Day 3 - Killarney

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Day 3 was spent in the town of Killarney, which is now one of my favorite places in the world. We started our day with a full breakfast at the Hotel and me losing Emma's tooth that fell out the day Macaela danced in Dublin. But luckily we found it....

We decided to drive to Ross Castle so we didn't tire the kids out from walking, my plan was to spend the day walking around the town do a little shopping and have lunch. The Castle was just as we last saw it last February, except a lot busier. April is definitely a busier time for tourists in Ireland, we met lots of Irish residents as they were on Spring/Easter Break.

The kids all really enjoyed the Castle.... seeing the ducks and swans, running, climbing and hiding in hidden areas. Of course this meant lots of opportunities for photos. Some old and some new, some that Macaela and I took last year and some different ones from this visit as a family.

After the visit to Ross Castle we went back to the hotel and walked down to the town, this only took us about 12 minutes. The first thing the Girls saw were the jaunting carts, these are the old horse drawn carts that our used to tour around the National Park in Killarney. Of course they asked "can we go on one?" We walked down the main street , stopped and looked in shop windows, took photos in front of "Mac's" restaurant all while on a search for the Penney's Store we found last year. As we slowly approached the store we realized it was no longer there, it was closed down...much to our disappointment. Standing there wondering why and how could it be closed we looked across the street and realized that there was a brand new absolutely huge Penny's staring us right in the face. We did a little happy dance and crossed the street.... well I am sure you can tell what we did next, shopped!

We couldn't find the little restaurant that Macaela and I had our first lunch at last year so we found a new spot "McKenzie's" the owner was so nice and friendly. Everyone in Ireland is no different, always open to conversation and so helpful which makes you feel like you are at home. (This is why I love Ireland so much, not to mention how beautiful it is)

The Girls got their wish and we took a jaunting cart back to the hotel. Patrick was our driver, a very friendly man who took to the Girls. He answered all their questions and more, he gave us a longer ride down a beautiful tree lined driveway of a very old hotel that had sheep in the fields right beside it. The Girls loved the ride!

After our shopping spree, lunch and ride we took a drive to Torc Waterfalls....it was really beautiful, another photo opportunity and some great shots. There are a few different hikes there ranging from 40 minutes to 2 hours but we opted for the 10 walk to the falls and the 20 minute walk back to the car because the girls decided to search for 4 leaf clovers.

After we returned to the hotel Kenny and the Girls opted for a swim...why is it that wherever you are, no matter what time of year, there is always the request to go swimming? It is always about swimming? I stayed back and re-packed the suitcases and re-organized, it was overdue. Then it was dinner and bed.....

We decided that we were going to change our trip a little, we decided to cancel our night in Galway which meant that we were going to skip the the drive to Dingle and the Cliffs of Mohar. I have been promised that we will definitely do them next time..... Instead we made the decision to head straight back to Dublin. We didn't spend anytime in the city prior to Macaela dancing as she wasn't feeling 100% and we had some broken up days with practices etc. The change was the best thing to do and worth it. So Thursday was going to be spent driving back to Dublin City!