After all the fun travel we've done so far in Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, England and Wales... it was time to slow down. The summer comes to an end and the weather is cooler, the rain and wind comes, and the leaves are changing colours and falling down.
So the Oliver family has found a temporary little home in Killarney, Ireland. We have rented a house here for a month to rest, recover, reorganize, work and learn. At the time of writing this, we have been here for two weeks.
Killarney is in the SouthWest part of Ireland, approx 6 hours by bus away from Dublin. It's known for the Killarney National Park and the nearby "Ring of Kerry" driving tour. We have an air bnb townhouse just outside of town on the way to Ross Castle, so technically the National Park is about 100m from our front door. It turns out the main trails and bigger mountains are on the other side of a big lake and harder to get to, but we are working on that.
It's been important for us to get to a place with two bedrooms, a living room area, a real kitchen, a dedicated work desk, and a washing machine. So we have some space to spread out! We washed all of our clothes and settled in with more commitment to being here for a while. We are making all of our meals and having a lot of down time.
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| our townhouse is on the left |
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| Our Street, with the clip-clop of the 'jaunting cars' all day long |
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| Ross Castle, about 400m from our house in the park |
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| Ross Castle, about 400m from our house in the park |
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| The girls get to work on building a fort in the woods near our house |
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| The paths of the park near our house |
School:
We haven't been that structured about school but we do prioritize math most days. The girls do some IXL online and some worksheets that we were able to get from the school district's online school before we left (and my mom mailed them here to England for us - thank you!).
We also have some social studies projects and computer science projects. We have e-readers with access to library books online so the kids are still reading as much as always. But a fun bonus: we were able to get a library card at the local library here so now we can read from the local library also! Rachel is also playing her travel trumpet most days and starting to practice some Christmas carols!
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| Doing math on the train on the way to Ireland |
We were only here a couple of days before we decided we would need bikes. The walk to and from the grocery store was longer than we wanted to make day after day. We priced out renting bikes for all of us for one month and decided we would go ahead and buy two bikes with rat-traps, helmets and locks. One person can run errands easily, or two people can go out riding together, or the four of us can get somewhere on a shorter ride if the kids sit on the rat traps. We will cross our fingers to sell the bikes in a few weeks and get some money back, but doing this was cheaper than renting them for a month!
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| Rachel barely fits on the rat trap seat! |
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| Rigging up a way to bring milk home from the store |
Working:
Jason and I are both working quite a bit more. In some ways, this is a little bit reminiscent of March/April 2020 when we were both working remotely and trying to home school the kids during lock down. There are some similarities that are challenging. But of course there isn't any fear and we can leave the house and go do things and we are healthy and safe, so it's not nearly as challenging as that time was. But sharing two computers and trying to create structure for everyone, and re-learning things like "least common multiples" for grade 7 math... that's fun.
Meggan's recent work project
I decided to go ahead and complete a project I've been dreaming of for some time: I am training to become a birth doula. I am very, very excited about this and really enjoying it. I have one more weekend of course work and then a lot to read as I work my way toward certification. But when I get home I hope to start a doula and childbirth education business and have the opportunity to support patients throughout their entire pregnancy, birth and post partum journey.
Local travel:
The trails around Ross Castle
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| There was a fun 'quest' to go on and learn about various animals at interpretive signs |
The Ring of Kerry
The Ring of Kerry - we decided to book a bus tour to do this famous driving tour that everyone raves about. We went on a Monday and the weather was pleasant enough. But our overall review of the whole thing was "meh"... maybe it's because we were much younger than most of the people on board? Probably because we stopped for a few photos at some pretty spots but the majority of the other stops were just to drink and eat and shop. The part we really enjoyed was stopping at a shephard's house that showed us his Aussie Shephard dogs and how they round up his sheep, listening to his certain whistles and calls. The other cool thing was seeing the islands of "Skellig Michael" off the coast. It would have been cool to catch a boat tour to this place with its old monastery bee hive huts up the steep stairs - the place where old Luke Skywalker was hiding in the "Rise of Skywalker" movie - but it cost a LOT of money to go and there was iffy weather. So we looked at it from the shore.
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| The islands in the background are Skellig Michael and the home of old Luke Skywalker. |
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| Lunch with a view on the bus tour |
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| Ava fell asleep |
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| Rachel fell asleep |
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| Killarney National Park: "The Ladies View" |
Biking to Torc waterfall, Muckross Abbey, and Muckross House
One day we rented kids bikes so we could all comfortably tour the park areas together. I think our favorite was the cloister of Muckross Abbey.
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| Muckross House |
St. Mary's Cathedral and Killarney House and gardens in town
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| local little circus show |
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| This kitty is very affectionate and sometimes comes to our window Ok that's it for now! Thanks for following along. |
