We Love Bank Holidays!

As today is the last Monday in October it is a bank holiday, so we decided it was time for an outing to the National Aquatic Centre (NAC). The NAC was built when Dublin hosted the Special Olympics and needed a competition pool but it also contains Wild Waters which is the closest thing you get to a water park here. There are three slides:- the black hole, the green giant and the master blaster; as well as a surf ride, a lazy river, a jacuzzi pool,a pirate ship and a wave machine. Dillon decided to stay home and go cycling with his friends, so the cost for a family of four was €39 and you can stay for as long as you like which makes it pretty good value.

We arrived early as, from experience, we knew it was quieter and we would not need to queue for the slides. It was practically empty and after persuading Ben to try the slides we had great fun. Ben would only go on the green giant although he did try the black hole at the end but found it scary. Mollie, Joules and I loved the master blaster which involves sitting on a huge inflatable ring and whizzing down the slide whilst being spun around. Mind you I didn't enjoy the time I flipped off the ring backwards and landed on my shoulder! Joules also liked the black hole which was temporarily closed when I went to have a go. Although Mollie and I went down the green giant we found it hurt our backs when we lay down as we went over the joins in the slide. As Ben sat upright he didn't have this problem.

After three hours of fun we were feeling hungry so found a TGI Fridays to have lunch in. The smell of the burgers being cooked was delicious and just what we needed after three hours in a pool. Ben and Mollie ordered chicken fillets and chips, Joules a BBQ burger ultimate (ultimate means two burgers!) and I ordered a Jack Daniels melteroy burger. My burger was very good, I'm not a huge burger fan but this tasted like a burger should, hearty and meaty. The burger sat on a bed of iceberg lettuce and tomato with onion and gherkin (which I gave to Joules). On top of the burger was bacon and cheese topped of with a Jack Daniels sauce which was sweet and suited the burger. We all agreed the homemade chips were the best we'd had and all the food was finished very quickly! Ben and Mollie still had room for dessert and Ben opted for a bowl of chocolate and vanilla ice cream while Mollie chose worm and dirt pie which was vanilla ice cream with a chocolate fudge sauce and jelly worms (they'd run out of worms so she had jelly rings instead). Mollie said this was the best pudding ever comparable only to the cookies and cream dessert Dillon and Joules had in Tu Tu Tango on Sam's birthday in Florida.

All in all we had a very enjoyable Bank Holiday Monday.