Irish Adventures with the Palacios!

It is quite comical that this was written for this post for almost two years, "Coming soon! Pictures and stories of our adventures with Mingo and Fallon!"  So "soon", probably wasn't the right phrasing, more like "Eventually coming!"  or "When I have two weeks off from work..."  Ok so there is no excuse!  I repent!  One of the most worthy of all posts got unpublished, agh, until now that is!

Our wonderful friends, came all the way to Ireland and we had the trip of a lifetime!  The pictures say it all!  I will try my best to capture the week of adventure to keep you as entertained as we were.  Fallon and I didn't know what we were in for as our husbands lived life together, reminiscing of their classic stories, making rap songs with the T-pain app, frolicking through fields and obsessing over baby lambs (oh wait that might have been me and Fal!)  Well you get the point!  So here goes nothing...

Our first day at St. Patrick's Cathedral

Ross and Mingo philosophizing

Trinity College

Best buddies :)

A book always smells better when you're in good company!

Beautiful couple enjoying the rays in People's Park

Unashamedly getting the burn

There are no words...

Heading out of Dublin and marking out our journey to come!

Fallon and I are the luckiest!

As you do in a cemetery

Galway City

Drawing Room at Dromoland Castle

Cards, tea, and friends at Dromoland Castle... It doesn't get any better!

Frolicking on the grounds of Dromoland Castle

A little healthy go-cart competition

Cliffs of Moher

Apparently a music video was being filmed on our ferry ride to Dingle! If only we had known we could have come prepared :)

Lookout point on the drive to Dingle City

Love this girl!

Not to shabby of a view from our room!

Mingo throwing out the vib!

Stopped for a lamb crossing... only in Ireland!

Baby lambies!!!  We're obsessed!

Making our way to Slea Head

Slea Head at Sunset

We made it just in time for a beautiful sunset!

Dingle Bay

We don't want to leave!

Killarney Town

It is only right to have ended the trip at a tea house... These boys look way too comfortable!

Blood Orange Yumminess!

Seduced big time!  Who couldn't resist this face!

Leaping for joy!  We love Ireland and green pastures!  Ross has been stunned by Fallon's extreme enthusiasm :)

Precious friends, priceless memories!  Thanks Mingo and Fallon for sacrificing so much to come and visit us in Ireland!  This is a trip we'll be talking about when we're 80! Love you guys!

Newgrange with the Sturms

Saint Patrick's Day is CRAZY in Dublin! All the locals leave town as the tourists flood in! Since we had experienced the parade and excitement of Patty's day last year, we decided to take the day to explore outside of the city. We went with our friends Katie and Aaron to one of oldest historical sights in the world, Newgrange. It is a prehistoric burial mound dating to 3,000 BC, predating some of the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge! It has artistic concentric circles and spirals carved into the stones, but the most fascinating thing about Newgrange was the architectural precision! Those who built this tomb were brilliant astronomers. There is a narrow square opening above the tomb entrance way. Every year in December during the winter solstice when the sun is rising, the rays of light shine through that small opening, extend to the back walls of the inner chamber, and illuminate the inside of the tomb! These engineers were smart!

When Newgrange was discovered the grey rock face seen in this picture had fallen, so they reconstructed the face of the tomb using the same rocks from the original

Get the shot Katie!

Weekend trip to Southern Ireland in County Tipperary

In late February we had a long weekend to do a speedy trip down to one of the southern counties of Ireland called Tipperary. We borrowed Sarah and Adam's car and made a big loop hitting a few different cities along the way. Our first stop was in Kilkenny, a town I fell in love with. Why, you might ask? Because there is an amazing castle of course! The grounds extend as far as the eye can see and are covered with lush, green lawns and tulips. It was sunny and beautiful, so we decided to have a picnic overlooking the castle. To our shock, clouds swoop in and HUGE hail stones pelt us as we crammed food in our mouths and jetted to the car! It was painful!

Kilkenny Castle

Cathedral in Kilkenny

Next stop, Rock of Cashel! This huge stone structure dominates the skyline as you drive up to it. The green hills around it were stunning in the sun light. Although there was some serious construction going on, it was still a very worthwhile stop.

Entrance to Rock of Cashel

Rock of Cashel

A view of the surrounding green hills from the Rock of Cashel

We have a slight obsession with Celtic crosses

On this trip, going against my normal vacationing style, we decided to be adventurous and not plan B&B arrangements ahead of time. Well to our surprise, many B&B's close when it is not tourist season! As night was setting in, we stopped at 6 B&B's that were all closed for business. We soon were second guessing our carefree approach! Luckily, our 7th B&B we stumbled upon in the tiny town of Cahir was open and ended up being a charming little place. We learned our lesson and will call next time!

The next morning we visited Cahir Castle, a very well preserved fort. The tour was fantastic! And we discovered that a scene from Braveheart had been filmed there!

Cahir Castle

Edinburgh!!!!

Plaid Anyone?!

Edinburgh is an amazing and mysterious city! When Ross and I first applied to PhD programs, the first school we were accepted to was the University of Edinburgh. For six months we planned to live here in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. When our plans changed and we were accepted to Trinity College in Dublin, we couldn't wait for the opportunity to travel to Edinburgh to see where we might have ended up. Although it was a very short and unexpected trip, we truly fell in love with the city.

On the second day we stumbled onto a free 3 hour walking tour, which ended up being the highlight of the trip. Our guide was funny and knowledgable and made the mysterious city of Edinburgh in the 1600's come alive! We also really enjoyed our tour of Mary King's Close, an area of the city, that is now underground, which was greatly affected by the plague. Edinburgh has a fascinating history!

View from Calton Hill

One of my favorite streets heading down toward the Grass Market

St. Giles Cathedral

View of the Castle from the back

View of the Castle from the front standing in front of Ross Fountain

David Hume's (a famous philosopher) grave

Charming shops on the Royal Mile

The school that Hogwarts was inspired by in Harry Potter

One of the college buildings apart of the University of Edinburgh

The lovely friends we stayed with in Edinburgh- in front of the Halfway House a great, yet tiny pub halfway up one of the closes (narrow alleys) between New and Old town

Work Visa Update

Getting permission to work here in Ireland has continued to be an unbelievably difficult task! I will attempt to quickly summarize the ongoing saga we have had these past few months. Sorry for the very late update!

In September my work had applied for me (Suz) to get a new work visa to continue at St. Andrews teaching American History. Unfortunately, in February it was denied because I was currently working in the country on a Working Holiday Authorization, which required me to leave the country after 12 months. After going to the Immigration office, Ross and I were informed that we were required to leave the country for a 48 hour period, so we packed our bags, booked airline tickets, and the next day flew to the lovely city of Edinburgh. Upon arriving in Ireland again, I received a dependent stamp giving me permission to legally reside in Ireland. Unfortunately, what I did not know at the time is that a dependent stamp does not give my employer permission to apply for a work permit on my behalf. So... after contacting the US Embassy, I was advised to move back to the US while my employer applied for the work visa for me. So, off to California we will be heading this summer! After the initial shock, both Ross and I now feel a great peace about this decision and are actually quite excited to have a second chance this year to see the friends and family that we have been missing so much.

We are not positive of the exact dates yet, but we will probably be in SD for June, July, and part of August. I can't believe we will be home in 1 month!