This great summer weather continues! It was another day in the paddling pool yesterday with some friends - no photos for you guys though as it's not really appropriate to share photos of my friends and I in bathing costumes on here. Maybe if it was just me, because I'm such an exhibitionist, but not them!
Today, Mum and I went into Edinburgh and there we found a water walker - that made quite a fool of me. Now that, I'm happy to share!
It's still sunny today! Can you believe it?! I've had lots of fun playing on my trampoline and in my paddling pool and this evening I had an amazing water fight with Dad. It might have been more amazing but for him almost choking to death when I threw a cup of water in his mouth while he was breathing in. It's all on video as Mum was filming and laughing at him while he had his near-death experience but I've chosen not to share the traumatic scenes here (email me if you want a copy!).
We both ended up soaked through. I've no idea how we got so wet...
This afternoon we went back to see Mum's friend. After a wee cup of tea we headed out to go butterfly hunting. It was still a lovely day and we went to a really nice area around the flood defences. There were lots of butterflies, moths, birds and beasties - and even some fish!
We had an excellent guide in Mum's friend's son - he knew everything about insects and we learned a lot and caught some really cool beasties. Plus there was lots of fun to be had running around the area and rolling down the hill!
The rain this evening was pretty special. It was really heavy and the wind was pretty strong too. Dad shouted me through to watch it and I immediately decided to go out and play in it. Dad tried to stop me like the fantastic parent that he is but quickly realised he wasn't going to have any success with that so decided to just video me having lots of fun getting wet instead!
After he stopped recording we played for a while. Mum had joined him and we played soldiers from either side of the glass with me shooting them and blowing them up with hand grenades and rocket launchers. We're so easily amused - who needs computers?!
We had a busy and full day today. The weather was looking not too great so we avoided the beach and headed into Forres for a look around and to scoop up a couple of geocaches. It's a beautiful wee town with a wonderful church and the greatest park and while we were there the sun came out making it look all the more lovely.
There's an interesting couple of shops next to each other. I fancied a pie and a hair cut but Dad hauled me away so fast my feet didn't touch the ground...
One of the caches was near the river where they have lots of lovely bridges to play Pooh sticks on!
We found an excellent restaurant for lunch where I had fish and chips and Dad had a massive burger. I tried to tell him not to eat it all because all he'd want to do all afternoon was sleep but it was so good he wouldn't listen to me. I didn't let him sleep though!
After lunch we headed for Grant Park for another cache. This was a really gorgeous park on the edge of a wooded hill. I did a wee bit of tree climbing and a lot of running about. We looked for ages for the cache but couldn't find it. Eventually I had to leave Mum and Dad and go play on the climbing frame while they continued looking. They didn't find it that day and we had to return later in the week for them to eventually track it down!
After Forres, we headed back to Findhorn to do some crab fishing! This would turn out to be the highlight of the holiday! We'd met some boys on Monday who were doing it and told us where to get a line and net so we arrived at the pier at what must have been the best time because we caught loads of crabs! I'd paid attention yesterday and knew how to pick them up once they'd been caught. I just threw them back in to be caught again later!
Once the tide had gone out, there was still enough time to hit the beach. I said it was a busy day! So off to the beach we went, on with the wetsuit and into the sea while Dad built a sandcastle.
And then I got an opportunity to soak him! Here's some video evidence of that..!
I think there's more video on Mum's camera and if we get around to uploading that it'll be added to this post.
It wasn't raining today so we *had* to go to the beach. Although it wasn't raining, it was still pretty cold so after a quick dook in the sea I was pretty freezing and was thrilled when Auntie Anne called to say they'd be in the area with friends and would we like to join them for lunch!
It was a quick trip back to the cottage to get cleaned up and warmed up before heading back to the Findhorn Foundation for a bite to eat and then into Findhorn village for a wander. It was great to see Auntie Anne and Uncle Ian and to meet their friends, Peter and Alison. Peter had lots of cool tricks to show me and stories to tell - he was kind enough to keep me company straggling at the back when the others didn't wait!
Playing at the pond next to the cafe:
The geocache we found in Findhorn!
After Findhorn we headed to Culbin Forrest for a wee walk and say the most tadpoles and tiny frogs that I have ever seen!
Today was the gymnastics club championships. All members tried their hardest to complete the routines we'd been set as best we could. I didn't make the top three but everyone got a medal. Here's some video of my range of movement and the little display I did with one of my gymnast friends.
Just back from gymnastics. It's a beautiful evening, I'm still wearing my gymnastics gear and Dad's cut the grass. So here's a one handed cartwheel filmed using Dad's new slow motion camera app...
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!
When we were at the Glasgow Science Centre on my birthday, we spent some time building a model of a steam powered wheelchair from Wallace & Gromit. A little ironically it was battery powered but that wasn't important. The lady explained to us how to build it and we talked about the drive and the impact of putting different pieces on that resulted in the wheel not running centrally (a funny lumpy ride was the result!).
Anyway, a nice surprise was that we got to take the model home to finish off. Finishing it off required the cardboard wheelchair shape to be correctly folded and added. Today, Daddy and I did this. And it was no surprise why they didn't want us doing it there! It was difficult and fiddly work. However it did come together in the end and we were both extremely pleased with the quality!
Here it is ferrying some Lego minifigures across the floor:
Mummy and I have had a great day today. After we dropped Daddy off at work, we went off to Linlithgow for my swimming lesson. I've been every day this week, and I've been learning loads. At the start of the week I told Mummy that backstroke was my least favourite stroke, but now I really like it, and I'm really good at it! Take a look at this:
After swimming we stopped in at Dobbies for a drink and a cake. Yum. To be honest though, I think I ate a bit much (and I know Mummy did!), so we are not going to do that again tomorrow!
We then went home and I played with my Power Miners Lego for ages while Mummy did Mummy stuff around the house. I can't tell you what any of that was, because I can't say I see any difference! After lunch we cycled to the dentist - passed with a clean bill of health (and teeth), and then took the long route home (on purpose!). Then I watched Harry Potter 2 for a bit before we went off to gymnastics - Mummy was just driving, not taking part! As usual I had lots of fun - we're practising for our competition in September at the moment, and my teacher Allen told Mummy and Daddy the other day that he is having to do more advanced stuff with me because I am doing so well. Hooray for me!
And now I am home, playing with more Lego and wondering when Mummy is finally going to be finished making dinner!
We went to the Findhorn Foundation today. It's pretty cool - lots of eco homes and friendly folks doing nice things. We specifically went so that Mummy could spend a lot of money on take a look at the pottery. I had a good look too but then everyone got a bit worried that I was going to break something - I don't know why they were thinking that. Anyway, Dad and I went outside to wait on Mummy to spend a lot of money. She took a while to spend a lot of money and I got a bit stir-crazy so thought it'd be nice to entertain Dad...
Holidays are great. Because it's a long drive, Dad puts the iPod in the car. He thinks he'll get to listen to his own cool old music but I just make him play High School Musical songs all the time. And then sing along to them!
Today, it was back to the beach for some more playing in the surf and building sandcastles.
At one point, Mummy had disappeared to the top of the beach, after a wee while, Daddy suggested we go see what she was up to. We ran up to see her and she'd dug this massive hole. When I asked what it was for, Daddy grabbed me and held me down in it while they buried me! Wasn't very good though, I got out without any problems... And ate their brains (a light meal)!
Later, we went out to collect a few geocaches further along the coast. It's a pretty amazing bit of coast and we had to haul Daddy away with his fancy camera - he'd have stayed for ages! We got a bunch of caches though and now we've almost got 100!
I don't think a description of our weather will shock anyone - the whole country has been buried in snow.
Daddy and I were out on the first day for a bit of sledging (sans camera so no evidence but we had a really great time).
Mummy has been out a *lot* shoveling to keep the street clear while Daddy has been "working from home". I don't know how much work he's actually done but it's made a fine excuse to keep him from shoveling with the rest of the neighbours!
He was in Birmingham for work the first Monday and Tuesday of the snow and luckily made it home via train, monorail, plane (to Glasgow rather than Edinburgh), bus, train, bus, digging his car out and driving home. He arrived home at 02:30, about 4.5 hours later than expected. Nothing was going to stop him from attempting to build an igloo for me the next day!
Daddy did pop out to try to get some photographic evidence of the situation. I didn't go with him so there are no photos of me for your viewing pleasure, but the snow has been just too deep for me to get through at times! I did enjoy many days off school and days at school being pulled home on the sledge by Daddy! I could really get used to having this much snow about!
The opinions expressed here are not mine, they are entirely the responsibility of my parents, as I am still a bit little to write this myself.
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