Author: jennv26

Sam: Our second day on Isle of Man, we went for breakfast at a place next door to our hotel called The Boathouse. The guy working there was very nice to us. We took a bus to a place called Castletown. It used to be the capital of Isle of Man. There a big castle called Castle Rushen. One of the first things we saw as we entered was a cannon. We walked up a drawbridge and through two portcullises. Then we walked into a room where there was an introduction to the castle tour. I did the 360° tablet, where I could see a complete view of each room. Charlotte: One of the funny things about the castle was when Sam was walking into a room, he freaked out. I asked him what it was, and then he said, “There’s a mannequin in there!” The mannequins looked real. I also think it was really cool that I could sit

read more The Castle, the Abbey, and the Falling Tree

So, as promised, in this post I’m going to detail our crazy scavenger hunt which took place the afternoon of July 20th. My grandma, Barbara Whyte, has long been our family’s historian. She has prepared detailed family trees for all sides of our family and has done further research to create really amazing booklets to share all that she has learned about the individuals therein. On the McCloy side (my great-grandpa Mac), we come from Northern Ireland. His father was born there and raised in a township called Aghadowey. My great-grandfather’s cousins, Sadie and Edna, were the last family members to live in the area as neither of them married or had children. My Mom and I were armed with the name of the town and an old black and white photo of the homestead from well over 100 years ago. Brad was skeptical, the kids were excited because they love a good adventure, and Mom and I were both

read more We’re Going on a McCloy Hunt (or I Can’t Believe We’re Doing This!)

Charlotte: We went on a ferry all night long and got to Isle of Man early in the morning. I had a bad sleep on the ferry. I had to sleep on two chairs pushed together. For a blanket I used Dad’s sweater. We stayed at the ferry port for awhile and ate some snacks from Costa. We had to wait until buses were working and our hotel was open. We finally left and went on a horse tram to our hotel and left our bags. We couldn’t check in to our rooms until 3 o’clock. It was only 9:30am. Sam:Next we took the horse tram again to get to the electric railway. We went to Laxey. It had a mini steam train that went through a mine. Then we visited the Great Laxey Water Wheel. It is the biggest waterwheel in the world. We climbed up to the very top and saw a great view and the mechanisms. Then

read more In Need of a (Manx) Cat Nap