Our Grand Getaway: The Reunion

On Saturday, the kids and I attended the Blackham family reunion. Debbie, Stephen, and Carl are the three living Blackham siblings, children of Ralph Stephenson and Annie DeOra. As many of their children and grandchildren that could attend came to a park in Kaysville, Utah where we ate good food, played games, shot off rockets, and just had a wonderful day.

I was the unofficial photographer for the event. I was so glad to meet and catch up with Erick's cousins and aunts and uncles. Though we missed Erick a lot along with Rick and Andee's family.

Our Grand Getaway: A Fairy Walk

Fairies have recently settled in Nauvoo, and we were lucky enough to be visiting Jamie when they arrived! We went to the local library and enjoyed fairy stories read aloud by our fairy godmother. Then we walked from business to business and found a fairy house and fairy doors all over town.

We even found some fairy-themed painted rocks during our fun fairy walk:

Northern Ireland: Giant's Causeway

We had a lot of fun climbing around and exploring Giant's Causeway. We were surprised by how small the area was, but we really loved the unique formations. 

In the visitor's center we watched a funny animated movie about an Irishman named Finn and a Giant that lived across the causeway. It was a myth about how the rock formation was created. Super cute. We were pretty cold by the end of our visit, so we ate soup and treats at the visitor's center cafe.

Northern Ireland: Carrick-a-Rede

From Dublin, we drove north to the coast. Oh my goodness! Erick and I fell in love with the coast of Northern Ireland. Truly. We drove through county Antrim to Ballintoy, the village where my great, great, great grandfather was born.

We stopped to see Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. There has been a rope bridge at this location since the 1750s. It was used by salmon fisherman to get out to where the best fish are located. I loved imagining that I was walking along the same pathways that my ancestors have walked.

Ireland: Trinity College

We decided to visit Trinity College because I really wanted to see the Book of Kells. We should have purchased tickets in advance, because the line was pretty long to get in. But Erick was kind enough to hold our place while I walked around campus for a bit.

The Book of Kells was remarkable! I'm so impressed with the art and design. I can't believe it's estimated to be over 1200 years old!

Sadly, we were not allowed to take pictures of the display. We could, however, take pictures in the Long Room of the Old Library. It looks like something out of Harry Potter. It was built in the early 1700s, and it holds around 200,000 of the university's oldest books. Take a look:

For your enjoyment, I have downloaded photos of the Book of Kells from wikipedia, just to give you a little taste of what we saw in person.