June 2014 - Start of Summer

Summer has been a new experience in AK!  Unlike in H-Town when summer arrives the commuter traffic dies down and everyone enjoys the summer traffic going to and from work.  In Alaska, traffic becomes a nightmare!  There are so many people that visit during the summer it takes longer to get places.  Travel buses, RVs and the train goes by constantly with passengers. In addition, road work happens because there is no snow on the ground.  I will say I am impressed by how fast the construction is completed.  I guess since the sun is always up they work late and things get done.

Fun Fact on AK: Everyone here seems to have custom license plates.  To the point, we have started to take pictures so you can vote on your favorites.  Now, in looking at these I know which one better win (hint, hint all my love to Texas!!)  With that said, here are this month's :

 

June has been a busy month for us.  We went to the 3 Barons Ren Fest at the start of June.  The Ren Fest is smaller here and I was sad that it had no mud show, but the rotten tomato show made up for it!  We went on Pirate Day:

 

We also got to experience the Palmer Colony Days Parade and festival in the town near us.

Lots of old time cars and tractors. 

Reindeer petting zoo!

 

For our big summer vacation we went to Ireland!  It was really cool to see all the castles and driving on the other side of the road was an experience.  We love the round a bouts though.  It made traffic go so smoothly!  We stayed mostly in manor houses and castles for the trip.  We started in Dublin and went in a big circle around the island to end up back in Dublin.  Jason and I kissed the Blarney Stone.  The girls chickened out after climbing the 100 steps to it.  I guess being upside down and backwards hanging off a castle was asking too much!  lol.   Here are some picts from the trip:

This was our favorite Castle we stayed in!  It was amazing!!! This is just the entrance into it.

We love high tea!  The sandwiches, scones and pastries!!  Yummy!!  Once we started going to tea at 3pm it was like we couldn't do anything else unless we made it to tea.  We had it in most the places we stayed.  These scones were my favorite.  I miss the homemade cream and jams....Cailin misses the cucumber sandwiches (not shown as she eats them too fast to get a pict)...

We went to the Equestrian Center on the castle grounds and went for a short horse ride.  They also had Falconry, but it was booked up :( 

Cliffs in the Ring of Kerry

All the cokes had this "Share a Coke with...."  We found several with different names and took picts with them.  Kinda silly, but when you find your name or a friends it was fun :)  Here's the Sis pict.

Waterford Castle Hotel in Waterford County.  Very cool place.  It had a big claw tub in the bathroom.  Nice to look at, but hard to bathe in!  lol

Of course we went to where they make Waterford Crystal.  This is a picture of the largest Champagne Glass.  So cool!

 

So I'm trying out new recipes.  Here is the one I tried out this month:

Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls.  Needless to say the girls LOVE it and it's quickly become a favorite: