Our First Week in Ireland

We officially arrived in Ireland on Monday afternoon 1 week ago. We flew out early Sunday morning for a flight to Charlotte where we had a layover and then our 8 hour flight into London. The girls slept the entire flight it was wonderful. I couldn’t sleep at all since we were right next to the bathroom and it was uncomfortable. Then we had a bus ride over to another airport in England for our 1 hr flight over to Dublin Ireland. When we arrived we picked up a rental car and headed out to find our home. We are renting a home in Celbridge which is about 30 min. from Dublin and only 10 minutes from Intel. The house we are living in is 100 years old! It has been refinished on the inside and is pretty nice. It has 4 bedrooms so everyone has their own room. There is a tiny backyard with a picnic table and a little swing. We are walking distance from a little park, the library and the town center with lots of little shops.
The weather this past week has been in the 60’s and raining ( I guess that’s why Ireland is so green). The Irish people are very friendly and I love the accent and we’ve already learned a few new words: Nappy-diaper Toilets-Bathrooms Coach-Bus Queing-waiting Buggy-Stroller They also drive on the left side of the road and on the right side of the car. It was very strange at first but Brett is getting quite good at driving. We traded in our Toyota rental car for a nice Volvo it has great power and leather interior and all the bells and whistles. Some of the roads here are very narrow and windy so you really have to make sure you stay in your lane. Brett has enjoyed going into Intel during the week and working with his teammates here in Ireland. We are living only 10 min. away so he can still come home for lunch. We just go on with daily life here at our home. We’ve adventured to the Mall just a couple miles away and enjoyed some Pizza Hut and bought an umbrella for these rainy days. We’re trying to get adjusted to the 8hr time difference. It stays light here until about 10pm so we’re able to sight see much longer!


Over the weekend we traveled to the West and drove through Waterford where they make Waterford crystal. We drove through Cork then stayed the night in a B&B it was right next to castle ruins in the countryside. That night we went into a bigger town called Killarney they had a little fair going on so we took a family ride on the ferris wheel, Alana had a blast, Addy was a little scared, but we had a great time.

Saturday morning we drove the beautiful Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula, it is right on the coast with magnificent views of the ocean and green countryside. On the side of the road we saw a couple sheep crossing the road and we got out and the girls chased them. We stayed the night in Limerick it’s a pretty big city with a big cathedral(of course). The hotel we stayed in was really nice! We did a lot of driving but the kids were great as long as they had snacks and something to do in the backseat.

Sunday we got up and found the LDS church in Limmerick. It was a small little branch. The branch president there looked younger than Brett. The people were all very friendly and we enjoyed the meeting. Then after church we headed off for the cliffs of Moore. Wow! 700 ft. sheer cliffs into the ocean and a castle on top of one of the cliffs.