At End of the Day, it's the Rock Wall

Monday July 16 2014

This morning we all slept in again.  We all finally seem to be getting caught up on sleep--we're not all falling asleep every time we get in the car and we're all in a better mood which is necessary to be spending so much time in such close proximity to each other.

Today we decided to hike in the Connemara National Park.  In Irish it's:

(Did I mention that most of the signs we see are in both English and Irish--this was only in Irish).  We wanted to hike the Diamond Trail.  It begins with the Bog Walk which opens into the Lower Diamond.  This then can be extended at it's highest point with the Higher Diamond.  The Lower is 3 km and the upper is an additional 3.7 km.  All up a mountain.  We decided to play it by ear as to how far we went.

Annie and Shelby early in the hike

The lower part of the mountain before heading up

the view

Slowly the ground became rockier

Shelby, taking a break

We got to the half-way point of the lower where you can begin the upper and decided to try the upper loop.  About 1/4 the way around, Joshua was exhausted and couldn't continue going straight up.  He wanted to stay there and have us get him on the way down, but we explained that it's a loop, we wouldn't be by there again.  So the girls and I decided to go back with Joshua while Randy continued and meet him at the Visitor's Center.  I think Randy was happier going on by himself so that he could go at his own pace.

The children and I returned to the lower loop and continued that to the visitor's center where we found a playground!  Before we were done, we were all on the seesaws.

trying to balance

fun spinning

All three of them are spinning

After returning to our apartment, we had some quiet time most of us spent reading.  Then Anneliese made dinner--quesadillas and fruit.  After dinner, we all went for a walk together.  We looked at the old castle, then played on the beach.  And Shelby said hi to a bear-dog we met.

The children doing some sort of yoga or meditation on the
grass in front of our cottage.

Saying hi to the horses across the road

Randy and the children on the beach while I hiked out on the rocks

I joined them in building a rock wall on the beach.  If there's a
hurricane, we've done our part to save the village!

Playing on the beach; yes, Shelby is in the water!

The big, furry dog, a bear-dog

We then went back to the cottage, played a game, then watched a movie.  A good family day.