Playtime

I do have Georgia's 7 month post coming. I am a bit behind. And Grandpa Wallace is here today, so blogging ain't gunna happen. So, here's a little something to hold you over until tomorrow. Enjoy!

Things British People Say (that just don't make sense)

Car Park - A park for cars? What do they do? Walk around and look at the scenery? Talk to each other?

Cotton Wool - Is it cotton? or wool? Which one? How can it be both?

Save me!!!

Between teething, dishes, laundry, and lots of rain,  I need a vacation...




22 days until California!

I should note that *most of the dishes are now done.

And I should also note that we will never live in a house without a dishwasher again.

Happy Birthday, Dave!!

My wonderful husband is turning 29 today!

He is a wonderful father, spending lots of time with the baby. He has changed more than his share of diapers and always has time to play with Georgia, feed, or bathe her. She just absolutely adores him, and it is great to see their relationship grow.

He is a great husband. I enjoy having him work from home (most of the time!). It is so great to get to see him all day long, and share our days together. 

He has been an encouragement and support, especially through my pregnancy and our move. The last year has certainly been trying, but I'm so blessed to have him by my side. 

I love you, happy birthday and I hope this next year is just as wonderful as the last.

Trip to California, Part 2

Earlier, I posted quite a few pictures from our trip in February to California. Some pictures I did not post were from Courtney's baby shower. Courtney is Dave's cousin and was in our small group back home. She just gave birth to her son, Sawyer and we have to wait another long month until we meet him! Gah!

Anyways, here are a few more pictures from the end of our trip in California.

Our good friend Julie. She was in the couples group that we were a part of. Man, Georgia is getting big!

Courtney is on the end - the obviously pregnant (and cute!) one. Heidi (second from right) just had a little boye! We will get to meet him in July ;-) Carrie is on the other end with their little boy, Wyatt. Georgia is going to have quite a few "boyfriends" when we move back to the States. 

The "family" Kate, me, Courtney, Gail and Kyan.

This is our good friend Lori and her daughter Carly. I got to observe in Lori's 2nd grade classroom when I was getting my teaching degree.

Another family friend, Babs. I also got to see her wonderful 1st grade classroom.

My loves - Julia and Cassy. They are representing the youth group at our church. I miss them!

Finally, here's the Wallace photo we took before we left.

Scotland Vacation, Pt. 3

We sadly left the Isle of Skye the next morning. We enjoyed the island lifestyle, but were on to bigger and better things.

It was a rainy drive, but still beautiful, driving through the Glencoe Valley.
We happened across the castle that was in Monty Python and did a quick stop there. I don't have any (good) pictures of it, but it was a really neat castle! Not touristy... just the ruins, explained by signs in  each room.

The next stop we made was at the Wallace National Monument in Stirling (just north of Edinburgh). It was actually built in in the 1800's... it seems like a fairly new, clean building!

The downside of it being an old building means that there was no elevator. So, Georgia and I climbed up a narrow spiral staircase just like this.
It was really neat to see some of the Wallace history and also the views from the top were amazing.

After the Monument, we headed to Stirling Castle. I don't have any pictures that are blog-worthy. I was getting lazy, what can I say?
We then drove to our hotel in Edinburgh, and did a quick walk around the city before bedtime.

The next morning we went to the museum (name?) in the city. It was a museum with lots of artifacts - very neat. Pictured above are some chess figures from a really old chess set. (maybe the oldest one ever found?) Can you tell I'm forgetting/getting lazy about this?

Here I am with Dolly. I'm in a grumpy mood. Georgia was refusing to eat, and then refusing to sleep. She finally fell asleep in the stroller (hence the blanket over the top) and slept like half an hour. Sigh.

They had a Formula 1 Test drive that Dave wanted to do. He got the 2nd highest score of the day! (granted it was 11 am)

After Georgia got a nice nap in (breathe a sigh of relief!) we went to explore more of the town. This is one of the cathedrals.

The Edinburgh Castle overlooking the city

 Georgia (and her teether)

 

 

The view of Edinburgh. Overall, a really neat city. Probably the oldest city I've ever been in.

Dave with Adam Smith, an economist.

The Scotland Parliament building. The buzz on the street is that Scotland might be trying to make themselves their own country. Anyhoo...

On our way back home, we did tour the Edinburgh Castle. It was super touristy. Like Disneyland. I was not a fan. But, this is a view from up on the castle, overlooking the city, to the north. The water is actually the ocean. Pretty cool.

Anyways, that is just a couple of my 1000+ photos I took. It was a really great trip - really the first "vacation" we've done as a family (not counting things with parents or our honeymoon). Hopefully this is just the first of several more trips. Any ideas for the next one????

Scotland Vacation, Part 2

The sign that can either represent "Elderly People" or "Disabled People"

We spent our third night in Fort Williams, which is a little town in the Highlands. It was big enough for McDonald's (which we had for breakfast! I was able to get a McMuffin - or whatever-it-is-called-here... unfortunately they don't have the McGriddle.... mmmm... cue Homer Simpson...) but not for a Starbucks (the nearest one was 100 miles away).

Castle Urquhart on the shore of Loch Ness

We left early in the morning after that healthy breakfast for a long day on the road. We had some distractions as we stopped at a little town we had seen on TV at the south end of Loch Ness. They have some lochs that run up the river. I hopped out to grab some snacks (Tomato Ketchup chips/crisps... yummy!) 

 Georgia and me at the castle, overlooking Loch Ness. It was beautiful! Please don't comment on Georgia's matching pants (trousers) and socks. Our big-foot is in need of some new socks...

We got back into the car (and Georgia promptly fell asleep) and we were off towards the Isle of Skye. We stopped once more, at another castle - Eilean Donan.

Honestly, all the castles are beginning to run together. It was beautiful though, on the edge of a loch - a couple of miles from the ocean.

This was just leaving the castle, the bridge to the Isle of Skye. 

I made it my personal mission to touch a sheep. Everytime we drove past one that was reasonably close, I made Dave stop the car and I tried to run and pet one. It didn't work, but we have lots of great pictures of my behind!

We spent our two nights in Portree, the largest city on Skye. It was a cute town, but not much to photograph. We left early in the morning to drive around the island.

There were phone booths all around the island - probably due to the fact that cell service wasn't very good.

On the northern-most point of the island. There was a castle ruins that we explored (on the very far right), and this was looking out from where the castle used to stand.

 There were more animals than people on the island. An example of a Scottish cow. They are very hairy. And taste yummy.

Fairy Glen is a magical place with these round hills (large ones on the left and small ones on the right) and lots and lots of sheep. The sheep like to chase humans. Seriously.

Aren't the hills crazy-looking? You ever see anything like that?

Remember earlier I mentioned my obsession with sheep? Well, this is where it ended. I climbed up to the top of one of these tall, steep hills and surprised this lamb. And it surprised me, too. I snapped this picture, and then it charged - baa-ing and head butting. I ran for my life, trying not to twist an ankle or drop my camera. Dave was in the car and had no clue where I was, and I was picturing myself being a lamb's lunch....
Needless to say I did make it to the car, and my little lamb followed me all the way. Dave said it was baa-ing and trying to head butt the car. New meaning to the song "Mary Had a Little Lamb".

We heard about a place called Coral Beach, so we made our way to the parking lot and set off on our walk. It ended up being a long walk - probably about an hour there and another hour back. But, this was the view (complete with cows on the beach) when we arrived.

Georgia was happy riding with daddy. After we did a bit of walking and enjoying the beach, she got hungry so I fed her on the beach. I have to say its the most random place I've ever done that - on a secluded white sand beach on an island in Scotland.

By the time we were done with our hike, it was early afternoon and we had about an hours drive back to the hotel. We only got to explore half the island (some other day!) but we had dinner plans and a tired baby (see how she fell asleep that night?!).

Next post: Edinburgh

Scotland Vacation, Pt. 1

A month or two ago, I mentioned that we had a vacation to France planned. That trip ended up being cancelled because Georgia didn't have a visa. She wouldn't have been allowed back into the UK if we had left. During that same week as our France vacation (and Dave's time off), there was an appointment up in Glasgow. We decided to take our vacation, but instead of going to France (and being denied access back into the UK) we would go to Scotland and get Georgia her visa. 

We loved it! Scotland is absolutely amazing. We flew into Glasgow and stayed at an amazing hotel right next to their Central Station. We had one "touristy" day in Glasgow and really liked it. A lot of people had suggested we skip it altogether, but I'm glad we didn't. In the travel books we got from the library, they gave a suggested walking tour that we did in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. It allowed us to see much of the city and get the lay of the land. 

Our walking tour ended at Glasgow Cathedral and Necropolis which was stunning. Glasgow Cathedral is pictured above, and Necropolis below. Necropolis is a giant hill next to the Cathedral and overlooking the city, which, has (according to Wikipedia) 50,000 graves and 3500 monuments. It was unlike any place I have ever been before.  

In the afternoon, we went to the City Chambers (their City Council) and did a tour of the building. They have the world's largest marble staircase. 

The second day in Glasgow, we had Georgia's visa appointment (which took forever!) and then we hit the road. It was a rainy day, but the drive was absolutely gorgeous. We were heading to Fort Williams, on the northwest part of Scotland - the Highlands. We stopped probably every 15 or 20 minutes to take pictures. Highlights of the day included getting stuck behind a herd of cows and seeing all the castle ruins. 

The weather was cloudy and rainy all day - but beautiful!

Inveraray Castle (impressive from the outside, not so much on the inside)

Some castle ruins (I forget which ones these were) we drove past

These were the cows/shepherds that went maybe 1/4 mile down the road. On an unrelated note, do you see the striped white line on the middle of the road? They have this whether its traffic going in both directions or just one. In the US, when there are cars going both ways, the stripes are yellow so people know what side to drive on. 

Another castle ruins we came across. 

Next, we went into the Glencoe valley. The mountain that's here - Ben Nevis is the highest one in the UK. 

So... that's enough pictures in one post. Next time: Loch Ness and the Isle of Skye!