Top Reading Award

Check me out! We had our Friday assembly at school today and I got an award! It's an Achievement Award for "reading aloud confidently and with expression. Well done!" How cool is that. I'd just like to thank my mum and dad for supporting me. And for the Academy for recognising my brilliance.

New Bed

I've got a new bed. It's a proper big boy bed. And it comes with a paint-job for my room. Gone are the yellow walls and duckies everywhere, in comes blue walls, space-ships, stars and planets!

I had grown out of my old bed but this new bed is great - I can finally fit The Guys in with me again!

Edinburgh Zoo

We went to Edinburgh Zoo today. The main reason is Daddy had some photography homework to do but he tried to make it sound like he was doing me a favour. We saw all the usual animals and then some. Even the rhino was out eating near the viewing point while we were there. Daddy seemed to like the penguins and we spent a while there, lucky for me it had a climbing frame too!

Who's actually behind the fence here?

And if you're interested, here's Daddy's best of the day...

Tom Baraidh Walk

While at Granny and Grandpa's, Daddy and I went for a walk in the Tom Baraidh woods near Granny's house. It's famous for having lots of red squirrels in it and Daddy bet me three stars that I couldn't spot one before he did. We walked for ages, trying to stay quiet so that we wouldn't spook them until we finally had to give up and come back. We hadn't seen any! On the way back we made a bit more noise but the competition was still on to see who would see a squirrel first (there was a separate competition to see who would fall over first since we were looking for squirrels and not watching where we were puting our feet!). Unfortunately, Daddy saw the first squirrel. Double unfortunately, it saw him first and scarpered up the tree (Daddy wouldn't have even seen it if it hadn't made so much noise!). He really wanted to get some pictures but it was so high and deliberately standing behind branches that he couldn't get a good focus on it. We had the same problem with another one we found just before leaving the wood. I think we'll come back though and have this competition again!

Highland Wildlife Park II

We went to the Highland Wildlife Park again while in Kingussie. One of the great things about coming here is that I get to drive the car around the enclosure. Mummy and Daddy both said I was very good at it this time and much better than normal. I can't wait to get another go at driving the car.

The tigers are looking great here. The cubs look almost as big as their Mummy and Daddy, in fact I'm not sure we can tell the difference any more! They look fabulous and we were there at feeding time. They now get their meat hidden and hanging from trees. It's amazing to see them climb trees and haul at these massive chunks of meat.

Pattack Falls

We went out to Pattack Falls this morning. Mummy and Daddy have a new book with a bunch of walks in the area around Granny and Grandpa's. A lot of them are probably still a bit long for me (not to mention Mummy!) but Daddy really wanted to go see the Pattack Falls as they're very near where you park the car.

We went on a short waymarked walk there - only took about 15 or 20 minutes. At one point, Daddy went the opposite way from us. Mummy and me were following the signs and Daddy wanted to see if he could get a better view of the waterfall. In the end, Daddy met us half-way around, it turned out he was following the same route in the opposite direction.

Mummy told Daddy that she'd been wondering if he'd be able to catch up and if he knew where we were but Daddy assured her that he could hear my voice at all times!

Ruthven Barracks II

First thing this morning we went to Ruthven Barracks. This time we took the correct swords. Ruthven Barracks is kind of where the whole sword-fighting-at-castles thing started a couple of years ago. At that time, Daddy and I had a battle with some Playmobil swords and having since invested in larger swords it's much more fun and a lot more obvious in the photos!

Ruthven Barracks is really nice and pretty well looked after by Historic Scotland. When we were there this time there were four guys from Historic Scotland building a new brick support for the sign in the car park and making repairs to the one in the barracks. It was nice to see craftsmen like this at work and just shows the effort Historic Scotland go to.

Hailes Castle

After Seacliff Beach it was off to Hailes Castle - a busy day! This was a really nice find. Daddy had spotted the signposts on the way to Tantallon and the man at Tantallon had recommended it too. It's unmanned (so free) but very nice and extremely well kept. It sits beside a nice big river and for being really quite remote it had quite a few visitors while we were there. So much so that we had to wait for a gap in the tourists to get our sword fighting done in peace!

Seacliff Beach

After Tantallon Castle, we went to Seacliff Beach for a picnic lunch and a wee paddle in the sea. It was so nice and a *very* popular beach with lots and lots of folk there for the day with wind-breaks, buckets and spades, several barbecues and some fishermen. We stayed for an hour or so and had our lunch. This was spur of the moment after it was recommended by the man at the castle so we hadn't come prepared for the beach. Meaning Mummy and Daddy yet again had not brought a change of clothes for me! So I removed my trousers and went paddling with just my pants on - it'll take more than amateur parents to keep my back!

Tantallon Castle II

We went back to Tantallon Castle today. It was much warmer and less windy than last time we were there. In fact, Mummy didn't even mind when we were right at the top. Last time she insisted Daddy keep hold of me and we get back down very quickly.
We had a good time and managed a bit of sword fighting up the top. And on the first floor. And on the ground! I got the better of Daddy this time and had him on the run at one point!

It's a great castle and was a particularly lovely day to be there, we'd definitely recommend a visit to anyone reading this and in the area.

Now We Are Six

Happy Birthday to me!

Lots of fun today and it's not even breakfast time yet! Gran and Grandad are coming over for lunch - I can't wait!

Auntie Vikki and Uncle Ian got me a police uniform for my birthday. I don't know how they knew I wanted it so badly?! Grandad was being naughty and I'm afraid he had to be arrested.



Luckily for him, he was released in time for birthday cake.

Geocaching

Today we went Geocaching for the first time. Geocaching is where get a location for a treasure from the geocaching website and put it in your GPS (or sat-nav in our case!) and then find your way to it. They're usually not on a main road so you can really trust a sat-nav to show you the way so you either need to know roughly where you are going or find your way on a map. The GPS/Sat-nav helps you find the exact spot when you get there and the treasure is usually a hidden sealed box with little treasures inside and a log book. We signed the log book and re-hid the box but didn't have anything to leave so didn't take anything.

We had a lot of trouble finding the treasure. The sat-nav wasn't great at finding the spot but the real problem was a fir tree that has fallen over in last week's snow and it was right over the hiding spot for the treasure. We were searching all over the area (which was a bit muddy so we all got a bit messy) until Daddy finally found the box. Daddy says there are loads of them and they're all around - even some up at Granny and Grandpa's so I can't wait to find more.

Picking Brussel Sprouts

Our last full day and Auntie Lesley and Uncle Rogers today. In the morning, we went to see Grandpa Sid - he's Uncle Roger's dad and he has the greatest knives I've ever seen! If Auntie Lesley sends me the photo she took of me and him together I'll post it here.
In the afternoon, between sessions playing computer games, we did a bit of gardening and I helped pick some brussel sprouts for dinner. And they were delicious too!

It's been great staying with Auntie Lesley and Uncle Roger. I've played the computer *a lot* but probably not as much as Auntie Lesley has ;-). I got to sleep in a tent in the spare room! Uncle Roger has given us excellent food. And it's nice having the cats around. I can't wait until we can come back here.

Chester Zoo

We went to Chester Zoo today. It was really good and very big. So big we didn't even see half of it. They have elephants and giraffes which Edinburgh do not have any longer and they have really lovely enclosures. There's also a monorail which was great fun - even though we got the car that a boy had just wet himself in (we just avoided that seat). Apart from the elephants and giraffes, we saw rhinos, deer, jaguars, leaf-cutter ants, fish, lots of different birds and a giant tortoise.

Robin Hood

We went to Lyme Park with Auntie Lesley today. It was great fun - we went on an Easter Egg trail and answered some questions and drew some pictures to earn a nice easter egg. Then after a bit of walking around, some playing on a space hopper and some lunch, I had a go at archery. I hit all three targets - no one else had managed that today and I was on just before they shut!