ireland!

a couple of weeks ago, nick's parents took us on a family vacation to the land of green, and guinness, and some of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

they took us to IRELAND.

and it was wonderful.

we toured around the country the only way a family should…

in a blue, 9 passenger VW van. 

we only lost one side mirror along the way, and maybe got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, but other than that, we totally dominated those ridiculously narrow country roads and made it out in one piece.

after arriving in dublin, we hit the road, visiting kilkenny, kinsale, dingle, recess, and finished right where we started, in dublin for the final days of the trip (using rick steve's guidebook as our most beloved companion, obviously).

those first small towns that we stayed in were the definition of quaint with colorful shops lining the streets, making everything seem just so picturesque. most of our days were spent exploring, visiting the local sights (enter castles and cathedrals and ruins and historic walking tours…you get the idea), always making time for a guinness or baileys coffee, and finishing the day in a pub, listening to live music with the locals.

the cities on the water afforded us some delicious sea food and we definitely had our fair share of fish and chips. we also learned about the dolphin legend of fungi, who is most certainly alive (don't let anyone tell you different). i, of course, admired the doors in every city because they were just begging to be photographed, and we even found a local brewery to tour. 

outside of our small town exploring, we made it to the cliffs of moher. which were absolutely gorgeous and well worth the trip. and after our little tire mishap, eventually made our way through the beautiful countryside to a castle where we stayed for the night (i know, we stayed at a castle. i felt very fancy.)

we finished our trip back in dublin where it all began. it was a bit of culture shock to go from small, quaint towns to a bustling city, but i loved it! one night, nick and i even made friends with a few dubliners and they took us to some of their favorite spots, which was one of my favorite nights of the whole trip. we also toured trinity college, admired the book of kells,  went on a literary pub crawl, toured the enormous and very cool guinness factory, and found the U2 graffiti wall. 

i really couldn't have asked for a better trip, and i will cherish the memories we made together as a family forever.

 i am well aware that many people don't have such a luxury, and i am so very grateful. 

now, of course, i took a ridiculous amount of photos, but i picked some (okay, more than some) to share here. 

enjoy.

(and if you look through all of them, you deserve sainthood. you know i couldn't just pick a few.)