We made it to the Emerald Isle!

Well, Tuesday was just a blur for us.  We woke up at 5:15 a.m. and were off to the airport.  The plane ride to Charlotte was okay, but a bit bumpy.  I began feeling quite nauseous and weak, but we had to press on.  The flight from Charlotte to NYC was like a rollar coaster ride and I finally got sick in my seat during the landing.  I felt TERRIBLE!  Morning sickness plus bumpy flights made me think this was all a huge mistake.  I told a few friends what was going on and asked for prayers for my health to perk up.  And God certainly heard those prayers!  We had lunch in NYC with Amber and Landin, who were there waiting for us.  I felt much better and the 6 1/2 hour to Dublin was no problem.  The flight was smooth, we all had our own T.V.'s, blankets and pillows, and the flight staff was kind and served Irish stew to get us ready!    The children did great and Tucker talked endlessly and met a million people on all three flights.  Daddy took these pics on the flight to Ireland.  I sat on a row with Marky and Amber sat with Julia and Landin on a third row.  I was a bit jealous of Daddy getting to sit with a real life Leprechaun.  :)

The children were great in the airports and carried their own backpacks and luggage.  We landed at 4 a.m. Ireland time and flew through customs and were able to get our rental cars with no problem.  Our biggest fear regarding the trip was the driving- how could we drive on the "wrong" side of the road and do traffic circles and distances are in kilometers and what about all the signs that are hard to understand.  We paid extra to get a navigator and it has paid for itself already.  We would never have made it so easily to our rural hotel without it.  It took us on every windy, tiny road and we made it with no problem!

Our hotel is just a DREAM!

However we arrived at 6:30 a.m. and weren't supposed to check in until 3:00 p.m.  We would have done sight-seeing and killed some time, but we hadn't slept in over 24 hours at that point and were walking zombies.  The staff, gratefully, had all of our rooms ready and let us go right in.
Our "suite", the children are in an adjoining room.

The black square in the big mirror is a television!

All of our room have these huge "wardrobe rooms" with two walls of closets with plenty of storage and drawers.

And all the lights, air and windows are done by little control panels- there is one in the nightstand.  You can turn on the lights in the den, foyer, bedroom all from your nightstand.  You can open the drapes and change the temp all while in bed!  

We all slept from 7 a.m. until 3:30 p.m.!  We had meant to sleep until lunch, but all seven of us slept right through it.  We woke up so refreshed!  When we got up we headed to the fancy indoor pool in the basement.  The children were thrilled!  We swam for about an hour and half and then got all cleaned up and headed to dinner.

Poor Tuck is hit by the jet lag- he almost fell asleep in his supper tonight-

Hanging out in the lobby by the fire after getting cleaned up-

View in the back yard-

For dinner we drove town to the cutest village of Enniskerry- literally like three minutes from the hotel- and had a WONDERFUL supper!

 

 We had dinner at the Powerscourt Arms Country House- it was so quaint and the server was so nice!

Marc's an Irishman- Irish beef stew pot pie,  potatos and vegetables washed down with draft Guiness (which is a million times smoother than what you get in the U.S.).

We got home from dinner at nine- put everyone to bed and are so excited it's ridiculous.  We don't travel internationally much- so my only other experience with it was in Rome.  There is a huge difference between here and Rome, and I will sum it up in one word- hospitality.  Every single person we've met has been kind, helpful, and often gone out of their way to make us happy.  And this resort is so luxurious- I already told you we got this on groupon. We would NEVER pay to stay in a place this fancy.  The deal seemed too good to be true- and now that we are here I will say it is too good to be true.  :)  But here we are and I'm so grateful.  Tomorrow- tours of Dublin sights!  Good night!