A Morning Outside

 We seem to be just basking in this wonderful weather.  This morning was too nice to not spend the whole morning outside.  I love how the dafodils are in full bloom, they make our neighborhood so colorful.

More Jumping

 Our neighbors were kind enough to share the trampoline with us and we coudln't pass up playing outdoors all morning with weather like this!  William is getting better, at first he'd just speed walk around the kids jumping (not sure of  his balance) but he's getting the idea of bending the knees. 

 School in the U.K. is a bit different than in the States.  Firstly when they are 3 years old they are given a few hours a week to attend play group (the govt. pays for it).  When they are 4 years old they go full day, to a preschool type "Reception" and then what they call "Year 1" is really our Kindergarten. 
I have a hard time imagining Ella spending a full day at a preschool type play group, especially when William enjoys her company and I feel I can give her a better one-on-one learning enviorment.   It was good for me to see Alisha teach her kids how to read by age 4, before they went to kindergarten.  It worked for Suz and so I'm excited to see how Ella will take to it all. 

Neighbor's Trampoine

The neighbor boys frequently knock on our door to see if the kids can play.  The trampoline has been the highlight of the afternoon!

Scottish Pride

I just had to repost my favorite picture of our Edinburgh trip.  This is Papa's favorite one too....the wee lad knows something good when he hears it!

We're Back

These pictures were taken the day we drove back from Scotland.  Casey met us on Base (we had to fuel up) and boy everyone was so happy to see him!  The next time we go to Bonnie Scotland, it's as a family!  Let's just hope everything in Africa settles down enough for him to take some time off.

Casey was helping the girls find some lady bugs.  To say Suz has an obsession to them is an understatement!

Scotland's Inner Soul

This is part of the view of the city, this is Duddingston Village where Bonnie Prince Charles lived.

The church right around the corner from where we stayed, the bell would wake us up in the middle of the morning. 

We had a picnic in the park before meeting up with Carol's family.  I heard the bagpipes from 2 city blocks away....he was awesome!  There's nothing like a piper that can really make your heart beat!  William was captivated by him, I love how he's just standing watching.

The castle is a big hike to get to, I think maybe because we had about 100 lbs. of kid and Annie's day pack, lunch and other things it seemed like we were moving so slowly.  It's the most enchanting castle I've been to.  Our cabbie asked when we go to the castle not to see it as just a historical building, but to think of it as "Scotland's inner soul".  That was beautiful!

William waiting to meet up with Carol and family.

Edinburgh Castle in all its glory.

Carol and Annie were staying with family (Carol's Mom is Scottish) and her Uncles came up for the trip (they are all from Glasgow).

The girls were chasing Carol around with their swords.  The swirly makes it a bit dramatic, wouldn't you say?

The rest of the day both girls carried the Scottish flags, they got a lot of smiles from the locals.  Aye, we have Scottish blood that runs thick thru our veins!

 William chasing the pigeons, that was entertaining to watch.

Saying goodbye to Annie was the hardest part of all.  Suz couldn't stop crying, what a blessing it was to spend time with her in Scotland!

So ends our Boonie journey to the motherland.  We are safely back in England, tucked away in our home, rejoined with Casey once again.  The best part of all.....seeing Aunt Annie.  Best part of all, coming home we drove straight thru from Edinburgh to Cambridgeshire, 5 hours flat, no stops or breaks!  I'm impressed, the kids were perfect in our "people mover".

Braving the Lowlands

This Edinburgh trip has been planned for nearly 6 months now.  We planned it around Annie's visit with Carol and her Scottish family.  They were to fly into Glasgow and we drive the 5 hours North to meet them in Edinburgh.  Somehow things started to heat up in Libya and all of Casey's shop is working around the clock to support the efforts.  That meant my little sister was still planning on meeting us in Edinburgh but now I had to trek it all on my own.  After going back and forth on train vs. car, I packed myself and the three little ones for our 4 day trip to Scotland.  Unfortunately the GPS thought I might want to see the scenic way and I was on the A1 for the first (stressless) three hours and the last three (on the A68) I was driving up and down the bonnie hills of the lowlands.  I could tell once we hit Scotland, the scenery completely changed (if I wasn't driving with white knuckles, I'd have posted a picture or two).  We passed Adrian's Wall, Mary Queen of Scot's home and many bonnie white sheep.  My van seemed to be the exact size of the double laned streets but we safely made it to Edinburgh!  Luckily we only stopped once (for stretching the legs) and an emergency potty break off the side of the road (we had a car porta potty, thankfully).
It didnt' seem right to be enjoying Scotland without Casey.  My third adventure to the motherland MUST include him, I'm sure of it!

We found this home off VBRO (vacation by owner) website, it was right in the city center (about 10 city blogs down the hill from the Castle).  It was an old home (condo) with large windows.

Right now the kids are only interested in watching Veggie Tales.  Suz loves to color them too.

Just a close up.

Cumberland St., Edinburgh

 Look who we finally found!  Annie and I both decided to meet half way from Cumberland St. (where we stayed) to St. Andrew's Square (where the bus from Glasgow lets off).  We left early to surprise her, while she got off an earlier stop to meet us earlier.  Needless to say we were both wandering around the busy streets looking for one another for over 45 minutes!  Did I say the trek to St. Andrew's is 7 city blocks, ALL UP HILL!  On the way back down as I turned to look at the phone booth, I saw Annie inside of it trying to call my number.  Oh, it was nice to see her!  (By the way, we'll have to send our pay as you go phones to the next family member flying out here, it would make it a lot easier for pick up!)

 The girls just wanted to color with Annie.  They were really excited when she came bearing new coloring books and bunnies!

 Can you believe this traffic cop?  He's out multiple times a day, if you get a ticket they take a digital picture of your car, license plate and stickers.  Parking was for only 4 hours at a time on off peak time, so Casey actually helped me find some parking 2 blocks away (so I wouldn't have to feed the meter in the middle of the night).

 This is what he found, the Scotland Howard Hotel (the cabby told me it costs $700 a night per head, it was the most expensive hotel in the city!  Luckily they had pity on me and only charged me what the park and ride would have (but that would have been a 20 min. walk away).  When the "butler" came out, he asked i that was my "people mover".  I had to laugh, I guess it looks just humongous to the European eye!

 I thought our condo entrance looked a bit like Alice in Wonderland!