Boxing Day

No pictures for this post, but thought we'd fill you in on Isla's first Boxing Day. She and Alisdair watched some Hunting DVDs...Boar Hunting in Hungary in the morning and then we took off to Edinburgh to check out a Boxing Day Sale. We found the store we were looking for...just over by the University (and the GreyFriar's Bobby statue for those tourists who remembered their open top bus ride through the city). As it was Boxing Day the store was giving out free Mince Pies and hot drinks. We skipped the hot drinks, but Isla was a fan of Mince Pies (and for those who are thinking of Grammie venison, Mince here is a sweet raisiny meatless stuff they put in shortbread little pies. They are awful for you, but a staple of British holiday diets). As Alisdair took awhile Isla and I stood out on the street as people got a good chuckle out of her in her new Goldfish/balaclava hat. I will take a picture and put it on the web later. It's quite funny. We walked around Edinburgh, but unfortunately John Lewis (department store) and the Bavarian Market were both shut. We just did some lunch and headed home. We stopped in to see Grannie  who had been delivering lambs all day, but unfortunately lost a set of twins in the morning. We'd forgotten to give her her Christmas Toast rack as a gift...so Alisdair left it in the barn with her as we headed up the road.
Isla is now big enough to move from her backwards facing to her forwards facing car seat and enjoys the views much more. Being MaxiCosi it is an Isofix (so clips right into the car) and you can tilt the seat so she can semi-laydown or sit right up. She likes to sit up and kick the passenger seat...we'll see how long we let that continue!

It's the 27th now, and we got some snow last night. It's a bit chilly, but "fresh" and bright this morning. Time to go see what the backyard looks like in the light and check on the turkeys!
Hope you all had a nice holiday. Alisdair is off shooting deer this afternoon with Michael, so Isla and Kenna will stay in the house to keep warm or perhaps go visit Grannie and see the lambs and we'll put some more pictures up tomorrow.

Christmas Day

Here in Scotland the sun isn't coming up until almost 9am and it sets again about 3:30pm, so the days are pretty short (but the good news is it is only getting lighter from now until June!) The darkness means that Isla wasn't up at the crack of dawn...well, maybe she was as it was near 8:30 before she woke up. She wasn't all that bemused with the idea of packages or the tree or anything. We did our best to get her to open gifts, but she has a relatively short attention span. Here are some pictures of her with some of her gifts.After going to grandma's we took the dogs (all 6 of them..they are black..don't be upset if you can't see them all) out for a walk.
Isla took a nap while we ate Christmas dinner. When she woke up we tried to show her Christmas crackers and put her crown on her. Uncle Basil did the honours and fed her brussel sprouts (she wasn't impressed) and her roast parsnips, potatoes and carrots. She did like those! Thanks to Erin and Grannie Troup for her Christmas outfit.
Her friends Rachael and Sarah gave her a set of lambie reigns/backpack so she can't wander off when she starts walking (which may be anyday soon at the rate she is going. She can roll faster than Steven Seigal in an action movie). She thought the lamb was pretty cool. She's also wearing her new merino wool hat...(no more need to shower, eh Uncle Small? It is self cleaning!)
Again, "oohing" with excitement..here she is on her rocking butterfly with her new hunting hat...She and dad are watching Hunting Wild Boars in Hungary as I type...
This is Isla with her new toy...a Golliwog...not sure we'll be taking that to Florida with us, but she loves it's head....very soft...and of course the tag...

The Night Before Christmas

The 24th is always good fun around here as we usually go to Dunblane Cathedral to participate in the Christingle service, but this year, ironically the first that we have had child, we decided to skip the service and have our own festivities here in Blackford. Thanks to Auntie Erin we had our 5th annual "Gingerbread" decorating contest. Above is Alisdair's ski chalet complete with decapitated skiier and avalanche.
This is Auntie Claire's interpretation of a Glasgow Housing Project Council House tower and if you look close you can see the shopping trolley on fire and a man being stabbed. "Joy to the World" and all that!
Continuing a family tradition, we read the Christmas story from the Bible and had Isla dress up as a shepard....with her small sheep....or border terrier....yes, I'm pretty confident that the shepards had dogs...(and Betty Crocker frosting lids)
This is the whole family crowd (including Uncle Basil trying to hide behind the fridge door) getting ready for a lovely meal of Frito Corn Chip Pie. This is our "still under construction" kitchen complete with sheetrock (or Giprock for those British folk) walls. The painter had just finished the lower half of the walls that morning.
Claire brought Isla some festive Reindeer slippers which she remarkably kept on most of the night. Uncle Basil helped her "walk" around and keep always enthusiastic Charlie at bay. Isla LOVES Santa noises and "HO HO HO" as she shakes with excitement is a usual occurance around here. We'd take that over what Charlie does when she's excited by Uncle Basil (which always includes a roll of papertowels and some cleaning fluid)

"A Work in Progress"

I was once told that there was a Family grin" in pictures....and I guess it must be hereditary, as Isla seems to have it. She is SO familiar with the camera now (even though, in all honesty I have been taking a lot less pictures in the past few months) that she stops whatever she is doing and does "the grin". Here you can see her as she has just stopped leaning over her highchair trying to feed the dogs her breakfast. Charlie is waiting patiently though...

That's the drying rack behind her..we're slowly trying to get our house put together, but it's still a little dusty, and "rustic" looking around here.

Here is Isla and Alisdair hanging out on our new couches in the almost finished front room, which unfortunately is now full of stuff from other rooms that are being refurbished. In the cruelist of all jokes, the man from SKY (cable) tv came out on Sunday and hooked up our SKY HD which Alisdair had been on the waiting list for months to get. Alisdair then was on the phone with their hideous customer sales team for 45 minutes trying to get it to work, but by Tuesday the workmen put up scaffolding on the outside of our house and we get no signal...for the next 6-8 weeks while they are repairing our roof and replacing windows...so we have a great tv and nothing to watch on it...
Miss Isla has learned to crawl..she is ESPECIALLY good at it in the tub (a bit of lubrication with the water and the bathmat helps), but she can move across the new carpet when she sees something she especially wants (ie Charlie's tail). Here is the Grin again.
This is the other side of our kitchen. The wall was straightened (and had to be brought out over 6 inches to make it square with the other side of the room) and you can see our lovely decor of sheetrock and plaster....we're debating whether to varnish or paint the wooden half of the walls...votes will be appreciated :)
And one more close up of "The Grin" and her lethal teeth. She is enjoying all kinds of "real" food and is a big fan of raisins, creamed corn (we had to buy it on a site that imports it from the US), American Cheerios (again, from American Sweets.com), peas and last night seemed quite happy with Turkey escalopes. For some reason drinking out of a glass is a highly comical event and brings a smile and shake with glee everytime.

We are looking forward to Christmas to see how much of it she gets, but for now has a great time singing along with George Strait "HO Ho HO, who wouldn't go? ho, ho, ho..up on the house top reindeer paws..." and "Fa la la la la" also is a pleaser.

Thanksgiving Scottish Style

Thanksgiving was quite an event here at the Troup household.
As it is not a holiday here in Scotland, we had to squeeze it in work schedules and having a joiner, a decorator, a plumber, a plasterer and an electrician in the house all at the same time made it even more eventful! To through into the mix Kenna had a big meeting for work that afternoon, but Grannie Troup stepped in again and saved the day and came up to oversee the management of all the key Thanksgiving dishes into the oven at the correct time and babysit Isla.

It was a nice dinner and good to share with friends. Once again Scots are a little bemused that Americans cook SO much food and make dishes that are sweet to eat with the main meal (candied sweet potatoes, jello), but now that we're getting a bit better at "mixing cultures" pork stuffing and a Scottish Apple pie are main staples and will be part of Isla's "dual" heritage.

Among other toys that Alisdair has purchased from Bushwear this year, the clingfilm super industrial unit was a hit. Above we have Alisdair proving that EVERYTHING is better with a little clingfilm....including Charlie (and no, we usually don't put the dog on the kitchen counters)...Alisdair figured with all the rain we get, perhaps a small raincoat for the terrier wouldn't go amiss....Charlie wasn't as thrilled as Alisdair with her new outfit..


Alisdair has been taking on more "parental" responsibilities lately and today when Kenna came down from vacuuming the stairs, she found Alisdair sharing another key Scottish dish with the bairn...a cheese platter.... Unfortunately Isla has had SO many pictures taken of her, she now pre-emptively shuts her eyes for the flash....She is definitely daddy's little girl and is a HUGE fan of cheese....all kinds....so, a Ploughman's it will be instead of a cake on her 1st birthday!
We woke up to heavy frost this morning that never melted. We had ice INSIDE the windows in the kitchen and dining room, so Alisdair got the fires going and we made use of Isla's new hat from Grandma Maughan.
Never one to let a holiday go by un-celebrated, Alisdair surprised Kenna with a special Thanksgiving gift...a family of Bourbon Red turkeys...this picture doesn't do them justice for how big they are (and kudos to Grannie Troup for driving all the way to Aberdeen to pick them up and having the stag on the front seat of her BMW for the 3 hour return trip!)....it was a complete surprise and Alisdair was terribly proud of himself for pulling it off. "Operation G (for Gobble)" included a group of helpers, Mick (the destroyer) who came up and built the pen, Grannie Troup and her mates who had to find turkeys in Scotland that weren't destined for someone's freezer for Christmas. So far we haven't had any complaints from the neighbours, but we just let them out of the shed today (Sunday).
For Thanksgiving, Grannie Troup found Isla a nice new dress and Claire brough her a hat and this little bow. She looks very grown up and we thought we'd better take a picture of her first Thanksgiving. She enjoyed it all...the turkey, the sweet potatoes, the rolls, but wasn't such a fan of corn (Charlie got most of that).

The House

Here is the wallpaper and couch in our new room..you can see the vestibule through the door. That is being done too.
Here is Miss Isla eating her Blackberries again.
This is the mudroom...it's fantastic and i love the big sinks under the windows as well as the drying rack that is on the ceiling with a pulley system. On the left behind the coats you can see a door to a great little bathroom and shower, for the post hunting days.
For those who have asked if Isla learns anything at Baby Sign class. This is "All Done" and she does it when she wants no more of what you're feeding her.
This is her on the floor in her make-shift bedroom right now, with her favourite shoes, (thanks Kim!)

Friday Blogging

Hello! We only have a few minutes this morning before we head off to Baby Signing class, but I thought I'd post more pictures of what we have been up to. Isla got some new hats. We bought a great website called CobWebKnits and they have some fantastic hats! Turnips, Christmas pudding, Califlower, etc.. In this picture she is modeling her Scottish Thistle cap, while proudly sitting on our new carpet in our new front room (with old ugly, too long curtains). Our house is slowly coming together and we're hoping to have one room finished by tomorrow night.

If anyone wants to see the other hat collection, this is their site.
http://www.cobwebknits.co.uk/

It's amazing the things you find when you move. Here are Kenna's swimming goggles and remarkably enough, Isla didn't fuss when we put them on her. I had to laugh and thought the picture might brighten up your day too. Kenna went to the dr's on Tuesday and should get paperwork in the mail today as to when knee surgery number 2 is. They have turned into fairly minor "clean up" jobs as the doctor said that it's not worth doing major work. Good news is she can go swimming again.
This picture had isla in the bottom...but guess she got cut off. This is our dining room, but we had to put our couches in there as we had no other renovation free room...yes, the large light through the window is the SUN...(sometime we don't see much of here in Scotland in November)...but as you can see we have lovely cornices and woodwork in the house...now we'll just be doing something about the dark wallpaper and ceilings...
If you look close you can see there are three dogs in the dog bed...not that they all don't have places to sleep, but I suppose it's more comfy to sweeze three dogs in one bed that was made for a medium sized dog. I guess we should just be glad they all get along.
We have discovered that Miss Isla likes Blackberries.....a little tough on the washing (hence the Ikea plastic frog bib) but her faces are hilarious when she eats...she shuts one eye if something is too bitter. I will post another eating picture. Unfortunately I took her to the Health Visitor Clinic just after this and had to explain that she wasn't bruised...she just had some residual blackberry juice on her arm that I hadn't gotten off...

The New House!

Once again, we decided that rather do things slowly and un-stressfully, instead we would move house and Kenna would have knee surgery less than a week later. Nothing like a little challenge! So, as nature would have it, it was also one of the worst weekend for weather we'd had all year. Michael and Alisdair, luckily, are hearty sorts and the fact that it was like standing infront of a pressure washer due to the rain being so heavy and the wind so bad, it didn't put them off. Other friends came up to help and we managed to get everything moved in one day. Not everything is put away and we are undergoing some huge decoration/renovation projects, but the joy of a house that has lots of rooms means you can shut the door on a room or two,(or five or six) and still get on just fine.

This is the kitchen...not exactly tidy, but you get the general idea. It is a nice country kitchen that just needs a few decorating touches.

The backyard is fenced...and a huge reason we bought it. Isla, who is getting more and more mobile everyday, can be completely contained and for now it is handy to keep the dogs in check. We have three chickens, a small greenhouse and this little sunhouse too....you can see the flooding on the deck where we seem to have a pipe issue when I do laundry...but it's all getting sorted little by little.
This staircase and the cornices are another cool feature. As it was the old Bank of Scotland and the house was built in the late 1840s, there are a lot of nice features, like the huge staircase and the stained glass window. We are thinking of putting back in the old doorway to the back right where the ironing board is in this picture, so you don't have to cut through the dining room to get to the back of the house. As it was a bank and the bank manager's house there are things like servants quarters in the third floor with an old staircase directly to the kitchen, but previous owners took that out years ago. It's most unique feature is probably the massive safe that is actually in the neighbour's front room. The walls are over three feet thick and no contractor will take it out. We also discovered that there is no crawl space under our front room as it was filled with sand to keep anyone from trying to rob the bank.
This is the house from the outside. It is technically a "semi-detached" as the owners in the early 1900s attached a shop to the side that has since been made a house. I guess during the war, because it was a bank it didn't have to give up its iron fencing like most other properties in town.

We'll Take the Family Car to the Zoo!

Apologies to those of you who weren't Sesame Street watchers and don't remember the title line from the Doodle Bug Family Problem solving sketch...But we went to the zoo and had a great time. This is Alisdair and Isla watching the penguins and we saw the afternoon penguin walk too (the zookeepers take the "better behaved" penguins out for a walk around their enclosure, much like kindergarteners in a big group.). We also saw the monkeys, which Isla was thoroughly impressed with.
Edinburgh Zoo is a nightmare for anyone who is disabled, but Kenna didn't know that when we decided to go, so she braved the hills anyway but we did have a lovely view of the camels, with the city of Edinburgh just behind it.
Her is another Isla/Charlie "play" moment. Isla has figured she can grab Charlie's coat (usually her ears and tail) and then jump and it is good fun...Charlie doesn't think so though and Kenna has rescued Charlie a few times.
Yes, we do keep an eye on these two, and try to keep Isla from doing any serious harm to the dog (and vice versa), but heaven knows Charlie has the patience of a saint (or is just really, really stupid) and puts up with it all. Guess she figures that's her payment for dropped food. We also wash Isla's hands a lot as well..

This weekend Isla was babysat all day Saturday by Alisdair who took her to Bushwear to meet some customers and help him measure deer heads. Kenna and Florence went down to Stobo Castle in the Borders for a lovely spa day. (for anyone interest in what Stobo Castle is)

http://www.stobocastle.co.uk/

Then Florence watched Isla all day on Sunday so Alisdair and Kenna could get some much needed stuff ready for the move next weekend. Isla was great and seems to cope fine with being away from mom. She has had practice the past two weeks as while Kenna did farm chores her friend Laura babysat Isla every afternoon in exchange for Kenna taking Laura's girls up to help with the chores. She is a very happy, content little kid still and we're feeling quite lucky that she is so flexible.

Isla's Latest Outings

Isla has decided that Charlie is her new little mate...unfortunately Charlie isn't bright enough to run away and has had large handfuls of fur removed, but seeing how you are supposed to hand strip terriers, we figure Isla is actually doing us a service! We had drawn the line at her eating Charlie hair.
Isla is eating all kinds of food now, including peas..although I'm not sure from this picture you can claim she actually "eats" them as just mooshes them around in her mouth and makes hilarious faces.
There is a class for children here called "Mini Music Makers." A friend told Kenna that you should't be put off by the fact you have to sing your child's name to introduce them in class, but never taking that risk, she decided instead to just get the toys at the local store. Isla has a great time making her own tunes.
Two weeks ago we had a nice day and decided to make the most of it by taking Little Miss Isla to the zoo. There are more pictures of the zoo in the next post. It's actually Kenna's purse she is holding, but in her wool coat, dress and tights she was quite a site!
When you fly on Air France they give you lots of things. One particularly chilly morning just after we got back from Argentina, Isla ate her breakfast in her new cap and looked so cute, we had to take a picture.

A New World Record

Four days and five guys and a new world record was set for the number of doves shot. They fired somewhere in the region of 89500 shells and shot around 70000 doves (before anyone gets too upset, there are 30 million on the roost we shot out of, 90 million in the area and they eat 45 tons of grain per day out of farmer's fields. They really are seen as a scourge). That translates out to somewhere around 12,000 per person for the "holiday." Needless to say they are all very sore, sunburned and have various amounts of blisters, shoulder bruises, face scuffs and very sore hands, but they are quite pleased with their work and are planning their next holiday back.

These are them and some of the cartridges they fired. It was Alisdair, his friend Davy, their friend Iain and two random guys they met up with at the estancia from Ireland ("they stole me lucky charms...") None of them could lift their suitcases without whincing and brushing their teeth is now a painful chore, but for five guys who just planned to go on holiday and ended up setting a new world record, they can't get the smiles off their faces.

For those concerned, the doves were collected and on cool days (like when we were there) they were distributed among the local villagers and also taken home for our dinner ( we had dove every night). On hotter days, the birds would be used to feed the local pigs who really seem to love them, and those pigs tated great too!!

Doves

So, for four and a half days, Alisdair and his mates shot doves with H&H Outfitters in Cordoba and had an amazing time. After day two it became obvious that they were on target to break the current world record in number of doves shot in a four day period. Most people go on holiday to relax, but not this bunch!
Lunches in the campo however were great fun and gave them all a bit of a rest from all day shooting.
Doves and parakeets are seen as "plagues" in Argentina for the damage they do to crops and power lines. The government wants to poison them, Alisdair wants the government to subsidise their cartridges instead. This is Alisdair shooting
On day three, Kenna even got a lesson and shot five doves.

Every night after the shoot, the guys came back to the estancia for drinks, nibbles and massages before another lovely dinner of salad and bbq'd meat.

Teeth and Guns

Alisdair and Lucas (the reloader).
Isla, complete with ear defenders, watching Alisdair shoot....don't worry, she was covered up and didn't get any sun.
Kenna and Isla watching Alisdair shoot on a particularly chilly morning. Isla is actually asleep in this picture. She slept for about 2 1/2 hours while the shooting was going on and shells were being flung at us from the automatic that Davy was using. We found shells everywhere that night when we went home and cleaned out the stroller and the diaper bag...luckily no doves landed on our head this time!

By the end of the trip, Isla was sporting FOUR teeth on top...and two on bottom....luckily the ones between her fangs have now come in. I think it's from eating all that asado (meat)!
A view of the other side of the estanica . Cordoba is much like southern Colorado or Northern New Mexico in climate and geography.

When it got hot and the sun came out, she headed for the "macca" (hammock) for a nap. She became quite good at sleeping through the banging of the guns.