We are down to three for the next ten days and Josh will be experiencing life as an only child. So far on this trip we have been 4 – then 5 – then 4 – then 2 – then 4 – then 6 – briefly 12 – then 6 – now 3. Still to come is 2 – then 4 – then 8. Josh and I will be the only constants!

Sean took Sherry, Larry and Leila to the airport this morning and Josh and I chose to soothe our separation angst in the same way we did last time – we crawled back into bed and watched a movie. This departure’s tearjerker was “Wonder”…and the tears did flow. After the movie and some house cleaning we headed down to the beach. It was low tide when we arrived and after a brief dip, Josh and I focused on building a fun drip castle city. I was so consumed for well over an hour with our castle building that I didn’t even notice that the tide stole Josh’s water shoes. Major oops on my part.

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While we were busy building cities and losing shoes, Sean’s was making his way home and picking up bikes for the three of us on his way. Josh couldn’t wait to get out on the bike and we all enjoyed a long ride along the coast road; stopping to enjoy some beautiful cliffs along the way. I so wish Leila could be here with us but biking is far from her favorite activity so this was a nice thing to do just the three of us.

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Looking forward to another ride tomorrow!

Our plan today had been for all of us to take the car ferry to explore the peninsula just south of us. Before leaving, I wanted to confirm the flight logistics for Leila, Sherry and Larry the next day…and when that wasn’t going smoothly I told the rest of the crew to go on without me.

This trip and coordinating around some of Leila’s dance commitments has been a bit of a logistical jigsaw puzzle. Thankfully we have managed to coordinate her flights around her grandmothers’ visits but it isn’t easy to organize an international flight for a minor when things are being booked at different times, on three different airlines and each leg is with a different person. It took me several hours and lots of phone calls to get things situated. Once that was done though, it was a treat to have some alone time and I enjoyed a run, some cleaning and a little cooking all by myself – which was a rare and welcome silver lining.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew enjoyed a beautiful day exploring the fairy gardens of Tarbert and the beaches of Ballybunion.

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Beautiful sunny days are not necessarily the norm here so they are fully appreciated when they occur. When the crew got home Josh was ready for a swim so I joined him down on the beach. He had barely put a toe in the water before a local dog ran down to join him. Josh played fetch with this pup for over an hour. I have NEVER seen such a good fetch dog in my life. Bringing back every stick and immediately dropping it at Josh’s feet. They were both in heaven!

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Tomorrow Leila will be leaving us for two weeks to head home for dance. I am excited for her and so grateful for dance friends that will be taking care of her while she is there. I am sad to see her go but more than anything it reminds me of what a gift this trip is and how grateful I am that we are doing this NOW. The kids are only getting busier each year and disappearing from life is only going to get harder and harder. I am so thankful that we are having all this time (minus a couple weeks for Leila) together now.

What a special day!

Sean told me about a month ago that coincidentally one of his sisters (Debbi) and his brother (Scott) were going to be taking a vacation in Ireland at the same time that we were here. We don’t get to see Debbi and Scott very often because they live 10 hours away and everyone is so busy and yada yada yada we all know how that goes. All being in Ireland at the same time though was so fortuitous that we had to find a way to meet up.

Debbi and Brian, Scott and Michelle and Scott’s two boys Jack and Andrew drove the hour and half from their vacation home down to our vacation home for the day. It was so wonderful to see them all. Josh has clearly been missing his “guy time” and immediately attached himself to his cousin Jack (who Josh only met once when he was a couple months old). The fact that Jack is a 17 year old virtual stranger to Josh caused zero hesitation. Jack, Andrew and Josh all shared a common interest (and clearly deep bond) for climbing on rocks, collecting rocks, throwing rocks and general stressing out of parents while exhibiting slightly-too-brave antics on slightly-less-than-safe rock cliffs. They are clearly related!

After a quick lunch at our home, we took the whole crew to two of our favorite stops nearby: Bridges of Ross and Kilkee Cliffs. It was a chilly day and very windy but these Sudduths are tough and we didn’t hold back hiking down and around these beautiful sites. After hiking we settled in at Keatings Bar to enjoy some pints while the four kids played at the park and then we all had a yummy seafood dinner together. As we all said, we couldn’t have made a family reunion like this happen if we had tried to coordinate it. It was such a fortunate coincidence.

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It was a quick visit and saying goodbye was tough; especially for Josh who is very anxious to plan a visit to his cousins’ house very soon. Being so far from all our friends and family means that any time we have with familiar faces is so special and dear to us all. We are so grateful that we have gotten to have as many family visitors as we have already and look forward to seeing even more in a few weeks.

P.S. This is what you do after a long cold day in Ireland…put on cozy robes and drink hot tea (its also acceptable to replace the words “hot tea” with “wine”).

Today we took a trip 1.5 hours away to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. Josh seems to be getting more sensitive to long car rides (and Sean’s racecar-style driving) so despite my move to the far back of the car to move him forward and help ease his symptoms…it was still a rough start to the day for him. Luckily he recovers quickly (not pictured – Josh puking).

We spent a lot of time in the folk park; checking out the old cottages, the farm animals and a very creative fairy garden. The kids really enjoyed all of this.

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Considering all the teeth that have been lost on this trip I found this Irish Fairy Poem in the garden to be very timely:

Let me keep your teeth safe while they wait. For the tooth fairy who only comes when it’s late. And I’ll keep hold of your dreams into the night. Ready for you when you’re set to take flight. Write to me with secrets I promise to keep. Fold them safely where no one can peep. Do likewise with worries or fears and tuck in. I promise they’ll fade; you’ll soon wear a grin. Though that grin might be missing a tooth or two. It’ll smile even brighter when your wishes come true.

Finally, we checked out the 15th century Bunratty Castle, which was really neat with its steep and narrow stairwells, large banquet rooms and interesting nooks.

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This was a very well spent four plus hours and was well worth the car trip (even Josh agrees). We arrived home and organized dinner, a big pot of soup for tomorrow and took a beautiful post-dinner stroll right out the front door on our beautiful beach.

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This place is so gorgeous!

After a big day yesterday, we spent a quiet day at home enjoying runs, walks, school work, grocery shopping, a trip to the cafe/store in town and a beach (treasure collection) walk. The kids and I are learning about the Irish potato famine and all the contributing factors – which is incredibly interesting and conveniently has a lot of relevance to similar political issues today. We are all very intrigued and excited to learn more.

Josh’s daily highlight was an incredible beach collection with Neene. He has found all kinds of bones and skulls and cool treasures.

My highlight was a dinner out with Sean…thank Neene!

Today we drove about 1.5 hours to the town of Doolin. We climbed around the rocks for a bit while waiting on our ferry ride to the Aran Island of Inis Oirr.

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We had the most amazing weather today, so the ferry ride was beautiful and I couldn’t believe what the island’s beach looked like. You would think we had landed in the Caribbean…I didn’t know Ireland had white sand beaches and turquoise water.

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Josh and I headed straight for the beach for a quick wade in the water before meeting up with the rest of our crew for a picnic lunch at the playground.

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We tried to quickly pull the kids away from the playground because we only had two hours to spend on the island before our boat left and there was so much we were anxious to see. We managed to climb up to the remains of a 14th century castle, explore the stone walls partitioning off the land and check out the old church ruins.

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After that it was back on the boat for a cruise by the Cliffs of Moher. Seeing the cliffs from the water provided a really unique perspective and we were just incredibly fortunate to enjoy such warm and sunny weather. The Cliffs of Moher is difficult to capture by camera – its size and impact just can’t be reflected; at least not with my phone. I also have to admit that I did really prefer our time at the Kilkee Cliffs. There is something very different about the intimacy of seeing that type of scenery on your own versus on a boat full of hundreds of other tourists all focused on capturing the perfect photo.

Back in Doolin, we spent some time in the local stores and Sherry and I both had luck finding some local wool items that we liked. Leila also pulled out another tooth in the middle of one of the stores – she has lost 3 molars in the last 3 weeks! After all that excitement, both kids fell fast asleep for the drive home. The day of sun took a toll on all of us and we are pooped!

We had a couple of low-key days as Sherry and Larry joined us and recovered from their long trip over. We were excited to share our lovely home and show them our beach and other favorite local spots. Saturday included the Loop Head Lighthouse and Bridge of Ross. Sunday was spent at the “Taste of the Loop” a local festival that included food from area restaurants, live music and a few crafts. In between those highlights and a few errands, most of the time was just spent enjoying the beautiful beach, climbing rocks and exploring the tide pools that surround our property. Oh…they also got treated to a whopping 10 rainbows in one day!

I wasn’t very good at taking photos these last couple of days; Larry, however, is a wonderful photographer and at some point I’ll steal some of his beautiful images.

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Today was declared a makeup day for Mother’s Day. So my day started with a quick run. After about two miles, I turned to head back to the house and saw this beauty overlooking our house. Rainbows are very good luck in Ireland and I was just sharing this beautiful Irish blessing with the kids yesterday: ” Tis better by far at the rainbows end to find not a pot of gold but the heart of a friend.”

With that optimistic start to the day, we drove about 20 minutes to a local riding school, where the owner, Carmen, had agreed to take us out on a family trek. This was a first for us. Neither of the kids have spent any time on horses and I haven’t been on one since I was a teenager. Everyone was excited though.

Upon arriving, Leila became very nervous and got pretty panicky once on the horse. With some encouragement she stayed on and overcame her fears. She was so happy and proud of herself for sticking with it and by the end was truly enjoying herself. Josh, on the other hand, requested the biggest horse, immediately started loving on him and confidently hopped on, gave the horse a kick and was off. Sean and I both really loved being with horses again after so long and we all (us, our guide Carmen, 5 horses, and even her two tag along goats) had a lovely trek. This was a really fun thing to do together as a family.

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Home for a delicious mother’s day lunch and then Sean took the kids to the grocery store to pick up a few days worth of food (some down time for me and one less errand = the BEST kind of gift). Next up, Sean’s famous rack of lamb for dinner, this will probably be the freshest lamb we have eaten in a very long time!

Tomorrow morning Sean’s mom, Sherry, and her partner, Larry, will be joining us for a week. We are excited to share this beautiful place with them and look forward to more adventures.

We took a two hour road trip to spend the day in Galway. Such a fun and lively little city we had a really good time checking out the stores, food and, my favorite, the buskers (street performers). We spent lots of time enjoying these performers between stops.

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Another highlight was our pub lunch. We were lucky enough to get seated in a “snug”. A snug is basically a tiny cubicle and we did a little research on them while waiting for our meal to arrive. Prior to 1960, apparently no self-respecting woman would be seen drinking inside a pub, so they found a less conspicuous way to get their drink on – inside a small, screened off room attached to the bar…the snug!

We honestly could have spent much more time enjoying the city but we had plans to head on to nearby Loughwell Farm Park. By the time we arrived at the farm park the last school group of the day was just leaving and we had this amazing place almost entirely to ourselves.

The kids ran around this place and had an absolute blast…Sean couldn’t resist either.

After wearing themselves out in the gym, we went outside for an up close experience with all the animals. With just Leila, Josh and two other little boys they really were able to enjoy a lot of time with the goat, rabbits, donkey, turkey, pony, pigs, deer and cows. The best part was getting to feed 10 week old calves.

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Next up was a little go-carting, soccer and playing on the fields.

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This place was so fun that we got back on the road a little later than expected. The kids were treated to a classic gas station dinner, probably their favorite meal of the trip!

We had a slow start to the day with some cooking, schooling and “playgrounding”. After a delicious lunch of fish and scampi down the road, we took a drive about 5 miles from our house to the Kilkee Cliffs.

The Kilkee Cliff Walk/Drive covers about 10km of coastline between our town, Kilbaha, and the next town over, Kilkee. The locals all described this area as being as amazing as the Cliffs of Moher but without any of the tourists – having seen both (although it has been about 15 years since visiting Moher) I totally agree. Our afternoon was unbelievable.

Before even arriving at the cliffs we had to stop to see this beautiful site.

Once on the coastline, we made three different stops.

On our first stop we were able to walk out to the cliffs edge and then (carefully) actually hike ALL the way down to the bottom. This was so unexpected and so special. The views were spectacular, we were treated to beautiful weather and the angle of the cliff we were hiking down provided a lot of protection from the wind. Thanks to low tide we could go all the way down to the water’s edge and we got to see lots of tide pools and rocks covered in mussels and other colorful urchins. I’ve never gotten to see anything quite like this from such an amazing vantage point. These kids are ruined for life!

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A quick second stop along the cliff walk.

And then our third.

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We then drove the rest of the way into Kilkee and spent some time running (Josh) and dancing (Leila) around the beach. These Irish folk are impressive. By local standards I suppose today is a balmy one as there were quite a few people actually swimming. It is in the high 50’s, with 15-25mph winds and even Sean is wearing long sleeves and socks.

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The beauty we saw today was truly unreal and it was incredibly special. It’s 9:30 here now. The kids have just gone to bed but it is still super bright and beautiful outside (the days are so long here). For the first time tonight there were people kayaking and swimming off the pier at our house. It’s so fun to watch this area transition into summer and see everyone take full advantage of every sparing minute of sunshine. Hoping for a little more of it tomorrow – may the luck of the Irish be with us!