Biscuits

It's nearly Christmas! Time to make biscuits for the tree decorations!

Bounce!

What else should you do on a cold and boring late-November afternoon?

Roaches

We headed for Edinburgh Zoo today. After making our way around, seeing all the usual beasts AND the panda bears (which were pretty amazing for a couple of lazy, sleepy bears) we got to meet some cockroaches. Mum couldn't cope - she had to leave but dad and I stayed and learned a lot about them. Who would have known that they were extremely clean? We had to disinfect our hands before we could touch them and there was no need to wash afterwards!

Who's Your Hero?

We got to go school today dressed as our hero. There was only one person I wanted to go as - can you guess who it is?!

 

Anyone for Pancakes?!

Treats after diving today! I love going to Heller's Kitchen. This time I had pancakes and bacon with GOLDEN SYRUP! I person can never have enough GOLDEN SYRUP!

Climbing the Walls

This new onesie gives me super-powers!

Linlithgow Loch

Mum dragged us out for some exercise today. Linlithgow loch was the destination and it was the first time we'd all walked around it. It was a beautiful day to take such a lovely walk.

Hallowe'en 2013

Beh!

Culross

Even though Dad's a Fifer, he'd never been to the famous Fife historical village of Culross. So on a slightly dull and fairly cold day we decided to pop along and see what all the fuss is about.

It's a cool wee village. Very pretty and old and on a rather steep hill.

And it has an anchor!

Dad thought he was being very funny stealing this picture and sending it to his mates. He's such a wag.

And we found a ruined castle to explore!

One O'clock Gun

We took a break from Camera Obscura to nip up to the castle (easy to do when you're a member of Historic Scotland!) and watch the gun fire at one o'clock. Edinburgh Castle is amazing but for a wee boy, I much prefer ruins. The gun is great though!

And we got to meet the guy that fired the gun with the remains of the shell afterwards! Mum says it's the shortest soldier she'd ever met!

Camera Obscura

One of my friends was at the Camera Obscura in Edinburgh recently and raved about it so much I've been trying to get Mum and Dad to take me. Today they finally obliged. So into Edinburgh on the train we went and up to Camera Obscura. It was approaching lunch time so obviously Dad was hungry but although they don't have a cafe, your ticket lets you in and out of the place all day so we had an hour or so in there, taking in the point of it all and some of the exhibits.

It's situated in a great place with views all over Edinburgh:

And there are amazing illusions, like this cool perspective room!

And then I totally lost my head:

Since we were so close the castle and we could return to the Obscura on the same ticket, we popped up to hear the one o'clock gun. Edinburgh Castle's not the greatest for kids, not even big kids like Dad but since we're members of Historic Scotland, it's a fine way to spend an hour or so when it's free!

I'm not sure this is allowed but we're such rebels...

The gun was great but disappointingly it didn't surprise the tourists (and us) as much as it has done in the past. It's always fun to see hundreds of people expecting a loud bang at a known time get the shock of their lives when it happens!

We did get to go and meet the guy who fires the gun though and get our picture taken with him. He's the smallest soldier ever.

We then finished up in Camera Obscura. The last floor we did was the most fun. It had a maze of mirrors that you wore gloves in to stop the mirrors getting dirty - it was really amazing (excuse the pun!) and although it was quite short, we went in multiple times and enjoyed it the same every time. But the real star of the show was the walk-in kaleidoscope. A tunnel of brightly coloured light spinning around a fixed, metal walkway; just looking inside it makes you nearly fall over, but when you step on the walkway, you almost throw yourself off the side trying to stay upright. It's impossible to describe but even though it almost made Dad sick, he couldn't help going in again and again!

Standing Stones

Did you know there were ancient standing stones in Newbridge? Not many people do. Dad drove past them for years when he was at university and had no idea. Typically, it was geocaching that brought them to his attention. He found a cache there with friends a few years ago and didn't claim it at the time because he knew it was somewhere Mum and me would like to come.

However, it's taken him so long to bring us, the cache no longer exists - unsurprisingly, the stones still do though!

It's a single burial mound with three large stones around it. Experts think there used to be a dozen or so stones circling it. It made for a nice walk on a lovely day and I hope it wasn't disrespectful that I did some acrobatics on the burial mound - it wasn't meant to be.

Star jumps:

Cartwheels (you may need to zoom in):

And a cartwheel off the side (into some nettles - serves me right!):

Remember those Fossils?

Do you remember the fossils we brought back from Eathie Fossil Beach over three years ago? Well they've been gathering dust in a box all this time and finally we've decided to explore them properly.

So Dad and I set out to break the rocks open and see what was inside.

In truth, there were no new dinosaurs found but it was good fun trying!

Duncarron Medieval Village

Today we went to Duncarron Medieval Village near Falkirk. Mum and Dad have known about it for a long time and wanted to go there but it's being built slowly by volunteers and gaining access is only really possible while they're hosting events. Today there was an open day with battle re-enactment and lots of interesting and fun things from medieval times.

My shirt proved very popular on the day!

I helped attack the fort!

Practiced some spear throwing!

Spent some time in the stocks!

And almost lost my head!

Lots of fun - we'll definitely come back here. There are more photos from the day on their Facebook page.

Back to School

Exploring

It's the last week of the summer holidays and Dad has taken some time off work so that we can have a few days up north before going back to school.

For one of the days we went exploring with Auntie Anne and Uncle Ian. They took us on a great walk up a Craig Mony to an ancient hill fort. The walk was through an old forest with some really massive trees!

Although the fort was barely recognisable, after a lovely picnic lunch supplied by Auntie Anne, Dad and I had to carry out the tradition of having a sword fight!

The walk back down through some more massive trees was fun.

Then it was off through another wood to reach the backs of Loch Ness. We couldn't find the monster but we did find some very friendly ducks!

After that, we went back to Auntie Anne's for some more food. We had a fabulous day and I hope we can do it again.

Schwing!

Just for fun!

Hair Cut

Mum cut my hair today - yes, MUM!

Before -

After -

The Old Course

We went to St Andrews today. We can never get enough of St Andrews so it's always great to go back. We parked by the beach and walked along it to the town. Dad was really jealous of this collection of sandcastles!

It was straight to our usual haunt for lunch which was busier than normal and we had to sit upstairs - still excellent food and service though.

They had live music for us this time. They were playing 'Singing in the Rain' but it didn't rain at all!

Don't you just love steps?!

Where's Wally?

Always speak to the folk in the castle mine.

Ice cream. Never come to St Andrews and don't get ice cream. This time we tried Jannettas. This was a first for us but it's the ice cream everyone raves about. It'll be the last though - it's not nearly as good as Luvians where we usually go.

And then we went onto the Old Course. It's Sunday so there is no playing and lots of people milling about the 18th green and fairway. We don't play golf so did our own thing!

And then Mum and I posed for that photo everyone has to take at St Andrews. Funny that we've coming here for years and this is the first time we've done this.