Saturday…so today was the day. We always have one of these days on our family vacations and today was it.

It all started when our children woke up at 6am!!! Being that they would not go to sleep, I decided to get up and take a shower. While putting my pants on, a huge brown Irish spider (don’t even know if that’s real, we made it up) came scuttling out of a pant leg. I ran into the room and said/woke up Michael “Hon, I hate to ask you this, but would you mind getting up and taking care of this huge spider in the bathroom?”. First of all, Mike was very tired and had two honey badgers next to him in bed. Second, he had a splitting headache. Third, I just asked him to wake from his slumber to face what he hates most-spiders…After proding the pile of clothes on the floor with a chair the spider finally came out and he was taken care of. Then we headed off to breakfast…and today we snapped pics of this breakfast we keep going on and on about!

We piled in the car and headed to Cork. After several potty breaks, Mike spilling a ton of gas (petrol over here) on the ground at the gas station, slow moving farm machinery, and getting turned around a few times, we finally arrived in Cork. We looped around twice before we found the parking lot near the information center. This whole process took about 45 minutes in traffic with one way roads. Once we got there, we parked into the smallest spot possible in which everyone had to climb out of the left side because there was absolutely no room to get out of the right. We harnessed the kids in and headed to the information office where we sadly found out that they could not help us with booking a room in Killarney….With that being said….we headed over to the English Market to see what it was all about. The kids had a melt down and Mike gave in and bought them both a big cookie (Gingerbread Men to be exact) as we were waiting on cheese, bread, and meat for a snack. While leaving the market the thin paper bags ripped and the knives and forks fell through. The cheese was leaking! How is that even possible? In any case we were all hungry and frustrated and headed back across the street to a food tent. We grabbed a sausage and then inhaled them quickly before squeezing back into our hampster sized vehicle. Oh, I forgot to mention that Sienna had to go potty again and the only one available nearby was a public outhouse that you have to pay to use. Imagine a giant metal whirling port-o-john. Yep, there was so much urine on the seat that I had to hold her over the toilet to avoid the ick that lurked below. We needed to be sterilized after that!!! Cork…eh…check in the box, maybe more time next time. Or, we might just circumvent it all together and head south to Kinsale! Have to save some stuff for the next trip! It was time for some good luck and fortune turn-a-round, so on to Blarney….or maybe not!

We all pushed on and got back into the car to head to the Blarney Castle, although we had a bit of a rough start. First of all, Mylan needed a fresh diaper. I went to change him and there were no diapers left. Ah, but I found one of Sienna’s pull ups! Yes, that would work, only it was defective and would not fasten. I had to pull his pants up (free style) and tell him not to go potty until Daddy got him a diaper. Well, while Mike was getting a diaper Mylan had an accident! So, as any mom would do, I yelled across the parking lot to my husband that now we needed back up diapers…..and a fresh pair of pants. 

So finally, we suited up like Knights for battle and stormed Blarney Castle and the Blarney Stone! We finally made it to the castle and kissed the Blarney stone, took lots of great pics, and headed on to Killarney. Maybe it was coincidence, maybe the legend is true….but after we kissed the Blarney Stone…things got much, much better. We coasted into Killarney without booking and place to stay, pretty late in the evening. We avoided crazy traffic, found the BnB that Margaret from Kilkenny recommended and had a place to crash for the night. After a dinner in town and checking out the beginning stages of the famous song “Christmas in Killarney”…..they are already setting up, it was time for a bite to eat and a pillow for our heads. Tomorrow, on to the famed Ring of Kerry!!!