Scotland Part 3

I know, ANOTHER Scotland post?!  I am so behind in blogging as I've been trying to work on Scrapbooks for the wee girlies.  This might be the last one?

After my Dad went back to work it was a little tricky to get out and about with all of us.  I kinda wished I'd been able to take my minivan over with us. ha.

The weather had just been gorgeous and we really wanted to do a second beach day.  Jack and Peter love the sand and sea more than anything, so Isabel and I decided to hire a car to go meet up with my brother, Euan, Alisa, and my lovely nieces at the West Kilbride beach.  Granny stayed at home with the wee twinners.  Isabel had just passed her driving test and really wanted to drive the hired car.  The drive there went fairly well.  But on the drive home my heart was racing and I may have had a few mini heart attacks every time we came to a roundabout.....and there are MANY roundabouts between West and East Kilbride.  Poor Izzy!  She has MUCH improved since then!  I'm sure it was just the car. :)

The beach was lovely, the company was great, and we all had such a jolly time.

Aren't my wee nieces fantastic?!  I just love these girls so much.

The boys and Eleanor worked on a brilliant sandcastle with cool Uncle Euan/Dad.

Charlotte did nothing but smile....well, except for those two brief times Euan put her feet in the water.  She wasn't too fond of that.

P and E were a total riot together.  I actually miss seeing them play.  Peter prays every single day (a few times a day) that he will get to see Eleanor again really soon.  It's kinda killing me.

It was a blast of a day and we really miss those wee McArthurs.

Another really beautiful sunny day I took the boys with me on the train to Glasgow, then on the tube to Ibrox to meet my Aunt Joy and cousin, Eve.  Together we drove to Largs and met up with lots more extended family.  Once we were all gathered we boarded the ferry to Millport.  I think I went to the loo, and then the boys went to the loo, and then we were there! Ha.  It only takes about 10 mins or so.  

It's so gorgeous at home.  I went so picture crazy while I was there and I am pretty grateful I got that wonderful camera beforehand....my pics make me so happy!

Jack and Peter fell in love with my Aunt Joy, which is understandable because she is really amazing.  I love her too.  We had a marvelous picnic by the beach.

My cousins, Katie and Beth, were fantastic with all the kids and played with them in the sea while I got to hang out with the grown ups.

Later we ate ice cream, told lots of funny stories, and took turns riding on the bikes we had brought across with us.

Jack loved Louis (my cousin, Larissa's wee boy).

Eve helped Peter ride on her bike and then I took a wee shot on Joy's.  It was so much fun!

I'm pretty eager to get a bike now!   After we dropped Eve off, my Uncle David came and met up with Joy, me and the boys.  We ate really incredible pizza, and my uncle spoiled the boys with gigantic pieces of cheesecake to themselves.

I just wanted to show a couple pics of sweet Sonny.  He wasn't doing too well health wise while we were there and sadly passed away shortly after we left.  I never thought I'd become attached to a dog.  But we all loved him so much and after having had him in the family for 11 odd years it's safe to say we were all very attached.  It was hard to hear my kiddos talk about him after he first passed, but now I'm so happy when they talk about him.  My favourite thing Jack says in his prayer is, "I hope Sonny and Red Shine are behaving themselves in heaven, but also having lots of fun!"  (His first pet beta fish just died a few days ago.)

The last wee day out I'll mention just now was just a couple of days before Ryan left.  We traveled to Linlithgow Palace with my parents and met my brother, Euan and his family there.  They had just returned from Utah after visiting my sister in law's family for a month.

There was a jousting festival going on that was extremely entertaining.  

I told you....I can't get enough of these girls!  Wee Lottie is, to quote Eleanor, such a "sweetie-head".

Jack, Peter, and Eleanor fought a good fight with their weapons of choice.  They were quite the trio.

Such a fun day! 

London 2013

One of the fun highlights of our visit home to Scotland was actually when Ryan and I escaped away (by ourselves) to London for a few days.

I was looking forward to seeing my cousins and experiencing London again with Ryan.  It was a packed few days and we did more walking than our poor feet could really handle, but it was brill.

We stayed with my cousin, Madeline, in this lovely neighbourhood.  She has a gorge place and was the kindest host to us!

We spent the morning of Day 1 at the Tower of London.  It was pretty great inside and seeing the Crown Jewels was fab too.  Sadly, pics weren't allowed.

Our brilliant Beefeater tour guide (seen below) was really into terrifying as many folks on the tour as possible. He was so entertaining.

A prisoners carving on the wall.

After a good 4 1/2 hours at the Tower of London we met up with my cousins at the Borough Market for lunch.  It was colourful, smelled amazing, was filled with loads of interesting characters and had incredible food to buy.

Nevada went off to work and we went with Mads to the Tate Modern Art Gallery.  We got to use Mads' membership pass to get into all the exhibits and saw some breathtaking views from the lounge at the top of the museum.

The fab bubble man outside the Tate.

Walking through the 'Southsides'.

Art in the streets

Saw some amazing artworks at the portrait gallery, 

 

sat in Trafalgar Square, 

wandered through Covent Garden Market, and then

I made Ryan get in a pic with me at Platform 9 3/4 in King's Cross Station.  He hasn't read the books, but finally agreed to do it (he made sure to have a Slytherin scarf on though :) ) 

They also had a wee HP Shop close by too where Mads and I had some fun with the wands.

Our 2nd full Day was packed as well.  

In the morning we headed to Westminster Abbey.  Again I was not allowed to take pics inside, but it was absolutely beautiful.

Big Ben and Parliament are right there too.

We met Nevada for lunch at Jamie Oliver's Union Jacks Restaurant in Covent Garden.  I was secretly hoping Jamie would just stop on by to check in on the restaurant...but no such luck.  I got the fish and chips with mushy peas....it was delish.

We had toyed with the idea of trying our luck at getting into Wimbledon right from the first night we arrived.  But honestly, I didn't think it would actually happen.  We talked to Madeline's roommate briefly, who had queued a few times and made it in.  She told us the best time to go was around 3pm to begin queuing for the evening matches.  After lunch with bard with headed straight to the tube in attempt to try our luck...we're both big tennis fans.  I've been watching Wimbledon since I can remember and always wanted to go.

We saw loads of crazy and interesting characters on the tube ride in and then just when we were almost to the Wimbledon stop a wee lady came on the intercom to announce that if you didn't have a ticket and were trying to get into the matches there was no point because it was at it's full capacity.

We were both pretty gutted, but we decided that since we'd come that far we may as well go and at least try for a pic or two in front of something of consequence.

At the main entrance (to the field) we were greeted by a wee teenager who told us we were more than welcome to stand and queue for the evening matches, but we shouldn't expect to get in as it was especially mobbed because Andy Murray and Federer were playing today.

Here's the massive queue of campers that were all set up for the night.  They would have gotten in bright and early for the following morning's matches.

Our ticket number was like 10500 odd...mental!  We waited for 3 1/2 hours with thousands of people coming in behind us.

After all that time we had managed to make it to the 'official entrance' and if you can believe it we were told we probably wouldn't make it in again.  I about died inside.  I was feeling like we had just wasted our last day in London by choosing to be there...it was heartbreaking.

We saw a few people give up at that point and leave the queue.  But we thought we'd just go ahead and hang on.

Suddenly we saw a sign for a security check and hopes lifted!  Before we knew it we were in full on sprint mode as the queues disappeared and everyone started running for the pay stations.

I was sooooo happy!  I couldn't believe we were getting in.  Instead of having to pay 44 pounds each, we were able to get in for 14 because it was after 6pm.  Score!

We watched some doubles tennis for a bit and then I suggested heading up to 'Murray Mound' to watch Federer play on the big screen.

He wasn't playing too well at this point (we were delighted! Ha. I knew Andy had a greater chance if he was out!). 

I raced into a spot that freed on the grass and started snapping pics like a crazy lady.

I had just taken this pic when a tap on my shoulder came and two young 'Made in Chelsea' like lads, sitting a nice sharp suits asked me...."Do you guys like tennis?"

I was like, "Uh, I don't just like, we LOVE tennis."

He then proceeded to tell me that he was spoiled and couldn't be bothered going, but had tickets for center court.  However they'd lost one of their tickets. 

We thanked them, packed our stuff immediately and dashed down to center court....I couldn't believe it was happening. but then started doubting that it could actually be legit! 

Ryan was like, "who cares, we'll chance it anyway!" INDEED! 

The first level of security was ok with our story that we'd lost a ticket and let us in fairly quickly.  The guard on the second level seemed a little harsh when Ryan said he didn't have his, but then he turns to me and says, "Oh yea, no worries, I totally remember you from earlier." 

HAHAHA!  It was amazing.

Our seats were incredible and we loved every minute of it.