We spent four days in London with my parents before heading to Northern Ireland for five more days.  My dad has a dear friend who lives near Belfast.

Our first stop, once we got our bearings, was the Tower of London.

Josie learning the technique to arm a crossbow from atop one of the tower’s defense walls.

Locked in jail – in the same room where George Plantagenet was drowned in a cask of malmsey.

View of some of the Queen’s houses inside the tower as well as the famous Ravens.

Discussing the beheading of Anne Boleyn – which took place in 1536 and about 3 feet from where we stand.

Inside the Gaoler’s House – Jim is showing off various carvings of graffiti left by convicts (mostly Catholics) waiting for upcoming torture and/or death.

Outside, in front of Tower Bridge.

Traitor’s Gate – the main entrance into the tower from the 1300’s up until the 18th century.

The Tower of London.

Holden leaping off of Admiral Nelson’s column in Trafalgar Square.

The square (and London) looking every bit the stereotype of what everyone imagines London to look like.

Holden demonstrating the proper use of the Neck Pillow – each kid bought one with their savings – during long airline flights.

Harrod’s main store – one of Brenda’s targets on the trip.

Josie trying on Grandpa’s glasses

Shopping in Harrod’s – stuffed animal wing.

An entire floor of sweets.

Shot of the London Eye – we went around one revolution to get a much better view of the entire city.

Posing in front of Big Ben and Parliament.

Kids playing with their stuffed animal purchases – riding the London Eye after they had been rendered bored of the views.

Holden in front of Westminster Abbey.

None of the old buildings lacked their fair share of detail.

Riding the Underground tube back to our hotel.

Holden on the fountain in front of Buckingham Palace. Wasn’t much to see here.. nice big building. Most of the surrounding area was under some sort of construction or just cordoned off – folks getting ready for the wedding later in the month.

Green Park, across the street from Buckingham Palace.

The downstairs washroom of Charles Dickens’ house. The kids had fun trying to identify what each thing did or how it was done. They’ve decided that Momma has it made.

Holden at one of Dickens’ writing desks. Insert joke here about our diminished level of Expectations with the boy.

Isabella trying to figure out why people were so small and slept so close to the floor 150 years ago.

British Museum: The Rosetta Stone and the kids in front of one of the many Egyptian friezes at the Museum.. the collection there was really quite amazing and is very accessible.. the kids had a great time there.

After four full days in London, the 7 of us boarded a quick commuter flight from London to Belfast, arriving late in the evening.

On the next day (Sunday) we got our first chance to properly meet Maurice and Helen, and then the rest of the McCavery clan via a Sunday afternoon dinner – all four of M&H’s children where there as well as all of their grandkids (9?)

Moydalgan Barn (a late 18th century barn converted now as a sort of B&B) – this is where Adam and I and the kids stayed during the 5 days in County Down, N. Ireland.

Maurice (my dad’s Irish friend) explaining to Holden how nettles work in Ireland. Once turned loose, it took Holden less than 30 seconds to run up a hill and into a patch.

Holden, clearly over his nettle injury and ready to explore some more.

We saw lots of sheep. It was lambing season and the babies were so cute!

View of countryside.

Maurice and Helen’s house.  They graciously hosted my parents.

View of the countryside when you step out of Moydalgan Barn.

On our first full day in Northern Ireland (Sunday) we enjoyed a fantastic Sunday dinner with the complete McCavery family … all children and grandchildren came to visit. It was a perfect opportunity to meet everyone in a relaxed and welcoming setting. All families were just fantastic, and the kids all got along from the get-go. Just yesterday Nicole (Judith and Neal’s daughter) called Isabella to make sure she got home ok. They’ve exchanged information and promises to email and call regularly.

Kids playing some kind of game out in the back garden.

Slieve Donard hotel in Newcastle – a seaside resort that lies on the Irish Sea coast at the base of Slieve Donard, one of the Mourne Mountains, and is known for its sandy beach and the Royal County Down Golf Club.

The town aims to promote itself as the “activity resort” for Northern Ireland and its most special attribute is its location at the foot of Slieve Donard. The town has benefitted from a multi million upgrade which makes it a high quality seaside attraction. That is my mom in the red coat.

View of the Irish sea and the Mourne mountains.

Lots and lots of rock walls in Northern Ireland.

The kids rolling down a steep grassy hill that serves as part of the Silent Valley reservoir.

Having fun discussion with my parents at Silent Valley reservoir.

Typical views from Could-be-pretty-much-anywhere, N.I.

Maurice and Jim deep in conversation inside Belfast’s City Hall.

Isabella and Holden in a slightly less scholastic activity inside Belfast’s City Hall.

Rainy day in Belfast.

Our buggy – the Toyota we rented and used throughout the week. In front of Stormont – the Parliament building for Northern Ireland.

Holden irreverently sitting on the grave marker of St. Patrick – yes, the real dude who died in 493 A.D. and rests near Down Cathedral in Downpatrick.

Leaving Maurice & Helen’s house in County Down. We had to sit in the road for a full 10 minutes while farmers moved a herd of cattle from one grazing spot to the next. They just march them right through the streets.

One day just the five of us took off to explore more of Northern Ireland. He headed due north, past Belfast, to the very northern tip of Ireland – against the North Sea in County Antrim.

There we visited the Giant’s Causeway – A World Heritage Site.

Legend has it that the Irish warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool) built the causeway to walk to Scotland to fight his Scottish counterpart Benandonner. One version of the legend tells that Fionn fell asleep before he got to Scotland. When he did not arrive, the much larger Benandonner crossed the bridge looking for him. To protect Fionn, his wife Oonagh laid a blanket over him so he could pretend that he was actually their baby son. In a variation, Fionn fled after seeing Benandonner’s great bulk, and asked his wife to disguise him as the baby. In both versions, when Benandonner saw the size of the ‘infant’, he assumed the alleged father, Fionn, must be gigantic indeed. Therefore, Benandonner fled home in terror, ripping up the Causeway in case he was followed by Fionn.

A more boring scientific explanation: It’s an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption about 50-60 million years ago.

The kids on top of one of the Giant’s Causeway mountains. Windy and not a little dangerous up top.. Had to snap the photos quick and get kids back down to a nervous mama. Josie was still recovering from a slight injury on the way up.

Always windy!

Another photo better showing scale of some of the basalt stacks.

Isabella and Holden

Josie. This area on the walk to the Giant’s Causeway was filled with little tide pools. The kids spent a long time looking for creepy-crawlies but didn’t really find any. The area was full of shells, but nothing seemed to be alive.

Tide pool area.

More tide pool area on the way to Giant’s Causeway.

Further along the North Sea coast.. Ruins of Dunseverick Castle. St. Patrick visited this castle in the 500s, and it was invaded by Vikings in 870. Not much left now, most has eroded and fallen into the sea.

Picturesque little house.

Isabella and Holden contemplating the natural beauty.

Our group crossing the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge: Ballintoy, County Antrim

Adam took this shot later in the day when we were starting back toward home … the clouds broke and the sun burst brilliantly out for just a few seconds.  He was snapping away as quickly as possible and had only about 10 seconds before the clouds rolled back in.

On our last day, we left J&S, Maurice & family, and drove down on our own to Dublin, Republic of Ireland. We were scheduled to fly home from Dublin the next day, but we had one afternoon and evening to wander about.

Holden finally found the Leprechaun he had been searching for all week. He also got a full dose of Blarney from one of the pub’s regulars.

Shots of Downtown Dublin.

I wish we’d had at least a couple more days to spend in Ireland.

When our kids went back to school and all the children told about what they had done for spring break, all three of our kids were voted “Neatest Spring Vacation.” It whetted their appetites for international travel and they are already begging to visit again.

Holden especially loved telling people about visiting St. Patrick’s grave. He didn’t act like it was a big deal while we were there, but in hindsight it really made an impression on him. Those little moments of unexpected meaning are why traveling is so valuable. We feel like we barely scratched the surface of Ireland (and England, too) and need to make a few return visits. So many places to see, so little time.