Brinda's Horse Ride in the Connemara

B:

Me and my brother were riding a horse and we were tied to another horse. Then we walked down to a beach. We are in the Connemara. It's rocky and not a lot of people live there. It's in the west. It was a one hour drive there. 

The first horse is my dads horse,second is my aunt,third is my grandpa. 

                                    This is the beach we were on.

Neave is riding a horse. She rode in the pen. She didn't ride on the roads.

Tucker got a ribbon for riding a horse. And I got one too.

the northern coast

tired

N:

Airplane pose! I'm flying through the sky. Airplane pose! Weeee! Ahhh!

 This is a video of me watching a waterfall. It's really cool. You can make the water go up by playing the video backwards.

We went on a big, long hike. I got tired half-way there, and I stopped to take a break to watch the sheep. I ran way up ahead, then I laid down and waited. Mom came and lay down with me. We watched the sheep for a long time. They had a hot chocolate meeting in the middle of the road.

At the end of the walk, I was very tired. I stomped down in the grass. I was very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY tired.

This was at Glenariff Forest Park in the Glens of Antrim in Northern Ireland. 

700000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000feet down

T:

This is Carcick-a-Reed rope bridge. It is over the ocean and it is 90000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 feet down.

NEWS FLASH: We did not fall off.


The bridge and island from a further down the coast.

St. Patrick's Day

A:

Happy Paddy's Day! It's very much a family holiday here, and we celebrated in style with my dad and two of his sisters.

Brinda's Trip to the North

B:

This is me and Tucker. We were at the Giant's Causeway. The Giant's Causeway is near Belfast, and Belfast is in a different country. The name of the country Belfast is in is Northern Ireland.

This is the Giant's Causeway. It was formed by lava a long time ago. Have you noticed that the rocks are like a stop-sign shape?

There's a story of how it was formed. A long time ago there was a bridge. It started at one side, then came all the way over to the other side, made of those same rocks. And then the waves broke it. It took a long time, but the waves did break it. The other side of the bridge was in Scotland. Did you know that I was twelve miles away from a different country, Scotland?

As you can see in this picture, the rocks do go up and down.

Here's what they look like from the side. I stuck a Pound penny into the wall, and that means that you are going to come back in ten years, when I'm 20.

Fun fact: In Ireland the money, instead of dollars, it's euros. In Northern Ireland, instead of dollars and euros, it's called pounds.

We were watching a video about Giant's Causeway. This was at the museum center. As you can see, the big guy was Benandonner, and the woman was Oonagh, Fionn McCool's wife. Did you know that McCabe is an Irish name?

This is a part of story about how the Giant's Causeway was formed, and wrecked.

Sligo

A: 

Mary and I went to Sligo, to see Yeats' Country. Mary hates Yeats, which extends to not admitting that Maud Gonne was the most beautiful woman ever to live.

Actually, we went to have seaweed baths, which were really wonderful. Then we drank all their tea and walked along the beach.

This is Knocknarea, which holds Mebh's Cairn. We didn't walk up it, because it was 4 km of climbing to get there.

We think Mebh was angry, because after that, everything we went to see, or anywhere we went to eat, was closed, despite what the signs on the door said. Here's me not getting in Carrowmore, the largest megalithic cemetery in Europe.

The parking lot at Strokestown Park, home of the National Famine Museum. It was lovely. We drove all over the grounds to stick it to them. They seemed nice too.

Dirty Water Sipper

N: 

on Mainguard Street in  Galway City

I foudn a spoon in the park. My dad was thirsty. I asked him if he wanted any water. He said yes. Then he drank it. And then Tucker said, "She found the spoon in the park in the garden in the dirt." Then he said "I don't care." And I said, "And I found the water on the street, too." Then he said, "Yuck!"

Clonmacnoise

A:

We went to see Clonmacnoise with my friend Mary. It's on old important monastery sitting right in the center of Ireland, on the Shannon river. It's known as the crossroads of Ireland. 

That's the Shannon River you see behind the round tower. It's really full right now, like all the rivers. 

This is the whispering doorway, that supposedly the priests used to use to hear lepers' confessions. We couldn't get it to work.

T found a "dungeon" where they kept stone pieces from the buildings. He was very creeped out by the face he found staring at him.

 Clonmacnoise is famous for some really beautiful stone crosses.

From inside the museum/interpretive center/whatever
"1070 'The head of Conchobar Ua Maeil-Shechlainn forcibly carried from Clonmacnoise by Toirdelbhach' who was compelled to return it, 'for he was smitten with a miraculous disease imparted to him by a mouse that issued from the head, and ran under his garment.' "

Just a warning that the same thing will happen to anyone who takes my head.