Train Ride to Bray, County Wicklow

March 28, 2014.  The weather forecast on this weekend was... wait for it..... RAINY!  So we decided it might be fun to take the train to County Wicklow, and visit the Sea Life Aquarium in Bray.  Isandro was pretty thrilled with this new found freedom of not being strapped in his car seat, and was a total handful!  The aquarium was small and a bit of a letdown, but the kids enjoyed the train ride and had a good time!

Looking out at the scenery on the train.

This guy would not sit still!!

As you can see, the lady sitting behind us was thrilled.

Love that smile though!

Checking out some fish at the aquarium.

A "brilliant" day for a walk. ;)

Lina had a "teddy bear picnic" day at school, with the forecast to be in the 60's, so I knew I had to spend some time with my favorite little guy outside!  Yeah, we might have a new baby coming any day now, but it just felt wrong even thinking about doing dishes, sweeping, and laundry!  We took a walk through our beautiful neighborhood, went through some trails, and had ourselves our own little picnic lunch at the playground.  I sure wish I had the good camera for this walk, but batteries were low.  You can still tell it was an amazing morning to be outside!

Isandro pretending to sleep in the wagon.

Walking trail on a gorgeous day?  Don't mind if we do!

He has the cutest "cheese" face!

Chillin' in the wagon... can we switch, Isandro?  You pull mama now.

Yay, we made it to the playground!! 

Stompin' around.

"Mah mow, mah mow!" ...(lawn mower).  He's obsessed with these things.

Oh boy, what a life!

Time to get out and walk!

Cheese!!!  Almost home now, I'm getting tired!

County Waterford, Ireland

March 21-22, 2014.  Drove down to Waterford County for some exploring, stayed the night at a Bed & Breakfast, woke up the next morning, and did some more exploring before heading home.

First stop: Mount Congreve Gardens...

It was like we were entering a secret garden!

Blooms just beginning.

Endless places to run.

Lots of hidden steps and stairs off 

the main trail... the fun part!

The couple who owned the gardens are buried there.

What a nice view they have!

That's a lot of steps...

Next stop was Dunhill Castle!  We've realized a lot of ruins/sites can be difficult to find.  There will be a small sign, so you think you're on the right track, then you won't see another sign for a while, so you might just try different roads and see where they take you.  We saw Dunhill Castle, and when we drove up to it, there were to gates/fences that were closed, but no "do not enter" signs.  We weren't sure what to do, so we turned around to see if there was another way to enter.  We saw someone walking, and they told us to just open the gate and walk up the hill.  So, we did!  

(from inside)

Looking out from inside the castle.

The view was unbelievable!!

Lina having a great time!

The view from our bed & breakfast where we stayed that night.

Bed & Breakfast spot, Dungarvan.

St. Declan's Round Tower, Ardmore:

Ardmore Beach

Last stop for the weekend was the Ballysaggartmore Towers, in the town of Lismore.

Lismore Castle

Driving to Ballysaggartmore Towers, another place

with a few signs, and then you will miss it if you're 

not paying close attention!  The drives everywhere 

always seem to go by fast because everything

is so beautiful.

The entrance after walking uphill a ways.

Always fun to stomp in a puddle. ...after going 

through the entrance, Isandro soaked his socks and shoes,

so Lina and I went exploring on our own the rest of the way.

We walked about 20 more minutes on a trail to get to the other

part of the towers.

We thought this tree had a funny face. ;)

After some walking, and asking someone passing by

if we were going to see more or if the entrance was it,

we were assured there was more to see after a few more

minutes of walking.  Sure enough, we made it!!  And she

was off like lightning!

Muddy puddles, muddy puddles!

Always fun to play a little hide-and-seek!

At the end of our walking trail.