Trip to Inverness Day 2

Our second day in Inverness started with a boat trip on the Loch Ness and then a drop off at Urquhart Castle for an hour. I wanted to be first in line so we could get a great seat to see the Loch Ness Monster just in case he decided to appear that day. We got an amazing seat at the top of the boat but the crew did not warn us that on moderately wavy days the top of the boat is like a log ride at an amusement park. The first splash just sprinkled us a little and then it was like we were in a monsoon. We grab Lucy and take off for the bottom of the boat almost falling in the process down the stairs but we made it down safely but completely soaked. And I mean soaked! Poor Lucy was traumatized by her first boat ride and held on to me the whole time and anytime the boat rocked too much she would just moan. She did not enjoy the boat ride to the castle. We thought for sure she would never want to get on a boat again. We arrived at Urquhart Castle which offered some of the most amazing views I have ever seen. You can see for yourself in the slide show.The earliest history of the castle may begin in the time of St. Columba in the 6th century. Of course like many of the other castles in Scotland it was burned down so now it is in ruins. After we walked through the ruins we headed back to the dock to get on the boat. We were certain Lucy would throw a fit about getting on the boat again but she ended up loving the boat ride back and loved looking out the back window. After our wet boat ride we went back to the city center of Inverness to take a look at some of the cathedrals, the Victorian Market and Leakey's secondhand bookshop. Inverness is a very small town but has some great sites to see. On our way back to the apartment to settle in for the night we passed Heroes for Sale which is where Zac had the highlight of his vacation. There was a life size Hans Solo frozen in carbonite. He was so excited about this and actually wanted to buy it and have it shipped back. Clifton called and found out it wasn't for sale. Zac was still extremely excited that he was able to see it. When we got home I gave Jamie a pedicure because she had walked so much and she needed one. Lucy was amazed by what was going on and kept putting up her foot to get the same thing done to her and then she wanted to do it to Jamie or I. It was pretty funny! After we put Lucy to bed we hung out on our balcony and there was a Seagull near us and Jamie thought it would be a genius idea to feed it some bread so that his friends would come. Well I told her the Scottish seagulls are not friendly and extremely scary. She soon believed me. Another seagull came to join the party and so now we had two seagulls begging for bread. We decided to go in and they literally stalked us at the doors and windows for the remainder of the night. They had there heads right up by the door just staring in waiting for more bread. Jamie learned her lesson about the seagulls. Don't mess with Scottish seagulls ever! They are crazy. We then went to bed after a very eventful day but we still had another one left.

Trip to Inverness Day 1

I am breaking up our trip to Inverness into three different blog entries because we did so much in 3 days and there are so many pictures. So first of all my friend Amber told me that there are so many great things to see on the way to and from Inverness so Clifton and I decided to make this an awesome road trip. On Friday, we took off by 10AM and our first stop was Glenfiddich distillery in Dufftown. Clifton and I have been there before but we agreed it is a great distillery to see and it is a free tour with three drams of whiskey to taste at the end. I was a wonderful sister and aunt and volunteered to watch Lucy while Jamie, Zac and Clifton went through the tour since I had already done it. So Lucy and I had coffee, milk and a scone at the Coffee shop. I didn't think Lucy needed to go on a whiskey tour quite yet so we enjoyed coloring and eating our scones. After the tour I set up a picnic for us all to enjoy the beautiful day. Clifton thought I was a big dork by wanting to do this but we all ended up having a great lunch and afterwards he said I was right by wanting to have a picnic because it was a beautiful day. I just said "Hello I am always right." He is learning. But I will say he wouldn't let me bring my proper picnic basket because it was too big and I was so upset because I couldn't wait to use it, and it was packed and ready to go and he said no we have to put it in a different bag. Even without my proper picnic basket it was still a great picnic. Afterwards, we headed to a strawberry farm to pick strawberries and raspberries. You just got a little tin and headed out to the strawberry farms and picked away. It was great fun. Jamie was on a mission to find the biggest strawberries so she took off on her own and started running back towards us with two handfuls of huge strawberries. She was so proud of herself. Jamie and I were over picking strawberries and wanted to move on to picking blueberries which they didn't even have on this farm but in the process of looking for the blueberries we came across the best playground we have ever seen. It had adult size four wheel bikes, trampoline built into the ground, and a big slide. By the way, Lucy wasn't even with us when we started to play. We had so much fun and then Zac, Clifton and Lucy found us acting like children and Lucy and Clifton joined in. Zac got very serious about raspberry picking and took off to find the best ones. We had so much fun at this farm and then it started to rain so we decided to get to Inverness. On the way to Inverness the roads are very windy and can cause you to become very car sick. I have had issues with this before so I warned Jamie and Zac about it. Sure enough when we were in the city of Inverness and five minutes from our apartment Lucy lost her lunch all over the car and ruined all of the raspberries that Clifton and Zac spent so much time picking. Poor thing didn't have anything left in her stomach but within 10 minutes she was fine and ready to play. We decided since we had had such a big day that we would just hang out at the apartment that night and eat dinner so Clifton and I went and bought groceries and came back and prepared dinner. Our apartment was incredible. We had a massive balcony (bigger than the apartment) that overlooked the river Ness. Too bad it was ridiculously windy because we couldn't really enjoy it the first night. Our first day to our Inverness vacation was definitely a success and we were ready for the next day.

Lucy and Brown European Vacation

As I said in my previous posts Jamie and Zac let Clifton and I watch Lucy for five days while they went to London and Paris. Lucy really had fun with Clifton and I and her favorite spot during the 5 days at our house was the window. We have a beautiful bay window that looks out onto a busy street with tons of cars passing and people walking by. So one day she pulled the chair up and put a pillow and a blanket and just laid there while watching a movie and looking outside. When she didn't make a bed there she would just pull herself up onto the window seal and stare out. She loved Clifton to sit there and count cars with her and smell the flowers.

I have also included some of Jamie and Zac's pictures to London and Paris. They had a great time and were very exhausted when they got back from all the walking and sightseeing. Jamie's favorite part of the vacation was Harrod's department store in London. She fell in love with the store. Out of all the things to love in London my sister chose a department store. So typical!! :) Zac really enjoyed a lot of things and you can tell if you look at the memory cards from his camera. He took over a 1000 pictures in 5 days. Jamie said she was having to dodge pictures the entire vacation as Zac was trying to get shots over her head. You would think that they would be ready to just chill for a day when they arrived back in Aberdeen but no Jamie and Zac decided they wanted to go to Edinburgh for the day. So the next day Clifton took them to the airpot by 730 and they were on the train headed to Edinburgh to do more sightseeing. They came back that night by 9 and had a great time.

Hazelhead Park with Lucy and Amber

Today I took Lucy over to my friend Amber's house and then we walked to Hazelhead park. Hazelhead park has a pet corner with all kinds of animals to look at. They also have a great playground and a cafe. Lucy had so much fun in the pet corner and swinging at the playground. Lucy may not have gotten to go to London and Paris but she is definitely getting a little vacation of her own with me!

My Sister's Family Visit So Far

My sister, Zac and Lucy have come to see us in Scotland this last week and we still have a week to go. Clifton and I are getting lots of parenting experience because we decided to take care of Lucy for 5 days while Jamie and Zac go to London and Paris. But before Jamie and Zac went to London we got to show them around the Aberdeen area a little bit. The first day I took them to Glamis and Dunnotar castle. Lucy wasn't to sure about Dunnotar because they are ruins on a cliff and it looked a little scary to her but we all took turns carrying her. Then after Dunnotar we headed to Glamis Castle and I showed Lucy the highland cows and playground while Jamie and Zac took a tour around the castle. On Friday, I showed them around the city center of Aberdeen and some of our local conveniences. On Saturday, Jamie and Zac set off on their European vacation and Clifton and I's adventures with Lucy started. We took her to the playground across the street from our house, blockbuster and Duthie Park. She had a very eventful day and fell absolutely in love with Clifton. She really only wants me for changing diapers, food, drinks, and putting her to bed. So in other words all the work and Clifton gets all the lovin and playing. Though I must say she is pretty demanding of her Uncle. If he leaves the room she goes to get him and pulls him back in with his finger. She also loves to lean out the window with him and smell the flowers and count cars. On Sunday, we woke up to a beautiful Scotland day and decided it would be perfect to take Lucy to the beach. She loved it! She ran away as the tide came in and screamed with excitement and picked shells with her Uncle Clifton. Clifton buried her feet in the sand and then she would pop them out and giggle and that lasted for about 20 minutes. After a very dirty, wet, and fun day at the beach we decided to call it a day and go home to rest. So far we have had so much fun with her and she has been an excellent little toddler. No big fusses or crying for mommy and daddy. She asks about them a few times a day and we tell her they are at work and then she moves on to the next thing. I absolutely love having her here. Jamie and Zac will be back in Scotland in three days and then we all go to Inverness Scotland to see the loch ness monster. We can't wait.

By the way there are a ton of pictures of Lucy on this slide show for my mother's viewing pleasure!! :)

Prague August 2010

Clifton and I went to Prague in the Czech Republic this last weekend and had a great time. We heard a lot of great things about Prague from people here and our expectations of this vacation were definitely met. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and decided our first thing to mark off the check list was the Prague Castle. The Prague Castle was most likely founded in around 880. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the Prague Castle is the largest coherent castle complex in the world, with an area of almost 70,000 m². Clifton and I had quite the hike getting up to Prague Castle and it was semi-hot the first day we arrived so we had a pretty good workout. Our favorite thing within Prague Castle was St. Vitus Cathedral. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, this cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country.This was the most beautiful cathedral Clifton and I have seen to date. It reminded us a lot of Notre Dame in Paris. It was so gorgeous and we love the Gothic architecture. There were tombs of kings and emperors that lived in the 900's. After we went through the rest of the castle we decided since we were already so high up above the city of Prague we mine as well enjoy the view so we took a seat at a wine bistro and had some wine and cheese. It was a perfect start to the vacation and the views from this bistro were brilliant. After our little break we walked back down to Old Town Square. With its origins in the 12th century, the Old Town Square is the most significant square in the historical centre of Prague. There are tons of shops and restaurants to choose from. On our way back to the hotel we wanted to walk across the Charles bridge. The bridge is decorated by a continuous alley of 30 statues and statuaries, most of them baroque-style, erected around 1700. This bridge is a sight to see. It is very Gothic looking and has painters and artists lining the bridge ready to sell you their pieces. The statues are incredible and if you touch the St. John statue it is said you will get whatever you wish for, for the rest of your life. So as you can imagine their was a long line waiting to touch it and yes Clifton and I waited in that line to have a go at touching the statue. I will let you know if it works.

As we walked through the city there are stores selling Absinthe everywhere so Clifton had this urge to try some. Absinthe originated in Prague and is illegal in the United States because it contained a psychoactive neurotoxin called thujone. Don't worry there is no trace of psychoactive toxins in Absinthe anymore. Absinthe is just a very strong alcohol. Clifton and I are all about trying or experiencing what is native to the countries we visited but I think Clifton will forever regret having a drink of that Absinthe. His throat and chest burned for the remainder of the night and he couldn't get the taste out of his mouth. He said it was horrible and he had this horrible grimace for about an hour after having the drink. I am so glad I did not care about experiencing Absinthe in Prague. I must admit it was pretty funny to watch him try it.

The next day we went on a bus tour that drove us around the city to see all of the beautiful buildings and then we went to another square to have lunch. At lunch I had mussels and we had a nice french couple sitting next to us who did not speak English but they taught me something that day. I was eating my mussels with a fork out of the shell and this french guy leans over and smiles at me and takes an empty shell and then another shell and shows me that you use the empty shell to clamp the mussel and pull it out. Anyway Clifton and I laughed and smiled and said thank you and there was no more conversation. They were very friendly though and thought it was funny I was eating my mussels with a fork. It was a great learning experience and so much easier to eat those mussels with an empty shell. After lunch we headed over to the Jewish quarter. Its torrid history dates back to the 13th century, when the Jewish community in Prague were ordered to vacate their disparate homes and settle in one area. We went through the museum and a couple of the synagogues. The most interesting part of the Jewish quarter was the cemetery. The numbers of grave stones and numbers of people buried there are uncertain, because there are layers of tombs. However, it has been estimated that there are approximately 12,000 tombstones presently visible and there may be as many as 100,000 burials in all. They would bury some people 12 ft deep and the next 8 ft deep and so on. These tombstones are just piled on top of each other. The men are not allowed to walk through the cemetery with their heads uncovered so they lend out Kippah's for the men to wear as they walk through the cemetery. So that is why you will see a picture of Clifton with a Kippah on in the slide show. We then went to see the Orloj which is composed of three main components: the astronomical dial, representing the position of the Sun and Moon in the sky and displaying various astronomical details; "The Walk of the Apostles", a clockwork hourly show of figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures; and a calendar dial with medallions representing the months. We wanted to see the hourly show of figures of the Apostles so we sat down to eat dinner right in front of the clock. This clock is amazing but the show was actually pretty quick and disappointing. The show was over within 30 seconds. Clifton and I had walked around so much that we decided to pop in to one of the Thai massage places that were everywhere in Prague. We had a 30 minute foot massage and it was incredible. Clifton said his was painful because the lady kept jabbing him with a stick in the bottom of his feet. I loved it and if I had one of those places on every corner in Aberdeen I would spend too much money. Our last day in Prague we unfortunately didn't get to do that much because the weather was so horrible. It was pouring rain and we went out for a couple of hours and got soaked so we headed for the airport a little early. We absolutely loved Prague and had such a good one year anniversary celebration.

Tug of War

Here are two more video's of the Tug of War event at the Stonehaven Highland Games.