London Town in May

We had such a fun weekend with my dad in London, while grandma stayed home with the kids!
We began our tour at the London Tower, not acutally a tower more of a castle. We took pictures in front of Tower Bridge, quite often mistakenly called London Bridge.

Inside London tower is where the crown jewels are kept. Very interesting to see up close, but all I could think about was how many starving children those diamonds and jewels could feed.

This is the building where the jewels are kept, one of the many buildings inside London Tower which served many purposes including housing royalty until Buckingham Palace was built.

Tower Bridge

Then we took a ride on the London Eye, not actually an eye but a large ferris wheel contraption built mainly as a tourist trap. But well worth the ride at least once....or twice.

Vire of Big Ben from the eye.

London Eye on the left, Big Ben on the right.

Picadilly Circus, not actually a circus but the London version of Times Square. Bright lights, over priced restaurants, and crowds of tourists blocking the side-walks.

Dinner at Jamie Oliver's Diner, pretty good if you like over-priced burgers.

So Romantical. London is soooo much better without kids.

The next day we hopped on the tube and headed down to the changing of the gaurds at Buckingham Palace.

Walking along the walls of the Palace, notice the immense barbed wire fencing along the top, yikes!

Buckingham Palace

The only thing entertaining about watching the changing of the gaurds was this over zealous bobby yelling at small children for climbing up on the fence.

We walked by this gorgeous park that was in full bloom. I Love Tulips!

Westminister Abbey, where all the royalty get married.

Big Ben

Pulling a Scott Dissick for all of you who keep up with the Kardashians ;)

We walked through Harrods department store. I really should have taken pictures inside because it is beautifully amazing.

Obligatory picture with a red telephone booth.

Having lunch at the ORIGINAL Hard Rock Cafe. My favorite meal of the trip.

Walking by The Ritz.

The sun came out for about an hour so we took full advantage of some cozy lounge chairs in the park. By the way it's NOT FREE to sit in the park. NOTHING in London is free.

China town

Catching a show in the west end.

By Sunday we were a bit tired from all the walking so we hopped on a double decker tour bus and rode for about 3 hours. We took in all the sites and made a list of all the stops for our next trip, there is so much to see and do, we LOVE London!!

A day out in Dublin

We started the day off with a train ride out to Bray. The plan was to hike the Bray Cliff walk....however this being Ireland, the most unpredictable rainstorms, we hopped back on the train and decided to try out the Dublinia museum.

The museum is located in the building on the left side of the archway, connected by a bridgeway to Christ's Church.

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Dublinia Museum is an interactive museum about the Vikings who settled in Ireland.

Trying out some traditional Viking supper.

My literal knight in shining armor.

The kids throwing "stones" at the man who stole bread.

the naughty chair.

After the museum we headed out into the streets of Rainy Dublin town.

Mom found her shop....it was closed.

Fitzsimons pub, complete with Irish dancers...forgot to snap a pic of them.

Irish lamb stew topped with mashed potatoes, brown soda bread on the side.

Stephen enjoying his Guiness beef stew.

Our very favorite dessert spot, Hot, Fresh, DONUTS!

Newgrange and Red Mountain Farm

Grandma arrived on April 4th!
Needless to say I have A LOT of catching up to do because we were busy busy going and doing, something new to show grandma every weekend.

This is Newgrange Megalithic tomb.

The entrance to the tomb, we did get to go inside.

Listening to the ever-so captivating tour guide. This is probably after we were yelled at about our wandering children.

Ditched the tour and walked around on our own.

Love this creepy looking tree.

Red Mountain small animal farm.