town of Passage West. Stanley thought that this building, The Shamrock, seemed very Irish. He insisted that I take ONE MORE photo of him here to prove that he was in Ireland (this Stanley is going to make me look like a Japanese tourist. Geesh!).

The next day Stanley woke up early to help us drive Daddy to work. After we dropped Daddy off we went right up the road from Daddy’s office to a castle called Blackrock Castle. The tower of Blackrock Castle was built in 1604 to help protect the harbor from pirates (!) and Spaniards (?). Now there is a science center, an observatory, and a restaurant inside the castle.

Stanley enjoyed Blackrock Castle so much that he was practically begging me to take him to another castle. And, since there are over 3,500 castles in Ireland, we had several to choose from. The next morning after we dropped David off at Preschool we drove out to another castle a few miles away (shhh! Don’t tell David that we have fun while he’s away at school!). This castle is called Barryscourt Castle:

Barryscourt Castle is a Tower House–a castle that a family built as their personal home (a very well-fortified home). This particular castle was built in the early 1600’s and was home to Lord Barry and his family (this family controlled most of County Cork in those days). Today the castle has been restored using traditional building methods (only stone, mortar, and wooden pegs hold this place together!). Inside, several rooms have been set up with period furnishings and fittings so you can get a picture of what life would have been like in the castle. Stanley even climbed right up onto Lord Barry’s chair to see what it would be like to eat a feast fit for a king (it was a big chair for a small Stanley–look really closely and you’ll see him!).

We were all getting hungry by now, so after we picked up David from preschool we stopped by our Farmer’s Market for lunch. Stanley ate some pizza and raspberries, then he helped us buy some milk and yogurt from the dairy stand. He thought that the fresh Irish milk was yummmmmmmmy!

For our final adventure with Stanley, we decided to go somewhere truly memorable. We took an incredible day-trip out to Killarney, and Stanley got to join in all the action. He rode with us on a horse-drawn carriage called a trap through the Gap of Dunloe:

He walked with us to beautiful lakes (he really wanted to go swimming, but we told him it was too cold for that right now):

And, because he loves them SO much, we took Stanley to one more castle. This castle is called Ross Castle, and it was one of Stanley’s favorites. He liked looking out at the big blue lakes from the top of the tower.

Stanley wanted to stay in the castle longer, but he knew that it was almost time for him to leave our family. Even flat little boys start to miss their homes. He had a fun visit here in Ireland, and he can’t wait to come back again some day!

Medieval Festival In An Ancient Walled City

August 18, 20133 Comments

This has been one of those wonderfully rare weekends that had just the right balance of fun, rest, and rejuvenation. On Saturday morning I basically got a mommy-vacation: I went grocery shopping by myself for two glorious hours (because it still takes me that long to figure out where to find things and what packaging to look for and convert prices from dollars/pound to kilograms/Euro so I know if the item is actually worth purchasing).

After my little “shopping spree” I went to our church for a women’s mini conference. It was a beautiful event with a talented speaker, heartfelt worship, and delicious food–including my favorite: scones (oh my, the scones here are to die for. Seriously, one of my favorite things about Ireland. The fact that scones with jam and cream are a part of daily life makes living here 100% worthwhile).

While I was at the conference noshing on scones, Jon took the boys to our local castle in Blackrock for a tour of the dungeons. Turns out, this was not nearly as cool as it sounds. The dungeons were not actually dungeons–it was just the basement, and had never been used as a dungeon at all. Very misleading. The boys enjoyed themselves as much as they could walking around an empty castle basement for half an hour, and at the end of the tour they got to go up to the top of the castle to check out the view (upon which David stated that he was going to throw his baby brother off the roof. We may need to work on the whole “brotherly love” thing).

On Saturday night, Jon and I got to go out on our first date night since moving here to Ireland. A sweet girl from our church came over to our house and looked after our (sleeping) children so we could go out to a movie. It wasn’t the most unique date, but it sure felt nice to get away from our house and enjoy some time together.

The big event of our weekend, though, was the Youghal Medieval Festival. The event was in Youghal (pronounced “yawl”), an ancient walled city in County Cork where people actually lived during medieval times–how cool is that?! There were lots of fun events going on at the festival: food, music, crafts and medieval demos. And lots of people dressed up in awesome medieval costumes. We forgot our costumes, but we tried to fit in as best as we could.

We all enjoyed listening to the Youghal Pipers:

And we got a great view of the town:

When asked what his favorite part of the day was, David said it was “watching Mommy get scratched.” This is what he was referring to:

They had a tent set up with all sorts of medieval torture apparatus and drawings showing how they used to be implemented. Gross. A little girl was manning this tent and she convinced me to help her demonstrate some of the apparatus. She literally tied me up to this torture board and started hacking at me with a foam axe. I was putting on a great show for the kids, cringing and writhing in pain each time her axe came down on me. It was all fun and games until my tormenter went over to her table of torture devices and picked up a real metal anvil. I quickly slipped out of my restraints before she could finish her demonstration.

I have suspected for quite some time now that our son is crazy. My suspicions were confirmed today. There was an arena set up for toy sword fighting. All of the kids were invited in to use foam swords to attack some guys in medieval garb. While all of the other kids rushed to attack their targets, David ran in the opposite direction and started “stabbing” an unsuspecting spectator (David is in the green shirt in the left side of this photo). Thankfully David’s victim wasn’t caught too off guard by David’s advances and he managed to fight off the wild little beast.

After all of the excitement of the festival we had to get some nourishment. We ate grilled kangaroo (yes, the jumpy things from Australia–not totally medieval, but definitely different), sausages, pizza and ice cream. Yummmm…

A very sweet weekend, indeed.

Farm Field Trip

August 16, 2013Leave a comment

I’m really on a kick this week, folks–and a farming kick, nonetheless. Perhaps it’s because you can’t drive more than 2 miles (er..kilometers) here without passing through a sheep paddock or a cow pasture. In fact, 1 out of every 7 jobs in Ireland is involved in agriculture and food. I love it. Yesterday I took the boys to our local farmer’s market (read more about our escapades here) and we had so much fun that I decided to take a little field trip out to a REAL farm today (mommy gold star: earned). It wasn’t difficult to find a farm to visit (like I said, lots of farms here) so I chose one just outside of Cork city called The Farm at Grenagh. It’s an open farm with real animals and tractors and crops…and lots of fun things for the kidlets, too.

When we got to the farm David was in a mood, so I sat him on a bench to brood while Jacob and I checked out the riding tractors. I even managed to snap a quick photo of him before he tumbled right off the slick little seat (don’t worry, Gramma Doreen, I caught him before he hit the ground).

Seeing that the farm was actually a fun place (duh) David decided to join in our activities. The next place we headed was the sandbox. We had fun building sand castles (and, for Jacob, eating a fair amount of said sand castles).

After getting our fill of sand (literally) we went into the animal barn to meet some furry friends. This goat was very friendly. A little too friendly for my comfort. Jacob kept sticking his foot up near the fence and the goat would lick his shoe. Knowing goats tendencies to eat assorted non-food objects (like, for instance, leather baby booties) I decided it was probably best for all involved if we parted ways.

Just outside of the animal barn there were several pastures with cows, sheep, horses and donkeys. My children love donkeys. Both of them. Kinda strange, but you’ve gotta love something. As soon as we rounded the corner to where the donkeys were, both boys started heeing and hawing. The donkeys must have liked it because they sauntered over to the fence to say hello. The boys could have stayed at that fence all day stroking those soft little donkey noses but, alas, there was more farm to be seen.

Next on our agenda was a lesson in cow milking. They had cow “statues” (not quite sure what to call a large metal cow with udders full of water) and the kids got to learn how cows are milked and put real milk suckers (again, not sure what to call them) on the cows to “milk” them.

After our lesson in cow milking, it was time for a tractor-pull train ride. Jacob and I even managed to squeeze into one of the little barrels so we could tour the farm with the other kids.

Then we went into the farms museum that was full of old-timey memorabilia. David enjoyed working as the telephone switchboard operator (after I told him that they were telephones, that is. Poor thing has only ever seen iPhones, so he really didn’t have a clue how to work them).

We ended the day with a visit to the ball pit. There are many things I love about Ireland, and right at the top of the list is the fact that there are ball pits everywhere: at shopping malls, at playgrounds, at farms. There is almost nothing else in this world that brings my boys so much joy as a romp in a ball pit. Thank you, Ireland, for providing me hours of whine-free entertainment.

And then it was time to go home. Singing “Old McDonald” the whole way.

We Love, Teach, Grow

My journey through motherhood

Tag: Cork