Exciting Piglet Chasing Footage

So here's some video of various Irish children and Justin chasing piglets at the farm.  The first video is short, but I love the quick standoff between Justin and the Mama Pig.  Mama pig definitely won.

The second video is longer.  Listen for Anna cheering Justin on.  Then listen to the parents laughing as our children ran away from the Mama Pig.  This was excellent entertainment for all involved.

And no one caught a piglet.

A Day at the Farm

Our best day in Ireland was a day at a farm. We weren't so sure when we arrived how it would go. The weather was cold and rainy, and the only other family waiting for Family Day to start didn't look too enthusiastic. As three o'clock approached, other families arrived, fairly cheerful and equipped with wellington boots and old clothes. We felt a little out of place with our tennis shoes, but were soon sent off to the barn to choose boots of our own.

It took a while to find a pair for Anna.  She wasn't happy about the fit and of course wanted a pink pair.  We eventually found some, but she didn't like them.  I put my right foot into a pair that looked about my size, only to pull it out wet and covered in bog mud.  Ick.  This did not bode well.  I was already cold, which is just a strange sensation to have in August, and now I was to traipse around a farm for three hours with a soggy foot.  The things we do for our children...

It was decided that we would head over to try pig catching first.  The young guide took the wrong way around, which, unfortunately, led us by a very dead sheep lying in the mud.    I told Anna that the sheep was just sick, and she bought it.  Whew.  I mentioned the dead sheep days later to Scott.  He hadn't even noticed.  He and Justin must have been too focused on the pig catching ahead.  In the picture the dead sheep is behind the living one, in the shed.

Several kids got in the pig pen and quickly showed us all that no one would be catching a piglet. The mama pig was remarkably calm, but nonetheless, stood her ground.  We all laughed really hard.

To be continued...

Dvblinia

On our first full day in Ireland, we took the bus into Dublin and visited Dvblinia, a hands-on museum showing Viking and medieval life in Dublin.

We took the requisite photo before entering the museum.  There was only space for one female child though, so we snapped two versions of the medieval Harris family. 

The kids pretended to play with dirty, plastic medieval kids,

and tried on all manner of Viking and medieval head gear.

This one is truly frightening, sorry.

Anna's look is of intense concentration as she endeavors to keep the heavy, slippery chain mail balanced on her head.

Oops, a little big.  

They bought a sword and axe with their vacation spending money.

Day two will be at the zoo.

Welcome

Thought I would blog about our ten days in Ireland.  We're doing a house swap for the first time ever.  The kids love the three cats and the trampoline.  

 Welcome

Ireland greeted us graciously with a double rainbow when we stepped out of the airport to wait for our bus.  She wasn’t done though.  We were advised to take the bus to the center of town and then take a train to get to our place.  A bus at that point might hit all the traffic in the area of town where U2 was playing the last of their three Dublin concerts.  The train slowed down as we approached Croke Park, the concert venue.  And then it stopped and stayed there as the band began their next song, Pride.  The train didn’t budge for the length of the song.  Lovely Ireland.  Lovely welcome.