Little Bo peep and me

This was one of my very treasured weekends off so naturally I had all the lie ins. Oh no wait I was very busy Saturday and then sleep deprived and even busier Sunday, oh well. My sister had asked me a few weeks back if I could take my nieces for a few hours over the weekend as they had an event on and then I heard like two million ads on Beat fm for an event on in Rathwood the same weekend it seemed like fate. Little Bo peep has lost her sheep and you have to help her find him. You go around on the Rathwood train stopping to feed geese and see baby lambs plus you get a free cupcake and cuddly lamb (well the kids do). It all sounded totally adorable and my nieces were all for it so I booked us in for Sunday and then went about my busy week.

Come Sunday morning when my alarm went off I did briefly regret my offer to go gallivanting with two young children as I had a pretty terrible nights sleep. Not because I was out making new friends and drinking water but because my other half was out a lot later drinking something a little bit stronger and managed to wake me more than once which is surely an impressive feat by all accounts. Anyway I am not a shoddy sister/babysitter so I dragged myself out of bed promising myself coffee and made it to Clonmel for just after 10 feeling vaguely human. I collected the girls and we set off on the really long journey from Clonmel to Tullow. I was really hoping this Rathwood place would be worth it because it felt like we had been driving a really long time before we got there. We arrived with plenty time to explore so that girls could eat something and explore before it was time to help Little Bo Peep. They were full of excitement and questions and I was full of coffee so I was feeling entirely more capable of answering these questions about what the train ride would be like. I mostly made up answers because I really didn't know. We stopped off at the chocolate garden where the girls played in the playground and then got Icecream and then we explored outside Rathwood seeing the fairy door and the big tower and then before we knew it was time to get the train.

My nieces are 7 and 9 so they are still quite small in my eyes but they were very worried about being much older than the others on the train. I was just excited about seeing baby lambs. Once we got going the girls soon forgot these nerves and got really into the whole thing. I must say that even as a very tired adult I found it was very well put together. We all get on the train and then Little Bo Peep arrives and explains to us she has lost her Sheep Seamus. Seamus (a man in a sheep costume ) is introduced before he runs away. We are told we must call his name and shout Baa if we spot him. Little Bo Peep jumps on the train and we head off in pursuit of Seamus. The woman who plays her is very good and animated, she has a microphone so the whole train can hear her and she chats away telling us what clues to look out for. The first one Seamus leaves is a basket of fluffy lambs and everyone in the first carriage gets one (there are two more baskets to be found later) We then pass the dear which has everyone awwwing including myself and soon after in the woods we have our first sighting of Seamus but he quickly gets away and we see him hop into a van up ahead. I don't blame him, I would not fancy running in the woods sheep costume or not.
Next stop is the Geese and just before we reach them Seamus is spotted again. He is only caught because his van has broken down but he joins the train and we all sing Blaa black sheep and mary had a little lamb. By now my nieces have totally forgotten to be shy and are very involved in all the singing and shouting. 
As we reach the geese they all come out of the water and climb onto a path and seem to be running with the train. Moments later the train comes to a stop and we are given bread to feed the geese. I realise then that these geese are getting bread four times a day in this exact spot so clearly they know exactly what that train signifies. We all laugh at the geese squawking and fighting for bread. I then tell my nieces about an encounter I had with geese years ago on a farm where they chased me and pinched my bum. Fortunately these ones are fenced in so me and my bum are safe. Little Bo Peep jumps off the train and takes off in Seamus the sheep's, now fixed, van and we head to our final stop to meet the baby lambs. This I think is my nieces favourite part and we spend a long time here. The girls actually get to lean and pet some of the lambs which I gather is a big deal. I can't say much because I got excited when I had my turn. 
Once we leave the lambs the girls play for a little while longer in the playground but its miserable and mucky so I persuade them that a trip to Kilkenny would be a good idea and we leave.

My phone battery was low so I decided not to use my maps and ended up driving the longest possible route to Kilkenny due to my horrific sense of direction but we got there in the end with the girls singing along with every pop song on the radio. As we arrive in Kilkenny I realise we have gotten there on a match day and get caught in all the traffic so I take them to hide out in Mcdonagh Junction until it dies down. I manage to buy a car charger for my phone, a most exciting purchase, as I only recently realised my new car is compatible and the girls get to play in the indoor foam playground before I feel its safe to get going again. I get them home to their parents just before 7 when we are all feeling very tired and while I was really glad we had our day out, I was even more glad when I finally got to go and lie down