Craic in Cork: Miltown Malbay

After a great night's sleep, we were ready to roll on Saturday! We began the day by being picked up by Martin to go to Ennistymon for the morning. Mom, Nana, Big B, Carolyn and I moseyed around for a little while and checked out some of the local shops and galleries. It was very cute and perfect for a quiet morning!

We then headed back to Lahinch for some lunch at O'Looney's, which was a great restaurant on the water. It was a chilly day, so a cup of chowder was the perfect cure. The view at the restaurant was fabulous, but even better from the cozy indoors! After lunch, Big B had planned for us to head to Miltown Malbay, the village where the Fox family is from. We were meeting up with our cousins, Mary and PJ, who still live in the original (but slightly updated) house, which is 200 years old! There were so many Fox family members there! Dad and Greg had met up with Mom and Greg's cousins from the US, Brian, Marty, Chuck, and Jimmy for some golf in the morning. So in total, there had to be about thirteen Fox visitors at Mary and PJ's! They were so welcoming to us. We walked into a feast of scones, breads, pies, sandwiches, everything. We probably could have skipped O'Looney's (even thought was delicious). We sat around the table and caught up for quite a while. It was so interesting hearing about the history of the Fox family house, and it made it even more special that I was able to share this with Big B. PJ then took us all around the property to show us his farm he runs and all of his contraptions that he has made for the job. It was really cool to hear about the entire cattle farming process! However, I do not think I will ever go into that profession...I don't like to the the before of my steak.

We left the house after a few hours and PJ led us to my great, great grandfather's grave. It was so old, from 1898! I was standing at such an important historical piece in my family history, someone needed to pinch me! The day in Miltown was so overwhelming, from the extremely thoughtful welcome, to the amount of family history. It was such a special day.

After Miltown Malbay, we headed back to Lahinch for our last night. Dad made a great dinner for the seven of us in our crew, plus Brian, Chuck, Marty, Jimmy, and a friend of theirs. We shared so many laughs and had a great night full of family time!

Be back tomorrow!

XO,

Caitlin

View at O'Looney's