What a dummy mummy

After putting off the visit from the dummy fairy for way too long fearing she might have to return it to the original owner we finally had a visit from her last week. I was dreading it as Fin had held on to his dummy for more than a year longer than Mhairi or Joe ever got to and he was really attached to it. However, my fears were all for nothing as he moved on without it...he never even asked for it for about a week. The dummy fairy left a wee note along with a new Lightning McQueen and a Harry book telling him that his dummy would be given to a baby who needed it. All we need now is a visit from the I can sleep through the night...IN MY OWN BED fairy!

Flying Visit from Dodo & Tiff

Dodo and Tiff arrived on Friday afternoon after a long haul flight from America for a week long whistle stop tour of Scotland. They came straight up after getting off the plane so they could spend as much time as possible with the kids over the weekend. It was great to see them again and share many happy memories, past and present, and for them to meet the whole family. Unfortunately it didn't stop raining much the whole time they were here but they enjoyed themselves regardless.

Saturday morning Dave cooked pancakes before we took a wee tour of our village to show them where we live. In the afternoon we tried to get Tiff to keep up the family tradition of taking a dook in the ocean as a intiation into the family but she was having none of it, so Dodo took her place.

It looked freezing but the boys said it was warmer than they expected...We took their word for it! Saturday evening I asked for volunteers to help in Primary as my two cousellers were both away and I was alone in Primary. Tiff volunteered to teach Joe and Dodo took Fin into nursery, I loved having lots of my family at church with me.

Sunday we headed to church and took Tiff sightseeing afterwards. We stopped off at Clava Cairns, Culloden, Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle before heading home for dinner. It was great to see them and we appreciated them sacrificing their time and money to visit us in Scotland. We just wish they lived closer so we could see them more often.

Findhorn with friends

Rachel and her three girls (Eilidh 8, Tasha 6 and Tamsin 3) invited us to go with them to their holiday home in Findhorn for the long weekend. Dave was taking youth to a church convention in Paisley which involved an overnight stay and Gavin, Rachel's husband, was overseas on business and she was going to be home alone too.

We met up on Saturday and stayed for a couple of nights, we were all really excited to go on an adventure together. I had spent a number of years in Forres (5 miles away) when I was younger but don't recall ever having been to Findhorn before. We arrived about 3 o'clock and unloaded the car, I had packed enough food to last a week...Rachel had gone minimalist! The kids had a great time exploring before we took them on a walk round the village and the beach.

They were all pleading for ice cream but we managed to palm them off until we needed something to go with the delicious pumpkin pie Rachel had made for dessert that night. Rachel produced a yummy meal that night. The kids settled down reasonably quickly and Rachel and I were able to have some girly chats before hitting the sack ourselves.

The following morning we went to the Findhorn Foundation , an ecovillage, to look at all the environmentally friendly houses that had been built there.

The kids had a great play at the park and we went home via Gavins old family home to see what work had been done since being sold recently. The kids were so excited to show us all their family memories and walks.

After lunch we headed out armed with buckets and spades to the beach, unfortunately we hadn't packed a towel. Despite the cold the kids wanted to paddle which ended up being more of a swim!

We returned home, Rachel lit the fire while I finished off dinner. After dinner we kept the kids busy with some drawing & spiral art before watching a dvd they'd rented from the local shop. They were all exhausted and fell into bed without much fuss that night. Monday morning dawned and it was time to clean up and head home, we were all a bit sad about having to leave as we'd had such a great time but the kids managed to talk us into taking them out for lunch before heading North to Ullapool for school the following day.

Glider Grins

Joe and Mhairi got lucky when we stopped off at Portmoak Gliding School to watch the gliders and one of the club members let them have a wee seat in his pride and joy, which he was vigourously polishing; the kids thought they were going up in it but it wasn't to be.

Football Crazy, Football Mad

In week 2 of the holidays Joe had footie training in Ullapool every afternoon. It was run by our local professional team, Ross County, who play in Dingwall, 45 miles away. Dave's told him it's ok to support them and regularly reminds Joe he can support who he wants as long as it's not Rangers or Celtic! Last year Joe took part in a similar training programme with Celtic and at the end they were giving out scarves, water bottles and calendars (to brainwash them), Dave was thrilled when Joe marched up to him after he'd received his "goodies" and said at the top of his voice "Dad, it's all I love Celtic stuff...BUT I DON'T"! As you can see from the photo the two coaches, Davie and Tom, were more than happy to get their pictures taken, particularly Tom on the right.

Tattie Holidays

In week 1 we had a wee tour through the north of England with Auntie Grace, highlights of which were a quick trip across the causeway to Holy Island before the tide came in, a swordfighting contest at Alnwick Castle (Millie fluked it), a trot along Hadrian's Wall in the dark, a photo opp at our own wee toon,

- The Royal Family -

- Mhairi's treehouse -

- Oor Toon -

a whirl round Durham cathedral, a tour of York (National Railway Museum was Finlay's fave), an afternoon at Eureka! in Halifax, a day at the temple in Preston, and seven hours of white knuckling at Blackpool.

- Joe's castle -

We stayed a couple of nights in youth hostels (a bit of a disaster as Finlay wouldn't settle for excitement), a couple of nights at the temple with Grandma and Grandad, and a night at Auntie Bessie and Uncle Peter's, which was nice because we got to know Richard and Carol and their kids, Will and Thomas, who are some distant number of cousin.

On the way home we stopped in Edinburgh to take the kids to the theatre for a show called "One Small Step", then had a night at Granny's and a night at Grandma's, which just left enough time for me to get scalped and Christine to get fleeced buying Mhairi a new pair of boots for school (the cause of some minutes of contention, of which I had repented till I saw the toes worn right through after less than a week of school).

- Fin's behaviour scheme -

Some more pictures

- Ullapool Hill -

- Cairngorm Mountain Railway -

Here's a few pictures of some things we've been doing over the last few weeks. We took the boys up Ullapool Hill when Mhairi was at Brownies, we all went to Cairngorm Mountain Railway and tied that in with a bike ride one weekend, took the boys rock climbing at Rhue and went for a walk to Rogie Falls on the way home from church.

- Rhue Lighthouse -

- Rogie Falls -

When we're helping we're happy

Dave decided he would help me out by doing a wee bit of ironing, and Fin thought this seemed like a better option than going to bed so went off to get his wee ironing board, iron and his shirt too. It's a bonding moment that I'm glad i caught on camera. I love my boys.

Jury Service

I recently received a letter which most people dread coming through the door. A jury citation for Inverness High Court. My first reaction was to think of all the reasons I couldn't go like I have no childcare, what if the accused comes to get me on the way home, etc. Then I started telling some friends about it and they would say things like "you should be excused because of childcare issues", "I don't know why they keep asking mums with young children to go, it's just not fair" and so I started feeling justified calling to say I couldn't find anyone to look after the children for me. However, Dave kept telling me I would probably enjoy it if I just got organised enough to get there and my conscience was telling me that I needed to exhaust all childcare possibilites before excusing myself. I reluctantly called another childminder who had space for Fin and visited her that week to make sure everything was ok. I attended for a couple of days before being released from Jury service by default, fortunately number 51 wasn't picked. I wouldn't exactly say I enjoyed it but felt i did my duty as a citizen of the country.

Harvest Time

When we moved to Ullapool we weren't very experienced in gardening (and we're still learning every day). We knew we had a wee apple tree but it never produced anything more than blossom which the birds seemed to really like and before we had much opportunity to enjoy it the birds had pecked it off. Last year we tried harder to protect it from the birds and the apple tree actualy produced a couple of apples which the birds, in retaliation, got to before us! This year there was a larger harvest than any other year. We are so proud of our little fruit tree so wanted to share our excitement with you. Unfortunately there are not enough apples to do much with but it is so rewarding being able to go out into the garden and pick an apple off of our own tree and eat it.

We have two more apple trees which don't appear to have grown since planting them three years ago and we have a two year old pear tree which hasn't produced any fruit either but we are thankful for the wee apple tree in our life!

It's a knockout

Dave and some friends took part in a It's a Knockout competition where teams of four compete against one another in various events and the team with the most points at the end wins. The team captain (second from the right) has entered a team every year for four years and takes it all quite seriously. My friend, on the right, was asked if she would take part and agreed after being told "it's only a few games with water". Little did she know what was really involved!

This is a picture of Rachel and Dave during the "water games"! Note Dave costume he was meant to be a school teacher attacked by one of his pupils with a pen, which is sticking out of his chest.

The runners up after the event. Dave then spent the next five minutes mud sliding, unfortunately there's no video of it.

Schools back

The kids started back at school this week. Mhairi starting primary 4, Joe primary 2, and Finlay nursery for 2 1/2 hours every morning. We made it to school ten minutes before the bell the first morning but it didn't last very long once the novelty had worn off. Only eight weeks 'til the next two week break!

Home again, Home again, Jigety Jig

We headed for home on Wednesday after managing to catch up on a bit more sleep in a comfy bed before school starts again next week. Joe had a wee shot of Auntie Grace's fencing sword and requested his picture be taken before handing it back. On the way home we stopped off at Bruar Falls. Dave was upset to see the health and safety nazis were ruining a lovely wee spot.

They are putting in an ugly new metal fence a couple of metres back from the edge of the gorge, so people can't look down into the river any more. Earlier this year he started writing a book which features a scene there, so he was also annoyed that now he'll have to rewrite it to incorporate the new layout. And on top of all that, he was wishing he had his swimmies on for a quick dip once the sun came out.

It didn't stop the kids having a great wee paddle though, and I managed to squeeze a wee bit of shopping in before heading North.

Au revoir l'Ecosse, Bonjour la France

After two weeks of rain and more forecast we decided to head to the continent for some much needed sun. We stayed in a place called Challans, which is on the west coast about an hour north of La Rochelle, and it was a well made decision. The weather was minging the first morning but good for the rest of the time.

Lots of fun stuff to do, like the velorail below.

We only took a few day trips because the kids were happiest hanging out by the pool at the campsite which also had a couple of water slides. I was able to read a couple of books while they played round the pool with dad!

This was our best day trip, a great theme park called Puy du Fou with lots of shows featuring falconry, Viking longboats, the 3 musketeers, Joan of Arc, and a full scale Roman arena complete with gladiators, chariot racing and Christian-munching lions.

It was exhausting trying to keep track of Fin, who kept wandering off, but well worth the 3,000 mile round trip! The only downer was seeing lots of extended families on the campsite, which made us wish the cousins stayed closer so we could spend more time together.