galway, ireland

We arrived in Dublin, Ireland really early on a Tuesday morning.  The groom greeted us at the airport and looked just as exhausted as we were.   We still had to take a 2+ hour drive West of Dublin to the city of Shannon where we will be staying.  At least we were able to catch some sleep on the bus ride. 

As soon as we said our hellos and freshened up, we headed to the Galway Races.  Supposedly, this is a huge event held every year during the last week of July.  Most of us have never been to a horse race before, so this was a new experience for us.  Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate with us.  We probably came at the most coldest and wettest summer they've had in years.

We had no idea how to bet, so Mairt (the groom) placed our bets for us, and he let us pick our horse.  My uncle actually won $200, Mairt's sister Aoife (pronounced Ee-fa, like Eva) won some, and I won $10 too!

Had to have a belly shot in there!  Me almost at 20 weeks.

The weather didn't stop some of the ladies from dressing up.  We saw a lot of them dressed in really cute dresses and fascinators, like this lady behind Tincy.  Think of the Royal Wedding and/or the Kentucky Derby.

Of course, my Mom and my Aunt wanted to belong and bought their own fascinators!

{photo by KC Solano}

After the races, we ate dinner in Galway's downtown area.  The city was super cute. 

 An Irishman showing us some tourist love...or was he mocking us, I'm not so sure...

Now THAT is a statement!

The groom waiting patiently for his bride as she takes a shot in a random bar.  Classy!  And here's the aftermath...

Just kidding..nothing wild happened, sadly.

We had another early start the next morning, so we called it quits pretty early that night.  More on Ireland soon.