Irish Holiday.

We got home from our family adventure to Ireland a few days ago. Josh and I have been in recovery mode ever since and poor Chris had to run off to work the next day. It was a fabulous week and Chris and I were beyond proud of how well Josh did despite long travels, time changes, and boring adult things. Although we were in Ireland for a short 6 days, we packed in a lot and traveled, literally, across the country. I am completely fried, but I will try to do our trip justice. Sorry for my absence. Sadly, I had to wait to escape home and come to work to find time to sit down and focus on this blog post.

Our journey started early last Monday morning. Chris and I had done a tremendous job talking up the trip to Josh, because he was about to pop out of his skin with excitement. "WE'RE GOING TO ISLAND TODAY." "Island." This is how Josh pronounced Ireland the entire trip. Super cute. You gotta give it to him... it IS in fact an island.

Josh was great on the flight over. He impressed the flight attendants with his drawing and they taped his art work to the front of the bulk head aisle for all the passengers to enjoy. He was thrilled with the attention, of course.

The flights were about 13 hours total. Josh did lots of things. He played games, read books, colored, watched DVDs, ate snacks, snuggled with me, open and closed the window shades 500 times, and buckled and unbuckled his seat belt 700 times. The ONE thing he did NOT do was... SLEEP! Not a wink. Not for 5 minutes. THE. ENTIRE. TRIP. So, once we landed safely in Ireland and buckled him into his comfortable car seat to wheel him through customs into baggage claim, guess what? He fell asleep. And stayed asleep. He slept through us getting our bags, eating a little breakfast with Barn, walking through the cool Irish rain to our rental car, and he even slept through Chris INSTALLING the car seat (with Josh still buckled in) into the rental car. Anyone who has ever installed a car seat, knows that it would have felt like an earthquake in that seat. Crazy! He stayed asleep all morning until we finally woke him up to meet my Uncle John and Aunt Marcella. He was NOT thrilled when I woke him up. Bless his sleepy little heart.

Despite tucking him in bed with his head on a warm pillow and under nice covers, this is how we found him when we went to wake him up. I fear what to think what would have happened if those two beds had slid apart.

After a quick and somewhat fussy visit with John and Marcella, we finally gave Josh his big treat- a yellow submarine toy. Before we left for Ireland, I took him to the toy store and let him pick out one toy he could have if he earned 10 stickers for good behavior on the plane ride to Ireland. He earned all ten stickers and then some, and was happy to finally get his hands on that yellow submarine that had been locked away in our suitcase. Josh believed that there were no toys in Island. The FIRST thing he asked when we landed... "Daddy, are there toys in Island?" Thank goodness for the yellow submarine.

While in Dublin, we got to see my Gran. I haven't seen her in 8 years and Josh had never met her so it was a very special day. She is in her 90's, but still gets around so well and has a lot of spunk in her.

We also got to go into downtown Dublin one morning. We took a Double Decker bus and Josh loved sitting in the very front of the upper deck and watched as all the new and different things pass us by. We spent some time in St. Stephen's Green Park and walked into a few shops to get some postcards and souvenirs for Josh's friends back home. We discovered that Josh LOVES Celtic music when he put on a little dance show for the people on Grafton St. listening to a band play. He even got a few tips.

First things first when I'm in Ireland. I must stock up on my Irish treats. I made a bee-line straight to the Cadbury's chocolates, Tayto Salt and Vinegar chips, and Club Orange in the convenient stores. As you can see, Chris had a different idea of comfort food.

Another Irish treat, of course, was Guinness on tap. Chris and Barn enjoyed a pint a day and Josh had his first sip. He did not like it. At all. In fact, I believe he may have cried a little until the taste went away. Let's just hope this sentiment lasts through college. I love this picture of the three boys with "milk mustaches." Priceless.

After a brief 2 days in Dublin, it was time to head to the Northwest coast of the island for my cousin, Laura's, wedding. It was a lot of driving, but absolutely beautiful and memorable. We drove from Dublin to Rathmullen, then over through Sligo on our way back to Dublin. It was a lot, but nothing compared to driving across Texas, y'all.

Despite driving on the opposite side of the road, the tiny curves and bends, and the countless "round-abouts," Chris did a fabulous job of getting us around Ireland safely and efficiently. He was even able to dodge a random cow that meandered onto the "highway" right in front of our car. Lucky me, I had the camera in my hand and was able to think fast and take a picture of the near-incident, while Chris was able to think fast and slam on the breaks to spare the poor cow's life. That silly cow didn't know what was going on and trotted off in front of our car for a few steps before deciding to go back to the pasture for lunch. You thought this stuff just happens in movies!! One of my friends called this an Irish traffic jam. Ha!

The scenery was truly amazing. There is NO question why they call it the Emerald Isle. We got to see countless rainbows, cows, and sheep. I wish I could say Josh was thrilled at all the things to see on the road trip, but he was too busy watching Scooby Doo! on my iTouch.

Without question, the absolute BEST part of our trip was introducing Josh to my family. It was fantastic seeing my cousins after so many years. The night before the wedding, we had a cousin-only trip to the pub and had a great time laughing at all the family drama we "Yanks" (as my immediate family and I are known) miss out on being thousands of miles away. I loved watching Josh interact with his little cousins (2nd cousins, really, but we'll take what we can get for now). My cousin, David, brought his kids over to meet us at Gran's house and the kids had fun tossing the ball in the back garden and playing with Gran's ceramic gnome that I remember playing with when I was a little girl. Then, when we got to Rathmullen, Josh got to play with my cousin Rebecca's little boy, Joel. Joel and Josh are only 2 weeks apart and had a great time running around the estate where the wedding reception was being held later that night. Joel had an awesome Batman cave that the boys played with and now Josh is obsessed with Batman. So much so, he has chosen Batman as this year's Halloween costume. We will see about that. I had other plans, and I may pout if I don't get my way.

The wedding was amazing. The ceremony started at 2:30pm in a little country cathedral on top of a hill over looking the seaside town of Rathmullen. Laura looked beautiful and everything was perfect. I was extremely excited that head-wear is a MUST at Irish weddings. I had fun checking out all the ladies' hats and head pieces. A lot of girls had them custom-made to match their dresses. I have no idea why we don't have this tradition in the states. We are really missing out, ladies.

After the ceremony, the bride and groom squeezed into a tiny red Mini and invited all the guests to join them down the road at a pub to have a pint of Guinness before heading to the reception. Isn't that great? I love Irish people.

The reception was held at a large estate over looking the sea. Cocktails and hors d'euvres were served in a garden full of the biggest hydrangeas you've ever seen and a candle-lit dinner and dance was held inside a massive tent. The steak dinner was so good. The berry cobbler served with fresh cream and custard was amazing. The drinks were flowing all night as evidenced by the dance floor activities that were taking place. The music was hilarious, as were the dancers. They actually do play Celtic music and people actually REALLY dance the Irish jig, just like Riverdance. No lie. Pictures above to prove it. It was great for people watching.

At 1 am, the party was still in full swing and they served a second meal. Yes, that's right- another meal. But, it wasn't just any meal. They had a chef roast a hog outside the tent for all the guests and served it with salads and sandwich fixin's (except they didn't call them fixin's). This is also when they served the second dessert, the wedding cake. When I saw the second buffet line form at one o'clock in the morning, I said, "That is so gross. Who would want to eat another meal in the middle of the night after that huge dinner?" I'll tell ya who... me! I promptly filled my plate with a taste of everything. And it was delicious. Finally, at 2:15 am, Chris and I called it a night, but we were by no means the last ones to leave. If you are calculating... that means that the wedding celebrations lasted more than TWELVE hours. My family sure know how to throw a party. Other than my own, it was my favorite wedding to date.

Rathmullen is a tiny little town off the sea. There is one tiny road through the town that serves the two pubs, one grocer, and the post office. There is a pier and a sailboat dock in the center of town. And, there is a super cool playground that I believe may have been designed my Dr. Seuss himself. Josh eyed it from miles away and insisted on stopping to play. Poor kid, he needed some fresh air and kid time. We obliged and, as you can see, we all found ourselves enjoying some kid-time at the park. The park was just off the coastline and this brief visit to the park is probably my most favorite memory of the trip. Josh's excitement, the gorgeous views, the endless blue skies and green hills beyond the sea, and my family together for the afternoon... perfection.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and we had to say good-bye to the beautiful west coast of Ireland and make the long, windy drive back to Dublin to catch our flight back to the States.

The trip home was almost as good as the trip to Dublin. Once on our American Airlines flight, I was happily reunited with my Diet Dr. Pepper. Josh, once again, rebelled all forms of sleep until the last hour of our flight. He finally feel asleep somewhere over one of the southern states and stayed asleep until the next morning when he woke up snuggled in his comfortable bed at home. At one point, I even checked his pulse. Seriously, he was out cold.

At school on Wednesday, Josh got to bring a bag filled with Irish memorabilia to share with his class. He choose to bring his new Irish whistle (which is EXTREMELY loud by the way), some Irish coins, his glittery leprechaun bouncy ball, and his Aer Lingus model airplane. When his teacher asked him his 3 favorite things about his trip to Ireland he listed the following SIX things:

1. Getting his yellow submarine.

2. Playing with Joel's Batman Cave.

3. Going to McDonald's (which we NEVER did, by the way- ????).

4. Going to the airport.

5. Playing at the playground.

and then he said,

6. "Oh yeah, and I liked Island, too."

Well said, Little Man!