Lads on tour

Sean, Finn and Rowan drove down to Tralee after we left, with Adrian in charge. They spent one night at Edel's before moving on to a mobile home in Castlegregory on north side of the Dingle peninsula. Olivia joined them and it sounds like they had a ball, dashing out to the beach and getting buried in the sand. Neither Finn nor Rowan have stayed in a caravan before (and this was a mobile home, not a caravan, they were quick to point out) so I can only hazard a guess at the extent of Rowan's giddiness. There was a play area just yards from the mobile home and the boys were out in the fresh air at every opportunity: the weather was great but why do they have to be dragged out the door when they're with us?

There were wetsuits in the mobile home which fitted the three lads so Adrian had them down to the beach, boogie-boarding. At first he was just aqua-planing them along the wave-slicked sand but, day on day, he got them all further into the water and started them on their way back to shore on waves. They loved it, even Rowan, and even Finn, despite taking a nosedive off the board and doing a somersault under the water. Needless to say they were reluctant to leave the idyll of County Kerry to return to Athlone. Adrian did a fine job feeding them and keeping them entertained.

After a couple of nights back in Athlone, Adrian brought them up to Dublin for the flight back to Edinburgh. Fortunately Finn wasn't as bad as the last time he flew. He wasn't too happy on the way up but at least he wasn't sick and all of them were lively enough when Angus and I went to pick them up at the airport after their 15 days in Ireland. They were glad to be home but hardly seemed to have missed us and had a great start to their summer holidays.