how many profile pictures can we take in one day?

We woke up bright an early Sunday morning to be pleasantly surprised that was actually bright outside.  The weather all day basically made up fro all the crap weather had been having and it was GORGEOUS everywhere we went.

We had been told the night before that a local farmer was going to bring lambs after breakfast for us to hold and cuddle and take pictures with. People were actually sitting on the edge of their seats at breakfast they were so excited and when we were told they were in the parking lot behind the hotel, some people actually ran. They were barely a week old and were indeed extremely cute:

This one was a little temperamental/nervous because (s)he kept squirming in people's arms and bleating from time to time. Which was pretty friggin' cute, but judging by Sarah's face, I'm guessing it's not the easiest holding onto a squirming lamb. It also kept peeing all over everyone which was funny if it wasn't you getting doused so I made sure to get the lamb that had a little more control over its bladder:

If it looks like I'm holding this one at a really awkward angle...it's cuz I am. The farmer just kind of plopped it down in my arms and I didn't really know how to go about readjusting. So while everyone else has pictures with the lambs looking cute and nicely posed, mine is splayed out all over the place like a spaz. Oh well, at least it matches me then.

mmmm...dinner.

so cute!

When Mary finally was able to corral everyone onto the bus after lamb-time, we were on our merry way. We were driving along the coast most of the time and since it was nice weather, it was an awesome ride. We stopped at a look out point that supposedly had tour buses waiting lined up in peak season in the summer and late spring. Thankfully, we are in the very off-season for travel so we had it all to ourselves. We came around the corner and the bus actually gasped out loud, myself included. The pictures definitely don't do it justice:

 The two islands I supposedly need to swim between to head to NYC.

Our first view of one of the Skellig Islands (finally).

We then winded our way down the hill/mountain to get to the beach below. 

A local guy who dives and make nature videos acted as a sort of guide for us while here. I was quite keen to ask him about the diving and would seriously consider going back now that yours truly is a certified scuba diver. He had some really interesting information about the area. I missed about half of what he was saying though since I am a small child who not only is distracted easily, but also distracted by climbing whatever's in sight. In this case the very large rocks.

And of course, the tween habit of taking jumping pictures ala High School Musical:

Even though I'm not in this last one, I get full photo credit for taking it!

To continue the tween trends, the sand was just too pretty not to draw in:

We even took one for our API friends who couldn't come that weekend:

We finally were pulled away as we were behind schedule. Along the way the weather was a little questionable and rained a bit, but it was totally worth it because we saw a lot of rainbows along the way. Unfortunately, most of them were on the other side of the bus so unless I wanted to be rude and lie across very many people, I wasn't getting a picture. Most of them were faint anyway and probably wouldn't have come out well in pictures.

We arrived at our next location, Lady's View, and the weather had improved slightly, just in time for more profile picture opportunities! 

And I'll have everyone know, (especially you mom) that I consciously asked others to take nice pictures of me in nice locations. And I even smiled nicely! I honestly don't know what I was thinking but they exist so now people have evidence that I can at least pretend to be normal even if I'm not.

TA-DA!

We did also take a lovely picture of everyone in our little group:

And Maggie even snagged this artsy-fartsy one of me:

All it made me realize though is that I'm in desperate need of a haircut.

We then were on to our last stop before heading home; Kilarney National Park for some waterfall viewing.

Now, if anyone remembers my Tanzanian experience of hiking to waterfalls, I can safely say this was a much easier walk rather than a treacherous climb. It's really wet in the forest here so everything, and I mean everything, was covered in moss. It was actually like walking into nothing but green. I probably even had moss growing on me by the time we left.

Look more nice pictures! I really don't know what was getting into me.

Being a small child (yet again) and slip sliding my way out into the waterfall:

aaaaaaand slip sliding back:

SO

GRACEFUL

We then we allowed to eat lunch and wander about the grounds until we had to leave. We had an interesting run in when trying to find a place to eat. There weren't many benches or picnic tables, but we see a self-serve cafeteria, pull some tables together, plunk down, and start to eat. Not 5 minutes in and some guy comes over and is like "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO" just over and over again, kind of flapping his arms at us. We were all slightly confused because this guy wasn't really saying anything other than just "NO" over and ove again, yet he looked like he was in charge. No what? No pulling tables together? No outside food? No laughter and happiness? We all just stared at him until he final used his big boy words and pretentiously was like "THIS is a restaurant! You can't! NO! NO! You need to leave!" Not exactly as articulate as I was expecting from who I assume is a manager but at least we finally understood him. And may I just say, that in no way, shape, or form, could the area where we were be considered a restaurant, but not wanting to raise trouble we just left. 

We ended up eating as we walked around which at least gave us an excuse to wander around more. Some person who's name I never caught had built a big impressive house on the grounds where there was a forest, a lake, and lots of other landy things.

Happy Tree!

Sad Tree =(

Maggie getting in my picture.....for the millionth time.

Finally finally finally, our weekend came to an end and we headed home. It was awesome even though we didn't always have the best weather. And of course, it wouldn't be a proper trip without some embarrassing sleeping photos!

Christine kind of looks like cousin Itt when she's asleep LOLZ.