May the luck of the Irish be with you!

     After my mom left in July I had two days to play catch up with the household before our next adventure and round of visitors. However, I was feeling pretty sad about my mom leaving so the first day I wasn't really productive, minus meeting my lovely husband for lunch because he always makes me happy.

I love having lunch with him during the work day!

Saturday: July 27th

      Our next adventure started on Saturday when we were suppose to go to the airport to meet Rachel, Josh and Sam's parents and head to Ireland. I had a moment of "Amanda Brain" and I thought our flight was an hour later than it truly was so when I received a text message from Rachel asking where we were at well panic set in. Considering Sam was still in the shower and we thought that we had an hour before we needed to leave it turned out that we only had an hour until our gate closed. We obeyed all traffic laws and minus one minor incident, we finally made it to the airport. We were able to quickly get our passports checked and head to security. Turns out there is a fast lane of security for 5 pounds and we were more than willing to pay. Once we got into the security line we ended up right behind Sam's family, who had already been there for two hours! We all took off running and made it onto the flight where we could finally all relax. Sam and I even got a seat together. It was absolute madness and craziness but we all made it and we were praising God for bringing us through and for our safe arrival. Upon arriving in Shannon, Ireland we enjoyed some nice coffee and muffins. After we got our rental car our trusty driver, Sam, started taking us to the first stop on our itinerary (which was planned in great detail by the wonderful Rachel) the Cliffs of Moher. They were absolutely beautiful and it was a beautiful day to hike around and stretch our legs after a stressful morning. After a few hours of hiking we were all starving and headed to a nearby village to eat at a local pub that a guy from Josh's work recommended. We had to wait forever for the food, but it was delicious once it finally arrived. After lunch we hopped on a ferry and headed to our bed and breakfast. The B&B was so cute! We were greeted by a dog and a cat and there was a great view of the mountains. Mary, the sweet Irish lady who owns the B&B made us fresh scones and tea when we arrived and they were delicious. After getting settled into our rooms we headed to church. The Mass was literally less than twenty minutes from start to finish, I guess those Irish people have to get to the pubs! After church we went out for dinner and drinks, I am pretty sure I ordered fish-and-chips and I remember it being delicious. Tired from reading about our first day? It was long since it started at 5am....but it was a blast and ended much better than it began.

The Cliffs of Moher

I see a castle...I charge

Kevin drove in Ireland...onto a boat!

Sam's eyes were closed...standard

Carrie and Mary were stuck way in the back!

The view from our B & B

Sunday: July 28th

     We got up bright and early on Sunday morning and enjoyed a delicious home cooked breakfast prepared by Mary. Let me just say that traditional Irish breakfast is so much better than English breakfast. Rachel had planned for us to go see Skellig Michael Island, which is a mountains Island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Mary said that many people who come to visit try and visit the Island, but they cant because of weather. There are 13 boats who get licenses each year to take tour groups during the summer months of April through October and each boat only makes one trip to the Island a day, so we are a few of the special people who get to go. The Island has lots of steps to the top where there is an old Monastery. The boat ride out to the Island started out cold and wet, but it got sunny and was beautiful, we even saw dolphins along the way. After the long day of hiking we headed back to the B&B to get cleaned up before we headed out to a Spanish Toppas (not to be confused with topless) restaurant. It was quite yummy! This was my favorite thing we did on the entire trip!

"I'm on a boat"

"Sailing takes me away to where I always heard it could"

An Irish Harry

"Deep and wide...deep and wide"

"Ride Captain ride"

"Look at me, I'm on a boat"

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming"

"Come sail away, come sail, come sail away"

Skellig Michael 

Aww! I love spending time with my better half.

Ireland is just gorgeous 

My handsome husband after hiking

Monastery 

One of the 13 boats that make one trip out to the island a day

Board in the back seat after a full day of hiking...selfie

My sleeves got so stretched out from me constantly rolling them up and back down from being hot and cold...I fit a wallet and cell phone in there

After we  cleaned up and waiting for everyone else to be ready for Church

Still waiting and taking selfies while we waited

Arriving at Skellig Michael

Ice cream after a long hike...yum!

Monday: July 29th

     On Monday we headed out to the Dingle Peninsula. It was pretty, the girls had some tea where I tried hot chocolate with Bailey's, while the boys went and looked at some old house or something like that. After the Dingle Peninsula we headed to see the Muckross House, which is a mansion that was build in 1843 for Henry Herbert and his wife. Sam and I love to explore mansion houses in England on the weekend, so we also enjoyed looking through this one in Ireland with Sam's parents. After visiting the house we headed to the city of Killarney, which is a really nice city actually, quite happening for a Monday night. We had dinner and then went to see comedy show, which was interesting, but I think I was born 30 years too late to really get all the jokes!

We found a beach on our way to Dingle!

Sam and I taking selfies while we wait for everyone to be ready 

Rachel joined us

More selfies 

A picture of a selfie being taken 

Beautiful drive to Dingle 

Sam is King of the world

Josh is being a good son-in-law and helping Becky over the fence...even after she tried to strangle him!

The city of Dingle 

A beautiful day!

More of the beach we stumbled upon...Sam was tired from all the driving so he slept in the car while we explored 

I love this picture...minus the surfers

Selfie on the beach...the only thing missing is my husband! 

Gardens at the Muckross 

Walking through the gardens at the Muckross House

Muckross House 

Waiting for our tour to start 

Amazing dessert 

Sam doing an Irish jig with a nice Canadian woman at the comedy show

Tuesday: July 30th

     We drove to Cork in order to see the Blarney Castle, which is from the medieval times. It was such a cool castle! The best part of the castle, if you aren't worried about spreading diseases, is kissing the blarney stone which legend has it the kisser of the stone will gain the gift of gab, meaning the gift of eloquence or great flattery. Since I am a military spouse I need all the eloquence I can get to make it through those fancy dinners so Sam doesn't have to find a stand in wife. Only the girls kissed the stone though, so all the boys missed out on a gaining the gift of eloquence. After we kissed the Blarney stone we drove to Dublin. After finding our hotel we headed over to the Guinness factory to take a tour. The Guinness factory is HUGE and it took us a long time to travel through the whole tour. However, at the end of the tour we got a free Guinness, which tasted better than any Guinness I have tried, but I still don't like it. After the tour we headed over to the oldest pub in Ireland to have dinner and it was super delicious, once we fought for a table!

Exploring Blarney Castle 

The boys and their beer 

The girls and their beers

I polished off mine the fastest! (Haha! If you know me and how much I dislike Guinness then you would know this isnt true!)

At Blarney 

Of course me charging Blarney Castle 

Kissing the stone 

Blarney stone 

Dublin at night

Wednesday: July 31st

     We took a Dublin bicycle tour on our last day. It was so great to see the entire city at once and it was my first bike tour. It was rainy and cold most of the time, but it was still a nice ride. Especially because we got to have tea and scones halfway through and we had soup and sandwiches for lunch, which was amazing after being so cold all day. After lunch we headed out to the airport and headed home. Ireland was absolutely gorgeous, we had a great time, thanks again for all your hard work in planning the trip Rachel! I had a day and a half to get caught up on laundry and get the house prepared for Sam's family to come stay at our cottage.

Our bike tour 

I think this is a castle inside Dublin...

Rachel was wiped from the bike ride 

My shopping card for the dinner...my goodness...I have a new found respect for ladies who shop for a family of 6 to 8 on a regular basis!

Friday: August 2nd

      I spent most of the day cleaning the house, running errands and making dinner. Sam went and picked his parents, Rachel and Josh up from the train station on his way home from work. When they all arrived I had the table set and appetizers ready to go. Sam and his dad grilled burgers, brats and hot dogs for dinner. I made baked beans, cheesy potatoes, macaroni salad and chocolate delight for dessert. It was all super yummy! Becky's cousin, Mike Brocksmith, his wife, Traci and son Ben also joined us for dinner. It was a great night and we all had a blast!

Kevin checking out Sam's man cave 

Oh hi Rach! 

Hi Brocksmiths! 

Sam with his parents after picking them up from work! 

Hercules was wiped out after a week at Maxine's while we were in Ireland 

And we were both wiped after cleaning, cooking, cooking, and cleaning all day!

Saturday: August 3rd

      We started our day in a very British way by having scones and tea at La Hogue! After breakfast we headed out to Bury St. Edmunds to see the Abbey gardens, ruins and Cathedral....are you tired of reading about these local places in my blog? Well that is the joy of being a tour guide...seeing the same things over and over! The cool thing though is seeing peoples reaction to the amazingness that is England. After we walked around the gardens we had lunch at Benson and Blakes where two of our friends, Jill and Taryn, joined us for lunch. After we finished up in Bury we headed to the Ickworth House, which was built between 1795 and 1829. It is also a manor house in the general area that Sam and I actually haven't seen! After the Ickworth House we came back to the Holbrook cottage for a delicious home cooked dinner. After dinner we took a stroll through the Chippenham village and then rested at home.

Enjoying the sunshine in Bury 

Ickworth House 

Sam's face makes me laugh!

More selfies while we are waiting for people 

Kevin checking out the church

Ickworth House 

A belated birthday celebration for Rachel!

Singing to the birthday girl! 

Hehe...trick candles 

Rachel's "favourite" British phrase...not!

She loved her presents

Sunday: August 4th

     We went to church in Newmarket, which is a town about five miles from here known for horse racing. After church we went to Judes Ferry for lunch where they had their Sunday Carvery...which was delicious. After lunch we headed to Lavenham to see the crooked houses. Lavenham is such a historical village and close to our house...again I love England! However, on our way to Lavenham I was driving and apparently was going 36 in a 30 so the ticket I received in the mail said. After Lavenham it was time for Sam to take his family back to the train station, we are so glad they got to visit us and we were sad to see them leave! They left around 5:30pm and Sam I spent the rest of Sunday night relaxing together after basically spending a month and a half apart with me playing tour guide and all the lovely visitors we entertained.

Crooked houses in Lavenham  

Lavenham 

The church in Lavenham

     Sam and I had a great summer of visitors and we both enjoyed showing everyone a little bit of our amazing life living abroad. So there you have it, we have finally caught up on our crazy summer of visitors. We had a great time and we are currently accepting reservations for the next Americans who would like to come and visit Mr. and Mrs. Holbrook in England! Thanks for reading!



Amanda

Sam and Hercules went straight into a nap after our visitors left!