I’ve puzzled over how best to write about our journey to the Emerald Isle, and below, you’ll find pictures of a few of my favorite moments and their respective stories. Our family trip to Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day fulfilled one of my P29 bucket list items: “Attend an international event.”
People from all over the world joined us as we departed from Charlotte, touched down in JFK and flew seven hours to Ireland! We were all intent to see the Irish at their finest, celebrating the Saint that made them one of the most religious nations in the world.
Before we even left, we got a taste of the struggles that we would face. Imagine a family of seven, our six plus our beloved babysitter, pushing a double stroller piled five and a half feet tall with 10 bags, and three car seats. Two out of three adults have two additional bags each. One of those bags has a three year old riding on it. They are dashing through crowds (which are parting like the Red Sea) in order to make their flight.
If you imagined that with sweaty brows, furrowed eyebrows and downright determination, you imagine it with the same look we all had living it.
When we landed in Ireland, after a fairly uneventful flight, true nightmares were lived out trying to get our 15 bags and seven people off the plane amid jet lag, vomit, and exhaustion. We delayed a plane, but we’d made it🙏🥳
Our first big day in Ireland, we took a taxi van with a fast talking jerk of an Irishman named Derek. He insulted, insinuated, and insisted his way through the streets and got us to the Dublin Children’s museum. We played for an hour, primarily because Derek insisted we didn’t need more than that(!) and then had the dear chap drive us back to the hotel where he charged us entirely too much for his services. It was equal parts hilarious and terrible.
We had dinner at the famous Kingfisher restaurant, which was reputed to have the best fish and chips in Dublin. While I certainly can’t attest to that, they were the best I’ve ever had. Big buttery battered cod fillets with thick cut steak fries, malt vinegar, Guinness draft, and the local crowd made for a cheery and warming meal to relax all of us!
Afterwards, Amber, Brook and I took turns celebrating pub life. Amber and I did the required shots of Jameson at Temple Bar, and Brook and I treasured some alone time(and pints of Guinness) at Murray’s Pub!
The kids were real troopers for the entire trip, but their jet lag was rough and they partied until midnight for the first three days of the trip, so the adults needed all that pub fun to cope!
When we left Dublin, we rented a large van and the real adventure began. We had reserved a small farm cottage in Cork County through Air b&b for five nights, and our plan was to drive there from the car rental agency that day.
Our first stop was Killarney, where we ate at the infamous Kyteler’s Inn for the best lamb stew I’ve ever had! After, we trekked over to Killarney castle and grounds(see photo at top). We explored the grounds and had a bit of magic throwing European coins into the fountain there. The boys loved playing in the cold moist that fell from the sky(almost constantly). It was so green on the grounds, so very green. I can’t quite put into words how stunning the green was, but it was like looking at the purest color stretching on for miles. 
When we left Killarney, we made way to the farm house on the left hand side of the road, in the pitch dark, on the narrowest, sketchiest roads I’ve ever seen(or not seen as my eyes were squeezed shut the majority of the drive). After stopping in to speak to a man who clearly had Alzheimer’s for directions, we finally settled into our “home” base.
Brunch at Griffin’s the next day, with a tromp through the fairy garden was a fun way to kickoff a day of adventure. We went directly to Blarney, to see the famous castle and kiss the magic stone.
I’d never seen a real castle in my entire life before this journey, and 1)they do not disappoint. 2) They really are everywhere in Ireland! The novelty did not wear off for me. It was like opening a storybook each time we passed one, so eager was I to hear their stories! 3)Blarney is probably the most famous castle in all of Ireland, because of that special stone, so it was very busy with tourists, even in off season.
We trekked to the top, even the kiddos, which was no small feat. The stairs were narrow, winding and slick, from years of heavy traffic. I had to stop a few feet from the top to nurse the baby, and that was quite the break! Never would I have imagined that I’d get to nurse in an ancient castle! Kissing the Blarney Stone was next, but truth be told, my little nursing session looking out the skinny window that knights would have shot arrows through during an ambush was just about as epic as it gets.
After all that hiking and waiting in line, we finally got to the Blarney Stone. It is said to bestow those that kiss it with the gift of the gab, or eloquence, for those of us thinking gab means endless chatter.
It is mortared into the bottom of a hanging wall. You have to be lowered down and hang upside down way below what is comfortable for anyone barring acrobats. I actually didn’t realize how low it was and stupidly just kissed the rock face above it! The Irishman helping me down said, “No! That one, down there!!” And oh my was it a stretch to get to it!
Did it work? Am I magically eloquent now? We joked afterwards that all the Irish got together to figure out how to pull the biggest prank on tourists ever and this is what they came up with. The kids didn’t kiss the stone, and Brook said, “I’m perfectly happy not being eloquent and also not sharing germs with people all over the world. I’ll pass.” So it was Amber and I that made the magic happen. I’ll leave it in your hands to decide how eloquent it made me😜
While travelling with kids is brutal, it’s also important and really awe inspiring as a parent. Here are these small, opinionated humans thriving while learning new things and seeing a new place and meeting new people. It wasn’t easy for them to climb to the top of the castle and back down, and they needed some help, but they did it, and that is quite impressive for such little legs!
We all collapsed into a booth at the cafe the castle grounds featured, and the ice cream from the Irish cows was hands down the best I’ve tasted in ages. And don’t even get me started on my Irish coffee with Bailey’s and whipped cream😍
The following day was chocked full-we drove part of the ring of Kerry. We stopped at Torc waterfalls and Lady’s View. All of these things were incredible and I could bore you with descriptions of their beauty but I won’t. After having seen sunny skies, then pouring rain, then snow flurries, gusting wind and then sunny skies again, all in one day, we were gifted a full rainbow, that stretched from one side of the road to the other. Another faint rainbow shadowed it, and chasing a double rainbow in Ireland, home of the leprechauns and their pots of gold was far too much fun for this family! Visually it was probably one of the most incredible sights I’ve ever seen, driving right beneath it, a bridge of pure magic just out of reach.
Finally, the day arrived for the St Patrick’s Day festival and parade! We chose to celebrate the day in Cork City. We’d read online that the celebrations were more family friendly there, and the crowds were much more manageable. We drove from the farm to a park and ride lot where we got to ride our first double-decker bus! I also happened to find a ten EU note, so the luck of the Irish was with us!
The theme of the Cork City parade was “We are Cork” and it featured all the different ethnic groups that lived within the city. If that doesn’t scream “Attend and International Event,” I don’t know what does. There was a moment during the parade, in which it hit me how hard this particular parade theme was so perfect for P29 that I had to wipe my eyes. God is good and sees us, always!
The older boys loved the parade and it was the perfect length of time for their interests. They held their hands out and got lots of high fives from the parade participants, which was just what they needed to keep smiling through the event. There was a street fair with food from locals and we ate Irish stew, bangers(sausage) and more potatoes. Judah made friends with a street performing Harmonica musician and got a demo cd. Maerson hated the entire parade because he wanted bubblegum ice cream, which he told us and anyone else that would listen, what felt like 95 million times, but was very happy when he finally got some at the street fair after. Rhory slept through the entire thing! Crowds weren’t that bad, truly, and we were really fortunate to have chosen Cork over Dublin for the festivities.
As we geared up to leave the farm and head west to Galway, we had a unique experience. Brook was taking a shower when the power went out. He was covered in soap and shampoo and then the water kicked back on, just long enough to let him rinse off. Amber followed suit and her water clicked off but didn’t return. Suddenly, Farmer Bill ran in, quite frantically, and flipped all the switches on the breaker. He ran back out of the house just as quickly, and as we watched him run out, we saw the cause of his duress. His barn was on fire!
We watched, with morbid curiosity*Brook did offer to help* as the local firefighters arrived and put out the barn fire, The boys thought it was the highlight of the trip. They’d never seen a fire fought right before their eyes.
That day was the best day for all of us. We drove to the Cliffs of Moher, but stopped at Durty Nellie’s, a 400 year old pub for lunch. We hiked in the Burren, which was like walking on the moon. Then we traveled the Wild Atlantic Way, where we were stopped as cows crossed the road, and dipped our feet in the Atlantic Ocean on the other side! We ended the day staying at what Kiernan calls “the mansion” of our journey. It was another air bnb but it was a home close in size to our own and everyone got to spread out, which was a glorious change from the tight quarters we’d been sharing the entire journey.
European beds are wayyyyyy smaller than American beds. I didn’t see a king size bed the entire trip!
We took a final day to rest and pack before returning home. I truly believe that day in the hotel room was a great idea for travelling with small children. It gave them time to play legos, read books and recover their family identity a bit before the stress and drama of international travel.
And drama and stress it was. Maerson was so fed up with it that by the time we were waiting in JFK for our final trip home, he literally showed his butt to the entire terminal C. Judah had some throwing up on that last flight, and never, in all my life, have I been so happy to see Charlotte Douglas airport as I was at the end of that brutal day. But we survived, and truly, I’ve said to everyone who has asked, that if I knew every single adventure overseas that I took the kids on posed just as many challenges, I’d do it every time. I’d need a vacation from my vacation, but I would still do it!
Ireland is so kid friendly; they really love children, and it was easy to navigate. Their signs were in Irish(Gaelic) and English, so we were able to read everything, and the conversion of USD to EU wasn’t an issue. We can’t wait to go back; we’ve planned a trip exclusively to explore all the museums that Dublin has to offer, and another road trip in order to see more of Galway, and Northern Ireland. I’ll never be able to express how much the first trip abroad with our boys meant to me, but I hope that this filled you in at least a bit to the joy and wildness of the experience!