Snuggled up

Luan and Zeke snuggled up in Limavady.

Game of Thrones

HBO are currently filming a medieval fantasy series much of it in Northern Ireland. Yesterday they filmed the burning of the knights on Benone beach and we found the burnt heads in a skip! Can't wait to watch the series!!

Cousin Lisa and the lovely Gareth

Look at those clouds coming in! Zeke and Luan love listening to Lisa and Gareth's scary Banshee stories!!

Silly games!

Look at the mountains in the background - Donegal!

Benone

Zeke and Luan at Benone. A beautiful long beach with lovely sand. Boys in their element! A wee bit different to South Beach!

Brian Kennedy

Lisa, the two Grandmas and I watched Brian Kennedy perform last night in Limavady. Lisa and I saw him twenty years ago when he supported Blue Nile in Belfast! His version of Carrickfergus is gorgeous!

Niece and aunt

Lisa and Grandma and the River Roe.

The river roe

We went to the Roe valley park today where Grandma used to walk when she was little. It's very beautiful and there are badgers, salmon, otters and hedgehogs! But there are also fairies who hide coins in the trees so Zeke and Luan searched all the trees and found some fairy money!

Morelli's

The mountain goats were hungry so we went to the famous Morelli's in Portstewart for ice-cream sundaes. The boys chose mint.

Stunning spot!

It really is a beautiful place!

For Finn!

Zeke said this photo was taken for his good friend Finn who is rather famous in these parts.

Not that kind of chair

Clearly Besim is not wishing in the chair but doing something else. Ah borat.

Another wish

What do you think Zeke wished for?!

Wishing chair

This is Luan making a wish in the wishing chair. I wonder what his wish was?!

Giant's causeway

What a beautiful day for these two mountain goats to enjoy the magnificent rocks at the Giant's causeway.

Hot whiskey and dulce!

Dulce is dried seaweed and is delicious! But a hot whiskey is even better.

The town of Bushmills

We went into Bushmills town and found this mural and pub called Finn MacCool's. For those who don't know the Giant's causeway was indeed created by Finn when he had a disagreement with a Scottish giant.

Squashed!

Zeke and Luan squashed in the back of Lisa's mini at Bushmills. Exciting!

Antrim coast

On our way to the Antrim coast via Binevenagh mountain. Gorgeous day with lovely blue skies. Think this is the heatwave they've been talking about.

Adoration!

Grandma Smyth ADORES Besim. It makes the rest of us kinda sick though!!

Seal cottage Donegal

Grandma, Luan, Grandma Smyth and Zeke in beautiful Seal Cottage at Mt Charles looking over Donegal Bay.

Irish Indians!

Daddy made bows and arrows out of sticks. Apparently the sticks in Australia are too dry! So Zeke and Luan spent many hours pretending to be indians. Luan was especially concerned about the position of his feather.

Lucky crab!

One of the lucky captured crabs! They were released back into donegal bay (minus a few claws maybe).

Crabbing!

Grandma Smyth made rods out of poles and attached some string and then tied bacon to it and the crabs loved it!!!

Another wee bush in the donegal hotel

Back with grandma!

Arrived in Donegal where grandma Smyth has a holiday house called seal cottage looking over donegal bay. The beach is covered in the most beautiful rocks. Our cases are going to be heavy!

Wee bit sleepy!

The Burren, County Clare

Zeke and Luan in the Burren area of County Clare. Incredibly rocky and barren and full of Neolithic rock structures.

Dragons and leprechauns

Gift shop purchases (boys have nearly used up their 20 euro limit for Eire!).

Aillwee cave, county clare

We visited Aillwee cave and it was a wee bit nippy! They had the remains of a bear from 1200 years ago!! And they also had a great shop!

Doolin, County Clare

Here we are in County Clare ready for the Cliffs of Moher, Aillwee Cave and the Burren.

Car ferry to Clare

This is Luan on the car ferry to Clare. We found out Luan means Monday in Irish!

Summer's day in Eire!

Luckily I had bought a new hat and scarf in Dingle. Such beautiful wool! A wee bit chilly on the car ferry crossing to County Clare.

Baaaaaa!

This was the softest, friendliest sheep we have ever met, who lived at our B and B. When he baa-ed he did it with a deep Irish accent!!

Tower view b and b

We stayed at the most wonderful Bed and Breakfast in Dingle called Tower View where they had amazing views but even better loads of friendly animals including Coco the cat, Benji the sheltie pup, some very deep baaing black furry sheep and some kids. Mary, the lovely lady who owned the B and B gave the boys food to feed the animals. We all agreed that this was the best place we have stayed and were very sad to leave. We love Dingle!!

Dingle dolphin

We stayed in beautiful Dingle and saw gorgeous green mountains, colorful fishing boats and an awful lot of pubs! And a bronze statue of the famous Dingle dolphin.

Lunch

We had lunch in a town called Adare which had ridiculously pretty houses (and lovely soup).

Rock carvings

In the cathedral in the castle are some amazing carvings.

Nests!

The clever pigeons made nests in the castle walls.

Cashel

Today we visited Cashel (which means fortress). The castle was built in the fourth century and is very beautiful.

Shadows at last!

This evening at 8.00 the sun peeped out briefly from behind the clouds so we saw shadows for the first time in ages! This is just outside the bed and breakfast (with castle views) we are staying at in Cashel. Tomorrow we will explore the 4th century castle.

Medieval shoes

I want some of these. Aren't they gorgeous?!

Chain mail

This is was in the medieval section and showed what people wore to protect themselves in battle.

Viking toilets

This is how Vikings went to the toilet! They even had sound and the boys thought smell effects! Yuc!!

Viking world Dublin

We visited Viking world in Dublin today where they showed us Viking punishments and how they lived and ate and dressed. I think we may be using some of these techniques in future with our little Vikings Zeke and Luan.

Little chick

This is me with a little cheeping chick.

Lambs

This is Zeke feeding a baby lamb. They were very hungry!

Animals at the farm

They even had human kids at the farm. We didn't pat these ones though. Might bite.

Newgrange animal farm

After visiting Newgrange we visited a beautiful animal farm where they had kittens, puppies, piglets, chicks, lambs, kids and horses. It was on a real Irish farm with beautiful stone walls and red doors.