I had a wonderful birthday on August 23, 2012. We were in Dublin Ireland and I had an idea of what I was going to do.
The Leprechaun Museum:  We were walking down the street – our bellies full of food from my big yummy birthday lunch – all of us keeping an eye out for the National Dublin Leprechaun Museum. Then suddenly my brother pointed out a sign that read “Leprechaun Museum this way” and it had an arrow pointing to the left. We followed the signs ’til me, my brother, my dad, my mom, my grandma, and my grandpa, all made it into the tiny lobby out near the street. We all squished through a door and made it into a tiny waiting room where we sat and waited for our tour guide. But the second that she led us out of there, I knew it wasn’t going an ordinary museum with all the facts and glass cases. This was a museum for kids.

The Growing Tunnel:  We all squished together into a tiny room leading through a giant tunnel. The tour guide turned to all of us and said, “This is the magic tunnel that will lead you to the giants room all you need to do is walk through the tunnel and you get bigger and bigger until you can reach the ceiling”. I walked down first and I felt like I was just walking until I turned around and the kids were smaller than me and the grownups were the same size as me; it felt wonderful. But when everyone made it down the tunnel we all seemed back to normal because they had all grown and I didn’t feel very tall any more, but then I walked into the giants room.

The Giants Room:  I walked into a humongous room full of the biggest chairs I had ever seen I tried to climb on to one and failed. It was too high up, so my mom gave me a boost and soon I was sitting smack in the middle waving to my dad’s camera. Then I jumped up to the squishy chair (With my mom’s help again) and figured out that it was way bigger than my bed at home and it was so comfy that I wanted to fall asleep right there, but the tour guide insisted that we leave that room and go to the next fairy fort place where she would tell us a little story.

The Fairy Forts and story:  We went into the next room and the tour guide rounded us all up and had us sit down. She was going to tell us a story about a goblin, fairies, and a boy named Jonah. There was once a tiny village in Dublin Ireland where once every year there was an attack by a mean goblin that would get the fairies to play their beautiful music up and down the village that would make all the soldiers and villagers fall asleep and the goblin would burn the village houses down to ash. The night before the goblins returned the soldiers were trying to figure out how they could find a way to kill the goblin and avoid having their town burned again.  A small boy walked up to them and said “I am Jonah, I want to kill the goblin.  But if I do you must promise to make me head soldier.” The soldiers laughed and said “You, a soldier? That’s ridiculous.” But they did agree that if Jonah could find a way to kill the goblin they would make him leader of the soldiers. Jonah wandered around outside wondering where on earth he was going to find a way to stay awake while the goblin played music. Jonah was working out all the different ways he could possibly do it when he heard a voice yell “Jonah, over here” Jonah turned around and saw a skinny old man smiling and waving him over. Jonah wandered over and the man held out a beautiful spear that made Jonah jump when the man pushed it into his arms he started telling Jonah something so he listened in amazement, “… you just put it to your forehead when the goblin starts playing his music and it will keep you awake as ever. Then you can stab the goblin…” Jonah thought this was an odd idea but as he couldn’t come up with anything else, so he decided he would have to use that idea. That night Jonah heard music and ran out into the street he started to feel sleepy but remembered the spear and his duty and pressed it to his forehead. He felt like he had never been sleepy in his life and started looking for the goblin. He passed some burning grass and stamped it out with his feet and kept moving, and then he spotted one green ugly goblin ahead and charged forward. The goblin froze and turned towards Jonah with a very scared expression on his face for he had never seen one human awake while he was playing his music and as he turned Jonah stabbed him right in the heart and cut off his ugly green head, stuck it on the end of his spear and stuck the spear in the ground in front of the soldiers meeting-house. When they awoke to find none of the houses burned and a goblin head facing them, Jonah became the leader of the soldiers.

Leprechaun’s pot of gold

The Rainbow: We walked out of the story room ready to find gold at the end of a rainbow. We walked into a room where there were a bunch of strings hanging down in rainbow order. As we walked through, the strings brushed our faces and then we found a pot of gold at the end. We were not allowed to take any of the gold from the pot because that would be a sign of disrespect to the leprechauns and they might not leave any for the next group.

The Wishing Well:  We went into a room covered in stones and had one big well right in the middle with little sitting logs on the outside. We all took a seat and I guessed this was the last room and the lady told us we could make a wish and go into the next room to draw a picture and they would hang it on the wall in a golden picture frame. We sat there listening and thinking about the fun we had, and I got a coin from my dad and I made a wish (I can’t tell you what I wished for) and then scurried off into the next room. I made a picture of a leprechaun and they hung it on the wall and they did the same to everyone’s pictures.

After we took pictures with the giant stuffed leprechaun and grandma bought me a stuffed animal bear (which I sent home with my grandparents) named Mr. Paddy Waddy. (Short version: Paddy) We headed off towards are next destination.

The Pub:  We walked to a pub and walked inside. We were a little early so we sat down and I ordered a cold drink. We met a nice lady named Patrice from Minnesota. She sat down and had a drink with us. I had a milk, Patrick had sprite, my grandma had water, and every body else had a beer.

The Story Telling Restaurant: We walked up the stairs from the pub and found a tiny crowded room and a bunch of tables. We were seated at a big table, ordered our drinks, and listened to (in my opinion) the most boring part – he talked about, POTATOES!!!!!!!!!!!! Even though it sounds pretty interesting, no I only got excited when we got to order food. I ordered, pasta with butter and cheese. My brother ordered the same, my mom ordered Beef and Guinness stew, and my dad had Irish stew………. I don’t remember what my grandparents had. Anyway, then he talked some more about potatoes this and potatoes that. Then we had dessert and my favorite part came with the story’s……… FAIRIES!!!!!!! and my favorite kind of food……….. Apple Pie!!!!!!!!!!!! and I ate and listened and this is what I heard.

(Fairy Story) De Luain, De Mairt, De Ceadaoin [pronounced Day Lu, Day Mart, Day Kayde]:  One day there was a man named John. John had a hump on his back. He was a very kind and loving man, nobody thought that though because he was very poor. One day he was walking back from work when he noticed what day it was, Halloween. “Oh no” He thought. “I should not be out at night, I better get home so that the fairies don’t get me. He decided to go through a field and at the end of the field was his house. So he started walking that way. He was half-way through the field when he heard the words “De Luain, De Mairt – De Luain, De Mairt – De Luain, De Mairt – De Luain, De Mairt – De Luain, De Mairt”. “Oh no” John thought, that was the song that the fairy’s must sing, then he remembered that he had to walk straight through the fairy’s territory and he started to panic. Then he thought, “I should go through but be very quiet and maybe they won’t notice me and I can go home.” So he started walking and then he saw it, the fairy circle and he knew what would happen if he got to close, he would fly up to the top without them noticing. So he started to go around the fairy circle when he heard the song again, and again, and again, and then he was floating in the air above the fairies and he just listened and suddenly he felt like the song was missing something. He opened his mouth and sang, “De Luain, De Mairt – De Luain, De Mairt – De Luain, De Mairt, De Ceadaoin”. “Uh Oh” John thought as all of the fairies stopped singing and looked up at him. The fairy king looked up and said “Come Down here” John felt the force pulling him down “I’m sorry, I’m sorry”, he whispered . Then, he was on the ground and all of the fairies were staring at him. (These are big mean fairies, not Disney fairies like tinker bell) “What did you say” The fairy king asked John. John looked up and repeated “De Luain, De Mairt – De Luain, De Mairt – De Luain, De Mairt, De Ceadaoin”. “This man is a genius” The king yelled. I have been so bored singing the same thing over, and over, and over again.” “You will be rewarded!” The king said. The king fairy looked over at John and said “Okay I will take off that big hump you have on your back and I will give you a dragon skin jacket, sewn together by strings of fine gold.” John looked up at the fairies as they danced around him and then he felt light and the king fairy said “Now, stand up” John stood up and to his surprise he stood up straight! He looked at his back and saw no hump. Then he felt something heavy on his shoulders and he looked and there was a dragon skin jacket, sewn together with fine gold. He thanked the fairies and they thanked him back. He went home and when he got there every body welcomed him like he was a visitor, since he looked so different without the hump on his back. One man named Sam loved riches and he saw that John had got such riches so he decided to go down to the fairy fort and add more on to the song. So he went down and got pulled up into the force just like John had and started singing. He was making up random words that didn’t match and so the fairies pulled him down and said “What did you say?” Sam repeated the random words that did not rhyme and the king said “You heard about John and you are here to collect your fortune, aren’t you ?” “Yes” Said Sam. “Well” said the king “You disrespected our singing, so I am going to put Johns old hump on your back.” Sam felt something heavy on his back and he looked and there was a hump on his back. He went back to the village and lost all his riches and food and became a beggar on the side of the road.

Extra Dessert:  I loved the story and then the story-teller brought out a chocolate cake and every one sang me happy B-day that was in the room. I ate tiny bits of the cake (I don’t like chocolate) and then they cleared the dishes and we stood up to go.

Presents:  When we got back to the apartment I opened presents, my mom and dad got me a necklace from Scotland that had my name on it, (It broke in my first ten seconds of owning it) And my grandparents had got me that stuffed animal bear. My grandma Chapin gave me a singing E-mail and my brother got me a card (Which my mom bought and that he forgot to give to me and so I got it two weeks after my B-day)

End Of The Day:  I had one of the most…… (not best….. not worst…… not most exciting….) ………… hmmmmmmmmmmmmm Oh! Most interesting Birthday in the world, that is the word. Any way it was an amazing B-day and probably one that I will never forget! 😀 🙂 🙂 🙂