Moran Family Fun

Today is our last full day in Ireland and the girls were campaigning hard for a day spent at our Airbnb playing ping pong, air hockey, and card games. To be fair, it was tempting to take their plan and run with it but we didn't want to spend a day in Ireland doing things we could do at home on any other Saturday. We ended up doing a mix of what they wanted to do and spending some time at another beautiful Irish spot. We slept in this morning and took our time getting ready before heading out in the early afternoon after which our evening was spent playing games. We've been sharing our fun house here in Ireland with our friends the Martins. Even though we've all been here together we've been doing our own thing each day and just hanging out together in the evenings. We love the Martin family! They are easy going travel buddies and a lot of fun to be around. Our girls and their boys have gotten along so well these past few days. Their son Zeke asked today if hanging out...

Today was another beautiful day in Ireland.  We've been blessed with good weather the entire time we've been here, especially for late November. Our grand plans for today included a clifftop hike at the stunning Cliffs of Moher. This was one of the main things we wanted to do on this trip and our only worry was that the weather would make it a miserable experience instead of a happy one. While it wasn't exactly warm today, it was sunny and dry. We came prepared with waterproof hiking boots, hats, gloves, warm coats (Jared and I even wore little coats under our big coats), and hand warmers to keep in our pockets or tuck in our gloves. We ended up being a little too warm once we got out there and really started hiking. The Cliffs of Moher Visitor's Center is situated right in the middle of the trails that run along the cliffs. We parked there and started by going into the visitor's center for the toilets and for some advice on our best options for hiking t...

We have four days here in Ireland. Jared planned two of the days - Blarney Castle and tomorrow's adventures - and the other two days I'm the planner. Planning things to do on vacation is not fun for me. Like shopping for Christmas presents, I feel pressure to do a good job. By that, I mean that I want everyone to have a great time and love what we do together. I tend to procrastinate when I'm feeling pressured because I'd rather ignore my problems than face them. Mature, I know. Anyway, today was one of my days and I finally made up my mind last night about what we were going to do. We spent our Thanksgiving in Galway! Our first stop was the cathedral. Unlike most cathedrals in Europe, the Galway Cathedral is not hundreds of years old. It was built in 1965 on the site of the city's old prison and it is beautiful. The cathedral has a dome instead of spires or towers and it reminded me a little of the US Capitol Building. The cathedral has beautiful stained glass wi...

I fell and hurt my wrist while traipsing through the woods around Blarney Castle so typing is not easy for me right now. Instead of writing all about our day, I'll just hit the highlights and then post a bunch of pictures. Pay particular attention to Samantha in the photos, she's just super funny and cute. Today we woke up super early and drove to Stansted so we could fly to Ireland. We experienced a travel miracle at the airport - there were zero lines to get through security, we didn't even have to get our visas checked, and then we got right on the plane no problem. Once we arrived in Ireland we had a little battle with the car rental people. They wouldn't accept our UK policy from USAA and wanted us to either pay for their insurance or put down a 2000 euro deposit. Um, I do not have 2000 euro people, but their insurance made our total jump from about $100 to just over $500 to rent the car for four days. Ugh. But we needed a car so we handed over the money.  T...