[Traveling with Kids] Ireland 2019 - Trim, Birr, Cashel and Bunratty

Y'all, we had the absolute best time on our huge family vacation this summer!  We traveled for nearly 21 days to Ireland and England with Thomas's family.  It was a fantastic trip and getting to go back to some of our favorite places in Ireland was such a highlight.  We road tripped through Ireland for 10 days and then England for 10 days before heading back to Dublin for a day and then flying home.  It was surreal being back, as we have dreamed of returning but never thought it would actually happen.  Anyways I'm going to split our trip up with a few different posts because there is just TOO much to share in one post.

I'm planning a post to go over all how we packed for our trip of 21 days for the FIVE of us in only TWO carry-on bags plus a back pack! Yes, it can be done...so stay tuned for that!

We arrived at the airport only to learn our flight was delayed for at least an hour...thankfully this time we chose a straight flight (Aerlingus) so we weren't fretting over missing a connection.  Since we were going to be renting a car in Ireland, and had to buy tickets for the girls, we decided to bring our Car Seats with us.  Ellie and Finnley rode in the car seats in the plane and then Finnley and Séamus used them in the rental car.  We also brought a booster seat for Ellie to use in the car.  Once we got on the plane and the girls settled in their seats with Kindles and headphones, all we had to do was get Séamus settled and then we were smooth flying (as much as one can) our saving grace as usual with a lap infant was the Ergo.  I made sure to bring our rollers in the pocket of the Ergo for easy access and boy did our Sleep Rollers come in handy!  We were all able to snooze on the plane, eat the food (which was decent enough), watch movies, and eat lots of snacks.  If you have the option for a straight flight to your international destination, I cannot recommend it enough!

We arrived in Dublin, sailed through immigration and then to the car rental to pick up our car, which had a surprisingly generous boot compared to our car rental on our previous trip.  Our first stop was to Trim where our B&B, the Highfield House, was practically across the street.  It was an adorable place, with quaint rooms, and a delicious breakfast in the morning.  Our hosts were delightful and it may have been our favorite place we stayed in all of Ireland. We had dinner at The Stockhouse Restaurant and everything was divine.  I had the lamb, Ellie had sausages, and the Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert was the best I've ever had. After dinner we walked to a grocery store to pick up some car snacks and then across the street to the fantastic Trim Park.  There was so much to do, including a zip line, ropes course, and lots of swings and slides.

The dining room was adorable and they had just enough room for our large party of 11!  We got to choose from a variety of breakfasts...but when in Ireland get the Full Irish, complete with my personal favorites black and white pudding.  Then we were off to explore Trim Castle.  Since Thomas and I had already been there we decided to skip the castle tour and just enjoyed the grounds.  The kids all had a blast looking for fairies, traipsing in the grass, and Séamus practiced his standing skills.  It was absolutely magical being back and watching our children have so much fun running around, last time Ellie was just 13 months old and a brand new walker on the trip so seeing her running, climbing, and exploring was the best.

The Full Irish: breakfast sausage, white pudding, black pudding, back bacon, roasted tomato, egg, scones, and toast.

* Fun Fact, Braveheart was filmed here

my girls in the background 😍

Then we checked out of our B&B and started the drive to the town of Birr to Birr Castle, the castle of the Parsons.  We had a very quiet and peaceful drive with all three kids passing out shortly after we took off. Thomas and his parents had reservations to tour the castle and I stayed behind on the grounds with the kids since they are all under age 12.  We explored the playground which had the most fantastic play castle, lots of swings, and things to climb on.  As usual Ellie narrowed in on some kids and they became fast friends.  Then we explored the gardens before meeting up with Thomas and his parents near the telescope. We walked into the town of Birr to have lunch at a little cafe and then we were off to our next B&B in Cashel.

the Parsons in front of Birr Castle

the entrance to the Castle. Thomas has the Coat of Arms seen at the top of the gate tattoo'd on his forearm, it was so cool to see it in person.

We met up with the whole clan at our B&B, The Ashmore House, in Cashel.  Thomas and I found a laundry nearby and took some of our already dirty laundry to get cleaned.  We took a quick walk around town before heading back to our B&B to hang out with the family.  We then all decided to head out to dinner.  Our family of five went to an Indian Restaurant and while our appetizers were great our main courses were not as we expected.  It was still good, just not our favorite.  We then went on the hunt for ice cream and stopped in a nearby market for what we thought were ice cream bars but it turned out to be a box of ice cream...Ellie was not the least disappointed with our mistake 😉

Ellie and her giant ice cream bar 😂

One of the main oily items we packed for our trip was a diffuser and a custom sleep blend to support all of our sleep since we were all sleeping in one room together. The kids fell asleep rather quickly and thankfully we didn't have a 2am party like the night before 😜.  It was much warmer in Ireland than I had anticipated so Séamus enjoyed sleeping in just his diaper.  He was so tired in the morning that when we tried to change his diaper he just rolled over and fell back asleep before I could even get the new diaper on!! We enjoyed another lovely breakfast, another Full Irish for the adults and the girls gave pancakes a try.  Séamus was quite the fan of the sausages and the grapes...he loved the grapes.  We then walked around town to the Rock of Cashel, visited the site and the views were just spectacular.  We had lunch while we waited until our laundry was completed and then off to our next destination - Bunratty.

Having fun at the giftshop at the Rock of Cashel

Turns out the boot of the car was an excellent place to keep our wild man contained while changing shoes, grabbing snacks, and determining the directions for our next leg of the trip.

Once at Bunratty, we visited here on our last trip but didn't have enough time to check out the folk park, we got right in and started seeing what all the fun was about.  They have a small village in the grounds of the Castle where you can see period homes, shops, and businesses...just my kind of thing.  The girls loved how interactive it was, checking out the animals and then we were so surprised with playground area.  We were not expecting something so fun!  The girls played on the ship, the swings, zipline, slides, and all of it.  Séamus and I had a sweet nursing session on a bench before he got to go into the swings...it was so relaxing and fun for him he actually fell asleep 😂.  When it was time we met up with the rest of Thomas's family to attend the Medieval Banquet in the Bunratty Castle itself!

the amazing park in the Castle grounds

breastfeeding international

At the Medieval Banquet they had singing and dancing, mead and entertainment galore.  All of the kids were just mesmerized by it all.  The dinner was fabulous and we all had a great time! Definitely something you should do if ever you find yourself in Ireland!

the dungeon

We then made our way to our B&B in Shannon, the Avarest.  We got the family suite which was in a separate wing of the home where we also got to have a private breakfast!  They had a small playroom for the kids and we had the pick of 4 different beds in our room.  We played musical beds and at some point ended up with Me, Séamus, Finnley, and Ellie in one bed.  I was able to sneak Séamus and myself to a separate bed while the girls shared and Thomas had his own! Our breakfast was delicious, as usual, and we had a sweet time with just the 5 of us!

The Full Irish: back bacon, breakfast sausages, eggs, roasted tomato, and potato boxty.

After some fun in the morning at the Avarest, we checked out, loaded up and headed on our way to one of our favorite areas of Ireland, the Dingle Penninsula!

Traveling with kids isn't always easy, basically it's just parenting your kids in a different city but it is so rewarding to make all of these memories.

Have you traveled with your children?  Where is your favorite place to vacation?

check back soon to see more of our Ireland and England trip from this summer!!

♥ Ashley

see more of our travels here!