Need a day to chill-ax!

Princes Street Gardens in the sun! 

We have been having tons of fun here in bonnie Scotland. But M & I were both dragging a wee bit yesterday.

Therefore we decided we need a day to chill-lax. Which is really a day to recover, re-group and do stuff like laundry.

If we were home I would think nothing of this and do it. But for some reason being here puts a little pressure on me (self imposed I suppose) to do EVERYTHING, ALL THE TIME.

I need to just let that go. Being away from home for an extended period of time is weird. It is somewhere better a long vacation and just living life somewhere else. If we do everything all the time we will be exhausted and broke.

Throw in that kid is on summer vacation and I am taking a sabbatical from my own work and well the number of options we have is so great it is sometimes disorienting. I am going to shoot for somewhat rested and only close to broke.

Yesterday was my YES! day, and it went ok-ish, there was only moderate complaining from the peanut gallery.

We walked up to the Gardens (think Central Park) via different route than usual. On the way we discovered a fantastic little cafe in the middle of The Meadows (think Piedmont Park). I had a coffee there while M played. Then we walked on to the Gardens, which is about a mile and a half from our apartment. But yesterday I forgot to wear my fit bit so it's like the day never even happened!

Edinbugh Castle, June 10, 2015

M thought this was  a cute place to take a picture. She is standing in front of a small tower. But I could not get far away from it without standing in a very busy street. 

Why yes, that is the castle overlooking the playground. 

They have a hammock in the playground!

And a really old church the other direction. 

We bought an over priced lunch in the Garden and sat in the sun for a while.

We did some shopping. I figured the only day I could get M to co-operate and look for things for me was on my YES! Day and that was pretty much true. She was a wee bit whiney, but she pushed through. She was a pretty good helper and fashion consultant, but our tastes are different. She sees me differently than I see myself and I suppose I do the same to her. Fortunately we are learning to meet in the middle. I ended up buying three things we both loved.

We rode the bus home. 

We took the bus home b/c we were both feeling just a bit draggy and tired. All this running around can take more out of you than you realize. M wanted to go home and do "regular" stuff. Which apparently means playing dress up in my clothes.

I just want to be like Mama.

We do not have a TV here. But we do have internet. So M has been watching her favorite show "American Ninja Warrior" on You Tube and a few other things on Netflix. We have all been reading a lot. I am on my third book, which for me is pretty fast.

The weather is beautiful again today so I am hoping we at least get out to the park and do not spend our whole day in the apartment. But we need to do laundry and catch up on bills. That's the thing, just because we are away does not mean everything gets put on pause back at home. And laundry here is hard work, well compared to at home. More on this another day.

We feel like we are missing out on some summer-y things back home. But most of M's friends were busy or at camp all summer last summer, because most parents work. I feel lucky that I can spend summers with the kiddo but it is not like when I was a kid and all the neighborhood kids ran around in a pack all day during the summer.

So we hope you are remembering to rest and relax along with having tons of fun this summer.