my greatest hopes: sheep and gingers

leaving london wasn't too big of a deal, we were there for a microscopic amount of time but we still went to harrods and navigated the tube! i have big plans for ireland. sheep are involved in almost all of them, as are people with orange hair. i love gingers, if you know me you know that (ie, my bff nance. her ratings sky rocket because of her lovely hair) and i love all animals especially fluffy ones. 

getting to the heathrow airport was fine, until we got to check in with air lingus. FYI london to shannon is about an hour flight, apparently the people who work for air lingus think that must be the only place you're going and you're staying for a week. you're limited to 10 kilos.... mom and i had close to 100 kilos so that was the national debt & i think the girl helping us thought we were terrorists. once that fiasco was over we got through security. unlike every other airport i've been to on earth air lingus keeps gate info a secret until 45 minutes before the flight. so everyone mills around in a little cluster for an hour or so... i painted my nails and mom spilled a coke. then we walked 5 miles to our secret gate. where we were kept in a glass room like little lab rats. mom decided she needed a wheelchair so we arranged that, only the classiest. once in her barney purple trolley we went down the 8 mile ramp to our plane. just us in our row thank god since we had to move over a seat due to the demonic child kicking moms chair from the first minute of the taxi/takeoff process. also another con of air lingus, not even water is free. seriously? you're a functioning airline and can't afford some tap water for me? oh i'd love those $8 mini pringles because i'm starving. they think they're so special in their "clover green" suits. well you look stupid. like an oddly shaped asparagus. mom had to be taken off on a wheelchair which was nice because we met our first irish man. he was adorable and loving and oh so careful with dear old mum. and we got to skip lines etc so that was a treat!

buratty castle

our cab ride to the bunratty castle hotel was brief but informative. our driver has a daughter named kim. kim burke. she's going to be on the xfactor, which is a show i presume & im sure its based on talents. kim is a singer (being from nashville, who isn't?) well of course he played her songs for us & she sounds just like anyone else i've ever heard sing. good luck kim burke. i'll cheer for her because he was so obscenely excited for his pride and joy to have her hopes and dreams crushed on national television.

we got checked into our hotel for tonight (in ireland we have a new home each night, so if i don't blog it means our b&b doesn't have the internet) and decided to explore. best decision ever made. we stumbled into the castle's park. some how we got in without paying the 15 euro fee, and the park was closed so we essentially had it to ourselves. except for the animals we shared it with. now please enjoy these adorable photos.

just a small snack

i see you back there

mom meeting eeyore.          

the park had other animals, irish wolf hounds, deer, pigs and yes: SHEEP. my mission is clear, sheep love me and i love them. i'm too exhausted to try and make my sheep photo load right now, but i intend to meet a wild sheep & that will be documented. 

after the stroll in the park & nearly being caught in the rain (its very cool here so getting soaked outside would have resulted in pneumonia and subsequent death) we came home to get ready for dinner... a medieval banquet and the castle! they all dressed like their characters & sang and played music etc, so fun! the food was actually good! we sat in this hall with everyone else and thank god we were by some normal daughter mother grandmother cousin group. except across from mom was so freak lady. who mom openly made fun of... no more language barrier so this woman knew mom was laughing at how creepily she was having her husband photograph her... it was awkward to say the least, not how i wanted to start the banquet. we had wooden plates, and no silverware but a knife. i tricked them into getting me a fork when i pulled the vegetarian card. notice my soup photo, and the other human is named sheamus. he played the violin all night. sheamus was either a pedophile or recovering from a broken neck. his head was literally never above his shoulders. if i were a doctor i'd say its turtle syndrome. (this is why im not a doctor) what he lacks in posture he makes up for in musical skill. 

now my sheep hunt continues and i'm hoping i will be lucky (it is the luck of the irish) and our driver for the next three days happens to have red hair, or access to a village of people with it.