Kenmare

We visited three castles in one day. Our first stop was Rock of Cashel where St. Patrick baptized a king in A.D. 450. We got to see the original St. Patrick's cross which has been moved in indoors to protect it.




Our second castle was Cahir. This was our favorite of all three castles. It was privately owned until 1961. It is the best preserved of all castles in Ireland. It still has a moat surrounding it and a cannon ball lodged into a side wall. We had free roam of the entire castle grounds after a great tour. Scenes from famous movies such as Braveheart where filmed at this castle.

The last castle was the most famous one in all of Ireland, the Blarney Castle where you kiss the famous Blarney Stone. Three out of four of us kissed the stone, I chickened out.






We spent the night in Kenmare. We ate dinner at a pub and listened to a traditional Irish band and where entertained by a world champion Irish step dancer by the name of Joe Sullivan. Joe asked for volunteers for a Irish line dance and Darin was more than willing to dance in front of the pub audience, he said it was a blast!

Kilkenny

Today we rented a car and left Dublin.




We drove across the Wicklow mountains and came across sheep standing on the roads, we had to wait for them to move off in order for us to continue on.

We stopped in Glendalough which was home to a monastery dating back to the 800's.




We drove to today's destination, Kilkenny. We were able to walk from our hotel to the Kilkenny Castle.








We ended the night at a pub featuring live Irish music. Once the musician noticed that we were visitors he invited us to Irish line dance with some of the locals. As I update this blog, I can still hear the musician playing his set through the open window in my hotel room which is above the pub.

2nd Day at Camp

So today we got to take home the fish paintings we did yesterday and, I promised you I would put them on the blog so, here they are.

While I was taking these photos Wagner was curious. So I took a picture of him with the flash on and he blinked! I did that three times but, this one was the best.

We did work on the painting of the fish that I sketched yesterday but I didn't finish it.

Art Camp

So today was Mason and I's first day at art camp. Mason is taking a class where he gets to make his own picture book by writing and illustrating it. I am taking a class called painting and beyond. It's where you get to learn different techniques for painting. Today we made these fish paintings which are really hard to explain so, I would show you but we didn't get to take them home but, as soon as I do I will put it on the blog. Only Mason got to take his poster home.

Mason said that it is a cheese that can change colors on a plate which is on a wooden table.

This is a sketch that I drew for the painting I am going to paint tomorrow.

Dublin Part 2

Day two started with our first full Irish breakfast. Everything was consumed except for the blood pudding, yuck!





First we visited the famous Book of Kells at Trinity College as well as the Long Library. Sorry, no pictures allowed inside, so you'll have to visit it in person!




Guinness Storehouse was next on the schedule. We learned how the famous Irish beer is brewed and enjoyed a Guinness from the top of the Gravity Bar, with the best rooftop views in Dublin.

We then toured the old Gilmainham Gaol (Irish for "jail"). Many famous Irish revolutionaries were jailed and executed there.

Of course, being in Ireland, we have already visited a number of pubs!

Dublin

We arrived in Dublin at 5:00 am, dropped off our luggage to the hotel room and headed out to explore the city by foot.

After four hours of exploring, we jumped on a guided tour bus to visit the oldest burial grounds in the world which are 45 minutes outside of Dublin.

The Babysitters!

After a flight cancellation and night in a hotel, the babysitters (Grandpa and Nana) finally arrived. Darin and I are off to the Emerald Isle. Interesting fact from our layover in Boston, it is 2900 miles to Dublin and 2600 miles to Los Angeles, not much of a difference.


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