Irish Vacation - Day 7

Day 7 - it was time to head home.  We had to check out of our hotel at 3 am. (yikes)  The hotel gave us a wake up call and had a cab waiting for us.  We got check in for our flight and made it to our gate while the airport was still waking up. 

 The only thing open that early in the morning was Starbucks in the adjoining terminal.  

 Since when did Starbucks start serving beer, wine and champagne?

After everyone had their coffee, juice and milk we settled in to wait for our flight.   

 We had an hour delay and finally took off at around 7:15 am.  (this was 11:15 pm San Diego time.  keep in mind we left our hotel at 8 pm San Diego time).

The kids all did great about taking naps on the airplane.  Denbigh actually got 2 good naps in.

We were again served two meals.  Jacob was especially excited about the crackers we got with dinner!   

We landed in LA around 10:30 am.  We breezed through customs and got our luggage and then caught a shuttle to the car park.  Finally we were in the car and on our way home.  Everyone was pretty exhausted and we had no food in our house so we went out for an early pizza dinner, grabbed some bananas & milk at the grocery and then headed home for baths and an early bedtime.

We had an absolute blast on our Irish Vacation.  The kids were total troopers and enjoyed all the sights and sounds of Ireland.  We are already planning a trip back to see everything that we missed.  We seem to have caught the adventure bug and really enjoyed introducing our kids to another country.

Irish Vacation - Day 6

On Wednesday Morning we checked out of Castle Leslie.  On the way out we stopped to take pictures of the church located on the estate.

 Then we headed again into Northen Ireland - Belfast this time - specifically the Titanic Museum.

The boys were thrilled to find out that there was a special exhibit featuring robots from the movies.

 The tour was really amazing and gave a great feel for what Belfast was like during that era as well as all that went into the building of the Titanic.

 The Titanic Studios was visible from several of the windows.  Currently "Game of Thrones" is being filmed there.

And here is where the Titanic was actually built.

 We had lunch in the museum and Mama was able to visit the gift shop. 

 And then we indulged the boys with the Robots exhibit.  It was a bit overrated but they really enjoyed it.

 The museum itself is really a spectacular building.

 And here is a closer view of where the Titanic was built.

We headed back to Dublin after this and checked into our hotel.  Daddy returned the rental car and then we headed back to the City Center for dinner at The Woolen Mill.

The Woolen Mill is on the north side of the river which divides the City Center and overlooks the Ha'penny Bridge. 

A fabulous last night in Ireland. 

Irish Vacation - Day 5

The day after the wedding we headed into Northern Ireland with a group of wedding guests.  While we were waiting for everyone to get ready I took some pics of the kids in our "back yard."

Our first stop was the Giant's Causeway.  This was one of our favorite things this trip.  The kids loved the audio tour and hiking the rocks.  The scenery was breathtaking and we were truly in awe.

After hiking back up to the gift shop we decided to visit the nearby town of Bushmills - also home of Ireland's oldest whiskey distillery.  

We walked into town and found a great little pub for dinner.

 Yes, that is a giant circle of roasted goat cheese on my salad.  Oh My Yum.

Located right by the restaurant was this church. . . 

After our tummies were full we headed back to Castle Leslie for our final night in the Mews.