I have to dedicate a post to the catalyst for the trip, the Family Reunion…

We actually had more of a four day event than just the actual reunion night…

It all began with the night before meeting at a Cousins house…

When we arrived the room was full and all the twenty somethings  and under automatically  moved out of the living room to the adjoining kitchen…

This was where we met the two women in the photo, sisters and  second cousins to my DH  who were amazing and so giving….

They instantly put drinks in our hands and offered us snacks..

My husband chose beer and was handed two bottles at a time… I was given the glass of red wine in the photo and sipped it slowly…

The twenty somethings were refreshing drinks and upon finally waiting to refill mine, told me,

“You are obviously not Irish, but you better get over that by tomorrow night!”  

Truth be told I am not much of a drinker except socially and those two full glasses of wine were more than enough…

The sisters drove a few of us home that night….. and didn’t drink at all, but were instigating others…

The next night was the reunion, that’s Tom’s uncle in the left corner

at the bar and I am actually in the right corner standing up….

The meal was delicious, Turkey, Ham, mashed potatoes and veggies… It began with potato soup and salads..

The wine refills kept coming….

We sat with his uncle and aunt and met a cousin across the table who was exactly like my husband’s favorite cousin in Boston…

She was horrified when she learned my age, as she was just a few years older… I hated that for for her as she was beautiful!  

This night began my husband’s new like for Bulmers Irish Cider 

Still tasted too much like beer for my liking….neither of us liked Guiness..

We did however get introduced to a “Baby Guiness”  which was a shot of Kahlua and Baileys….

Our housemates from England had the best seats in the house in the window seat right off the dance floor..

I hung out there most of the night, which ended up resulting in all of getting dragged onto the dance floor for dances we knew nothing about..

Once they had four of us in a line and I told them that none of us knew what we were doing, instead of switching us, they told us it was easy…

We tried and failed miserably….Since we were on the end of the dance floor we didn’t care and just kept messing up and laughing hysterically, we did exit the floor when the rest of the floor noticed us messing up and gave us a look…

Most of the dances, however really were easy and we did participate…

This  hat got passed around and their are photos out there with most people at the event..

I however did not pose with the hat, as it belonged to a man who spent the night hitting on me and I wasn’t encouraging that!

This is the end of the night and Tom is with his Aunt who moved to Florida, so we hadn’t seen her in 15 years… 

It was fabulous for us to catch up and she couldn’t stop looking at Tom and how much he resembled her brothers…

The other man is the owner of the hat and the brother of Martin our host for the week, those men are exact opposites…

This might just be my favorite photo of the night , as this is Tom’s uncle and aunt who hadn’t seen each other in years…

The brother and sister hung out together a lot over the next few days… As did  Tom and I as well,  cause we were all that showed for the Jennings family…

 There was a professional photographer at the reunion who will be putting together pictures and we will all get a disc of them when they are done…

The following night we ended up back at the cousins house for a wonderful buffet dinner…

Some in the group went out on the fishing boat with the husband of the house…

My husband and I joined a mother-daughter duo to take a daring climb up the hill.

The onlookers down below were making bets on who fell first….

We actually made it without falling and none of us even spilled a drink…

I did that in 2 1/2 inch heeled  boots…which I ended up giving to a charity shop after I bought two new pairs and needed luggage space…

For some reason my hand was unsteady every time DH asked me to take a photo and he got this…

This is actually how we ended the night at Plunketts , a pub at the bottom of the hill where his cousin hosted our night.

My DH and his 70 something uncle where in a prime spot to check out the 20 something young women on the dance floor…

My DH and I danced a lot, but I did dance more with other women in the group, as I was the instigator of dragging them out there…

My favorite moment was when a twenty something cousin dragged DH out to do a jig when he was trying to go to the bar to get more drinks, he thought he was going to do a few steps and move on, but she dumped his drinks at the table and dragged him back out there.. It was fun to watch and I loved her spunk… She even messed up his perfect hair and I high fived her for that…

Earlier that night one of the wives of a cousin noticed Tom and his uncle and told them if they could bottle that Jennings hair, they’d be millionaires…it was so funny to me as it had been a butt of a lot of joking at DH ‘s previous company…. 

The fourth day, we went back to the cousin Cathy’s house and she had done the most amazing thing for my husband…

She had found an woman who could point out to us where Tom’s mother had lived as  a young girl…

This is the home she’s lived in her entire life…

She is 86 and doesn’t get out much anymore, but had a peat fire going and her house was impeccable..

She also goes out weekly to have her hair done…

Her tea cup collection sits across from the fireplace…

This is the inside of the roofless structure that remained of his mother’s home…

Behind the fireplace is another area about the same as this one and completed the house

DH stood in there alone for a very long time trying to imagine how a family of 7 could possibly live there…

Tom was standing up on the walls taking this photo when a angry guy in a blue van pulled up and yelled at me that that was private property…

He had bought the land and it was now a quarry mining for Connemara marble.. 

When I explained that he was taking photos of the home his mother lived in as a child, he said,

“As long as I know that you are OK!”   

This is another view of the roofless structure and also shows the house in front that had been occupied by his mother’s cousins…

There was also another home behind them, all clustered so close together…

It was obvious there wasn’t even much of a yard for the children who lived here…

DH walked away from this visibly shaken and saying that house was no bigger than our oldest’s bedroom…

It fully explains why his mother’s family left and spent a lot of time in England…

A short distance from his mother’s  old house stands this home in Connemara….

It  was built by Angelica Huston’s father and they use to come often and play card games that went all night long.

Dear Readers, I don’t think I can adequately explain how this Irish Family welcomed us with open arms and went above and beyond for us..We will truly treasure this part of our trip and it will be the thing that draws us back to Ireland again soon… I realize this part might not be as interesting to others, but this truly was an amazing part of the trip.. 

Gratitude

I am grateful that I went back to sleep after the dog woke me up at 5 am…

I am grateful that my son and I agreed to go back to the program we had used for three years for homeschooling Math, as the new program was a lot of info put no applying it by doing problems….

I am grateful that my husband had  another sale last night and only worked for a short time.  

I am grateful that  I am halfway through the pics and writing about Ireland and also grateful for this opportunity to remember it in vivid detail..

I am grateful for a phone call yesterday from a dear friend who called just to share her joy at how well my trip went…