Cindy and the Kennymen's Blog

Fun and busy day: work out, performace fest and Barry and Frankie

Saturday in Dublin: I started off with a work out at Curves in Malahide. Check out the view! Sorry Logan Square, it has your view beat big time.

 

Later to Merrion Square where a really fun street performers' festival was going on.

 

Performance by a very funny and talented guy from Argentina. He's testing the trust of the volunteer (strong word for being picked from the audience unrequested!) by throwing something dangerous at the bowling pin in her hand. Just before throwing it he declared that just by standing there without flinching (or running away!) she trusted him and he didn't have to go through with the test. Phew! We were sitting in a dangerous spot had he decided to throw!

 

Frankie and Barry at their great new house! We went over for dinner and had some delicious grilled burgers and kabobs. Yum!

Luttrelstown picnic

 

Miles at Portmarnock Beach before the picnic

 

Pony rides!

 

Isabelle on the pony

 

The feast begins. Maybe Katheleen can paint this scene like Seurat's La Grande Jatte?

 

Delicious spread thanks to Kathleen and Phyllis!

 

Isabelle, Isaac, and Frankie

 

Later...the chocolates arrive.

 

Isabelle, Issac and Liam ponder chocolate options.

 

James!

Glendalough

Photos from our day at Glendalough. Miles stayed home with Granny and

Grandad and we took a 10K or so hike.

 

We took the route that involved a lot of stairs at the
beginning, then easier walking later

 

Resting mid-stairs

 

View of the 2 lakes from the first summit

 

Then we realized there was a bit more climbing to do. The
boardwalks are really excellent for hiking!

 

Bit more resting :)

 

The views from this stretch were particularly nice!

 

Up to the highest point

 

We followed the white trail. The blue was described as shorter
but required navigational skills. No thanks! Getting lost is not a
shortcut!

 

Liam communing with the valley

 

Love the lichen

 

Following the white arrows still, now we've come down on the
other side of the valley and are walking through a very rocky area.
Hard to even call it a trail.

 

Ruins of the mining village. They mined lead here.

 

Dark and scary lake

 

Looking back up to where we started. See those little dots at the top? That's where we were once we got up to the top of the stairs!

Dublin day

Pic 1: iron work outside the Chester Beatty library
Pic 2: Door on the back of Christchurch Cathedral
Pic 3: Two shady characters hanging around the backdoor of Christchurch

Knowth

Knowth: it's better than Newgrange!

National Looped Trail at Howth

Going back now to catch up with photos we took in Ireland, here are
some pics from Day 2: National Loop Trail around Howth. Beautiful day
and scenery!

The shot of John coming out of Ann's has a story behind it. We used to
get coffee on Howth from the Coffee Angel, a guy set up with a mobile
unit of incredible 3-wheeled design. Ann's, which sells terrible
coffee, protested he was taking her business and he lost permission to
sell coffee there. So we've been on a "boycott" of Ann's for some time
(easy to do when you live in Chicago :) However on this day, we were
thirsty and sent John out for drinks and there was no where else to
buy a drink. John had to go into Ann's and so we decided to snap a
picture of him breaking the boycott.

Basement as IKEA showroom!

We had a major shopping trip to IKEA on Saturday and finally got everything assembled. It's so cool and comfortable down there in the basement now!

Howth, Portmarnock Beach peninsula, Sutton X

We took a lovely long walk around Howth. This view from Deer Park, looking west toward Sutton (the isthmus) is always nice to see, esp on a spectacular day like we had. That's Portmarnock Beach to the right.

Games in Granny and Grandad's back garden

When we got back from High Rock, Phyllis, Paul, Isabelle, Isaac and James were waiting for us. They had lots of fun playing in the Kennys' stunning garden!



 



 



 



 



 

Paddy's Field and High Rock

There's a new park area called Paddy's Field that leads down to the High Rock. We went down for a visit after waking up from our post-transatlantic flight naps last Monday. Here's John and Miles walking through Paddy's Field



John at High Rock. He commented that it didn't seem as high as it used to! 



Miles climbing 



 



Lovely little flowers growing in among the rocks 



Liam at High Rock