Scotland

As you might or might not know. We are leaving Europe soon and will be heading back to the states to settle down. We have really enjoyed our stay here and England has been wonderful. Obviously, we have tried to take advantage of our stay here by seeing as much as possible. We have tried.

Even though we have tried, we still feel like there is so much more to see. We are following the time-honored tradition, then, of trying to fit in as much as humanly possible in the last few months before flying out. In the spirit of that, we crammed in a five day driving tour of Scotland. I have finally found a place where someone with red hair and pasty white skin can fit in. I felt at home. That does not mean that I understood everything that was said but our whole family could have easily passed for the natives.

Kris and I carefully planned our trip to maximize our time in the car and minimize time visiting monuments. Obviously, we didn't do that but it seemed like it at times. We did visit the Lake District, Hadrian's Wall (for you history people that was the northernmost boundary of the roman empire. 70 miles long and guarded by 20,000 troops. Parts of it were very impressive.), Edinburgh, and Loch Ness. We were able to see a cheap Braveheart impersonator, see a castle on Loch Ness (no we did not see the monster but we saw some very large waves), and the Caledonian Locks.

We finished with a boat ride. We wanted to ride the Harry Potter train but it was four hours long and thought the kids might get bored. So instead, we found a boat ride that takes us out to see wildlife and the third largest whirlpool. We knew it would be cold but not like this. We were well supplied with wet weather gear and our whole family looks like blue and yellow penguins. It was great but a little freezing. Except Katy somehow found a way to fall asleep during the part with the largest waves and choppiest weather. That was amazing. It reminded us of the time that our kids fell asleep and we spent an hour knocking directly on their window until one child woke up to let us in. When children are sleepy they can sleep in any situation.

We look happy in both before and after pictures. The after picture doesn't show that we sprinted into the nearest pub for warmth, hot chocolates and the ability to dry off. Of course Katy was happier because she was more rested.

Active Spring

We have been doing our very best to keep our children as busy as we can. Evan and Nick wanted to both do the exact same thing, or I guess I could say, that Evan wanted to do exactly what Nick was doing. Lizzy wanted nothing to do with what Nick and Evan were doing. All in all, it created for lots of driving all over the place and plenty of games all through the week.

Nick has been looking forward to this soccer season all year long. This has been shown to us with his asking repeatedly for new shoes and soccer jerseys. He has collected quite a few as you have probably seen from our past blogs. Nick had a great season and was the top scorer for the whole league. The only game that he did not score was that last one out of eight games. He had ten shots on goal and hit every car behind the goal, but not the goal itself. Evan just wants to play anything. He told me after one of his last soccer games that he wants to play in every sport ever. He might be successful, I tried as hard as I could to think of a strange sport to ask about. As you can see, Evan has some focus issues but had such a good time in every game.

Liz just wanted to try something different, so she took an indoor climbing class. It was strange to see her going up a 20-30 foot wall but she had a great time. The hand grips were done in a fun way. It was fun. Liz had a really good friend with her.

We also did some extra things since the weather changed from cold, wet and windy to warm, wet, and windy. The spring was beautiful here and it was time to get out. We saw a falconry exhibition. We tried to see if Katy could get picked up by the bird but were unsuccessful. Nick also had to play in a spring concert for band. We were all surprised that his band could play for an entire hour. A whole hour. The band was good for a... whole.... hour.

At the same spring concert, the kids had some fun, too. Bungee trampolines anyone? Here is a spiffy picture of Liz showing off her skills. This is her doing her mission impossible impersonation.