Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I've had a fantastic day. Take a look at this picture...


It feels like I've been opening presents for ages. And this doesn't include all the gifts Santa left me which are still upstairs. Mummy and Daddy have noticed a strange tradition I'm developing at Christmas time. For a few weeks (sometimes months) I wake very early in the morning (like before 6am) and come bother Mummy and Daddy and keep everyone awake. As Christmas draws closer I get more excited and wake even earlier. I know when Christmas is going to be because I have (this year at least) 3 different advent calendars counting the days down. But then on Christmas morning, I wake just before 6am, wander past the stockings that Santa has left (it is dark at 6am in winter), go to Mummy and Daddy's room, crawl into bed and fall asleep for another hour or so. Then when I finally awake, I still need to be told it's Christmas day and go back to my room to find what Santa has left for me!

It was a good haul this year, couple of notable things were the snippety-snoppety thing that I threw an unusually large tantrum about in Marks & Spencer. I guess Santa knew how much I really wanted it. And also, I've seen Santa a couple of times in shopping centres (do you think it's the real Santa?) and explained that what I wanted was two pounds. With two more pounds I will have saved up enough money to pay for half the Goodies' Castle and Daddy said that when I did that he'd put the other half in and buy it for me. Well, Santa left a two-pound coin in a wee bag for me. Woohoo!

But that's not the best part... Mummy and Daddy had actually already bought the Goodies' Castle as a Christmas present for me (it's not in the picture above - it's too big and I hadn't received it yet) so now I have a bunch of money I can spend on other things.

Granny and Grandpa are with us for Christmas and it's extra fun having more folk here opening presents with me. It's been a really good year. A big thank you to everyone who gave me presents - I love everything!

He'll be on his way...

Posting's been a bit slow recently. It's been pretty dark and cold so we haven't been doing much. Swimming classes have finished and I've improved loads over the last 12 weeks or so. I'm already signed up for the new class in the new year and hope to do even better this time around.

All I've really been thinking about for the past month or so though is Christmas and Santa Claus. We're almost prepared. This is me putting up the sign for Santa to know where I am. Tonight before bed I'll leave a mince pie and milk for Santa and some reindeer food for Rudolph. I can't wait!

Typecast?

We've been given our parts in this year's nursery nativity play for this year and I'm to be an angel. Mummy says the casting goes completely against type. Especially since we're into the pre-Christmas behavioural meltdown. But I am so cute though...

Sledging at last

Although it's been extremely cold for a while (minus 7 when we were up north last week), we haven't had any real snow. Plenty frost, but no snow. Until today. There was just enough snow and it stayed just long enough to finally get the sledge out. I don't know who was more excited, Daddy or me! He initially didn't think there was enough to go sledging proper and it was late after nursery and dark, but Mummy wasn't home yet so Daddy and I nipped out to the back garden with the sledge. To begin with, Daddy just pulled me around the garden, then he decided to go check out the wee hill beside the nursery... And it still had snow! We were still sledging there when Mummy came to find us and all three of us played there for half an hour - Daddy still in his work shoes and shirt!

We had loads of fun and can't wait for the next fall of snow to do it again. Here's a wee picture of me in the sledge, still in the cold wet clothes after we got home. We didn't have the camera with us at the time but it was probably too dark for any photos anyway.

MEDIC!

I was involved in a wee accident today. Nothing serious. At least I didn't think so. It did result in a round of phone calls and trip to the doctor though.

I was playing in the house corner at nursery when a room divider screen fell on me. It hit me in the back of the head and pushed me into the doll's cot which cut my forehead. It wasn't a big cut but it was deep and there was loads of blood. The top I was wearing is ruined. That didn't trouble me much though. Yvonne at nursery cleaned me up and stemmed the blood flow but apparently because there was an indentation (in my head) where I'd struck the cot I'd have to visit the doctor.

Yvonne phoned Mummy to explain. Mummy contacted Daddy in a typical Mummy panic and Daddy came up to nursery to take me to the doctor. By this time I was back playing with the toys but with the opportunity to go to the doctor in the snow I was out like a shot! On the way to the doctor, Daddy tried showing me how to slide in the snow - I need more practice at that. Once there, Daddy and I did some very difficult mazes in a book until the doctor could see us. The doctor did a whole bunch of checks to see how strong I was and hit my knees with a hammer. He said the wound needed stitches! When he went to get them Daddy explained that I might be sewn up like a piece of Mummy's cloth. But it was just paper stitches. Little plasters put over the cut in a cross.

Then it was straight back to nursery for me and back to work for Daddy. That night after nursery Daddy was having nothing of the invalid and took me sledging!

Chip off the Old Block

Look at the size of this chip! It's the biggest chip I've ever seen. I wonder how big the potato was? It must have been at least as big as my head. Wow!

Very Cold

It's been really cold recently. But still no snow and Daddy is desperate to get me out on the sledge. I think it's really him that wants a go on it! Look at the thickness of the ice from the top of the sand pit paddling pool. It's completely captured my wee truck.


Daddy and I have been kicking this ice and breaking it up most nights and it hasn't been this thick before. The other night when we came home from nursery I stayed to play with the ice while Daddy headed indoors. The conversation went a bit like this...

Daddy: "Be careful, I don't want you getting soaked."
Me: "DADDY! I'm soaked."

He'd no sooner left me than I'd stuck a foot through the ice into the water beneath. My shoes had to go in the airing cupboard that night!

Hallowe'en 08

I haven't added an entry for over a month. The weather has made things a bit boring and mostly it's made Daddy a bit lazy. I'll try to post some of the stuff that's been happening soon. But as has become tradition, it's time to show off Mummy's latest Hallowe'en creation.

The material for this has been lying around for months and I laid claim to this costume for Hallowe'en ages ago. As the date got closer I got more excited... And then asked for something completely different! I'm very pleased with the final product though and glad Mummy decided to make my original request after all. What do you think?

Billy the Kid

Daddy and I went to see Gran and Grandad at the weekend while Mummy was working (poor Mummy). We all went along to Fife Animal Park as Great Gran Peg had recommended it. It looks like it's a fairly new place near Cupar and it was a lot of fun.

They've got a large pet shop kind of like your usual Pets at Home type thing but with some more interesting animals. They had four skunk for sale. And the skunk were VERY smelly! Not a good advert - I certainly wouldn't be looking to buy them.

After a quick look around the animals for sale we went outside to the animal park. There's an odd range of animals out there. It's a bit like a cross between a zoo and a bizarre farm. With fields or pens for each of the animals. They've got lamas, pigs, lots of ducks of varying kinds, black swans, at least three different kinds of lemurs, parrots, rabbits, chipmunks, donkeys, emus (2 different kinds), wallabies, goats... And loads more - read their website or go along to see for yourself. But on the subject of goats...

You can buy some food for the animals and you can feed any of them this food and almost all of them know you have it and go a bit wild for it (the porcupines were very funny expecting it and then arguing with each other when we eventually gave them some). Some of the animals can get a bit impatient - like the goat in the picture below. I was just about to throw some over the fence for it and it couldn't wait. Another half centimetre and I'd have been concussed by this thing. No grudges though - it was eating out of my hand a few minutes after this photo was taken.


Half way around there's a wee section for picnics (as long as you buy them there!) and the kids to have a play. There's buggies, a large sandpit, swings and a bit raised platform so that you can see over the park. Up in the corner though was something fenced off that no one else had seen, but I spotted it from the raised platform and headed straight there. It was a zip-line and I'd never been on one before, not even sure if I've seen one before but it looked like fun. And it was! I made Daddy pull the zip-line back up to the top over and over again and push me harder and harder. It was great fun!

The coolest company car

Some firemen from Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade came to visit today to do a home safety check.

Not only did Mummy have two hunky firemen in the house, but I got a shot in the fire engine - which was parked at my front door.


And then just as I was getting out of the fire engine they got an emergency call and had to get on their fire suits and rush off to a fire. And they put the siren on as they were leaving. It's not nice that they had to go to a real fire, but it was really cool having them leave with the siren on!

I'm going to be a fireman when I grow up!

Burntisland Beach

Before we went to Auntie Vikki's open day on Saturday we popped along to Burntisland Beach to kill some time. I've not been here before and it was good fun, even though we couldn't get the kite up. It was a very grey and overcast day but also really warm and with absolutely no wind at all. It's a blue flag beach but it doesn't come close to our favourite beach - St Andrews' West Sands. There's a short, steep bit of nice sand and then a really big bit of muddy sand. The tide goes out very very far and when we were there it was a long way off so we weren't able to marvel at any great waves. The muddy sand was pretty wet all the way out and only I had wellies on so Mummy and Daddy couldn't play in it with me.

There's apparently a lot of rock pools and stuff but we didn't have time to fully explore. Burntisland looks like a nice we town so we'll try to come back some day and spend a bit longer in the place. Here's a picture of me on the beach and some of the tiny little shells I collected. I am in the picture, honest. It was a very grey overcast day and I was wearing a grey top. There's a prize for the person that chooses the spot closest to where I am standing!

BAE Systems Open Day

We went to an open day at Auntie Vikki's work at the weekend. That was great fun! For a start we got to see Auntie Vikki, Uncle Ian, Gran and Grandad but there was also loads of fun stuff to do. It was spoiled a wee bit by the ultra-boring tour of Auntie Vikki's work. They just make some of the most advanced missiles in the british forces there so it's really not very interesting.

But outside they had football mascots (here's me with Sammy the Dunfermline mascot).


There were also fairground-type things for us kids (me and Mummy). Here we are on the tea-cups and the inflatable chute. I had a go on a horse, got some ice-cream, won a balloon by rolling a 2 pence piece onto a star. It was a really tiring day.


On the way out to the car I had a go in a fire engine and then I worked the army's JCB digger and scored a goal by knocking a ball off a traffic cone with the back bucket. It really was a busy day. I didn't want to go home so we went to Auntie Vikki's house for a wee while before going home. Auntie Vikki is very lucky to work at a place with all those games in the car park. I'd like to work someplace like that when I grow up.

Birthday bash

A couple of weeks ago we went up north to have a family dinner. There are a few milestone birthdays in Mummy's family this year - a 40th, a 50th and an 80th so we got together to have lunch. It's unusual to get all of Mummy's family together at the same time so it was really fun. You can't beat being the centre of attention for 4 women! So Daddy says anyway.

While we waited to be seated, Uncle Ian and I had a wee game of chess. I think he found it pretty challenging but I let him win in the end.


Lunch was excellent, even with the inevitable ordering debacle, but the food and company were superb. A good time was had by all.

On the way home we stopped in at Auntie Carol and Uncle Dave's house again. We spent a while in the garden and I helped Uncle Dave dig up some of his new potatoes which we had with mince when we got home (very good too, thanks Uncle Dave!). Daddy also snapped a photo of Mummy stealing more raspberries while she thought no one was looking!


Unfortunately it was just a day trip so we had to head home again pretty quickly. We're all already looking forward to the next trip north.

What's up, Doc?

Mummy's got a couple of pet rabbits now. They live in the sitting room in a massive cage. The cage is big enough for me to live in! They're called Elliot and... MUM! What's the other one called today?

Mummy can't decide on a name for the little girl rabbit. When it arrived (she got them from a rabbit rescue so they had names) it was called Twinkle. Mummy's not too keen on that name. It doesn't help that the rabbit reminds her so much of one of her old rabbits that she's called it Magic more than anything else. I think she's attempting to call it Emily, which more suits Mummy's style and goes a bit better with Elliot too, I think. Daddy's taking to calling it Emaybe until Mummy settles on the final name.

The rabbits love me when they get out. So long as I have food for them. I suspect Mummy might not be feeding them enough as they're almost rabid rabbits if you've got a nice bit of cabbage in your hand. They're sweet though and don't mind being stroked or a little boy jumping around with them on the sitting room carpet so I've forgiven them for stealing all my play area. Can't wait for Daddy to get the new telly in the family room though!

Here's a couple of photos - Elliot in the first and Twinkle/Magic/Emily in the second.

100th Post

How about that?! 100 posts 21 months. It's not a great average. Mostly it's down to laziness, sometimes down to busy-ness, and occasional down to boring-ness (that's my folks being too boring to do something exciting with me that's worth blogging about).

The recent average has been much better though (don't look at July!). Maybe if we keep this up we'll get more readers...

Here's some pictures just for fun.


Update - this isn't technically the 100th post anymore. Daddy's been adding some old posts heading back to birth. Technically I started this lark in November 2006, any blogs before that are Daddy pretending to be me (I was really too young to be writing blogs before then).

Linlithgow Palace

Daddy had a few days off last week and we went to Linlithgow Palace. Linlithgow is quite close to us, in fact, it's where Mummy works, but we'd never been to the Palace before (Mummy had though). It was surprisingly good. Perhaps one of the best castles we've seen recently.

It is a ruin - which Daddy wasn't expecting - but very well preserved. Lots of rooms and stairs. And you get up the towers all the way to the top. It's so big that we didn't even see it all! Thankfully it's so close we'll be able to go back any time we like. Some of the best rooms are well enough preserved that you really do get a feeling of how grand it would have been. The royal quarters and the great hall especially. The old entrance is also accessible from within the palace (the access to the door is gone so unless you're 40 feet tall you won't be accessing it from the outside) and Daddy and I had the necessary sword fight there. Unfortunately, Mummy and Daddy forgot the camera so it's phone photos again - another good reason to return to the palace though!


Here's a great photo of me and Mummy and Christopher Columbus at the top of one of the towers with the church spire behind. We didn't go into the church on this visit - stacking up the reasons to return another time!

Tenuous Cycling Link

Sitting around on a Saturday afternoon watching telly... The weather has been a bit changeable - meaning it might be sunny now but in five minutes the rain could be heavy enough to drown a fish. Still, Daddy suggested we go for a bike ride - with the tag-along. I agreed, but only after Lazy Town finished. Folks familiar with Lazy Town may appreciate why Daddy suggested that was quite an ironic statement.

While waiting for Lazy Town to finish, I had trouble getting comfortable but eventually managed...

Red Bananas

I spotted these in Morrisons and insisted Mummy bought them.


Daddy spotted them when he got home and got very excited. And a little scared. The next day he'd plucked up enough courage to try one but I'd read the packaging and told him they weren't soft enough yet. Still, he was too excited to wait and opened one anyway.


I tried it first and I have to say, he should have waited a bit longer until it was a bit riper. He finished it off and I had a yellow banana instead. I'll maybe try them again in a couple of days...

PYO

We went along to Craigie's Farm just outside Edinburgh to pick some strawberries and raspberries. It's a really nice place and you pick lots of different fruit if you're into that sort of thing. We picked loads of strawberries and Mummy and Daddy also picked some raspberries as well. Daddy made me try one of the raspberries but I still don't like them - which is a shame. Interestingly, strawberries are probably my favourite fruit at the moment and this time last year I didn't like them so maybe next year I will like raspberries?!


The farm has its own wee shop too and cafe. We were going home for lunch so we didn't get anything from the cafe. Mummy and me made Daddy wait in the long queue to pay for the fruit while we went outside to play on the toy tractors then came back just in time to make Daddy buy us some ice cream too! I got a very tasty cone but not being that experienced in eating cones I made quite a mess getting through it in the hot sunshine. Mummy helped me and then I was stripped and wiped clean for the drive home afterwards. I'm still wearing just my pants and socks while writing this.

Urquhart Castle

One of our holiday days we went to Urquhart Castle by the banks of Loch Ness. We picked up cousin Andy on the way so it was a double treat.

Urquhart Castle is pretty good. It's very big with quite a large footprint. It's very ruined now though and there isn't that much left to explore. It was another lovely day and we had great fun making our way around what is left and we had several sword fights. I fought with Andy, Mummy, Daddy and very briefly with Christopher Columbus.

Christopher Columbus is a teddy bear explorer that used to go exploring with Auntie Carol but he says she's too old for him now. So Auntie Carol has asked me to take care of him and explore with him. I was glad he was with me sometimes to keep me company in the narrow passageways. You'll see more of him in future adventures probably but no pictures to show you in this blog entry.

The castle is right on the shore of the loch. It might not always have been quite so close to the shore but since the opening of the Caledonian Canal the loch has risen 2 metres so it's a wee bit nearer now. But that allowed us to have a good look for Nessie too. Daddy thought he saw her but I don't think it was. We'll just need to try again.

Here's a photo of Andy and me sword-fighting.


And continuing the theme of me, Mummy and Daddy in the same photo - here's a nice one that Andy took for us:

Trampoline

While we were on holiday we also went to see some of my friends in the area. They have a great trampoline in the back garden and we couldn't get Daddy off it. It's really good fun on the trampoline but when there's a large bloke bouncing on it too it's really hard to stay upright and it can spoil the fun a little bit. Although if you time it right you can get a really big bounce - almost out of the net!

Loch an Eilein

We were on holiday the other week. A few days up staying with Granny and Grandpa (original, right?). As usual it was fantastic. And as is becoming regular for us too (luckily) - excellent weather. Who would have thought it - especially for the Highlands of Scotland.

We went to Loch an Eilein while we were there. It was really amazing. Looked like they were staging a photo opportunity for a Centre Parks brochure. There were families on hired bikes - some complete with tag-alongs (like mine!). There were folks out walking dogs. There were folks out hiking; folks enjoying ice-cream; folks deciding what to buy from the rather exclusive van with the chef who worked for REM and Paul McCartney and most amazingly - folks actually playing in the water like they were at a Mediterranean beach - swimsuits and everything.

We had a walk part-way around the loch where we met a lovely Australian woman who took our picture (I hope she wasn't from New Zealand or I've just really offended her). That was really nice of her and it was good to have a picture with all three of us for a change. I asked her if she was wearing her explorer shoes and then told her they were like Daddy's. We then walked back along the loch and Mummy and I paddled in it for a while. Daddy dipped his feet in for a minute or two then retreated to the shore claiming it was too cold for his southern Fife feet. It was great fun and I was dissapointed when we had to leave but dinner was calling. I'm looking forward to going back - don't think we'll get to paddle unless it's as hot as it was that day though!

The Future of Cycling

We've been going bicycle daft recently. I don't honestly know how Daddy is going to fit them all in the garage. Look at the latest addition. This is my favourite new bike. It's called a tag-along and Mummy got it for us. Conveniently, it doesn't fit on Mummy's bike so Daddy always has to do the pulling. I don't really mind!



We've been for a couple of long cycles on it and I don't even get tired. Daddy does though! I must confess that I don't peddle too much but when we're going uphill and Daddy needs the help then I do peddle so that he doesn't have to work so hard and he says it's really helpful.

CHiPs

Check this out! It's my new bike! It's a Ridgeback MX14. I saved up my money and got Mummy to sell some of my old baby toys to pay for half of it. Once I was good enough on my Puky we went to buy it from a really cool shop in Fife called Sandy Wallace Cycles. They were really helpful and gave me plenty time to ride the bike around the shop to ensure I could reach the pedals and brake levers OK.


Here's a picture of me riding with Daddy. Daddy said something about being CHiPs so I said he could be the big chip and I'd be the little chip. He laughed at that - not sure why...

Bad Influence

They say that a picture paints a thousand words. Well here are a couple of thousand for you...



We went to see Auntie Carol and Uncle Dave last weekend while we were up north. It was a great day so we spent it outside and Uncle Dave corrupted me with a bow and arrow (I was careful not to bow and arrow anyone) and a ride on his motorbike. I've requested a leather jacket for Christmas.

I also played for a wee bit on their hill. Yes, it's another Auntie with a hill in her garden (remember Auntie Vikki has one too) but Auntie Carol's is more of a mountain in comparison. It's wild and has a cliff and trees too (which a few arrows were almost lost in). The grass is long on the hill and it was a lot of fun to walk in it and have it tickle my face. I was playing in it, making a nest and I wanted Auntie Carol to come play with me. Strangely, she didn't, even with this invitation: "I'm making a nest for you. A big nest. For your big bottom."

Painting The Town Gold

On Saturday, after sending Mummy away with the bike so that I could walk back to Granny and Grandpa's we passed the Gynack Gardens. They are looking particularly good just now with a lot of flowers in bloom. There were also a few people painting the fence there. When we headed out earlier there had been a couple of guys from the council painting, now they were being helped by some locals too. We stopped to watch for a bit and the nice man offered to let me do some painting. So here is a picture of me painting the fence at the Gynack Gardens.



It's a black metal fence with a flower design throughout. The flowers were being painted gold and this is what I helped with. So now Granny can tell everyone that her grandson helped paint that lovely fence!

I would have done more but I really was tired from the long cycle. After this we headed back to Granny and Grandpa's but I was too tired to walk and Daddy had to carry me the long way up the hill to their house.

It was then lunch time and we were going out to the lovely Rowan Tree Hotel. Unsuprisingly I fell asleep on the way. Then I couldn't be woken again! I slept on the comfy sofa there while the others had a delicious lunch. Mummy managed to wake me just before they finished so I had some of Mummy's pasta and some of Daddy's fish and chips. And of course I did manage some ice cream!

Rose-tinted spectacles

Daddy always says I'm a true optimist! This is a picture of me playing Ludo with Gran a few weeks ago. I'm much funnier than watching Mummy lose anyway.

More Cycling

We went to see Granny and Grandpa at the end of last week. On Saturday morning I wanted to go visit my friends Charlie and Ellie but we couldn't so Granny suggested we take my Puky along the cycle path between Kingussie and Newtonmore. We drove down to the cycle path and ended up going almost all the way to Newtonmore before finding a place suitable to stop and get out.

I started cycling along the cycle path. It was a good path and I was able to build up a nice speed. Nice enough that Daddy had to really run to keep up with me! After about half a mile Mummy and Daddy decided it would be better if Mummy went back and got the car. They'd thought I'd just go a few hundred yards and come back but I was having too much fun and after all, we were heading back to Kingussie anyway, why would I turn and go back?


We met Mummy further up but I still wasn't finished. I kept going all the way to Kingussie! Then Daddy put the bike in the car and sent Mummy home because I wanted to walk back to Granny and Grandpa's. It was a good trip. Mummy reckons I cycled and walked about 3 miles. It sure did tire me out though - more on that next time.

Captain Heidcase

You'll never guess what I was doing on Saturday. Actually, if you guessed "pretending to be a knight" you'd be right and given the recent history of this blog that's probably what you guessed. But it wasn't the usual fighting Daddy with a toy wooden sword at an old ruined castle somewhere! This time it was beating up some grown-up baddies in real suits of armour with a toy foam sword. And I captained a large army of under-sixes. King Robert the Bruce made me captain and asked my name. I guess he misheard me because I spoke very loudly and clearly into the microphone but he still christened me Captain Heidcase.



We had gone to the Bruce Festival at Dunfermline Glen. I've been bothering Daddy about seeing real Knights for a few days now especially since he told me about a friend of his who dresses up in real armour and gets involved in real fights with real swords. Daddy didn't know about the Bruce Festival so when Gran told him about it he had to take me.

The first thing we saw was the jousting. It was Scotland versus England and in the morning the English Knight won by one point. That was a shame as the Scotland guy is so far unbeaten on Scottish soil. These were proper jousters, it wasn't a show and this did matter. You can find out a little more about these guys, their history and experience here. Toby Capwell is the Scottish guy and William West is the English guy. Hopefully Toby did better in the afternoon and retained his record - we had to leave as the heavy rain came on.

On the way home we stopped in at Auntie Vikki's for a cup of milk and some cheese and I watched Over the Hedge while the old people had a chat. Uncle Ian's telly's really cool because to get the DVD to pause and play again you just clap your hands twice. I spent a while doing that as well. I think Daddy should get a telly like that.

To straighten socks...

Mummy: "Sit on your b'hookey."
Edan: "Why did you say it in French?"

Fence painting

Mummy was in hospital last week for a wee operation. In order to give her peace, Daddy figured it would be a good idea to paint the fence. The fence badly needed painted and it would keep him and me busy for a few hours and out of Mummy's way while she got better. You can see us here about a third of the way in.



Except that photo is completely staged and I'm posing under duress. I had agreed with Daddy that painting the fence was a good idea and would be a lot of fun. But after one spar (and saturating two paint-brushes - that was fun!) it turned out that painting the fence was boring. So I went and bothered Mummy and left Daddy to finish it. He made quite a good job though.

Cycling update

Just a quick cycling update. Video from Daddy's phone again. Mummy recorded a better one with the video camera at the weekend but then it ate the tape so Daddy can't get it onto the computer. I'm enjoying the Puky so much that I've started taking it to nursery just like Daddy takes his bike to work. Thing is, my nursery is just across the road from the house so I make Mummy take me out the front door and around the block so that I get a good cycle!

Blackness Castle

We visited Blackness Castle last Sunday. It's an interesting castle with a lot of stairs! Stairs are great at the best of times, not only because it really scares Mummy when I'm climbing them, but they usually take you to an interesting room. And at Blackness Castle they even take you to the roof of the tower - where you can have a sword-fight in peace! Just check out me getting the better of Daddy. It's less embarrassing for him that the camera memory ran out before I delivered the final blow!

Blackness Castle is right on the coast of the Firth of Forth and you can walk out over the water on a jetty that I don't think they would have used when the castle was built. Daddy says it was added in the early 1800s when the castle was used as an armoury. The castle had the thickest walls I've ever seen and these mean that there's still a lot of the castle standing and loads of rooms to look in. There are even a lot of windows but they don't all have just glass in them - they have little doors that you can open and close, they are a lot of fun.

When we left the castle we played in the gardens for a wee while. There's a lot of grass and it just begs you to run around in it so I got Mummy and Daddy to chase me and made complete fools of them. At least that's what the old lady and gentleman laughing at them said!

By the way, that slideshow might be a little small on some of your screens. If you follow the link on the right to Photoshop Photos you should be able to see it bigger.

Ravenscraig Beach

Saturday was a brilliant day. Mummy had to work (which isn't brilliant) so Daddy and I went to Fife to see Gran and Grandad. We arrived three hours after we got up and found Gran and Grandad still in their jammies so we had to wait for them to get ready before we could go out in that fantastic weather.

We went to Ravenscraig which is on the edge of Kirkcaldy and played at the park there which is quite new and very good. It has a great climbing with a fireman's pole. I was playing on the fireman's pole and Daddy or Grandad would help me. But after a few shots I was getting pretty confident and had to tell Grandad to LEAVE ME ALONE. I CAN DO IT BY MYSELF. Luckily he didn't leave me alone too much though, because I saw a bigger boy than me, who's Daddy wasn't as helpful as mine, go on the fireman's pole and he wasn't very good and hit the ground pretty hard. It looked sore.

After the park we went down to the beach which is very close. We looked through some of the rock pools at the little tiny crabs and the fish then Daddy wanted to go further along the beach so that we could get to the sea. Daddy didn't want to go to the sea where we were because there was a lot of wet sand to walk through to get there. That didn't bother me though! I took a rather large rock and headed for the water. Grandad was good enough to come with me and half-way there I convinced him to carry the rock for me. Thanks Grandad! Down at the water I got my socks and shoes off and waded in. It turned out my shorts weren't short enough. Oops. And my T-shirt arms weren't short enough either since it was important that I dig up the sand under the water so that I could throw it further into the sea. But the best bit was when Daddy and Gran finally came down to see us. I waited until they were all there and turned around and kicked lots of sea-water at them. Woohoo! And, do you know? Only I had a change of clothes!



After the beach we went to KFC and I got popcorn chicken, my favourite. We went home to Gran and Grandad's and ate it in the garden. Then after a nice Magnum ice-cream (it's easy to get Grandad to spoil me. I have him convinced that Mummy and Daddy only feed me vegetables!), we went to Auntie Vikki's and played in her garden for the rest of the afternoon. Daddy showed me how to roll down the hill in her back garden but I need a little more practice to be as good as him.