As if Covid-19 wasn't enough of a hassle to be dealing with, weatherwise we've had a pretty dreadful summer on the west coast of Ireland. Lots of grey skies and wet days, with the occasional storm thrown in for good measure. That's fairly miserable under any circumstances, but even harder to deal with when you have young children to entertain. Luckily, now that things have opened up again after the initial lockdown, we've been able to visit some cool indoor venues -- albeit while socially distancing and taking other anti-virus measures.

First up are a couple of photos marking our return to Kids City, one of our favourite indoor play areas in Limerick. We were cautious going back -- soft play zones can be challenging at the best of times, when you have a very young child who loves having a bite of anything that she can get her hands on -- but it's been an enjoyable experience so far. The number of entrants has been severely limited, and a lot of people are staying away regardless, so it's been extremely quiet the few times we've been, meaning it's very easy to keep your distance from the other visitors. It also means there's hardly anybody around to frown and tut-tut when a couple of thrill-seeking parents take their 1 year old daughter on a huge wavy slide that she's clearly far too young to go on, but which she absolutely loved regardless!!! Just don't report us to the owners, please!! :-) We've also been to the fabulous Jump Lanes (which is attached to Kids City) a few times too since it reopened -- including a trip there yesterday morning for the Under 5's session at 10am -- and that's been a joy too.

Next up are two photos from a visit we paid to the National Reptile Zoo in Kilkenny, on our way home from our holiday in Carlow a few weeks ago. It's in a very unlikely location, in the middle of an industrial estate, but features a very impressive collection of snakes, lizards, etc. We'd highly recommend it if you're in the area and looking to kill an hour or two. One of our favourite little fellas was the Axolotl, which you can see in the final photo with Dante. They're incredibly cute, but also incredibly endangered, with very few now to be found living in the wild.