Frozen Veg

Since the snow stopped for a bit this afternoon, Daddy and I went outside to play in it for a wee while. We played in the undisturbed snow in out back garden - it's not undisturbed any more! It took some digging, but we discovered that Mummy has been growing frozen brussels sprouts.

There were also some frozen carrots but they weren't big enough for our requirements so one was retrieved from the fridge!

Stir Crazy

It started snowing here 2 weeks ago and it's still snowing now. Thankfully it has stopped occasionally (not like Granny's - don't think we'll be seeing her before summer with all the snow she's got), but we've been stuck inside a lot. And since some of my best Christmas presents were Lego, we've managed to build almost all my Lego (only pieces left are the pieces without instructions).

Daddy wouldn't let me play with it until it was all built but he promised we can play with it now that it's all complete. He's going to be the baddies (robbers, Indiana Jones baddies, storm troopers and Power Miners) and I'll be the goodies (police, firemen, coast guard, Indiana Jones et al and rock monsters). We'll split the remaining pieces evenly (in such a way that I have the most and the best ones!). It's taken several days to build, I wonder just how long it'll take for The Great Battle to reduce it to single pieces again?!

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone else had as good a day as I've had. Everyone has given excellent gifts. We're going to have loads of fun playing with them all - it's just as well school doesn't go back for ages!



Thank you to everyone who gave me a gift and Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas Cards

To Elaine, Tony and... Hmphawwwww. How come I'm always last?!

Sledging

There's been excellent snowfall the past few days but Daddy has been feeling a bit ill with what he calls 'Man Flu'. Thankfully he was feeling a bit better this afternoon and we were able to go out with the sledge for a while and have loads of fun. Luckily Daddy was feeling strong enough to pull the sledge to the top of the hill every time for me!

We were sledging in several places nearby, one place in particular was quite steep and if you're not really careful you're likely to fall of the sledge...

Rather then being sympathetic, Mummy found it very funny. But I soon got payback!

I hope everyone else is having as much fun in the snow.

Making wrapping paper

I made some wrapping paper for Mummy's christmas presents at Gran and Grandad's. Check it out - we're all really pleased.

My Lego Family

At Gymnastics Today

Two words - BACK. FLIP. Or should that be one word?!

A-maze-ing

Daddy got the grass cut today. He says it'll be the last cut this year - looks like just about its only cut this year to me given how long it was! But that was good - I got Daddy to cut a maze into it for me to get lost and play in. I made sure he did circles around the trees and put in some dead-ends and some short cuts. It was good fun, but once he was finished creating the maze, Daddy cut the rest of it and it was gone. He completely filled the brown bin with grass so I went inside it to stomp it all down. I squeezed it into half the size it was before I started!

Edinburgh Zoo

We went to Edinburgh Zoo today. It was a relatively short visit and a few of the animals were inside (like the rhino - that Daddy wanted to see, and the tapir - that Mummy wanted to see). Amongst the things we did see were the monkeys...
Erm, the MONKEYS...
THE MONKEYS!

Distractions

Dad, listen to me, it's really important. You have to - Oh! Pink clouds!

Gymnastics Level 1 - DONE

Gymnastics was great today! I passed my level one so I get to move on to level 2 now. I was showing Daddy the things we do in gymnastics, you know - baby dish, mummy dish and daddy dish. But Daddy is just really impressed with the bridge. I do wish he'd stop asking me to do it though as it hurts my tummy. I get a badge and certificate when we go back after the holidays. I can't wait!

Landmark

Do you like my new wellies? I think they're very cool. We had to get them… Mummy and Daddy forgot to bring my shoes when we went to visit Granny and Grandpa at the weekend! Can't just pop home for a pair when it's a two hour drive.

On Saturday, after Daddy and I burned all the garden waste (Daddy's mood is always better if he gets to have a fire at Granny's!), we went to Landmark Adventure Park in Carrbridge. We spent almost the whole day there and had loads of fun. We were on all three of the water slides and went on the Tarzan Trail twice. Daddy and I tried to climb the climbing wall - Daddy complained that he'd been put on the hardest section of the wall and didn't even get higher than my height. He also managed to blame his boots for the poor effort. I got higher than Daddy with some help from Mummy but it was more fun coming down on the automatic belays!


There was a lot to see there. We had a walk around the Tree Top Trail in the Ancient Woodland and learned lots about the animals of the forest. Microworld was decorated for Hallowe'en and a bit scary at times. Daddy and I played with the radio controlled cars and had brilliant fun and didn't really fall out at all when we played with the mechanical digger. How do we get one of those for home?
There's lots of climbing frames and slides for us kids to play on and a really tall forest tower that goes higher than all the trees. I counted and there were 108 stairs to the top.

We walked around the Wild Forest Maze and it was fun to take a wrong turn and see more of the interesting things in there. The only thing we didn't wait to see was the steam powered saw mill. We did go there but it wasn't working when we passed through. It's OK though as Mummy had so much fun we're definitely going back. We also have to take Daddy's good camera next time. He thought he'd brought it but had actually left it at Granny's so it's phone photos again I'm afraid. He tried to blame Mummy again (like he blames her for forgetting the shoes) but it was really his fault this time.

And I'd like to thank...

I got this award at school today. I had to go up during assembly to collect it. Only four people in each class got one - and they weren't all for the same thing.

Mummy says she is so proud she could burst.

Well, I'm not clearing up!

P1 Parents' Night I

It was parents night at school tonight. Mummy and Daddy went for a chat with my teacher while I was at wrap-around. They said they really liked my work and Daddy was particularly impressed by my very detailed pictures. My teacher seemed to be very pleased with my work saying I knew all my letter sounds and was very friendly and confident in class. She told Mummy and Daddy about the time she was telling us about when she taught in India and how I had listened very carefully and then asked her afterwards if we could do something to help the poor kids in India. Miss McMillan was so pleased with me for that she has put me on the eco committee.

It couldn't all be good though. Apparently I'm rather disorganised. I wonder where I get that from.

Big Man Walking

We went to see Big Man Walking today. He was very cool indeed. A massive blue giant with the greatest shiny tattoos all over. He was very friendly and we took a walk with him along Kirkcaldy high street (and loads of other folk). It was really cool and he met a really interesting friend along the way.

Just to stop you from being too worried, I will just tell you that he's not really real. I think he's a big puppet. I was a little worried as earlier in the week Daddy and I had been watching Harry Potter and I had suggested that we go looking for a Mountain Troll. I was surprised when he agreed. He'd then been talking about it all week and as the day got closer I was starting to get a little scared as Mountain Trolls really aren't very friendly. It was a nice surprise though and the giant was very nice and friendly.

Clippings

A bit of gardening today. I do like cutting - always have. If Mummy is going to insist I come outside and help in the garden then at least I get to have a lot of fun playing with the seccateurs!

Non Conformity

I really like school. And I look really cool in my school uniform. Mummy asks me every morning if I'd like to wear shorts or trousers and I have a look outside to see if it's sunny or not. I much prefer to wear the shorts so any hint of sunshine and the trousers stay in the drawer. I look so cute in the shorts, did I tell you about the time the primary seven girls told me in the playground that I was cute?!

Anyway, school uniform is fine but when I get home I feel the need to rebel a bit. I've found a good way to do that is to wear socks that don't match! In keeping with my ability to still look cool (don't get that from Daddy, that's for sure) I retain a "theme". In this photo it's stripes; sometimes it's solid colour, sometimes it's different socks with monkeys and other times I'll mix different pairs of Ben 10 sock or different pairs of Indiana Jones socks. On the day I wore the socks in this photo I went on the bungy bouncer again - I'm sure the lady thought my socks were cool and not that my Daddy was just bad at getting me dressed…

Farmer Edan

Daddy and I went to Gran and Grandad's today. When we were there we went for a walk to the farm where Daddy used to play work when he was a boy. We met the farmer who looked like a really old man to me and was surprised when Daddy says he looks exactly as he did 20 years ago!

He lifted me up into the tractor for a seat and I also climbed onto the combine harvester which was so cool I wouldn't come down again - even though Daddy said it was going to rain. Daddy says he used to drive the tractors so I've asked if I can drive one when I'm a bit older.

Grangemouth Park

We went swimming today. Mummy and Daddy said we were going to new pool and I didn't really care as long as it had flumes! They assured me it did. It took ages to get there and then the sat-nav got us lost. Either it didn't know where the pool was or there must have been a pretty impressive paddling pool in the back garden of the house it took us to, if it had the flumes that Mummy promised.

After Daddy drove around for a bit, Mummy asked a nice man where to find the pool and soon we were there. And then we were leaving again. The pool was closed for a swimming gala. I was really disappointed because Daddy said the Italian Grand Prix was on so there wouldn't be time to go another pool.

But all was not lost! We'd passed a really cool looking park on the way (helped by the fact the sat-nav had got us lost). It was a nice day (and Daddy had an hour or so before the Grand Prix started) so we went there. It turned out to be a really nice park. It had a climbing wall - no challenge to me!

And I made a new friend who told me she plays at the park every day so she showed me around and we had lots of fun playing on all the things there. When she had to go home, Daddy and I had a go on the digger. Parks with diggers are the best. Just look at the concentration on both of these faces!

And then we went for a wee walk around the rest of the park before going home. We saw these really cool trees. Daddy said they're called weeping willows and I thought that was a good name because I could tell why they'd been called it without anyone explaining it to me. Can you spot me and Mummy hiding behind the weeping branches?

And here's the tree from the other side. I can't wait to go back to that park. Hopefully some day after we've been swimming.

Survivor

Earlier this year we planted 6 sunflowers and looked after them in the conservatory and they grew really well... Until we went to Disney Land. They suffered. Although a friend was watering them, it was a really hot week and they roasted in the conservatory. Only one plant had any chance of making it and Daddy potted it out into a bigger pot in the garden and let nature take its course. It took a couple of weeks but it started to grow again and now, after a rather long and worrying wait, look at what we've got! It's a really cool and very yellow sunflower. And check out the size of it! It's bigger than Daddy. I wonder how big it would have been if we'd planted it out before we went to Disney Land..? And look, it's even attracting the bees - Mummy is happy!

Skyfest 2009

Daddy's work is amazing! We all went to his work today and it was just having fun. I can't believe he gets to do that all day. First up we watched (and tapped our feet) to a great band called Kilter. Mummy and Daddy said they played at their wedding - I bet that was a good party!

Then we went on a large ferris wheel that went up really high and we could see for miles. Then we saw Ian and Camilla from Dancing Time doing a few dances for us and they taught us how to do a cha-cha-cha later in the day. "Dancing Time" is Mummy's absolute favourite (and probably the only reason she agreed to go today!).

There was lots to see and do. There were some Disney stage shows, including the Wildcats from High School Musical doing incredible basketball tricks. I also rowed enough on a rowing machine to blow up three big balloons and kicked a ball so fast I knocked down the speed sensor! We went on the dodgems and I had to drive with Mummy because Daddy was going to bump into his boss! Mummy and I ended up in the middle of a massive pile up. Apparently that's a tradition when Mummy is in a dodgem car - I knew I should have insisted on driving with Daddy!

We also created a new Guinness World Record for number of people singing 'If you're happy and you know it' at one time (755)!

And we finished the day by dancing along to "Bjorn Again" live while I marveled at an amazing guy doing outstanding tricks with a diabolo yoyo. When I asked him how he got so good he said 'practice'. What's that?

Our Dynamic Earth

Mummy and Daddy took me to Our Dynamic Earth yesterday. I was *really* excited about going and couldn't wait but I was also a bit worried about what might be there and if it might be scary. I suggested that Mummy goes in and Daddy and I wait outside until she comes out but they didn't agree to that.

When we went in, the man said we were going in a time machine and going 15 thousand million years back in time - that scared me a bit. The time machine was like a big lift and it went slowly down as it went back in time with lots of images of the olden days showing and then lots of stars. When it stopped we were shown into the Captain's space ship and watched a film about the making of the universe from the beginning of time and I was still worried about what was happening to us and hoping we'd get out safely. The next section was another film about the formation of Earth with volcanoes and the floor moved and I was starting to get a bit more used to it but still hoping it would finish soon.

After that there was a really good section where we could play on computers and learn about evolution and dinosaurs and the destruction of the dinosaurs (but I already knew this from my dinosaur book - I was able to answer all the questions right first time). This was my favourite part and I really liked seeing the sculptures of the beasts. Check out the size of this dinosaur leg - it's a brontosaurus.
The next section was about the sea and was quite boring but after that it was about ice and there was a big iceberg inside the room - a real iceberg that was massive and when I touched it it made my hand all squishy and soft because it was so cold.

After that it was the shop, and when Daddy finally managed to get Mummy out, we had lunch there and I had some really nice sausage, chips and beans. Yum!

Canal Cycling

We went for a long cycle today along the canal. We parked at my friend's house (they were out) because it's near the canal and then went out for about an hour. I was on the tag-along behind Daddy's bike and helped most of the time which made it much easier for Daddy. We went as far as the wee island with the little castle and then turned to come back. When we turned back the wind was in our faces and Daddy found it very difficult - even with me helping, we were getting slower and slower as Daddy got hungrier and hungrier and I almost thought we wouldn't make it back to the car but Mummy came to the rescue (better late than never!). Even though Mummy was pulling me while riding Daddy's bike we were still faster than Daddy on Mummy's bike - I'll take emergency rations for Daddy next time.

Here's a (phone) photo of us on the viaduct. I obeyed the rules and got off the bike but Mummy was showing her rebellious side and continued cycling.

First Day at School

So it was today, and I want to go everyday! It was great. I was a wee bit nervous when we first went there but the teacher was very nice and I got over it right away. I met my buddy - a primary six boy that played with me and showed me around. And I look so cute in my uniform, right?!

Bruce Festival 2009

It was the Bruce Festival in Dunfermline this weekend and I don't know who was more excited - me or Daddy. I know that he was really worried we might not get to go if the rain didn't let up a little.

But we made it on Sunday and it stayed fair (and quite sunny at times) the whole time. We saw both jousting displays and I again took part in the Kid's Battle, defeating all the clansman and taking time to tell the top man that I have a knight's costume at home! At one point us kids were told to make sure we stand our ground and not run away, then the boss said "CHARGE!" and all the kids ran. Except me! I did exactly as I was told and held my ground. It was a bit boring until one of the clansman came over to fight me and I beat her (yes, it was a lady) to the ground!

As usual, the jousting was fantastic and the knights were amazing. I was so excited when Mummy and I saw them coming towards the arena, I had to haul Mummy back to Daddy to make sure there was no chance of us missing them putting on their display. Will West was there again with his amazing blue armour. Mummy and Daddy think it's the coolest armour ever. This time Toby Capwell wasn't there so both knights were English and Mummy and Daddy didn't have to feel bad about hoping the knight in the blue armour would win! So it was Will West and Graham Turner. Will held a three point lead from yesterday but didn't do too well today - finished two points behind Graham overall and lost again - third year in a row for him!

Daddy took 1 hundred, 2 million, 1 thousands photos so here are some of the best and there's a link to them all in the Links panel on the right.