Memorial Day on the The Eagle

Today we were able to celebrate Memorial Day with US Coast Guard cadets here in Dublin. The USCGC Eagle, the only active sailing boat commissioned for active military service docked in Dublin for a few days and we were able to take a tour of the ship. I made everyone wear there red, white and blue because I won't have any other excuse to do so here in Dublin this year. I loved talking to the cadets and hearing their stories about why they wanted to join the coast guard and serve their country. All the cadets on board were in-between their Freshman and Sophomore year of collage, however talking to them you would think we were the same age. It's amazing to me the maturity and disciple all men and women attending military academies need to have. I'm so thankful for their desire to serve their fellow Americans.

#dublindeckers

The Sunny South West

We traveled to Wexford Ireland while my Mom and Sister were here for the weekend... so, so much fun! I was pleasantly surprised because I hadn't actually heard that much about Wexford before planning the trip, but Jake said that the Irish call it the Sunny South West. Wealthy dubliners have summer homes there and after our weekend, I can totally see why!

We stayed at a beautiful farmhouse/Bed and Breakfast that was once a castle. It's called Killiane Castle and the grounds were beautiful. They had chickens, sheep, cows, darling farm dogs and a whole lot of love ;) Jake and I also took time to play each other in a bit of croquet. Jake bets me in just about every sport or game but I think I look classier playing it.

 Here is our car parked outside. Its a very tiny Nissan March but it continues to be good to us day in and day out.

 About an hour south of where we stayed is the oldest working light house in Ireland. It's called Hook light house. The shore line along the coast was beautiful. This light house was build by a knight and his family after they almost died landing there ship here. It was there after run by monks. In fact there were people out scuba diving while we were there. They dive around these waters looking for things left by ships that never made it safely to shore.

 The whole crew

 Isn't Ireland just beautiful!

 Our tour guide told us about a beach near by where you could drive your car up onto the sand. It was a georgous day, so we decided to check it out. Well, it was a little trashy... lots of people just blaring their music getting their tan on.

 There was plenty of sunlight left so we headed to the nicest beach in the area Curracloe Beach. It was perfect and Mary-Kate took her first swim in the ocean. Daddy helped her and she didn't seem to mind it. Which is surprising because the waters here are ALOT colder than you would find in say California.

 After a quick dip Jake and Mary-Kate decided to build a sand castle. It was so fun to see Mary-Kate get so into it. She LOVED smearing the sand and digging it out. It was darling to watch these two interact and play. With Jake's busy work schedule it doesn't happen as often as I'd like.

 MK getting instructions from Daddy

 LOVIN' IT!

 Doing her best digging job.

 #dublindeckers

Fun in the sun

It was a beautiful day here yesterday. We all woke up a little late being tired from getting back from Scotland the day before but since it was so lovely we decided to get dressed and out the door with out really "getting ready" and I am so glad we did. I took my mom and sister to the Avoca Mill and the way I took a wrong turn and needed to take a different route with was great because I learned how close the Mill is to Brittas Bay. After an afternoon of lunch and shopping we took time to stop at the most beautiful beach in Dublin. The sun was out and we had a blast.

 The only down side to our day was how much Mary-Kate screamed in the car. She is such a great traveler by plane, train, boat and in her buggy but put her in the car and she thinks her life is over. I thought having my family here to entertain her in the back would help but nope... hopefully she just grows out of it. She is sure a cutie though!

 Mary-Kate loved crawling up the big sand dunes. She learned it was kind of tricky though and a few times just kept digging her feet making bigger and bigger sand pits without getting any where. Hopefully by the time we leave Dublin she will be an expert beach baby. We plan on making this trip several more times this summer.

The World of JK Rowling

First off, over the years I have really become a Harry Potter fan. Jake and I started a tradition where during the month of October we try to watch all the movies. Before I was pregnant with MK we were also able to go to Harry Potter World at Universal Studios, which is awesome if you get the chance to go. So this past weekend when we traveled to Edinburgh Scotland with my mom and sister I literally felt like we stepped into the world of Jk Rowling. Edinburgh after all is where she wrote the first two books and you can find evidence of this through out the city.

Our first stop when we arrived was Elephant House a coffee shop near the Royal Mile. While JK Rowling was writing her first and second books she would go inside, buy a cheap cup of coffee and sit down to write. She found it cheaper than paying her heating bills at home during the day. The back window to the building looks out towards Edinburgh Castle which I think looks very similar to Hogwarts. There is also a prestigious private school named George Heriot's School with four houses and four towers near by, that could have also contributed to the inspiration for Hogwarts School of Magic.

 See how awesome this view is of the castle....

 Inside the bathrooms there is tons of graffiti with commentary about Harry Potter. For years each night the staff of Elephant House would paint over any graffiti customers left, however recently they decided to accept it and leave it alone. They even lent us a sharpie so that we could join in on the fun.

 Looking out of the back window underneath the castle there is a beautiful cemetery where you can find names to some of characters from the Harry Potter books. I was most interested in finding the grave of Thomas Riddle aka Tom Riddle aka Voldemort. I put Jake and my sister to the task of finding it. We scoured the grave stones and after making our rounds through what I thought had been all of them. We heard Heather yell... I FOUND IT!!

 After all our Harry Potter fun, we decided to take a break and hike up to Arthurs Seat. Its a short hike with a beautiful view of the city at the top. Jake hiked with the baby the whole way and then once at the top wanted to be adventurous with some pictures getting pretty close to the edge. This isn't the first time he has done this and even though I trust him... I don't trust the rock underneath him or the high powered wind blowing us every which way. So I become big, angry momma bear and freak out. Thankfully Jake decided a cool picture wasn't worth the anxiety attack it would have given me.

 This is the view from below, gorgeous!

 On our way home we walked the Royal Mile which looks an a like how I picture 'diagon alley' would be. It has cool little ally ways lining the street with little shops that you could just get lost in. We also picked up my mom who was doing a bit of shopping and saw this beautiful double rainbow.

Day 2 we checked out Edinburgh Castle. It holds tons of  museums and information about the history of Scotland. The Castle it's self is amazing, it was built on a dormant volcano and is a lot grander than anything I've seen thus far in Ireland. 

The Scottish guards were also there which apparently is rare. They only occupy the castle when either the Queen is in town or the government is in session. Lucky for us they were holding government meetings on the weekend. 

 This was one of my favorite parts... a sweet dog grave site for the dogs that had served their country.

 My two favorite people :)

 There were rites in the city as we left the castle. The Scottish Football Cup Final was the night before and the Hibernian's (Edinburgh's home team) had won after a loosing that's lasted over a hundred years. The team rented a tour bus and drove through out the city thanking all their fans. We got a little glimpse of the action.

 Because the streets were so crowded we walked up to the National Monument on top of Calton Hill. The view was amazing!

 The monument was suprisingly really large and in charge. It was hard to scale the steps however, Jake made it up and then helped me. MK hung out in the grass with Heather but felt deserted and made sure we knew she was upset about it.

 Jake let me stop by Anthropology to get my "fix" since we don't have one here in Dublin. What a good man!

We ate dinner at a silly little Italian place we found walking to the train. As my mom put it "the pizza at the hospital tastes better than this". So not the best meal to end on but our tummies were filled and we still had the most wonderful stay in this beautiful city.