Attwood Family

Yep, all good things must come to an end.  Today was a sunny and windy last day with a more relaxed pace.  We spent the whole day at Loch Lomond.  Glenn drove us up the west side of the loch to Firkin Point.  We walked along beside the loch and watched the waves.  Then the girls went splashing along the shore.  That is when we discovered that they haveworn holes in the soles of their rainboots.  I am looking at it as less to pack.  It also meant unpacking in the middle of a parking lot in order to find the dry socks and shoes.  At least they had fun while getting wet (as opposed to getting wet falling in).  I have to say that the scenery was beautiful.  It left me greatly relaxed.

After lunch we went to the Loch Lomond aquarium and thenada centplayground.  The girls loved the aquarium.  Their favorite parts were the touch tables and the tunnel tank.   We managed to see a few feelings which made it all the more interesting.  It was topped off by long play stints at the park.It  didn’t rain until we were almost at the airport.

It has been a wonderful vacation but I miss bed home, more specifically my bed.  Up early tomorrow morning .  Night.

Isn’t it funny how two girls who area falling asleep in the car are now wide awake?  I am currently hiding in the bathroom waiting for them to fall asleep so that I can start packing.  You see tomorrow is our last full day in Scotland and we will spend the night at the airport so it all has to go somewhere but I don’t want to waste time tomorrow doing it.  Sigh!

okay, yesterday morning we went to Wallace’s monument in Stirling.  While Elspeth and I worked our way up the hill looking at various plants, Glenn and Katrine not only climbed said hill but also all 246(?) steps to the top of the tower. I opted out of the climbing given that it would have involved carrying a child up the winding staircase.  We took the long way down the hill through the woodlot and were luck enough to cross paths withwe rabbit enjoying the sun.  Then we drove to the Falkirk Wheel to meet my cousin Helen.  Upon arriving Elspeth walked into the bottom of a metal sign (I thought she could see it and realized my error but not soon enough forhere to compensate).  I can now say that the Wheel hasunquiet a nice first aid room.  A bit more of a production than necessary but I understand their caution.  Once we had some ice, all was right in our world and we hit the play zone.  During lunch, the girls were super excited to see the wheel in action lifting a boat from one loch to another.  Some ice cream in the sunshinebred ore more playtime.  This time at the giant water zone (more like a giant water table than splash pad).  All of the playing left a lot of time to get caught up.

In the evening it was more family time as we celebrated a cousin’s birthday.  I think that the kids played on the trampoline for almost two hours!  Lots more smilesandbonding.  I love my family.  Have I said that before?  I am truly blessed.  My cousins wife went out of her way to make a large plate of GF sandwiches and even got me muffins so that I wouldn’t feel left out!  It was an awesome surprise and just goes to show how wonderful they are.

This morning we drove though the Trossachs.  We stopped in Aberfoyle to see rare sheep breeds for Elspeth.  Turna out that the real live sheep scare her.  She much prefers her blanket sheep.  Next stopafter a a rather lengthy yet scenic wrong turn, was Loch Katrine.  As you can guess, Katrine was beside herself with joy seeing HER loch!  To be honest, it is rather prett.  Then to see some Hei’lan Coos before lots of park time.  While the girls were at one of the parks playing with Glenn, my uncle took me in to see my grandmas house one last time.  Brought back so very many memories.  Spent many a happy visits there.

Finished the day with dinner with my uncle, a drive through town, a visit with one of my moms school chums and then another trip to the park.  I am tired writing it all down yet the girls are still wide awake”. Oh well.

I know it sounds like an unusual combination but that was our day.

This morning we joined the rest of the clan at Strathclyde Park to cheer on our cousin as she ran in the MND (Motor Neural Disease) fundraising run.  She finished in under an hour!!  Very impressed.  I think that it would have taken me double or triple that time to reach the end.  It also gave us a chance to spend more time with the family.  All of the cousins got dowon beside the water tossing in stones and laughing.  Exactly the type of memories I want the girls to have of our trip.

After a delicious lunch, it was back in to the park to visit the largeplayground.  I get some bad mommy points for forgetting to pack the girls boots and dressing them in new pink sweaters…which are now somewhat browner from the mud.  That said, neither girl stopped smiling the whole two hours we were there.  Even more important,  they consider their cousins as friends.  “you played with your cousins, right Elspeth?” “No!  I play my friend on the slide.”

It was lovely and sunny after dinner and it seemed like a waste to come back to our hotel and call it an evening so we headed out for a drive along the Firth of Forth (an inlet on the east coast of Scotland).  The girls were excited enough about having to cross a large bridge on the way over but I swear that their eyes almost popped out of their heads when the saw the even longer bridge we crossed on the way back.  We stopped between one bridge and the next in a small town.  The tide was out so we all clambered out of the car and walked along the seashore (never expected to write about being at the seaside on this trip).  Theyrustled about picking up stones and various shells.  We discovered that seaweed makes Elspeth nervous, much as grass did when we first came home.  The salt water smell in the air reminded me of out east.  As Glenn said, it was the type of Scotland that his dad would have loved to see.

Today was a much slower day with the fOcus on family.  Although those we have loved and lost live on in our hearts, there are times when their memories move to the forefront.  Today was such a day. Stopping in the cemetery drove home missing the funeral and being part of the celebration of grandma’s life.  Seeing both girls giggling and bonding with some of the family reminded me of how much joy they would have brought her.  At the same time, the presence of this sorrow can also help you to recal the good times.  Upon arriving at my uncles he got us drinks and biscuits.  The same types my grandma plied us with growing up.  To visit grandma was to get spoiled with crisps and sweeties.  Hearing them laugh with their family reminded me of a birthday party I shared over here with my cousin years back as kids.  Going to Callander was very much like going home as a grown up.

The girls had none of these thoughts.  They were to busy enjoying themselves.  We hiked to the Bracklin Falls and saw the new bridge.  Then climbed down to what is left of the old one.  They threw sticks for my cousin’s dog and we all got soaked in the raibeautiful ally’s were beautiful.  Well worth the wall.

We ended the day with some shopping on mainstreet and some more visiting before driving to Thornhill for dinner.  In Thornhill, the girls got a charge out of seeing various “dummies” dressed up as part of a town celebration.  Their favorite was a mermaid although they were disturbed by its lack of facial features.

The first in a seriessupposedly.  I know, big surprise when one is in Britain.  It provided us with the perfect excuse to spend the day indoors at two museums -Science museum and Natural History museum.  The girls had a lot of fun at both.

The Science museum had a good mixture of interactive displays and information displays.  Katrine was in heaven surrounded by all of the information.  Especially when she got to see astronaut food Nd space diapers.  (Nope, potty humor is not just for boys.). Elspeth of course preferred the hands on areas but also went wide eyed looking at early bikes and lawn “momers”.  There was even an exhibit for Glenn on code breaking.  I got to see the model I made in grade school, well I think Scott actually made it, to go with a science fair project I did on the moon. Seriously, there was the exact same model in adisplay cabinet except it had a better paint job and gold leaf (I claimed it before it was painted.)

After about three hours we were all sciencesout so we headed next door to the next museum and the dinosaur exhibit.  On the way we passed through the bird section where Katrine saw a dodo bird and broke into song “Finding a dodo bird, driving our sister insane”.  Gotta love those text to text connections.  Both girls enjoyed the dinosaurs but near the end it was clear that Elspethwas done so she and I came back for nap and the other pair spent two more hours at the museums exploring whale skeletons and minerals mostly.  Once Gain, Katrine was in heaven.

Tomorrow is a special day to me because we will be meetin my cousin Lillian (my Nana’s mother’s sister’s daughter’s son’s wife, you got that straight?). I haven’t seen her since our wedding so I am very much looking forward to it.  I can hardly wait for her to meet my girls.  So I guess it is off to bed so that I can look well rested tomorrow.