Along with millions of other Americans, we watched the Kentucky Derby this past weekend. Okay, so we just had it on in the background, drank a couple of mint juleps, and I went to bed way before it was over because of the time difference in Europe. I actually don't think I had ever tried a mint julep up until this point in my life, and I have to say I'm not quite sure what all the fuss is about. Mint and bourbon is an odd combination. Make mine a mojito, please. Anyway, the Kentucky Derby really has nothing to do with our trip to Ireland, but you know you've just been in Ireland when your 17-month-old sees horses on the TV, grins from ear to ear, and emphatically yells, "BAAAH!"

We saw A LOT of sheep in Ireland, so he really mastered the "Baaah" by the end of our trip. I'm once again separating these posts into three parts, because the thought of compiling nine days worth of travel and thousands of pictures into one post makes my head hurt. To be honest, my dream trip to Ireland did not involve a toddler in tow. I probably would not have even wanted to take this trip had it not been for Thomas's persistence about it. I was totally fine with saving Ireland for a time later in our lives, when we could cram a million things into one day and drive all over the country, taking spontaneous detours and pulling the car over whenever we wanted to get out and explore without worrying about the repercussions of interrupting a much-needed car seat nap. This was the idealized version of a trip to Ireland in my mind. But, as Thomas reminded me, once we move back Stateside, we probably won't come back to Europe for a really long time. So I agreed to set aside my fantasized vision of Ireland and replace it with a new one. Sure, there were some exhausting and frustrating moments, which I'll delve into later, but there were exponentially more moments of pure joy and amazement. I guess the lesson to learn here is that if you put a dream on hold because circumstances aren't perfect, you may spare yourself some disappointment, but you'll also miss out on some potentially wonderful moments. Life is short, right? Ireland was still everything I ever dreamed it would be, even with a toddler who, by the end of it all, had morphed himself into a sobbing, exasperated mess. (I thought plain teething was pretty bad, but molar teething is a whole new level of misery for everyone.) But still, I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Day 1: Dublin

We arrived in Dublin after a quick hour and a half flight out of Cologne. TJ did great on this plane ride, and was excited to meet Grandma and Grandpa at the hotel. Traveling with grandparents is the best!

We walked around and had dinner at our first Irish pub. (Well, first Irish pub in Ireland, that is!)

Does TJ like Guinness as much as Hofbrau?

Yep, I'd say so. Grandpa and Dad thought it would be hilarious to give him some beer foam for a picture. He definitely liked it and wanted more...Thanks guys!

Fish, chips, and "mushy peas." Yum. (Not a huge fan of the peas though). After we put TJ to bed, Grandpa volunteered to stay back at the hotel while the rest of us wandered the city until nightfall.

Day 2: Dublin

This was our only full day in Dublin, so we hit the ground running after TJ woke up bright and early at 6:30 am. I had only two visit requests for the whole day: Trinity College Library and H&M. (H&M is not normally on my "must-see" list, but I somehow managed to forget to pack pajamas for TJ. Whoops.)

So first we made our way to Trinity College.

We got to Trinity College before the library was opened, so we just let TJ walk the grounds for a while. By the time we finally got inside, he was already tired and cranky, so we pushed past all the informational exhibits, took a quick peek at the Book of Kells, tracked down an employee who could take us up the lift since we had the stroller with us, and finally--Trinity College Library.

The harp on display is the oldest surviving Irish harp.

Trinity College was truly awe-inspiring, and also difficult to really fully capture in a photo. But I tried, anyway!

So next we embarked on my other mission, to find pajamas for TJ. We had to visit two H&M's before we found one that had kids clothing, but the walk was enjoyable nonetheless, and TJ took a nice snooze in the stroller.

I actually have this same shot above with hardly any people in it. But what fun is that? Check out this girl on the left. Furry jacket, scrunchy on top of her head, mini skirt, phone in hand...I'm admittedly very curious about what lies ahead in her agenda for the day. (And also wish I could pull off outfits like that.) Dublin is definitely a bustling city full of young people going places fast. (No pun intended, but dude in the middle is definitely wearing running shoes).

Okay, shifting from people-watching back to sightseeing, our next stop was Dublin Castle. The grandparents had slept in this morning, so we picked the castle for a meet-up point. They toured the inside while I walked TJ up and down the courtyard to keep him sleeping in the stroller, then we switched. Woohoo! I think it goes without saying that it is so much easier to do things like this when you don't have a small child with you.

The most important room in the castle is St. Patrick's Hall, where the Republic of Ireland's Presidents are sworn into office. Fun fact: Ireland had 21 consecutive years of a female holding the office of Presidency--the best years in the history of the country. (Our tour guide said it, so it must be true!)

He's awake! He walked around the courtyard for a bit and then we started a Hop On Hop Off bus tour to see more of the city. We didn't do the Guinness Storehouse experience thing, and I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about it. From what I understand, it's basically a self-guided museum and you don't actually get to see where the beer is brewed or bottled. So we decided to skip it since we had only one day to see the city. But we did drive by the brewery, which seemed to take up almost a quarter of the city. I'm only exaggerating a little bit here. There were blocks and blocks of buildings bearing the name "Guinness". The Guinness family started quite an impressive empire here in Dublin.

We didn't do the Jameson Distillery either. I know, we're horrible tourists right? Instead we did the little-known Pearse Lyons Distillery tour. I had never heard of this company before we did the tour, but that's not really saying much since I'm not an avid whiskey drinker. Still, I think it's safe to say that not many people have heard of them. If I remember correctly from the tour, they only produce about 100,000 bottles a year. That sounds like a lot of whiskey to me, but I just Googled Jameson's numbers and they sold 7.3 million cases in 2018. But the most interesting thing about Pearse Lyons is that they make their whiskey inside of an old church. The founder of the company was actually an American man living in Kentucky, whose ancestors are buried in the church's cemetery. He bought the church in 2013, when it was in total disarray and had been neglected for decades. He and his wife fixed it up, threw some distillery equipment in there, and BOOM! Here we have probably the only church that makes whiskey. (That's my short and sweet synopsis, anyway.)

TJ was being super cute and curious on our tour of the church's cemetery.

Oops. Maybe a little too curious...

And down he goes, into the hedge. Here I perfectly captured Episode #1 for the trip, from a series I'll title, "Tour Interruptions by Theodore".

Luckily Grandma opted to watch him while we participated in the tasting part of the tour. He found a lot of things around here to amuse himself while we indulged in some whiskey samplings.

By the time we left Pearse Lyons it was already about 3:30 in the afternoon and TJ still hadn't had his afternoon nap, which made me really uneasy about sticking him back on a bus. (He'll fuss and fight sleep for a really long time before he will sleep on our laps.) Since Maureen still hadn't seen Trinity College and they were closing soon, we decided to hoof it back to that part of town, in hopes that she could make it in time to see the library and TJ would nap again in the stroller. (The latter did not happen, unfortunately, but I can pretty well guarantee that he was happier in the stroller than he would have been on the bus.)

We spent our last night in Dublin living it up at the famous Temple Bar after we put TJ to bed. Thanks again, Grandpa, for staying back with him so we could have some fun!

Day 3: Dublin-->Adare-->Dingle

On our way to Dingle, we stopped in the quaint little town of Adare for lunch. I managed to snap a decent picture of Adare Desmond Castle on the way in. These ruins date back to the 13th century.

Of course there's a beautiful church or two here as well. We parked our car in a lot right by Trinitarian Abbey.

Now off to find some food.

We have a winner! We took a break from the traditional Irish pub food scene and had a good lunch at The Village Bistro.

Then we walked the town a bit more.

Just outside of the town center there is a 14th century friary. We had left the stroller in the car though, so Thomas happily volunteered to take TJ to the park instead while Maureen and I walked to check it out. ("It's just another church", I recall him saying, actually. Hmm. We'll see about that!)

The cloister of Adare Friary dates back to the 15th century, when the Augustinian friars lived here.

I'm definitely glad we took the time to check this out. And we were nearly the only people there, which really added to the entrancing ambiance.

And for some more enchantment, here is the aforementioned park where Thomas and Grandpa took TJ to run around while we were at the friary. One thing I've learned during my travels through Europe is that the UK and Ireland do parks and gardens extremely well. This park was gorgeous. I would have loved to spend more time here, basking in the beauty and tranquility of these surroundings. But it was time to move on. Dingle, here we come!

Okay, just one more shot of the church. Now, goodbye Adare! We really enjoyed our short time here.

We had some pretty amazing views along the way. Thomas handled all those crazy narrow roads like a champ, on the left side of the road with a manual transmission no less. (Little did we know, driving would only get crazier later in this trip.)

When we arrived in Dingle, we checked into our Airbnb--which just so happened to be on a working sheep farm! We brought TJ out to see the sheep before dinner.

Then we headed into town.

We had really amazing fried fish and calamari at a place called The Fish Box. I highly recommend it! It was tasty, friendly, fun, and loud--a much appreciated restaurant attribute when dining out with a toddler.

Then we went for dessert at the famous Murphy's ice cream shop.

And enjoyed it on the waterfront.

"Will run for food." TJ loved Grandpa's strawberry ice cream. (He couldn't have mine because the Irish cream had alcohol in it. Darn, I just had to eat it all by myself).

Day 4: Dingle Peninsula & Dingle Distillery

The objective of the day was to drive the whole Dingle Peninsula. We expected it to take 3-4 hours but it actually only took us 2. We started in the morning to avoid storm "Hannah", which was projected to bring hurricane force winds, rain, and possible power outages later that day. Yikes. The wind was already picking up by the time we left at 9 am, which is probably why we didn't spend a whole lot of time basking in the scenery at these stops.

First we stopped at this beautiful beach. Blue skies for now!

A few miles later we got out of the car again to climb up a hill and see the beehive huts.

I don't remember how old these are exactly...something B.C. I'm pretty sure. We received brochures when we paid or entrance fees, but I have absolutely no idea what happened to those. So anyway, we checked these off the list. The view was pretty phenomenal too.

Then we continued on toward Slea Head.

The Dingle Peninsula was definitely a beautiful drive, with plenty of scenic cliffs and beaches, but also some bitter cold winds on this day. The rain hit right as we made it back into town, so I'd say we timed our little adventure pretty perfectly. Thomas and I grabbed some food from the grocery store and we ate and napped with TJ back at the Airbnb while the storm raged on outside. Luckily, things let up for a little bit later in the afternoon and we headed to Dingle Distillery, minus TJ and Grandma. (Thanks for entertaining him, again!) Kids aren't allowed on the tours.

This was actually a really fun tour. While Dingle Distillery started with a passion for whiskey making, they've also become recently well-known for their gin. In fact, we learned on the tour that their gin was just awarded "Best Gin in the World" at the World Gin Awards in London, out of over 400 different gins. That's a lot of gin. This is quite an accolade for such a small distillery, but I still preferred their whiskey. In fact, it actually transformed me into a "I'll take a whiskey, neat" kind of girl. I've sure come a long way since frozen Jack and Coke--a lovely delicacy of the great Stillwater, Oklahoma. Never thought there'd be a day when I'd sit down and order a straight up whiskey for casual sipping, but this stuff was good.

Okay, phew. That concludes this part of the trip. More adventure to come, as we make our way through Killarney National Park next!