Day 4: Charles Fort, Kinsale, and Garrettstown Beach

Today was another fun day showing Mom around where I have lived these past two years in Ireland. We picked up some baked goods at the Carrigaline Lidl, then went into Douglas to collect my cousin, then we were off to Kinsale. It was a beautiful, hot sunny day in Ireland. These days, even in summer, are so rare, so I am especially glad that we had planned on going to the beach. It was great. The road we took out to Kinsale, I had never been on before, and it was wonderful. Super small and windy and I had to pull off to the side of the road a few times to let cars pass.

We met some friends at Charles Fort, and we all had a great time running around, seeing all the different rooms, looking over out to the ocean, and just enjoying the warm summer day.

Then we went to the beach. It wasn't the nicest beach, but the tide was slowly coming in and it was shallow. The sun beating down on the shallow water all day must have heated it up, because it was the warmest ocean swim I have ever had in Ireland. It was great to swim out in the ocean with my mom and one of my good friends. We just all had a great laugh and spent a long time out in the ocean together. The kids all had a go in the water, but didn't last too long. They really enjoyed running in and out of the water, playing in the sand, trying to fly a kite which never flew, and eating all sorts of snacks and some fruit.

When we got home, we were too tired to do anything more, but other friends came over so we sat around and had a good laugh. It was a really fun way to end the evening.