Next up on our Ireland trip was the four castle stays…. I am going to break them down into different posts just to give myself a break, as I need to homeschool early and get ready for Halloween…

That time was everything we dreamed and more, if you ever get a chance to go to Ireland I hope you stay in at least one Castle and experience the incredible hospitality of the staff!!!!

Tom, driving on the opposite side of the car… And boy was that hard to get use to…not so much once in the seat, but going to the car and both of us getting in the wrong seats… Even after a week and taking me into the airport to check the bags before returning the car, he got in the passenger seat in front of the airport Guards who noticed and Tom and them made eye contact and all chuckled….

The roads in Ireland were all tight and Tom said , you definitely can’t relax driving , but have to remain on high alert….

A completely different story on the Motorway were the posted speed was 120km with the flow of traffic going 160km…When I Googled how to convert that to miles… I got that 150km is 93mph…. so imagine my feeling of going faster than that in a tiny rented car…. We saw not one Guard on the Motorway and we crossed the country going between those castles…

First up was Cabra Castle, I loved the red ivy on this one....

We loved the stone walls and authentic feel of this right down to the skeleton key… There is a claw tub and window off to the left side near the red chaise that added to the feeling of the room…

This Castle ranks #1 on our tour for the food…. We had a four course meal that was incredible from start to finish…This meal was also the best deal for the price as well with a special package of just $39 euros… of course our wine bottle nixed the bargain meal..

The bottle of sparkling wine was wonderful as well,,,,  We can’t forget that meal and are determined to try our hand at making some potato soups soon to see if we can come close to the one we had there…. Note, I am not a big soup eater, but this one was incredible!  And don’t get me started on the salad which said it was Caesar, but did not have anchovy in the dressing, but was more a creamy Parmesan version with chicken and bacon it was enough for a meal for me….I however did not stop there…. 

Every Princess in a Castle is in search of her knight in Shining Armor….

We took our final glasses of sparkling wine on our castle tour…

Tom, having fun hamming it up…

The wedding at the Castle added a lot of fun as we saw the wedding party coming in and getting ready, 

it really added to the fun atmosphere..

The wedding delighted us with this view out of our window late night….

Dear Readers, I forgot to mention one of my favorite moments of the trip was at the reunion… The night before they were asking members of each family to do a reading at the church service and everyone was balking about it… They wanted them to write their own prayers… Once one of the cousins said she would pick something for them to read… the tension was not lifted as some members wanted something very short… I went in the kitchen and told them not to worry that Tom did public speaking for a living for a few years and they could give him something longer to read… Fast forward to the next evening and 5 minutes before the service when they handed him two sheets full to read that was in tiny print that he couldn’t see… Being a quick thinker he asked his Cousin for her reading glasses… He winged it and got up there and did a brilliant job… Not lost on this woman who lives a life of gratitude was how surreal it was that Tom was standing in a Catholic Church in Ireland  doing a wonderful job…. In that moment I wish his parents had been there to witness that with pride…  

Gratitude

I am grateful to my hairstylists as I’ve had so many compliments on my hair since returning from Ireland… Just walking to the store yesterday, my neighbor called out to to compliment my hair… I joked DH that  I have to get these highlights again next time…

I am grateful that my husband told his job. no working tonight to spend the time with our youngest for Halloween..It’s so nice to see my workaholic husband relax and feel comfortable enough to take time off work…

I am grateful that my husband has had such great success since returning from Ireland that he had the peace to take time off…

I am grateful for the wonderful stage of having adult children who call me for advice when making decisions… this is such a wonderful stage in parenting where they seek my counsel instead of me telling children what to do…. I love it!!!!