Gap of Dunloe - Killarney National Park, Ireland

Mal woke up early to head to the hotel gym with Daddy.

Rosie can finally dance in the car again...the music is in English!

Monday morning we drove out to Killarney National Park to take a horse and carriage ride through the Gap of Dunloe. It was beautiful!

Our horse was named Barbie! Mal & Rose were ecstatic.

Holly trees line the streets. Our guide told us that the green berries we were seeing turn red around Christmas time. That must be magical!

Heading into the Gap of Dunloe.

This bridge is hundreds of years old.

"The postcard shot" says our guide.

A dilapidated house from the potato famine.

Echo Valley/Echo Mountain - The girls got a huge kick out of our guide yelling and hearing his echo. He gave us a chance to do it and then Rosie said, "Wait, but who's echo?" She couldn't understand how it worked.

An old English police station when they ruled Ireland.

Our guide, John Ferris, with Barbie.

After our ride through the valley, John let the kids have a ride on Blackie.

The kids, with John, in front of his house. He said 20 Ferris' live on this street. His next door neighbor is his cousin. John, like me, is one of seven. Two boys and five girls and he's also the youngest! Pretty strange!

After the ride we stopped in Kate Kearney's Cottage at the base of the Gap of Dunloe. Kate Kearney distilled her famous moonshine, called poitin, way back in the day. The poitin needed to be mixed with 7 parts of water to dilute it. She illegally served it to travelers and villagers in her cottage. Nowadays, it's a pub and gift shop.

More photos from the Killarny National Park.

Back at the hotel, we went for a swim in their indoor pool and relaxed in the jacuzzi. It's mandatory to wear swim caps in the pool.

Natalie said, "I bet you're going to put this on the blog?" Yup!

From 7-9 pm we signed the girls up for Kids Korner in our hotel. They had arts & crafts on the agenda and for 18 euros Jay and I could have two hours alone together. The girls wanted to be sure the sitters and kids spoke English and then they were good to go. When we were dropping them off, one parent said, "We never miss Kids Korner!" All of the parents seemed as excited as the kids. Jay and I went to the hotel bar and had drinks and appetizers, then we took a drive to the town of Sneem on the Atlantic Ocean. The kids ended up playing outside and then watching part of a movie. It was a nice break for everyone!