School has been back now for a month, but I still find myself catching up from summer. Even though we are mostly settled in the school routine and the days are getting a little colder and shorter, the sun has still been shining (apparently September here is typically nicer than July and August!), so it’s easy to still feel a glimmer of summer. After a pretty busy late spring of travel, including our trip back to Seattle, we tried to take it easy over the summer and stayed fairly local. I didn’t sign Isaac up for any camps as I just wanted to play things by ear and have the freedom to go exploring with the boys. It turned out to be a lot of fun — each day we would just kind of decide what we were in the mood for, and there was usually nowhere specific we had to be. I’ll admit, by the end of summer I was feeling a bit burnt out and ready for school to start, but I knew it was a special time for both boys (and me) to be together and have adventures around Dublin, so I’m glad I made the most of our long summer days together. Besides visiting various parks, here were some of our favorite kid-friendly spots (in no particular order), most of which were free or just a small fee.

1. Fort Lucan outdoor adventure playground

Fort Lucan is a great outing for kids, with a ton of different activities to try out. There are ropes, slides, bridges, ziplines, trampolines, and go carts to pedal. For bigger kids there’s even a mini golf course and some huge water slides (but we skipped both of these). For the wee ones, there’s a great area with smaller bridges, slides, swings, and sandpits to dig in. The challenge for me was that Isaac didn’t want to stay in the little kid area but Rafi was a bit small to climb around with Isaac (as much as he would have liked to!), so managing the two on my own was a bit tricky but we made it work. Both boys had a blast! If you go, I recommend taking a picnic as there’s a pretty limited selection of food (only like chicken nuggets and chips that kind of thing).

2. Sonairte Ecology Center

Sonairte Ecology Center is an interactive visitor center focused on ecological awareness and sustainable living. It has lovely gardens (both fruits/vegetables and flowers) to stroll around, a nature trail set along a river, and an eco-shop with various healthfood, gardening supplies, and fairtrade gifts. It’s also got a lovely cafe set in an outside courtyard, complete with loads of toys for kids to play with while parents relax with coffee/tea. It was totally free (besides paying for food in the cafe) and made a great few hours out with the boys.

3. National Botanic Gardens

We spent a fun morning wandering the beautiful National Botanic Gardens with some friends. The gardens, which were founded in 1795, are home to over 20,000 living plants, and it’s totally free to visit and meander around. There are some gorgeous greenhouses, rose gardens, streams and ponds with ducks, picturesque gazebos, a rock garden, herb gardens, and more. There’s a cafe on site to purchase food or coffee, or you can bring a picnic on a nice day and find a spot on the many grassy fields.

4. The beach

While the warm truly summer-y feeling days were rare this summer, we tried to take advantage of them when we had the chance. Living so close to the sea, we love to head down to the beach in any weather. We bring our buckets and spades and a picnic blanket and do a lot of digging, sand castle building, and shell collecting. One particular day, we went with friends and it was actually warm enough to swim! The boys had a blast!

5. Poolbeg lighthouse hike

Poolbeg lighthouse is a bright red lighthouse in Dublin Bay that guides boats into the Port of Dublin. It’s such a distinct part of the Dublin Bay skyline. We had heard it’s possible to “hike” out to the lighthouse (it’s really just a long walk along a wide wall) so one Sunday this summer we gave it a try. The wall is a bit bumpy but was still doable with a sturdy stroller. Isaac walked the whole way out and then joined Rafi in the stroller for the walk back. It was a brisk day so the sea air felt good, and it was great to get a different view of Dublin and to see the ships coming into harbor so close up.

6. ChildVision Garden Centre

ChildVision is actually a school for the blind, but they have a garden centre open to the public which was fun to visit for a morning. There are some goats, rabbits, and chickens, a bunch of fairy houses, a playground, and a cafe with ice cream for the kids. It was a great way to keep the boys entertained for a few hours, and totally free.

   
    
    
 
7. Tayto Park

Only in Ireland would you find an amusement park with the theme of “potato” 🙂 Tayto Park is a huge amusement park next to the Tayto crisps factory (you can also tour the factory, but we skipped that part), and we knew we couldn’t miss the opportunity to check it out while living in Dublin. It’s definitely a two-adult type of outing so I was really glad we saved it for a weekend so Jeff could join us. Isaac was tall enough for a number of the rides (when accompanied by a grownup) and he had a blast! I was pretty shocked he wanted to do a ropes course type thing where you walk across bridges and ropes high above ground (with a safety harness)…Jeff got to accompany him for that while I watched from the safety of the ground. He’s definitely become a lot braver over the past year with trying things. Rafi got to do a few gentler rides and there were also several playgrounds throughout the park. There are even some zoo animals there, some water slides for when the weather is warm, and also Europe’s largest wooden roller coaster (which we didn’t do). All in all, a fun and exhausting day out! 

   
    
    
 
   
   

What a fun summer of outings we had!! While the weather isn’t always perfect (far from it!), we made the most of whatever sun we had to get outside and explore the greater Dublin area!