It's Over. Almost.

I can't believe it, I am now on home soil. I'm not actually home yet, though. I flew into Spokane late last night, and stayed to sleep at the Earl's. It was so good to see my two sleeping babies! I smooched their cheeks and whispered how much I love them. Yesterday was a day that lasted about 60 hours. We began Tuesday with an all-out sight seeing blitz. We walked through the oldest castle in Ireland, it was built in 1180-something. It had been in the family for 30 generations, then sold to the Irish government in the 70s. I was drooling over the library there. Then we drove to the coast (a 15 min drive) and had lovely fresh fish and chips. Yum, with vinegar and salt! We hiked along a scary cliff-side path that left me feeling woozy, then we fed seals on the wharf. They're huge! It began to rain, but we hit the beach anyway. We frolicked in the surf in the pouring rain and got soaked. It was a blast! I have pictures of all this, and I'll share them when i get home. We drove home in various states of undress and got ready to hit the pub. We drove through downtown Dublin, which has been around since 100BC, and marvelled at the architecture. Then we shopped for souvenirs, so fun! The pub we stopped for dinner at was on Temple Bar, and there was a fantastic dinner show. A trio played traditional Irish songs and sang. Some of them were so bawdy that they asked Kimberly to cover her daughter's ears from the stage. I was so frustrated because I couldn't understand all the words. I appreciate a good bawdy drinking song, you know. Then the Irish dancers came on. They had performed all over the world and blew us away. We got home after midnight and started packing. We had to be a the airport at 3:30, so we figured, why sleep? We didn't, so after a 3 hour flight to Amsterdam, some crazy confusion there, (we had a connecting flight not listed in our itinerary) an 81/2 hour flight to Philly, another delay, then a 5 1/2 hour flight to Seattle, then a panicked run for my sis to catch a flight to Salt Lake that should have left before we arrived, I had to take 2 trains, 4 flights of escalators to get to my flight. On my last flight to Spokane, a guy who sat behind me literally never shut his mouth. Ever. But I made it without killing him, or even being rude. I pulled into the in laws house at just before 11 pm. I realized I hadn't eaten since Amsterdam. Then I couldn't sleep. I eventually did, and thus ended the longest day of all time. Now I just have a 2 1/2 hour drive home. I hope I don't fall asleep. If I do, all my gifts for everyone are in the smaller black bag. Got it?