We're back to craft class!

Mr funny

And then there was one...

When Fergus became sick of being "mothered", Charlie became the last recruit....Ailsa sure misses Cousin Mary!

Babies

With no cousin Mary about and Auntie Erin gone, Fergus has become the latest recruit to play Babies with Ailsa..

Blair Atholl Horse Trials

We took off on Saturday to Blair Atholl to show Erin what a Game Fair was. We had a good time and saw some lovely countryside.

ice cream was a hit!

My favourite lunch date

On Friday all the P1s got to eat lunch with their parents. It was a big occasion and she got to show me how everything works.

Autumnal mornings

The days are getting shorter but that's okay right now as it means morning sunrises are still beautiful and just after 6am so I get to see them on my walks.

Another adventure

Erin and Alisa went on a bus adventure on Thursday to the post office and library. It was a big hit!

Sewing fun

I made pj trousers and all kinds of fun stuff last week, before I had to pack everything up for house viewings, but Erin and I got the house sparkling and so tidy this week, it was worth it!

Mr MacInotsh's last Sunday

We ALL went to church today as it was Mr McIntosh's last Sunday. He is retiring after 25 years at the Cathedral. Someone thoroughly enjoys walking holding people's hands so he can be swung.

Mr Comedy

Someone was much more interested in eating his tea when he was given the tongs, instead of a fork....and he realised he got big laughs for it too...

Sundays at the farm

Looking for 4-leafed clovers near the hen run while we waited for Isla who was picking red currant.

Trying to find raspberries...we were a week too late for most of them.

Red currants! (in the chicken run)

And she's off!

Great fun

Running on hay bales....nothing greater!

Mr cool

Deer pictures

Our best photographer

Fun at the wildlife park

First Day at School

Blessings

As Mr McIntosh is retiring next week, and he married us and blessed Isla (4 years ago), on Thursday we had a small family blessing arranged for Ailsa and Fergus.

Mr Cool

Isla picked out her own new sunglasses at Gymboree, our last day in America. Fergus loves them!

The Tooth Fairy has arrived!

Isla lost her first tooth last night....she was SO excited and in a moment of parental-comedic timing, Alisdair and I had discussed what the tooth fairy should give her (I said 50p, he said £1), but then Erin and I stayed up labelling school clothes...when I went up, Isla was asleep, but startled that I came in the room, so I subtly tucked the £1 under her pillow, then ran back to Erin's room where, I thought very cleverly, we wrote a note from the tooth fairy, explaining that as we knew she wanted SO badly to show her tooth to the kids at school, the tooth fairy had left it for her (I couldn't get it out from under her pillow with her being awake)....well, much to my surprise, at 8:45am she came into my room over the moon that the tooth fairy had left her £1.50!!.....I was a little baffled and asked if there was a note from the tooth fairy....she said "no".....and I asked "is your tooth still there?"....."no", she replied......ah.....So, I quickly got up and told her we'd better go show daddy downstairs.....amist some of the greatest hand movements, facial expressions and lip-reading ever, Alisdair ran back up the stairs to put the tooth back under her pillow (for once in his life he'd decided to check on the girls before he went to bed and play tooth fairy!!!) He said we'd decided on 50p---so he thought he was being UBER helpful.....anyhow, he could have only been 2 steps in front of Isla (and was seriously out of breath by the time he made it back downstairs) but she went back up, and FOUND her tooth under her pillow and was even more excited that the "Tooth fairy likes me so much, she gave me TWO coins and let me keep my tooth)....ah, the things you do for your kids!

Funny faces

The East Coast Express

Her train....but it was huge! Trying to find her compartment....(we did find her eventually!)

More bear love

We've hit the ground with our feet running since we got back! First day was the Edinburgh trip, day two was the Adventure Park all afternoon, day three was dentist/doctor/church blessing for the youngest two by the retiring minister/pick up Erin at the train station, day four was a six hour adventure into Perth while we had the car inspected/serviced for last minute school supplies/trip to the park....and off for for today!
We need school to start on Tuesday just so we can sit down and get some rest!!
Just needing to label the mound of socks, pencils and bags we have to be really ready for the big day.

Waiting

"just like on that movie, Bedknobs and Broomsticks," waiting at the train station....but for Auntie Erin, not the bad guys...:) Kids are having a wonderful time with her. These are the oh-so-famous Build A Bears from our Utah trip.

Dining out

More Holiday shots

How can you not love a place where this is your view from the balcony???

The kids loving the "cool fans" (they had a fine water mist) at Hogle Zoo

Everyone on the merry-go-round!

The Polar Bear exhibit

He still loves this water bottle.

In the eagle's nest

Ah, the giant marble ball covered in water, always a hit but I am sad to report that they have taken away the lion head waterfountain! I hope it will be back when they are done renovating (the train was closed too as they are building a giant savannah exhibit).

The Great Salt Lake...Antelope Island....one of those great parenting moments where it is 100 degrees +, you've trekked all the way down to the beach across very hot sand, only to realise the beach in inundated with nasty flies and the kids all start screaming and crying...and I had to laugh because all I wanted to say was a "Harold line" of "darn it! we are having FUN! this is a family vacation!! ENJOY yourself".....but all I could do was chuckle to myself as Alisdair was shooting me looks like "what were we thinking?" Family Vacation GOLD ;)

Buffalo statues (with their Sonic Wonder Woman headbands on).

And a deer statue

"FLIES!!!! AHHHH!!! Get them away!!"

Post fly running back up the beach....red faced and so blonde!

It was HOT and my little white children felt the heat.

The Barbie jeep was a HUGE hit, even without a battery...(the radio worked though!)

Snowbird fun

Ailsa loved the trampoline. Isla didn't want to do it, but was more fascinated that the kid running it looked like "kip" from Napoleon Dynamite...thanks to Thayer who had her watching lots of N Dynamite cartoons.

She was fearless!

Then Ailsa and mom did the Alpine Slide (not realising you were supposed to ride the ski lift up, we walked the hill) D'oh!

Cheesecake Factory, yum!

Doing Jiffy Pop on the BBQ....Super redneck fun!

After 30 nights of promising, we finally got the sparklers out the last night.

The kids LOVED them.

On the way back from the airport, daddy took the dogs and Ailsa...it was all too much for her and she fell asleep....what a great month we had!!