Ireland Part 2: Guinness, some ruins, and Malahide

March 27: The family arrived! Over the next few days, we made our way around Ireland. First stop, the Guinness Storehouse where we learned how to pour the perfect draft. 

For some reason, they had a waterfall in the Storehouse.

Mr. Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease when he opened the storehouse, which now conveniently rests under the 7-story Guinness Glass-shaped foyer of the factory. 

Up on the top floor, is a 360-degree view of Dublin

Driving through the streets of Dublin:

March 29: Over the next few days we visited Newgrange, believed to be a burial and/or religious site centuries ago in the Boyne Valley. 

The River Boyne

Gramps with his granddaughters walking up to Newgrange! 

Somehow the only photo I snagged of Newgrange, on a hill overlooking the river and valley. The entrance is in the middle of the white rock front. 

We also visited an old cemetery with some of the best preserved Celtic crosses and abbey tower

The Hill of Slane, with a castle ruin and a cemetery

We ditched the family to climb three stories of the ruins

The view was killer

                   

Next was Trim Castle, one of the largest castles in the area. It changed owners multiple times over the centuries, and was built primarily for defense. Oddly, it was also painted white during it's prime, rather than remaining plain stone. 

The crew on the roof of Trim Castle

We tried to get a cool picture with the nice view in the background, but those white roof covers ruin the aesthetic

For dinner one night, we claimed a spot at The Brazen Head in Dublin, which claims to be one of the oldest pubs in Ireland. Here we had dinner and a show, learning about the myths and folklore of Ireland such as Fairies.

March 30: Malahide, about 45 minutes north of the Dublin city center, has it's own castle, gorgeous flowers, and a great coastal view.

Ireland Part 1: Arrival, the Long Room, Christ Church Cathedral

The McNamara (and Glenn) Clan is headed to IRELAND!!! The land of our ancestors!! Because of a scheduling goof on my part, Evan and I arrived a day earlier than the McNamaras. Woops.

Immediately upon landing, we began trekking through the city. 

The book worm in me had to visit the Long Room at Trinity College. But the engineer in Evan noticed there aren't any hallways connecting the alcoves on the second floor. 

After the Long Room, we make the hike across the city center to see Christ Church Cathedral, which included a tour of the bell tower and ringing of the bells. 

 

The great thing about this church is that it changed constructions styles mid-build as seen by the different arches 

Up in the bell tower, we saw the ropes to 14 bells that the Cathedral rings on a regular basis. And we were able to ring a couple! 

Puppy Appreciation Post!

When I say puppy, I really mean our 6 year old, 95-pound, German Shepard-Lab mix of a mutt Ranger. This puppy own us and makes us melt at every turn...or cackle in laughter at his dumb behavior. He has a tendency to run into doors, fall off the bed, get scared at the beeping dishwasher, and a myriad of other ridiculous things. But he's also downright adorable. So here is a compilation of some adorable pictures over the past couple weeks. 

He's afraid of a power tool

He's afraid of the new lights on the mantle

          

Best of all, Ranger believes he's human.

Delaware Valentines Day

We celebrated Valentine's Day early by heading down to the beach! Behold, the Cultured Pearl in it's delicious glory: 

Regardless of society's expectations or social norms surrounding relationships, what matters is making your relationship and life work for you. With the military owning both of our lives for the foreseeable future, we know there will be holidays and special occasions for which we won't be together. But as long as we're on the same page and communicate our expectations, we'll be alright.

This was especially apparent today, since we both worked this morning (on a Saturday), while planning on going out tonight because Tuesday (actual Valentine's Day) will be filled with adult responsibilities.

Since it's the middle of winter, the boardwalk was a bit empty. But that's perfect, we hate crowds as it is. Evan had a surprise plan of walking down to Cold Stone for dessert after our massive meal at the Cultured Pearl. Even though it's a chain (which we try to stay away from during travels), I can't deny it's one of my favorite places! I'm a sucker for Birthday Cake ice cream with Kit Kats and fudge. Dang its delicious. 

Christmas Party 2016

I know these posts seem out of order, I'm finally catching up with everything that happened at the end of the year!

Evan's squadron had a Great Gatsby themed Christmas Party, so I got to wear my awesome consignment store dress that I bought years ago! And Evan looked pretty dashing in his only suit...that he bought for our wedding ceremony.

The Glenns and the Sears, another dual-military couple on base. 

           

           

First Snow, 2017

The first snow of 2017! We were watching a friend's 8 month old puppy, who had never seen snow before. We knew that Ranger already loved the snow, so we were curious what Jack would think of it, since he had never seen it before. Needless to say, he loved it!

 Jack constantly tried to play with Ranger, but Ranger only humored him for a few minutes... Ranger's too old for that puppy!

  But they did love investigating everything together...