The #Ryansontour - 5 Counties in 5 Days!

Well the past 8 days have been hectic but all in a good way!! The excitement started last Friday when my eldest brother and his eldest son arrived home from the Netherlands for my sons communion, not a huge follower of the Catholic Church but i do believe in God and if God = love I am all for it! We could have been preparing for the Queen herself the effort that was put into getting ready for Blakes big day, marquees were erected, bouncy castles delivered, cakes were baked, hair was cut, highlighted and put up (and that was just my husbands) ;-).  Finally after all the preparations Saturday dawned, a little greyer and wetter than we had hoped for but to be honest I was so proud of my lovely family nothing was going to rain on my parade!  A great day was had by all, everyone loved the food and there was hardly any cake leftover which seriously cut down on my calorie intake, thankfully.  The Communion party turned into a Eurovision party and there were a lot of glum little faces going home, on the upside though i now am word perfect singing "Lipstick"!

My little nieces Communion was on the same day as my sons and as they live in Wexford we were unable to attend, however my sister arranged a party for Sunday so we were able to get double the fun out of our celebrations.  We were then travelling onto Cork for a few days and typically I had not got one thing packed for any of us.  I hate packing anyway but it is one of the most annoying things to do whilst in a rush.  We got on the road by lunchtime and stopped at The Dinn Ri Hotel in Carlow for some dinner, not a big fan of carvery but the roast beef was nice, bit pricey for kids dinners though.  Managed to get lost twice in it while going to and from the baby changing area! Eventually we arrived In Arthurstown just as the puppet show was finishing, bouncy castle and a football though is all my kids need and they were thrilled!  Was lovely to have all my family together, last time was at least if not more than 6 years ago which is crazy.  Loads of pictures taken of course.  We stayed in Marsh Mere Lodge in Arthurstown which is a fabulous luxury bed and breakfast, full of antiques and quirky rooms.  The view out over the sea is beautiful and we were treated to a gorgeous breakfast including loads of fresh Wexford strawberries, nothing nicer.

My sister and her husband have an up and coming business called Fish Ahoy which sells the freshest of fresh fish to the public.  They work so hard but it shows as I have never tasted anything like the fish that they prepare. They have six children and I have never seen a happier crew, omega3 is obviously the way to go! Trying to persuade her to join twitter so watch this space. :-)

We then travelled onto the Charleville Park Hotel for three nights which we really enjoyed.  Lovely food, very pleasant staff and spacious rooms which is a definite must when travelling with three children.  We took in Fota Island, Ballymaloe and La Cucina, all of which we enjoyed immensely.  My three men loved the leisure centre so Halle and I got to see plenty of Charleville while out strolling.  I found a fabulous shop called Bridgets which had the most wonderful collection of kitchen things and occasional furniture, I had to treat myself to a new cake stand and a dinky little napkin holder, I literally HAD to have them! 

Our last stop was my husbands home county of Tipperary where we were spoiled by my mother in law, unfortunately though my father in law took a turn during the night and has been in Clonmel hospital since having fluid drained from his lungs.  He has been in the wars in the last few weeks, broke his leg, two of his ribs and now this! Hopefully that is the last of his bad luck and he will improve from here on in.  My hubby stayed on while I brought the children home and attempted to get back to normality.  Two loads of washing done, kids in bed, glass of beer, clean house and now relax.  Looking forward to the next family occasion which once again will more than likely be religiously based, funny that!

PS:  Only when proofreading this did i realise I actually have three children!!!! When did that happen!!!