The Irish get Visitors!

Dear friends and family of Nanny Page,

Today is a special day in Ireland because I, Courtney Rejzer, am gracing you with my presence as Page's guest speaker! Page left early yesterday morning to come and pick me up at the train station in Mallow, where I stepped off the train from Dublin sleep-deprived and EXCITED! Page spotted me first and welcomed me with a lovely Welcome to Ireland sign. On our drive back to Killavullen I quickly found out Page is a VERY good driver, despite the wrong side of the road AND the left-handed stick shift. I was impressed to say the least.

The Forde's welcomed me with open arms, except for Katie-she just stared at me bright eyed for about 30 minutes! She quickly warmed up and after a delicious lunch Gillian made for us, Eoghan, Page, and I went for a walk to go see the famous cows. On this walk we saw "David in an airplane," "invisible blackberries," and tons of cows. Oh and by the way, Ireland is BEAUTIFUL and the views from the Forde's house are incredible! On our walk Eoghan said, "Come on lads!" to Page and me. I of course found this hilarious as I am not used to the accents at all.
At the Forde's house we built about 100 lego towers only for Katie to knock them down again. We FINALLY built one taller than Eoghan! I honestly think Page and I were more excited than he was. After dinner we played with Katie in the living room (while skyping Riddawg) and GUESS WHAT?!? KATIE STARTED TO WALK!!!! Page says it's because I had given her the ultimatum that she better start walking by the time I left, so the peer pressure pushed her over the edge. I think she just wanted to surprise us all:) After Katie debuted her walking skills, my eyes were just about shutting themselves (because I had been up for over 30 hours at this point) and I went to sleep.

TODAY Page and I left for the Shannon airport at around 8am and yes it was still dark outside!!!! (Ireland has the latest sunrises and the earliest sunsets I have ever seen!) Anyway we found David sitting in the airport and the three of us played Go Fish and Old Maid until the girls arrived. (thanks Riddawg). FINALLY the girls stepped off the plane looking glamorous after traveling through FOUR countries in one day (America, France, England, Ireland). WHAT A TRIP.
Page welcomed them while I held the welcoming sign and David took this picture:) Finally the Otey clan (plus Bethany and I) were all reunited after WAY TOO LONG! We pretty much immediately got the rental car and money converted so we were on our way to start our Ireland adventure.

The weather today was rainy and cold, but we quickly accepted the Irish weather and made the best out of our visit to Bunratty Castle. First we ate at Durty Nelly's Pub in Bunratty and visited the castle next. We walked through the town and castle while learning its history and visited the various "shops" from back then, which reminded everyone of colonial Williamsburg! Later this evening David told us he was not a fan of these types of "trips" where you go from house to house looking at historical rooms! Needless to say I don't think he'll let us go to any more places like that. For the record, IIII enjoyed it:) P.S. we saw reindeer!
Page took a picture of her visitors at Bunratty:)

Above: Bethany and Sarah on top of Bunratty Castle...freezing!

After Bunratty we drove to Ennis and stumbled upon our hotel. I was riding with Page and we didn't have the best directions, so we weren't expecting to find the hotel without stopping for directions. Well, immediately upon arrival in Ennis we looked up and the hotel was within feet of us! The hotel is very big and nice for the price we got the room for-it even has a "Leisure Room" or exercise room that Bethany and Sarah are jazzed about! Once settled in the hotel, David immediately fell asleep, Taylor took a shower, and B+S went to work out in the leisure room. Page and I went to find a Vodafone shop to activate our second cell phone that Page's friend Carmel let us borrow. This "outing" turned into a 30- minute walk in the rain and cold to a street where the shop was and we ended up loving it. I thought it was such a cute street! So once we came back we talked everyone (except David) into going back for dinner. David did not join us for dinner because we LITERALLY could not wake him up. He slept through 5 people trying to wake him up and was not even coherent when he would talk. Anyways, the girls all enjoyed dinner, although I think they were EXHAUSTED by this point! (They have now been up for 30+ hours also) We ate at a pub and the picture below is Taylor and I when we got there.


Above is the street I was talking about, where we ate our dinner and we also stopped at a grocery store on the way home. We got food for the road so that we wouldn't have to pay for 3 meals a day-a very good idea in my opinion! I believe the result was: 2 loaves of bread, pb+j, and cereal bars.
Above: Both before AND after the pub, this was the picture of David.

Back at the hotel it is now 9:30pm and Page and I are the only ones awake. Everyone pretty much crashed when we got back (for good reason), except for David. David woke up and asked us, "Is it morning or night?"

Tomorrow our plan is dependent on the weather but Page will write all about it!

Alright, all this blogging is wearing me out. Goodnight everyone!

Love,
Courtney