A new school year

Iman and Jack went back to school today, both very excited to see their friends again and go into new classes. Iman is in Year 2 and Jack is in Reception. Ayden too was excited and insisted on wearing his uniform!

Spotty was dragged into this one!

Kilkee

On one of the days while we were at Ballybunion, we took the ferry up to Kilrush in Co. Clare and drove over to Kilkee, another lovely seaside town. Our first stop was further afield to Doonbeg Golf & Spa Resort . Donncha's cousin Kevin works in the hotel and we called in for lunch. A very impressive hotel and that week they were preparing for the wedding of none other than Andrea Coor! Lunch was very nice and Iman, Jack and Ayden made use of the green area next to the restaurant (a.k.a the first tee box) to run around.

After lunch we headed back to Kilkee to go for a short walk along the cliffs. It was a lovely sunny day but also very, very windy.

Still it didn't stop some going into a dip with the waves, rocks and all

At the top of the cliff we were rewarded with this view. And we turned around here as it was far too windy with the kids.

A bit of a swot....

Well done to my nephew Amin who aced his IGCSEs with 7As to his name. You've set a great benchmark Amin and we're all very proud of you.

Spirit of the Glen

One item on Donncha's list of things to to with the kids in Ireland was to see a hurling match so one Sunday we went to Parc Ui Caoimh- the main local stadium in Cork. We were there to support Glen Rovers, the local neighbourhood club for Donncha's parents and the club that Donncha and his siblings grew up playing with.

The kids were very enthuastic about the outing. Iman asked 1001 questions, Ayden was all claps but Jack was more interested in what Uncle Sean was doing - "Why isn't he sitting down?" "What is he doing?" - Sean is the club Doctor and was standing on the sidelines going on and off pitch much to the kids excitement.

Unfortunately the Glen were thrashed by a much better opposition.

Iman, Jack and Ayden's real star of the match attending to an incident although he seemed to be more interested in having a word with the ref rather than looking after the player on the ground. 

Model Railway Village, Clonakilty

This was an outing the kids had with Grannie, Granded, Aunty Eilis, Aunty Mairead, Ruairi and Clodagh. The model village looked great fun and I'm sure that Ayden and Jack were in their element. And well done to Iman and Aunty Eilis on the photos!

Dingle

On one of the days in Ballybunion we went for a drive intending to have lunch in Tralee but instead went all the way to Dingle. Its very beautiful down here and we wish we had more time. It is also a Gaelic speaking area so all road signs are in Gaelic. One of Dingle's best known tourist attraction is probably Fungi the dolphin - he's been in the bay since the 80s and is still there today. We had lovely fish and chips in the town, had a quick walk around and then went further down the peninsula for some spectacular scenery.

Dingle also has a thriving nightlife with plenty of traditional Irish music found in bars. I am told that the following are two popular places. Note that Dick Mack's doubles as a haberdashery. 

And Foxy John's also doubles as a hardware and bicycle shop!

On our drive down the peninsula we came across this 1845 restored famine house. It was up on a hill and had a fantastic view of the Atlantic but one can imagine the bitter cold months especially during the famine years. There was also a family tree in the house (which I never took a picture of) showing the ancestors of the house owners to date.

This was one of the sheds. Note the size of the Irish more than a century ago and in the very old houses, door frames and bed sizes are also smaller.

This is the Blasket Islands accessible by ferry and has a small community.

One the way back we went over the Connor Pass - a very narrow mountain road. View was spectacular but it was very cold and windy.

This is an ancient Irish settlement and the bottom of the valley and there are a few dotted around. There are also a few mountain lakes and one that is accessible from the road but Jack was asleep at the time.

The very narrow Connor Pass.

With our nets on the rock pools...

One sunny but very windy morning in Ballybunion...

Some must have thought it was a good time to go for a dip or have a swimming lesson

But we thought it was better to take our nets to the rock pools and try our luck

It was tricky to get to

And the seaweed was very squishy under our feet which we didn't like..

But we weren't the only ones there - these people even had a bucket?!

We weren't quite sure what we were doing at first

And the boys kept scooping up stones

But Iman with the pink net soon got the hang of it and caught several shrimps - you would need to catch a lot more to make a sandwich so we let them go 

Still it was a lot of fun and I managed to take lots of fun pictures!

McCarthy Cousins

Iman, Jack and Ayden were proud to meet their Irish cousins in Ireland. Grannie Liz kindly hosted an afternoon tea and cousins came from Cork, Dublin, Tipperary and Limerick.  

Here's Ayden with Killian. Killian is from Effin in Limerick and his Mum Noreen is Donncha's first cousin. Less than a year apart, these two got on very well!

Back row left to right : Emma, Eoin, Tommy, Aaron & Killian

Front row left to right : Ciara, Ursula, Roisin & Iman

Iman played and got on very well with Urusla and Ciara.

After a run around and "grass war", Tommy, Jack and Aaron had a sit down and communicated through PSP/DS games.

The following week on the way back from Ballybunion we stopped in Duagh, Co Kerry to visit Grannie Liz's cousins Mary and Lizzie Byrnes. The last time we visited Mary and Lizzie, Iman was 8 months old!

And just before we left we went round to Noreen and Gerard's for tea. Noreen is Grandad Paul's younger sister. Also there was Mary Rowe, Grandad's older sister.