We had a pretty aggressive itinerary for Ireland because we had a lot we wanted to see and to find. The big part of this trip was really to search for the Dea family roots. On Monday we headed to a very small village called Graiguenamanough which I affectionally call "Grandma Town" because I don't know how to pronounce the name and it is the supposed birth place of Kevin's great, great, great grandmother Mary Barron. We did some checking into records at the local church, the cemeteries, the local historical center and even a store that bared the Barron name. Not much luck on finding too much more than we already knew but it was pretty neat to try.
Next we headed down to Waterford and did the factory tour. It was as cool as I remembered it to be. Kevin and I found this amazing water pitcher and water goblets that we wanted and I felt it was destiny for us to have them since we both came to each other at the same time and said, hey look at that. We didn't end up getting them because we were already at our weight limit on luggage and we didn't want to tote them around...we are both kicking ourselves though because they were 20% off for the 4th of July weekend!!!
Wednesday morning we woke up to rain and had planned to visit Blarney castle. So we decided to work with the weather instead of letting it get us down. We headed back to Midleton and did the tour of the Jameson Distillary. The boys really liked this place. Mike even took part in the whiskey comparison tasting at the end and found out why the triple distillation of Irish Whiskey makes it the best. 
The weather did clear up by the afternoon so we headed back to Blarney to give the castle another try. I had already gotten my gift to gab 6 years ago when I kissed the stone so I let Kevin take his mom and dad to the top of the castle. 
Sally is terrified of heights but at one point I heard a high squeel and then I looked up and thought I saw her kissing the stone...five stories up. Way to go Sally!
Thursday we woke up to a beautiful view of Lough Leane Lake in Killarney National Park. The boys would have liked to have gone fishing all day but we headed out to explore the Gap of Dunloe which we happened upon purely out of luck because it was mentioned on our directions to the B&B. It's mentioned briefly in the tour books as a route for horse riding and hiking. It turns out to be a single lane of paved road with the most beautiful views that connects Killarney to Kenmare. It happened to rain the whole night before so the lakes and streams were being filled by the waterfalls and springs coming out of the mountains. 
We continued the day by driving around the Ring of Kerry. Kevin and I did this route in the opposite direction before with rain misting down the whole time so it was nice to actually see stuff this time. We stopped at Ballycarbery Castle in Caherciveen to check out this ivy covered castle ruins. It was a good excuse to stop and stretch our legs and Addie had a blast checking out things with Daddy and Grandpa.
Thursday we headed to Tipperary in search of the birthplace of Kevin's great, great, great grandfather John Dea. He is the one who brought Kevin's branch of the Dea family to western Iowa. We tried checking into the B&B a little early because we were going to use their "laundry facilities." Turns out that all they had was a washing machine and when the guys walked in to check out the place all they saw were empty whiskey bottles on the table the the guy was a mess and seemed annoyed that we were here. Needless to say we headed straight to the tourist office in order to find a different place to stay. We did find an awesome place that actually ended up being my favorite place that we stayed all week. When Kevin called to let the other B&B know we weren't coming, the lady thanked Kevin for calling and told him that they planned on us not showing back up. That afternoon consisted of us searching the countryside for the family farm - we didn't know exactly where it was. Mike had a map with three big circles on it and some pieced together directions that didn't match up with the roads we had to follow and even if we found the site weren't sure it what were going to see was really much at all. Needless to say the curvy and bumpy roads along with the constant turning around caused this preggie woman to loose her lunch by that evening. 
I don't blame Kevin now, but I sure did while we were in the heat of the pursuit. We did end up taking some pictures of the land around the area that we thought could have been the farm. (The day after we left Ireland Mike and Sally went back to Tipperary and found the farm with some other relatatives....so it really does exist!!!)
We continued the day by driving around the Ring of Kerry. Kevin and I did this route in the opposite direction before with rain misting down the whole time so it was nice to actually see stuff this time. We stopped at Ballycarbery Castle in Caherciveen to check out this ivy covered castle ruins. It was a good excuse to stop and stretch our legs and Addie had a blast checking out things with Daddy and Grandpa.
Thursday we headed to Tipperary in search of the birthplace of Kevin's great, great, great grandfather John Dea. He is the one who brought Kevin's branch of the Dea family to western Iowa. We tried checking into the B&B a little early because we were going to use their "laundry facilities." Turns out that all they had was a washing machine and when the guys walked in to check out the place all they saw were empty whiskey bottles on the table the the guy was a mess and seemed annoyed that we were here. Needless to say we headed straight to the tourist office in order to find a different place to stay. We did find an awesome place that actually ended up being my favorite place that we stayed all week. When Kevin called to let the other B&B know we weren't coming, the lady thanked Kevin for calling and told him that they planned on us not showing back up. That afternoon consisted of us searching the countryside for the family farm - we didn't know exactly where it was. Mike had a map with three big circles on it and some pieced together directions that didn't match up with the roads we had to follow and even if we found the site weren't sure it what were going to see was really much at all. Needless to say the curvy and bumpy roads along with the constant turning around caused this preggie woman to loose her lunch by that evening. 
I don't blame Kevin now, but I sure did while we were in the heat of the pursuit. We did end up taking some pictures of the land around the area that we thought could have been the farm. (The day after we left Ireland Mike and Sally went back to Tipperary and found the farm with some other relatatives....so it really does exist!!!) Friday morning we got up and went to St. Patrick's Rock of Cashel which was a new site for all of us. The three monistic structures were really neat to see. Also the it is surrounded by an active cemetery. There are two more people who are still eligible to be buried there who haven't died yet. Addie and I are standing next to a huge chunk of one of the towers that fell off the building. That afternoon we headed up to Ennis to get registered for the 7th International O'Dea Clan Reunion.
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