The Last Day! Finally!!!

 On Friday morning, a small group of us set out to visit the town of Kenmare, which is known for its lace making.  I was on a mission to buy Jemma a handkerchief to carry on her wedding day made with Irish lace.  The town itself was so pretty!  I wish we had spent more time there!  We were there really to see the lace shop and head back to meet the others who opted to sleep in!

The nuns at the church taught the young girls the craft of lace making during the famine years so they would have a trade.  The tradition continues today and it was amazing to watch the tiny intricate detail that went into creating these beautiful pieces.  This kind woman showed us exactly how they do it!  

They weave these sticks, called bobbins,  over, under and around to create the delicate open weave lace.  The pins hold it in place and she uses the pattern on the right there to know which bobbins to use and where to put them.   

This is a larger pattern lace that you stitch following the pattern.  When the sewing part is done the blue is removed and the lace remains.  

These are teeny tiny detail pieces that cost between $300 and $400!

It was amazing to see the detail that went into this!  It was beautiful.  Queen Victoria loved the Kenmare lace so much she had panels of it made especially for her wedding gown.

When we stopped for gas, my SIL and I ran into a church across the street.  It was not very impressive from the outside, but gorgeous on the inside.  I have a thing for stained glass windows...

The walls around the high altar of the church were covered in a tile.  I just loved the reflection of the stained glass on the tiles!

We went back to the house to eat a quick lunch and then returned to the Muckross National Park to visit the Traditional Farms there.  This was fun for everyone especially my nieces and SIL who love animals! This was an animal lovers dream!  Horses, chickens, goats, sheep, donkeys, pigs, and peacocks...oh my!!

Jemma was excited to wear her new raincoat and carry her umbrella!  

If she could have gotten it home, she would have!

The farms are set up as traditional farms would have been in the early 1900's.  It is a working farm and the people who work there have amazing stories of what it was like!

Here they are with the pigs.  I like pigs don't get me wrong, but I have no desire to pet on the dirty ones. My uncle and cousin had a pig farm when I was growing up and I have been around my fair share of pigs.  Some other members of the family obviously did not think my way!  All I could think is that I had left the hand sanitizer in the car!!!

Mama pig.  Jemma still cracks up over the way her lip is sticking out!

She was having such a good time!  I love this sweet face!

Soda bread baking over a fire

These wolfhounds were so sweet and BIG!!!!!

Cristy had always dreamed of holding a baby pig so I asked the wonderful gentleman working there if she could hold him and he scooped him right up and gave him to her!  Man... can that cute little thing squeal!!!  I love Cristy's face here.  She was giddy!

This peacock would fan out his feathers and flutter them whenever Jemma walked by!  It was hilarious!

In the "fancy" house, this lady was making butter.  It was actually beautiful to watch!  Mom even got in on it.  The sweet lady let her roll out butter balls that were going to be used at a wedding reception that evening there on the farms.  

The blacksmith there made these awesome shamrocks out of the old horseshoes!  I wanted to bring one of these babies home with me but they didn't have any for sale and the blacksmith wasn't there any more.  I may have to find someone to do this for me!  We have a blacksmith at a plantation near us... hmmmm.....

A quick run on the playground!

A limestone kiln

This was a massive tree that fell and they cut it up

Kids and their technology!

Our one and only rainbow we saw.

We went back into Killarney for dinner at The Laurel's.  We stopped first at a big tourist shop to buy all the last minute gifts that we really didn't need!  

This beautiful drink helped kick start my 10 lb. weight gain this summer!

All the fish and chips I ate probably didn't help either!

The next day we sadly left our wonderful house and drove to Dublin where we caught our flight to JFK.  Of course Cristy had trouble with her ticket again especially in New York!  Our flight was delayed several hours which worked out as they had to talk to ticket agents for a LONG time!  In the scrabble of figuring out her name and the ticket thing again, they deleted Cole's ticket!  It all got settled and we waited patiently for our plane to leave.  It finally left at midnight and I was delighted to see the Empire State Building from the plane!  Jemma was a trooper and stayed awake until her bum hit the plane seat and then she was out.  We arrived in Charlotte around 1:45 and crashed at the hotel.  The next morning everyone headed out to their respective homes.  

It was a crazy, exhausting, amazing, educational, wonderful, fantastic trip.  We made some wonderful memories that we will always share as a family.  I am so grateful to my sweet hubby who makes all this possible for us and gives us the opportunity to share so much with our daughter.  

Family is what it is all about and this trip was a trip of a lifetime.