Best...breakfast...ever!

We made it here at last, after being chucked out by the parkie yesterday at closing time, 30 seconds after we arrived. It's the playground in St Stephen's Green, and we had it to ourselves this morning!

The 'Great' Southern Greenway?

We had endured a long and car-bound journey yesterday which resulted in disrupted sleep and a couple of crotchety youngsters this morning. So a walk in the fresh air was just the (railway) ticket this afternoon. Roo cycled and Poonch walked much of the way along the disused railway which apart from us and two dog walkers was still abandoned today in spite of the bright autumn sunshine.

This restored walkway/cycle track is perhaps a well-kept secret. Today was our first time to walk there, but we spent a half- afternoon looking for the start of the trail earlier this Summer. All there was to mark it was a pixie-sized sign with GSG hand-written on it on the grass verge opposite. Not sure why it isn't better sign-posted. Maybe it is a work in progress as it would be great if it could be as good as its Northern counterpart in Mayo. I have a feeling though that even if the will was there, the funds probably aren't anymore.

In a way though, it was nice to have it all to ourselves. (Especially when I was pedalling Roo's pint-sized bike like a mad thing.)

Fota foties

Feeding time at the zoo: a sneaky peek into the feeding buggy on our annual Summer trip to Fota (yay)

... on the train (woohoo!)

It was a day of penpens, albeit slightly bored and dozey ones, above

and stripey bah-loo cardigans.

We had a great day, meeting old friends with their hands as 'full' as ours, eccentric second child and all. And I found a lovely, proper, newsagent full of magazines, newspapers and a lovely proper newsagent-y smell I haven't experienced for years.

Tall Ships, big dogs and small ones too

Continuing our whistle-stop tour of Southern Ireland, we arrived in Cappoquin to spend a night in Richmond House, somewhere we remembered fondly from our pre-sprog days. The house is as lovely as we found it before and our family room was memorable for the fact that Roo and Poonch slept peacefully and harmoniously together in the same bed. (Another memory is that of Poonch sitting regally in his potty surveying the carpark below from his lofty perch on the expansive bathroom windowsill.) A visit to Granny Daddy and her gift of a pair of cuddly plush puppies helped to tire them out, although we've had so much going these last few days that they have a cumulative tiredness at this stage.

Pictured above is by far the friendliest member of staff that we met at Richmond House. Make of that what you will. The lads were very taken with this big old bear of a dog: cuddly and quiet. And so was I.

The following morning, we drove off to Waterford to what turned into a glorious Summer's day to see the Tall Ships, or should that be, to queue up for various food items at numerous market stalls. The city was absolutely packed and we strolled around with the older lads in and out of the buggy and the Little Toot in the sling. In hindsight, we would all get much more out of it when we are able to climb on board the actual Tall Ships in a few years' time, please God. One of the more memorable things was a Sea Shanty group from Exmouth who wandered around singing a most stirring song.

Despite the fact that the lads are generally very well-behaved (do you think I would be biased, now really?), there has been the odd occasion when I haven't felt entirely, shall we say, loved by certain people we have come across on this holiday. They seem to have a pre-formed negative attitude towards children, even before they have crossed the restaurant or hotel threshold. Curiously enough, in some of these places we have been pretty much the only customers. I would have thought that in the country's current dire economic state that any customer at all would be treated like a long lost friend.

Holiday revisited part 4, Thursday: Can you tell where it is yet?

Here is the other side of the church, the side that people know better. This is where Our Lady appeared to some dumb-founded inhabitants of Knock, Co Mayo, on 21st August 1879. We visited it on our Mayo holiday: it was in fact the reason we decided to come up there in the first place.

This gable-end is one of the parts of Knock that I love. There is a real sense of something amazing in this quiet spot, which for some reason seems almost deserted whenever I visit. In my experience, people tend to rush past it on the way to the Basilica, yet to me it is a far more attractive place. I see the basilica as just a functional place which can hold a lot of people. Lee likened it to a mart in design, which is bang on. Another part of Knock that I love is the Reconciliation Chapel. It always feels inviting and friendly, which aren't two adjectives that normally come to mind when I think of confession. On this visit, the two older lads were very good as they waited in turn for Lee and I, but I had to bring the Scroonk in with me in the sling and he was a bit busy, to say the least!

After that, the lads went off with Lee for some well-deserved messing in the playground while I went to yet another of my favourite parts of Knock: the bookshop. I could really spend hours there, and that's just in the children's section which has so many appealing books. I got some great books for Roo to help explain what's happening in Mass and some lift-the-flap Bible stories for Poonch. Then I went looking for a 'penny catechism' only to find it next to YOUCAT , which I was very excited about. It is such a great book: even apart from its contents, it is very attractive to look at and handle, with a friendly, straight-forward and approachable tone and a wonderful foreword from the Holy Father.

It was a welcome change not to have to face into a three-hour plus drive back home and instead we headed back to the hotel and our final night there. All together now: aaaaahhhhh!

Day 2, Tuesday... in Mayo!: Cycling the Greenway

We woke up for our first proper day of holiday and off we toddled to the nearby town of Newport to collect our snazzy electric bikes.

My trusty steed for the day

Electric bike + trailer= plain sailing

We had been really excited about this part of our holiday because it involved us, bikes, fresh air, nice scenery and exercise, but as Roo would say, not too much. Lee and I aren't as fit as we'd like to be, so when we heard that we could cycle about with the lads in tow with the help of an electric motor, we thought yippee! Roo wasn't too sure though- he didn't like the sound of the trailers that he and de bruvvers were going to be travelling in.

Nonetheless, we met Paul from Electric Escapes at Clew Bay Cycles and collected our bikes. And so began the pirate connections: my bike was called Grace, as in Grace O'Malley, the famous female pirate of Mayo, appropriate, as we had chosen the Pirate Queen tour. Roo settled quickly into his trailer with the Scroonk next to him, while initially Poonch was a bit nervous on his ownio behind me.

And we were off! The weather was very clement: warm and dry, with a gentle breeze to prevent us getting too hot from our exertions. And the scenery was, well take a look at this....

Mostly very peaceful and relaxing: no cars speeding by to scare the bejayny out of us. We weren't completely alone of course:

Moo!

Baa!

And we did meet some people too. A broad mix of young families, retired couples and young, fit types who seemed to me to be regular users of the cycleway. All sharing a friendly 'hello'. What a very civilised and cheery way to spend the day! And what a fantastic amenity to have in the area: a safe, superbly-maintained track to walk or cycle along. Not just for tourists, but local residents too. Aaaahh, if only there were more trails like this around the country. My Dad would have loved it.

Whizzzzzzzzzzzz!

Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

It wasn't all plain sailing for me though. As the initial euphoria/novelty wore off, I realised I should have asked someone to adjust my saddle before we started as my botty wasn't feeling too happy towards the end. Overall though, we did really well, considering the last time we biked regularly was over 10 years ago in college.

And the lads had a great time: the first thing Roo said the following morning was, 'Are we going cycling again today?' So there you go, highly recommended.

Holiday revisited: Day 1 Mulranny Monday

We started the long drive up to Mayo after collecting Roo from his first day at 'big' school: he got on ok and we met some very nice parents and teachers too. We had our customary pitstop in Clarenbridge at the Provident Market Kitchen cafe, which is always tasty.

We took a slight diversion in Galway at Little Dreamers, a lovely shop for children's stuff, to pick up a new addition to the family (pictured). After that the road became narrow and the countryside boggy as we started on the last leg of the journey. Driving through the pretty town of Westport, we decided we would have to return later in the week for a browse. As we got closer to Mulranny, we noticed bits of newly refurbished cycleway running closeby the road and guessed it must be the Great Western Greenway. It looked very well made and we couldn't wait for the chance to cycle it the next day.

Eventually, we reached our home for the next few nights: Mulranny Park Hotel. This old railway hotel was built long before the Celtic Tiger's glut of ghost hotels. Our room was surprisingly spacious (as we opened the door, we all gasped at its size) with gracious sash windows and high ceilings. Some of the views from the hotel were like landscape paintings and the window tables in the restaurant were much sought after. Well, more popular than the ones near our motley little crew anyway!

Well, I was going to post some more pictures from our recent trip, but my phone suddenly broke down today (possibly caused by a grouchy Scroonk) so it will have to wait until I can get it repaired (I hope)...

We were in Mayo for a few days and it was lovely. The weather was very friendly to us so we got loads of fresh air and the lads (and us) were happily exhausted at the end of each day from cycling, swimming, pedalo-ing, fluming and bouncy castl-ing. More info to follow.

Lee's time-off continues so today we found ourselves in Limerick at the Milk Market. Then my broken phone caused us to stumble across the pop-up Etsy shop on Catherine Street on its last day. Poonch fell asleep so I had a lovely browse through handmade cards, crochet, jewellery and the like before settling on some cute felt brooches from Bettyoctopus and earrings from Silver Soul Design.

We love shopping at the market and getting to know the people who make the things we like. Vi's Sunflower Bakery is one of our favourites: when I eat her creations I always wish I could bake like her. Maybe she does classes....

Lovely stuff

Haven't had a chance to post about some happy things we've done lately. Here's Roo with a 'baby' ladybird on his collar. He was very excited to find him this evening, observant little guy that he is.

At the weekend, we went to the Donkey Sanctuary in Liscarroll on a mission. Roo had been bitten by a mean stallion the week before and I was worried he'd be put off them for life. He loves animals and is confident around them. Even around horses, where I would be naturally very reticent, he shows no fear, so I thought it would be terrible if he lost that self-assurance.
Well, I'm glad to say it seems to have been a success. He was very happy to pat them and decided donkeys were cool and that the one we met last week was a bit of an oddity in the donkey world. This one in the picture seems to be having an '80's legwarmer moment, don't you agree? Very cute. I think he was Dessie, or maybe Lorcan. Donkey bottoms... Was this Shakespeare's inspiration for the character in A Midsummer Night's Dream? Hee hee...

Here's a picture from our week-off. The Cheese Experience in Stoneyford, Co Kilkenny! They were very welcoming and served a lovely cheese plate, free-range sausie roll, local apple juice and i-meam (known to most people as ice cream). Afterwards, the nice lady allowed us to have a stroll around their farm and cheese 'factory'. They have a little farm in the middle of this village, which just strikes me as the perfect mix.

This is a picture of the bridge over the River Barrow in Graiguenamanagh, also in Kilkenny, which Lee and I have to admit (a little grudgingly) is a lovely county in parts. We had a stroll around Thomastown too and would have done more than drive round Inistioge if we'd had the time. But then, now that the Wowee house deal has fallen through, we probably will have a fair bit of time to explore it properly, as it is less than an hour from there.

Back to the Wowee house

Well, our holiday at home continues and this evening we find ourselves at the Wowee house. It is completely our house again because I'm afraid the sale fell through. The people who had agreed to buy it have bought another house in the estate instead because the builder dropped the price lower than ours when he found out we'd had an offer.
So we will have to keep up the prayers to St Joseph and Louis and Zelie Martin.
Here's a picture of the pretty rosebush outside the front door which is covered in fragrant little flowers at the moment. Very enticing, no?

Our Tour of the Burren

The Burren Perfumery was one of our stops today. We wandered in their lovely gardens, sniffed their roses and various creams and scents, ate some cakes, spent rather a lot of money and basked in the sunshine in the lovely courtyard (above).

This butterfly and lots of little moths were very attracted to this plant.

Earlier on in Lisdoonvarna, we left the inviting Wild Honey Inn where we spent the night and visited the Burren Smokehouse where we bought some tasty goodies. Poonch likes their Smoked salmon which is less salty than others he's tried. 'He must be a bit of a gourmand,' said Birgitta, the friendly Swedish lady who runs it with her husband. She met her hubbie, a local man, in Lisdoonvarna, as did the Texan lady behind the till. Maybe Uncle B should visit...

Fionn MacCumhaill....

and the Salmon of Knowledge

Some of the lovely flowers that grow in the Burren.

The iconic Poulnabrone dolmen

Limestone pavement in the Burren

The garden at the Wild Honey Inn (best hotel ever, according to Roo, which taught him an early lesson that flattery will get you lollies and crisps). The breakfast room overlooks the garden.

Wag-wag, Tuk-tuk and Dig-dig

Can you see it yet? Here it comes! It's getting closer....

It's a zoo-zoo train! Roo's favourite thing about Fota Wildlife Park. Lee and I spent the day trying to get him to look at 'the monkeys swinging!', 'the baby giraffe!', ''the pelicans' huge beaks!', while he picked daisies with a little girl, slid down slides, chased crows and maras (think Argentinian hare), crossed bridges and played at being a fireman all the while listening out for the little train that runs from one side of the park to the other.

He did notice some animals though, as he agreed that the penpens (penguins) were his favourite animal there. Poonch got a kick out of being close to the little Eastern Grey kangaroos and watching the gibbons' acrobatics.

But probably the best thing about today was that it was Roo's first time on a train, a real train! There is a station right next to the wildlife park, so it was a great idea of Lee's to choose the journey between it and our local train station as the lads' inaugural rail trip. Observant little Roo didn't miss a thing all day and kept going until he finally succumbed to a 'nooze 20 minutes before we arrived back in Charleville, crumby and sticky and very tired.

Just before he fell asleep, we discussed what the new baby might be called. That's where the title of this post came from. They're pretty original names, aren't they? He's certainly his own little man.

'This is the best holiday ever,' he declared to Lee on the way home.

Wouldn't it be great if it was like this all the time?

Lee is off this week! Apart from the obvious loveliness of having him around all day, it is great to have an extra pair of hands and eyes to help me in my big-tummied state!
Here is a polar bear that I tried unsuccessfully to remove tomato sauce from. Washing up liquid didn't work and nor did baking soda, but it did make him feel at home for a while, peeping out from a snow-like dusting of white powder.

Bloom 2010

We met this amazing eagle just as we were leaving. I didn't think he was real at first.