Oh a travelin we will go....

This morning it was cool and dreary and damp. But we had planned to take a cab up to the castle and go for a tour so that is what we did.

We saw the Scottish Crown Jewels and some other castle-y stuff. But M pretty quickly lost interest. It was part because it was wet and she was cold and part because sadly well the castle is just not all that interesting. I think that there are other castles that are more fun to tour and we will hit some of those up in July.

So M and I headed to the castle cafe for a little pick me up. She enjoyed her muffin and the view from the cafe was really nice so was not such a bad stop.

When it finally stopped raining I got my good camera out to take some pictures, only to discover that the battery was dead!! URGH! So I essentially carried around a useless heavy brick all day. So travel tip - carry a spare battery or at least remember to charge the one you have.

 We saw this wee little truck up by the cafe and it made us laugh so we had to take a pic.

We headed out to the royal mile. M suckered me into buying her a kilt. She did look super cute in it! But she may have to be Scottish for Halloween since it was a wee bit pricey.

Our destination was lunch, and we knew we wanted to have lunch at Greyfriar's Bobby. Yes it is a little touristy but it is cozy and they really do have tasty food. 

Outside the resturant

Inside the restaurant

Another fun thing today is that it is Grandma's Birthday! Hope you had a great day! 

We bought her a wee cake at Choco-Latte, was yummy! 

Tomorrow me, Marion & the Grandparents are heading to London and later on to Paris. Don't be worried if you don't hear from me for a while. I am not lugging my heavy computer around with me. I am going to enjoy the sights and spending time with my peeps. A vacation from my vacation, if you will. 

But you forgot the Monkey Puzzle!

Eric read my last post and all he had to say was, "I cannot believe that you did not put in anything about the Monkey Puzzle".

Close up of a Monkey Puzzle tree

Eric, Chrissy, Some random people and the Monkey Puzzle tree

So just for Eric there is the Monkey Puzzle.

Yesterday there was much anticipation. The Grandparents were coming to visit from Chicago. Their flight was delayed in Chicago and they were not sure when they were going to get here. We finally got word that they were in the Edinburgh airport. M was excited to greet them. 

Then they finally arrived! 

M showing G'ma & G'pa all the pictures she's been taking

Last night we went out for dinner and popped by the playground for a bit. This morning we took G'ma & G'pa for a walk through the Meadows and up to the National Museum of Scotland. Today it was very sunny and warm up on the roof top deck.

The Queens of the Weeks Clan

Marion showed G'ma one of her favorite shops, Joe. Then we popped down to Mum's for a wee bit of lunch. G'pa and I decided to sample some local beers. The Veg. Haggis with neeps & tatties was delicious. Mum's has great vegetarian and vegan lunch options, they are very friendly and it really is a lovely place for lunch. They do breakfast too.

We have had a leisurely afternoon of hanging out at the Pavillon Cafe and then another visit to the playground. Since we are hanging out at the apartment for a bit I thought it might be a good time to show you some of our place here in Edinburgh.

This is our washing machine. Which yes is a luxury, but you can wash about 4 of Eric's shirts at a time. So basically we have a load of laundry going sort of all the time. 

The dishwasher and the washing machine are the same size and are both located in our kitchen. 

I am super grateful for the dishwasher. Yes I am spoiled and American and used to not having to wash all the dishes. 

This is one of our drying racks. 

This is another one. 

So you lower down the rack from the ceiling and load it up. 

And then you pull it up to the ceiling so that it is mostly out of the way while everything dries. 

I hate to admit that in some ways I miss having a car. But it is really only because it would make grocery shopping and trips into the country easier. Totally not essential, but it would be easier. 

Hope you are exploring something fun! 

Father's Day Weekend

Waiting to be able to go back in and get our trolly full of groceries

Friday night we had a bit of an adventure. We took the bus to the BIG Sainsbury's at Cameron Toll. Which is sort of an old sad shopping Mall.

We had fun shopping for stuff and groceries. When we were about half way done and in the soap isle, this alarm started going off and we thought nothing of it until, an employee came and ushered us out of the store along with all the other customers.

We ended up sitting outside for about 20 minutes, then we got back in found, our trolly (cart) and finished shopping. We bought so much stuff that we had to take a taxi home.

Saturday - the weather was iffy. But we decided to tough it out and go wandering about the city. We ended up taking daddy to see the roof terrace of the museum.

It was actually warm enough that for about half an hour I was wearing just a t-shirt!

However I ended up putting my sweater back on for the rest of the day. But I never pulled out my back up jacket which was in my bag, so I would call it a good weather day. 

We decided we were hungry. Eric got to pick where we were having lunch so we headed to Pizza Express. Which is a UK chain sort of like Mellow Mushroom. It was pretty yummy and they have a great kids menu. They also give kids a paper hat, M added the bow. 

We knew we wanted to head to Prices Street. But to head uptown here, you have to go down first.

It is very hilly and steep to go the short cuts. You can take the bridges and get places without all the stairs but it takes longer and there is more traffic, that's the way the cars have to go. There is so much more to find and explore if you go on foot.  

M got to do one of those bungie jumpy things up at Princes Street. She had a great time. We spent the rest of Saturday in the Princes Street Gardens as well as shopping and wandering. And we took the long way home again. I am at the top of my fit bit friends list, Saturday I did over 20,000 steps.

Saturday night we had a babysitter again. And E & I went out for Malaysian food, and to see the movie "Mr. Holmes" which was another spin on Sherlock Holmes. It was a great story but the movies was a wee bit slow. It was nice that even though we got out of the movie at 10:30 it was still light out for our walk home.

Sunday June 21, Summer Solstice! I feel like we should have had a Solstice party or something. Technically sunset is at 10:02 and the sun comes up again at 3:24.

But check out this fun chart about sunset and rise and how long twilight is, for twilight hours in Edinburgh it just says "the rest of the night" which means it does not really truly get dark. http://www.timeanddate.com/sun/uk/edinburgh.

We had a fun brunch at Hemma. I like the way they deal with reservations here in Edinburgh. They call it a booking. And if you book a table it is yours for the afternoon or evening or whatever. IF they are the type of restaurant that turns over tables they will tell you up front what time they expect the table to be free and it usually two hours or more. This is NOT how they do it in the US.

Next we walked past the Parliament Building and up the Royal Mile to catch the No. 8 bus out to the Royal Botanic Gardens. They were having "Cake Fest", so we wanted to check it out.  Traffic was terrible over in new town for some reason but we got there.

The City in Cake!

The city from the Gardens

M got to make a fondant car to go on the streets of Edinburgh. 

Those leaves are HUGE!

I am glad I brought my real camera with us to the garden. M spent a lot of time taking pictures. We talked a lot about composition and how to fill the frame nicely.


After we got home and looked at the pictures I realized we should have also talked about focus and lighting a little more but it is a lot to learn. And she is improving. Below are some of her better shots.

Photo Credit: M Weeks

Photo Credit: M Weeks

Photo Credit: M Weeks

Photo Credit: M Weeks

It was a nice day out. It was warm enough to not be thinking about being cold and the sun was out the whole day. M took off both her sweater and jacket at one point, but ended up with the jacket back on later. I hope Eric enjoyed his gifts and his day out, I know we enjoyed our time with him!!

Loosing track of my days.

At one point this morning I had absolutely no idea what day it was. This is good and bad. But I pulled it together, it is Thursday June 18!

Yesterday we went to the playground on our way out for the day. It was COLD and RAINING but kid insisted. I hate to say I am ok with the fact that she fell off some of the equipment and was unhappy. Now she knows that cold wet playgrounds are sort of sucky. This was one go before she fell off.

Then we walked up to the Royal Mile and went on a tour of "The Real Mary King's Close". We had a great time.  I have done the tour before but it is still amazing. I really cannot imagine what life would have been like in Edinburgh 200 years ago. Let's just say "poo-ey" could sum it up. The close system is fascinating. Not sure there is any other city in the world quite like it.

We have been doing some shopping since we have been here. And M has had her eye on this purse since day two.

I finally caved and got it for her. But now she has to carry her own snacks and stuff so it really is a bit of a win for me. It is a real grown up purse so let's hope she does not loose it. (M wanted me to add that she says she won't)

While we were in a pub eating a wee bit of lunch, it quit raining! And the sun came out! So we wandered home the long way. Don't tell M it is the long way, she just thinks it's the cool way.

When we were heading out this morning we got a visit from this wee cat. She was hanging around in the entry of our apartment building. Probably came in because someone left the door to the back garden open.

Once we got past the cat and out the door, this morning started much like yesterday morning.  Fortunately there was no rain today, which made it a wee bit warmer. But not much.  

We had some lunch and then were walking into town. I decided we should pop into the library to see what it was like. 

It was lovely. The people there were super friendly. We got library cards. And Marion checked out 4 books. This will save us some money but will also save us lugging a whole suitcase full of books home with us. And we are now on the waiting list for a fun author event tomorrow. Fingers crossed we will get tickets. Then we did some shopping and I bought a new wool sweater because I am tired of freezing.

We were starting to get a bit draggy so we decided to head to M&S for an afternoon pick me up.

We also shopped in the food hall for some groceries and some goodies for Daddy for Father's Day. Shhh don't tell him.

Surprisingly refreshing, and fun to try something new. 

Since we had heavy bags we took the bus home. Once again the view from the top of the bus proves to be some of the best views in the city.  

Bus 41, a very scenic and lovely route. 

Hope you are having a happy Thursday!

Insects & Great Views

M & I have a new tactic for deciding what to do when we have a whole day before us. We wrote down all the things we possibly want to do on slips of paper. We made two piles, one is for good weather days (outdoor fun) and the other is for not so good weather days (indoor).

Monday M drew out Butterfly & Insect World. I was a wee bit skeptical but I went with it. We caught the NO. 3 bus and headed out in a new direction.

Hopped off the bus right in front of our destination. 

Funny hill had to be investigated.  

They have a nice playground out front! 

We have arrived!

Butterfly!

A butterfly and some ants! 

Marion in the hatching area. 

 A close up of butterflies emerging. 

We saw all sorts of insects and snakes, a few turtles and little birds. No pictures because well I was having fun and forgot. And I really don't need a picture of a snake. I hate snakes. I felt like there was something crawling on me the whole time we were there. M made fun of me of course. My official review is it is ok. If you like reptiles and insects you might enjoy it more than I did. But it is a bit over priced and gift shop is jam packed with stuff kids will ask you to buy. 

Insect world was right near this giant garden center. Dobbies Garden Center. It had, along with gardening stuff, a food hall (we would call it a boutique grocery), a restaurant, some clothes shops and shoes, and even toys. Anyway it was really fun to wander around in. I am not sure why? But we may have had more fun there than with the bugs and beasties. Well maybe that was just me. They had a nice concept for a kids lunch. They had a whole bunch of things to choose. You got to pick 5 and a juice and put them in this little box. The British are so trusting, in America they would have opened the box and counted. I had a salad plate, it was nice. And it poured rain while we were in here so nice to be somewhere comfortable and fun rather than out in the rain. 

Pom Bears was one of the 5 thing we got. Basically some sort of potato puff in the shape of a bear. 

Tuesday, we had a very slow start. I am not sure why. M just did not want to get going. She drew out of the indoors pile. We made plans to go to the museum and see a new section of it "after lunch". We finally made it out the door at 1:15. Then I desperately needed a coffee, so we made a pit stop on the way. 

And we finally mailed our postcards, if you want one email me your address! 

M did not believe me that we had not seen all of the museum. There is a roof terrace at the top of the museum where you can see all of Edinburgh. It was not the most clear day, but it was still pretty up there. 

Free Binoculars!

We live that direction.

She's cute even if she was making me crazy yesterday. 

Rooftop selfie! 

If she were queen she would want a fancier thrown than this. 

Funny chairs on the museum. 

Britain is sort of famous for it's junk food. So we stopped at the grocery store on the way to the playground b/c I needed a bit of a snack if I was going to have to spend more time at the playground. I had a couple of these dark chocolate rice cakes and some almonds. The rice cakes were tasty.

M has been reading books where the main character eats caramel wafers all the time. Now we know why, they are delicious. I only had a bite but man it was good.

 Saved these for after dinner. They were weird. And I think made my stomach ache. I did not sleep well between too much sugar and the window rattling because the wind was back.

Today we have tickets at 11:45 so we cannot be late we have to get out the door by 11. So far it has been going better and if I continue to be an organized grown up (not always my strength) it will be easier. 

Hope you are having some summer fun! 

HUGS