And We're Outta Here!!

So, you're going to leave Ireland day after tomorrow. Therefore, this will be my last post before you come home. I know you're out sightseeing tomorrow so HAVE A TON OF FUN!!!!!

I took the kids to the Tellus museum today and we had a really great time!

So sad to say that the 4,400 pound amethyst geode would NOT fit in the car. Disappointed that the kids didn't even try to help me get it out of the museum in the first place. Lazy, ungrateful bums. It would have made the perfect centerpiece to an otherwise ho-hum suburban front yard. But, next time we go back, I'll try for it. You in?

Jarrod's main MO was to run around and FIND ALL THE GOLD, MAMA! I LOVE GOLD! IT'S MY FAVORITE! I think I'm going to start calling him Scrooge. Or get him a job advertising gold coins on TV.  Speaking of Jarrod, he managed to choke on part of his PB&J sandwich at the cafe. I hadn't even sat down when he sputtered and then looked at me panicked. Just as I got in position to do the Heimlich, he swallowed it. He cried and I stopped shaking halfway through my tuna salad sandwich. Kids.

We whizzed through dinosaur bones and old cars (snooze-fest) and immediately went panning for gemstones.

Of course, the gemstones are small. Miniscule. Barely visible to the 40-something naked eye. I thought about telling them to collect enough to pay off the house for a month (emeralds, amethysts, and tiger eyes, OH MY!) but, yeah. Not so much. What we DID get was tee-tiny little Ziploc baggies of chips of semi-semi-semi-precious polished rocks (agate - BAH!) and wet shirts and shorts. And I ended up with a handful of purple quartz. Each time they found a piece, "HERE MAMA! HERE! THIS IS FOR YOU!!!" Yep, right up there with dandelions and gravel gifts. *Sniff!*

The best part of this 40-minute-long adventure, though, came from the random 4-year-old who got a kick out of the automatic hand dryers and decided to stand under one and loudly giggle. For 10 minutes. True story.

And then? The kids discovered the fossil room...

That wasn't actually dirt. And it wasn't sand. All I can figure is that it's tiny little bits of tan-colored recycled rubber. It had a really weird texture that I did not like. And the kids were supposed to brush it away to reveal the fossils underneath. The boys? Brushed. Amelia? Dug with two hands like a danged rat terrier after a rodent. Little bits of rubber were EVERYWHERE. Yeah. I pretended not to know them and acted like I was horrified at the feral kids in the fossil pit.

WHAT?!? It was the only way I could check on my Facebook/Twitter/Instagram feeds!

At any rate, we survived and it's time for me to hit the sack. See you on Sunday! Slán, ya'll!