Fife Coast

Today we had to go to Fife. Mum had a thing she had to do in the morning so Dad and me went to see Gran and Grandad for a few hours and then after picking her up we all had to go looking at curtain fabric at a place in Kirkcaldy. Luckily Dad let me plays games on his iPhone or I think I'd have gone mad. It's bad enough with Dad going mad without me doing it too.

Anyway, remarkably, when we finished looking at curtains (and leaving empty-handed) it had turned into a beautiful sunny day. Dad took us home the scenic route and we stopped a couple of times - once at the beach at Kirkcaldy and once under the Forth Bridge. It was all really very pretty, fun and cool.

I am in the first two pictures. Can you see me?

The moon is in the next two pictures - can you spot it?

Fishing at Beecraigs

I said we'd be back! It's been a really nice day today so we've come back to Beecraigs to do some fishing. That's another of the 50 things to do before you're 11 and 3/4 done!

There were plenty little fish to see but they are extremely difficult to catch. Luckily there was another young lad there who'd caught a few and was able to teach us the knack - you have to be extremely quick and just lunge the net straight in and under them. That technique took a lot of mastering and after Mum and Dad had managed to catch a fish or two each it was looking like I might not succeed. But then, just before we had to leave to come home, I caught one!

We also saw frogs and a couple of leeches while we were there. The other boy picked up the leech! Rather him than me. I got to have a frog in my hands which was really cool. I'm still not sure who had more fun there though - me or Mummy!

Tree Climbing at Beecraigs

After a day spent mostly indoors, we headed out late in the afternoon to Beecraigs to check out their new park. It's been complete for months but on our previous attempts to visit, all car parks, including overflow car parks, have been full (and I've been asleep in the back of our car) so we've just come away again. Today that wasn't the case though!

We played a lot on the zip line and Dad and I climbed the climbing frame. He won the race. At least, he's typing this and that's what will be recorded in history.

Dad got his phone out and decided we should try to collect a geocache or two. I didn't really want to leave the park but Mum and Dad insisted and I'm glad they did! We passed a wee pond with lots of fish in it - we'd need to return to that with my net to get another of my 50 things to do before I'm 11 and 3/4. We headed into the wood to find the cache and it was a lot like exploring. And then cache was in a very cool tree and I had to climb it to get to the cache! It was great fun! Can't wait to come back.

Cycling in the Sun

Dad and me popped out for a cycle in the sun. Thought we'd share this cool picture of our shadows...

Rolling Down a Hill

Today it was pretty cold. But it was also mostly sunny. When it wasn't sunny it snowed, which was interesting, but it didn't snow for very long. We went to the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore to meet a friend of Mum's and her son who is a friend of mine. We'd been there yesterday and had a lot of fun so we thought it would be a good place to go again to play.

And play we did! We played at the park, we explored in the woods, and we found a nice hill to roll down. Rolling down a really big hill is one of the 50 things to do before you're 11 and 3/4. Dad's had me try it before but I've never enjoyed it because I always ended up rolling in circles. I managed to get a much better hang of it this time though and my friend and I rolled down the hill for ages while the Mums and Dads explored the 1700s township.

I asked my friend what his Dad did for a living at one point. The conversation went a bit like this:
Me: "What does your dad do?!"
Him: "He's a painter."
Me: "What?!"
Him: "He's a painter."
Me: "What?!" (we were running about and I couldn't hear very well)
Him: "He paints things!"
Me: "Well my Dad works at Sky and when we watch the telly we get it for free!"

We also found a few more wildcats. Dad had spotted these in Newtonmore the day before and while driving through we'd counted how many we could see in people's gardens, on garage roofs and elsewhere. We'd managed seven and figured we'd done quite well - there would only be about 10 or so, surely? We asked at the museum how many there are and it turns out there are about 150! We did find some more at the museum with my friend though!

Feshie in the Snow

This morning Dad and I took Mum to Feshie to see the cairns. It had snowed a bit overnight so they were looking particularly cool with their little covering. I also took the opportunity to work on another of the 50 things to do before you're 11 and 3/4 and skimmed a stone or two on the river. That took a *lot* of practice but I did manage it in the end! And I was able to throw some snow. So in this one location (admittedly over two days) I've climbed a tree, thrown snow, skimmed a stone and balanced on a fallen tree. It would also be true to say that very near here I've been geocaching, although that was another time (but it is one of the 50 things!).

Here are some more pictures...

Feshie River Cairns

On the front page of the Strathy this week was an article about some cairns that have popped up alongside the river Feshie. The article deliberately didn't give any detail about where exactly it was but with a little google mapping and an educated guess about where they were most likely, Dad and I went out looking for them.

Our guess was right and they were well worth the trip. Majestic little stone towers on the bank of the river. Lots of them. Someone had been extremely busy! We added our own and it was only while attempting this that we begun to appreciate just the amount of effort that had gone into building these. Some were as big as me! Dad and me couldn't make any nearly that big before they would fall over.

Also in the area was a fallen tree. This was perfect because just that morning there had been an article on the paper about the National Trusts new campaign of 50 things to do before you're 11 and 3/4. Dad had checked out the list and was pleased to see that I'd already completed most of them but there were a few still to do. One or two he was very surprised we hadn't already done at some point and here we had an opportunity to cross one of those off. That was walking across a fallen tree. It turned out to be a lot of fun and we spent about as much time on this tree as we did building cairns! Enjoy the photos (and see if you can spot me on some of the ones of the tree!)...

This isn't forced perspective - they really are as tall as me!

 Can you see me in the background building my own cairn?

Here we go!

The finished article!

One fallen tree...

I'm up there somewhere!

Kingussie Randoms

We've come up to Kingussie for the last few days of the Easter fortnight. Until now the weather on our holiday has been pretty poor but up here it's been amazing. Dad's spent ages in the garden and had the biggest fire burning for the longest time. I think with all the wood, including taking down Grandpa's greenhouse, he's kept that fire burning for 2 days straight!

Anyway, here are some random pictures he's taken...

Angry fire monster! It was me who pointed out to him that it looked like a face.

Me dressed as a pirate. Granny and Grandpa gave me this costume for my birthday - it was just what I wanted too!

Creag Dubh from the Highland Folk Museum. Been a while since we've been here and we only saw a tiny part of it this morning but it's really nice. Must come back soon and see more of it.

EIGHT!

Birthday time again! Dad was point-blank refusing to throw a big party for my birthday so instead, and since it falls during the Easter holidays, we went to the cinema and then for lunch with a very good friend. We all had a great time eating at my favourite restaurant!

Rock climbing

The rock climbing was AMAZING. Mummy and Daddy were very impressed with how much I paid attention and how well I did. Dad says he'll take me climbing back home now!

After the climbing lesson, all us kids went to the bouldering room and tried to make it all the way around without falling off. Then we finished the lesson by playing a vertical game of twister and had to put the chosen apendage to the chosen colour. I did well but didn't win - next time!

Skylanders

This morning, we have mostly been watching telly and playing games. Because it's raining. Going rock climbing after lunch though - I do hope it's inside! Dad's got a new app for his phone and made this (here's hoping it works on blogger!):

Canal Locks

Today, while at Auntie Lesley's, we went to the canal. There are loads of locks at this canal and while we were there, a group of people were taking their boat through the locks. They very kindly explained all about the locks to me and allowed me to help them open and close one of them. It was great fun! Afterwards, Dad dragged us on a long walk to the bottom of the lock flight. It's a total of 16 locks (and three geocaches!). It's fine going down, but then you just have to turn and come back up! You can learn more about the locks here.