Tag Archives: day out

Shopping, full circle, and view.

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1) K and I enjoyed our annual Christmas shopping day today. As usual, we went through to Glasgow, and enjoyed a pleasant browse through various shops and markets. We found some fun and quirky bits and pieces, got some inspiration, and generally found the day to be a good one.

2) We met a friend for lunch – someone we knew from our Glasgow days, who moved away around the same time we did, but has recently moved back. It was lovely to spend time together back in the old place, and nice to start creating new memories too.

3) Standing at the top of Buchanan Street, I looked down to see a street awash with people, lights, colour and music.

Catching up.

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1) School restarts after the half-term break tomorrow. It’s been a lovely holiday though, and we were all glad of the break.

2) The holiday was a nice mix of time away and time at home. We caught up with family and friends, celebrated birthdays, had a couple of daytrips, and enjoyed an evening at the wonderful Enchanted Forest, and a night in a camping pod!

3) Today was spent catching up on things around the house. I’ve organised paperwork, laundry, planned meals and sorted all sorts of school stuff. Now for an early night 🙂 .

Looked after, climbing high, and spiral staircases.

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1) I wasn’t well over the weekend, but my lovely husband and children have been looking after me, and I’m on the mend again now 🙂 . Thank you all xx

2) Yesterday we visited Linlithgow Palace – it’s many many years since I was last there, and K and the kids had never been. We had lots of fun wandering round, and climbing up every tower as high as we could…

3) Today was a school holiday, so the kids and I went with Grandma to Blackness Castle, and then to South Queensferry for lunch. It was a fascinating visit, and I think we all learned lots of history. The kids both enjoyed walking along the ramparts pretending to shoot the invaders, running along the wooden pier out to the crane, and Aidan particularly enjoyed practising his “running up and down a spiral staircase” technique, even to the extent of running back up to the top of the tower we’d just descended just to count the steps*! Thanks Grandma xx

* There were 80, in case you were wondering!

New week, new start.

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At least I hope so!

1) The kids were in school, but K had the day off. We took ourselves off to Inchmahome Priory, which is situated on an island in the middle of the Lake of Menteith.  A brief boat trip, and then such a lovely quiet spot. We wandered around the island, then had a cup of tea sitting on a bench in the Refectory (which only has two walls remaining, and is open to the air!) as we read about the history of the priory.

2) M and I watch the Dr Who at the Proms this afternoon – although she has never seen Dr Who, she was enthralled by the music 🙂 .

3) A friend arrives bringing freshly picked blackberries – yum!

Glen Einich

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What a wonderful day K and I spent on Friday…  we walked the eight and a quarter miles in from Loch an Eilean, through the forest and on into Glen Einich, eventually arriving at Loch Einich by which point we were very much ready for lunch! Then we turned around, and walked all the way back.

1) The peace and the loveliness, the quiet of the lush green forests, the sparkling stream (we crossed 21 tributaries in each direction!), and the perfect walking weather.

2) Time. Time for just us. Time to talk. And space to think.

3) All the way there we walked into the wind. It was lovely to walk all the way back with the wind at our backs!

Weekend fun in the sun

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1) We had a lovely weekend at home – time to garden, time to relax, time to cook, time to walk/cycle, and time just to be together.

2) We went out on a couple of walks, both from home.  A and M chose to ride their bikes both days – they had lots of fun.

45 min: LauristonOut for a bike ride

3) On Sunday evening, A decided to assist with cooking dinner – he made pork stir-fry. Here he is carefully cooking each piece of meat and putting it on the rack to avoid overcooking. Check out the concentration, and I can assure you it was worth it, as the meal was delicious!

Aidan - cooking pork stir-fryAidan cooking dinner

An upside-down weekend.

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With A away for the weekend, we wanted to spoil M a little – she was missing her big brother a lot 🙁 .

1) We made doughnuts for breakfast on Saturday, using my Nana’s recipe. They tasted as good as I remembered them tasting, even though we didn’t have a silver thimble to make the hole in the middle, and had to use a tiny cookie cutter instead.

In the evening, we went out for dinner, and then a walk along the canal. It was all very grown up, even if M did forget to bring her coat – she looked very cute dancing along in Daddy’s fleece though!

2) During the day, M helped me make Lemon Drizzle cake and Malteser slice, for church youth group on Sunday. We had a beautiful walk at Plean Country Park too – the rhodedendrons were blooming, and were glorious.

3) At Youth group this morning, we had a visit from a couple who spent 17 years living and working with a tribe living in the jungles of Papua New Guinea. During that time they translated the New Testament into the local language – quite a feat, considering the language had never been written down before!  It was an absolutely fascinating talk – I could have listened to their stories for hours!

4) A arrived home mid-afternoon, having had a wonderful time at camp. My brother came over, and we took advantage of the lovely weather and had a barbeque for dinner. Two tired children are now in bed 🙂 .

Evening out, Spring Fayre, and garden.

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1) K and I went out for a lovely meal on Friday evening – finally using the vouchers given to us by my aunt and uncle as a Christmas present. We enjoyed a delicious meal, and then a lovely walk through the streets and alleyways of Edinburgh.

2) We went to the Spring Fayre at my parent’s church yesterday. A fun afternoon, with a barbeque, and fresh doughnuts, face painting, bouncy castle, books and plants, and delicious afternoon tea. Then we came home and gardened.

3) Another afternoon spent in the garden. We’ve weeded, and put in drainage, spread bark, and slug pellets, planted shrubs, and planted seeds. We’ve swept, and watered, and thought and planned. The garden looks a much happier place now!

A lovely weekend.

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1) Thanks to lovely grandparents, K and I escaped for a night away on our own on Saturday – a belated celebration of our anniversary.

2) We swam, and enjoyed the sauna. We had a lovely walk along the riverfront. We found a Mexican restaurant, and enjoyed a fabulous meal out.

3) On Sunday, after a riverside (with the comfort of a roof and plate glass windows separating us from the bitter weather) brunch, we spent a fascinating couple of hours at the Discovery Point museum. From there, we drove south to Loch Leven, and had afternoon tea in the Larder. Whilst there, there was a break in the weather, so we took ourselves out for a beautiful lochside walk, before heading on south and back to reality 🙂 .