Maddex and Mom Date Day

TLDR – Maddex took Mom on a date to GreyStones and Bray.

Maddex and I were talking at tuck-in Thursday night and he told me he would like to plan a date with just me. Having four kids it’s hard to get quality, one-on-one time with each of them, so when one specifically asks for time, I can’t say no.

He took some maps to bed with in and had a plan by morning.  He proudly stated “We’re going to Greystones. I found a playground and a beach, our favourite things.” He showed me the places on the map and we made a date for Saturday.

Saturday was supposed to be hot (18C) and clear. Of course, being Ireland, we woke up to overcast skies and light sprinkles, ugh. However, adventurers such as we are, a little rain isn’t going stop us. We bravely headed to the LUAS at 8:40am and began our journey. We rode the LUAS to Brides Glen (the end) and caught bus 84 south. After a 45 min ride, we arrived in Greystones, hoped off the bus, and scootered two mins downhill to South Beach Playground.

The playground is ginormous, slides, zipline, music area, sand pit…any child’s dream (not to mention child-like parent). We spent an hour there and then ventured to the beach where we dug holes, built rock towers, played frisbee, and ran barefoot in the sand. Of course, it started sprinkling again, so we packed everything up and headed off to Bray.

It took us awhile to figure out the bus, as the DART was an hour out, but we finally made it Bray. There are lots of little stores and thrift shops in the town, so I’m definitely marking this as a place for Mom to go back to.

The beach and boardwalk are a quick 2-minute scooter ride from the train station and was only slightly crowded for a weekend. With several little shops and places to eat, lots of ice cream and sweet stands, a nice boardwalk, and of course a large playground, Bray could quickly become my favourite ‘get out of town’ town.

First things first, we had to check out the playground. It wasn’t as large as the one in Greystones, but Maddex had fun. By now, though, we were hungry. Maddex told me he had €30 to pay for lunch, and he would like some fish and chips. We found a small little sit-in restaurant and ordered fish and chips (cod) for Maddex and I had a burger. The portions were huge, and someone tried to murder my burger.

After foods, we headed to the Star Leisure Center. I brought a small bag of loose change, so we played coin dozer, skee ball, and whack-a-mole. Maddex won over 200 tickets which he exchanged for a plastic slinky. He was happy with his prize and we had a lot of fun.

We saw a Flying Tiger as we came into Bray. I told Maddex he could spend the leftover money from lunch there. It’s a fun store with low priced toys and games. After finding some entertaining treasures, we were on the hunt for ice cream. We had hoped to find a little ice cream shop or stand, but ended up buying some from a convenience store in the train station. From there I figured out the best way to get home.

On the ride home, we talked about our trip and the highlights. Maddex liked the playground at Greystones the best followed by the arcade. I enjoyed the town of Bray.  Maddex decided we should bring the whole family to Bray and Greystones for a weekend.

Overall, we had a great day and spend some good quality time together. I hope he always wants to spend time with me and never loses his thirst for adventure.

Disclaimer: I wish I had taken more pictures, we took a lot of videos and made a short movie.