Boys Will Be Boys!

I took Aidan to see Walking With Dinosaurs in Spokane this week. It was pretty spectacular and he loved it. The only questionable part for him was in the opening scene two baby dinosaurs hatch and one gets eaten by a carnivorous dinosaur. Aidan wanted to know why the “mama was carrying the baby in her mouth.” Luckily the lights dimmed and I didn’t have to answer the question! Owen is a sometimes sensitive soul who gets nervous around the tiger mascot at his uncles’ basketball games, so I left him at Aunt Marlee’s house to play. But the next day the three of us spent the morning at Cabela’s, jeans and swim trunks shopping at the mall and a lovely brunch together. It was a great Mom and Boys trip.

The pictures aren’t great because there was no flash photography allowed.

So it’s been quite awhile since my last post. But I have a good reason…kind of. My mom’s side of our family made a two-week pilgrimage to Ireland for a family reunion. My grandmother was born and grew up in Dublin and her siblings’ families still live across the Irish Sea in Wales. It was an amazing trip. I did not take my boys, I decided it was too long a plane ride for them. In hindsight, they probably would have survived the 11 hour flights, but the difference in time zones would have been hard to overcome. Chad stayed home to take care of the boys. They’d never been on their own like that before, but I think they had as much fun doing “man things” as I had in Ireland.

I received this email while abroad...

The first 48 hours were really hard on me, but thanks to a LOT of Skyping, I made it though! Chad was very thoughtful, because it was hard to plan on set times to Skype, he literally took his laptop with him everywhere. We Skyped in the Lowes parking lot, driving on the way to Wenatchee, and Easter Egg hunting at Grandpa Kent’s.

We were exhausted, but not wanting to waste time, our first hour in Dublin we headed down to a pub for some music and the healing power of Guinness!

This is most of our group having dinner the first night, definitely bleary eyed!

We had gathering at the graves of my grandmother's mother, father and grandmother.

The graveyard they are buried in is incredible. I've never seen a cemetery that big, and in Ireland because of space limitations each grave is often 6 people deep. My Great-Grandmother and Great-Great-Grandmother are buried in the same grave along with several others.

The floor of this building with the tall windows is the apartment my grandmother lived in with her grandmother after her parents died of consumption (tuberculosis).

This blue door is the same door that from when my grandmother lived there. She remembered it being red and sure enough we found red paint beneath some scratches in the blue!

This was the church my great-granparents were married in.

Later that day at lunch, we laughed at the irony of being in the land of Guinness and Irish Whisky, we were still being reminded it was “Miller Time” (Miller, Coors Light and Budweiser ads everywhere)

We then drove across the country to the village of Clifden, where my grandparents had rented an enormous house big enough to fit all of us.

My dad wasn't sure he was going to totally enjoy this trip...until he discovered Lowry's Pub and how good a pint o' Guinness tastes in Ireland. Seriously, I cook with it fairly often at home, but you couldn't get me to drink a glass. In Ireland you couldn’t get me to stop drinking it!

We had some amazing meals out (I will be disappointed ordering fish and chips and seafood chowder for the rest of my life) but we also made some great meals at our house. My third cousin Jason and I concocted this delectable Irish lamb stew.

My brothers and I were determined to hike down to Clifden Castle! We risked life and limb to get there, but we made it!

I have the nerdiest brothers, but the castle really was guarded by a bull!

One morning my ambitious mother decided she wanted to go for a hike…

Croagh Patrick is the mountain legend tells St. Patrick climbed on his knees to drive all the snakes out of Ireland. Well, this is a very popular climb to make. On Reek Sunday, the last Sunday in July. My mother wanted to do it in March with a snow storm in the forecast. They actually had clear weather until 2/3 of the way up when it became a dangerous blizzard preventing them from reaching the top because of safety reasons. She convinced some of our group to follow her…

But my brothers and I (amongst a few others) stayed dry and warm in a pub!

Some of you may know my youngest brother Colin as a shy quite teenager, but he knows how to have a good time on vacation.

He found this tourist novelty in Galway and only took it off when he worried it would get dirty, seriously (I promise he's not actually naked).

This was one of the oldest buildings we went to. This is The Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) which was once attended by Christopher Columbus.

My cute Irish mother after a day of shopping.

My Grandfather is not technically an Irishman, but he certainly looks the part!

My favorite day away from Dublin was the trip we took to the island of Inishbofin. We had to ride a 15 minute ferry to get there…my parents are funny!!

A tiny little island of about 180 people, one B & B and restaurant and a handful of craft stores, but the most amazing scenery and landscape I have ever seen. The type of sand on this particular beach can be found on only two beaches in the world, created by the extreme weather on this island. I’m in the background in the blue jacket in this picture, I’m standing there with tears in my eyes. This photo doesn’t do that view justice.