Ireland - Day 1

Over Thanksgiving week I *finally* went to Ireland. I was so excited...as I have been wanting to do this trip for years. After a lot of planning, and having a good friend from Officer Training School join me, off we went. Our trip consisted of 2 days in Dublin, a train ride to Cork City, spending a day in County Cork - or to be more specific, Blarney village (where Blarney Castle is located...duh!) :o) Our last day was in Waterford.

But right now I'm only going to talk about Dublin. I could spend a week alone just exploring the streets and sights of Dublin. The city reminded me a lot of Boston, and many others I have shown pictures have also commented on how similar Boston is to Dublin...which makes sence seeing who helped design and build Boston!

We stayed at a great hotel at the very end of trendy Temple Bar. But of course, we had to make two VERY important stops.

Day one in Dublin was stoping at the Guinness Factory.

Though at this specific factory that we toured in doesn't produce Guinness we still had a great time. The self-guided tour ended at the bar at the very top of the factory with a beautiful 360 degree view of Dublin. While enjoying our free pint we had fun people watching and watching the clouds move in across the city.

We also walked around Trinity College. The campus is absolutely beautiful! I know we only saw a very small portion of it and I would love to go back in the late spring or early fall.

The buildings were very interesting in the architectural designs. I walked around the campus a little bit both during the day and again the first night - venturing out by myself.

At Trinity College is the Book of Kells are beautifully and awe inspiring books that are decorated copies of the four gospels written around 800 AD.

As I was walking around the college that first night, a golden light caught my eye. So I walked over to check out where the light was coming from. As it turned out - it was just the light from the tennis court and parking area that peaked my interest. I loved how the light shined through the tree and off the building....hope you enjoy it to.

After a fun first day I decided to call it a night. My friend decided to stay in the hotel while I was out walking around that night. It was so peaceful even though there were tons of people out walking around and enjoying the evening.

Thus...the end of day one.

Lessons by Actions

Today while I was out with a friend we witnessed a little girl, probably about 9 or 10 years old in her mother’s car getting ready to pull out of the parking spot. The girl opened the car door and put a McDonalds bad on the ground and shut the door.

As I got to my door I looked over and asked the mother and little girl “is this your McDonald’s bag you left out here?” Knowing it was. She just locked the door and started pulling away. Once they had passed the bag I picked it up and called out to her “thanks for littering…I know it is such a hard thing to throw your trash out in a trash can.”

So, I decided to throw the bag out in a trash can that was about 20 yards away…what a hardship.

Another woman who was with her children also saw the girl place the McDonald’s bag outside of the car said to me as I was throwing it out “I can’t believe that woman had her daughter litter!”
This makes me wonder what other types of lessons parents are teaching their children today.

Littering is NOT ok. Spitting gum out the window, throwing an apple core out the window, leaving a soda can or McDonald’s bag of trash is not OK.

But by doing these things and allowing your children to do these actions is leading our nation to be a nation of slobs, uncaring individuals, and killers of our environment. Every time I go out and see adults with their young children or teenagers out with their friends, less and less am I seeing individuals with manners and respect.

Teaching respect, manners, and the difference between right, wrong, and the gray area begins with parents and continues with neighbors, friends, and strangers.

How often have you been out, in a parking lot or in a park and saw trash on the ground and just left it there? Now picture that a child was watching you and saw you picking up that trash up and throwing it out properly, maybe the next time that child will follow your actions.

Think about it. Act on it. What you do or don’t do matters.

Your actions matter.

Snow

Well....we finally have/had snow. Where I live in Hampton, we only got a dusting. However where my friends live in Yorktown got 1 1/2 - 2 inches! It was so pretty as it was falling last night.

This morning, Sprout had fun playing in what little snow we do have on the ground. He immediately wanted to run outside and play. He sniffed the snow, pawed at it - it was so funny!

He stayed outside for a while too! When he came back in he was all shiverring but I could tell he had fun becuase he kept wanting to play.