Scotland and England, Part 3

One Friday, we went on a grand outing with Becky to North Berwick, which is a short 30 minute train ride from Edinburgh, in East Lothian, home of Becky's Queen Margaret University and lots of beautiful rapeseed fields. As usual, the kids loved the train ride (and me too), and it was fun to see the countryside. The town of North Berwick is a lovely little seaside community with gorgeous gardens, beaches, and very pleasant-looking shops. It actually kind of reminded me of Cassis -- it really was THAT great both in terms of old charming village and beach. We headed down to the beach and spent some time looking at anemones and shells in the tidepools, which was very pleasant until Louis had a total freak-out tantrum because he wanted to dig a huge hole and wanted us all to do it with him. Actually he had started digging such hole and first accused us of wrecking his hole. Classic. We decided lunch was needed so we went to a trailer-restaurant Becky had heard about that sells whole North Berwick lobster (who knew that there was lobster in Scotland??!?). It was DELICIOUS, sweet and very fresh. While we waited for the lobster, Becky did what she is REALLY good at doing -- distracting the kids from their purported misery (actually Rosemary was great, but Louis was still mad about that hole). This time she and the kids planned out their fantasy boat. It is to be called "Lobsterdog" and it will be decorated very festively and elaborately for every holiday.

I love these vertical planters. Scotland reminds me of Anchorage -- people take their gardens very seriously probably because they need the color after long winters!

We took this as a good sign:

Low tide -- all the boats are just sitting in the sand:

Waiting for lobster:

After lunch we went to the Scottish Seabird Center which was a very clever little museum. See those white dots on the island across the way? Those are ALL seabirds (it's actually a little gross when you look in the telescope -- the white things start moving). The Center had set up webcams that you could control by joystick on several of the surrounding islands so that you could explore the islands and spy on the birds, virtually (but it was a live feed). Louis and Rosemary really like controlling the cameras -- they were actually much better than Becky or I at doing so -- and we SAW A PUFFIN in one of them. It was all very exciting -- Becky and the kids' first puffin. They also had set up telescopes on an observation deck which were fun to try out, and had a little presentation/play for kids about science (which was a little embarrassing but the kids smiled politely).

We all had a "special drink" at the Seabird Center patio as it was such a beautiful day, but the kids were anxious to get to the beach, so James took them down early. Somehow Becky and I lost them, so I had to climb a craggy peak to find them:

Turns out I couldn't see James as he was bending down, helping them build really elaborate sandcastle with colorful rocks in the tidal zone. Inevitably, the tide came in just before I could take a picture of the finished product, which caused Rosemary to LOSE IT. Poor thing didn't quite understand the forced temporariness of that endeavor.

We tried to appease her by building another sandcastle, but she was too traumatized. On the other hand, Becky and Louis had a grand time creating a new castle perched on a rock. Becky was in charge of decorating with shells, crabs, and seaweed:

The final creation:

The next day was Saturday, and Uncle Murray, knowing Louis's previous fireman obsession (that, sadly, he's mostly grown out of, and has now become a "shooting" obsession) had very sweetly found out that the Leith firestation was having an open house, where the kids could climb in the emergency vehicles and shoot a fire hose, watch them use a fire extinguisher, etc. For some reason, they both were intimidated and shy of the firemen and the crowd, but we did manage to get a few smiles out of them eventually, and the rest of us thought it was pretty cool to watch the firemen on the tall ladder, etc:

 

Wearing a Scottish fire hat:

After that fun diversion, we took a nice long walk in Leith, which we had mostly skipped on our long Waters of Leith walk because we were tired by the time we were there. It turns out to be a very interesting, ethnic neighborhood and was a lot of fun to explore. We also stopped for delicious peirogis, which rivaled any we had ever had in Chicago. 

Random Scottish distillery map we found on the sidewalk:

More climbing at another cool playground (with a zip line -- this one was kind of an interesting cultural experience because the kids on the playground were self-monitoring who had how many turns and who went first). Look how tall this is compared to Murray and James:

 

We all had a very nice, full day, and after a cheese plate and some wine at the Hotel Malmaison, sitting al fresco in the plaza while the kids climbed on historic monuments, we headed home for a relaxing movie night.

The next day we had Murray and Becky over for some homemade chicken soup, complimented by beautiful Pimm's cups (for adults and special ones for kids), adorned by mermaids that I had brought with me from the States. It was supposed to be a man project day but it was too nice outside not to do a long walk first. While the kids waited anxiously for Becky and Murray to arrive, they played with the beads Becky had bought them -- Rosemary made a necklace "for Becky," and Louis made something that he hooked onto his back that was "not a necklace" (though he couldn't tell me what it was -- he just knew it was something more manly than a necklace).

We headed off up Corstophine Hill:

Murray showed us the secret community garden, hidden on the hill, where neighborhood volunteers have completely renovated a plot of public land into a gorgeous walled garden. Heading up the hill, on a forest path, we had our first experience with stinging nettles -- kind of traumatizing to Louis. I don't know if we have them in the US but they are very painful -- and then fortunately go away quickly. Fortunately, as usual, diversion works. Murray handed Louis a stick (works every time) that was bow-shaped. Being the brilliant weapons-designer that I have become, I attached his NON-NECKLACE to the bow and he was off, shooting the bad guys left and right with appropriate sound effects. Best toy ever.

We climbed 100 narrow, spiral steps to the top of the Corstophine Hill tower

To some amazing views (though James had strong vertigo and insisted we climb down almost right away) of the Firth of Forth:

Arthur's seat in the distance -- we climbed that!

Lots of big fallen trees and rocks to climb. Golden archer-boy:

The bow on the bow-and-arrow broke, so I decided that we should try making a slingshot. I used it to shoot pinecones and small rocks, and Louis kept running up to me saying, "here's some more bullets, mommy!" Rosemary took charge of collecting pinecones as well.

James got into the spirit (though he wasn't as good a weapon builder as me or Louis) by making a feather-tipped spear:

Rosemary and Becky in a pool of light:

Things turned a bit weird when Louis started walking around like this (NOT as a shark, btw):

This walk was honestly one of the best walks we've done in Scotland -- and we've done LOTs of wonderful walks. The forest was so beautiful and serene, and the vegetation was lush, but also accessible and inviting -- it really looked just like a scene from Robin Hood. I regretted not having a traveling minstrel with us, so we did try to compose a poem or two, which Murray was surprisingly decent at -- and the rest of us, who had all been in creative writing together at Princeton, failed at.   Louis asked for a poem about volcanoes -- volcanoes and lava have been on the brain since we looked at ancient volcanoes in North Berwick and Becky showed the kids videos of eruptions on her iPhone.

That Sunday night, I didn't sleep well as I was excited/nervous about our next phase in the adventure -- driving and summer camp! The next day was spent in transition -- James and I took the kids to their first day at Edinburgh Montessori Arts Camp, where they were to spend a week going to class from 9-1PM each day. Up to this point in the trip, the kids had been really good but we were ready to get down to a bit of a routine and all have some time doing things we wanted to do individually -- camp was well-timed. We took a taxi there -- Louis was highly suspicious but Rosemary said she was excited to go to camp and to meet some Scottish kids. I was nervous; Becky and I had done lots of online research on camps but the truth is neither of us knew anyone who had sent their kids there or much about it -- I mostly chose the camp because I loved their online pictures and because they were willing to take Louis even though he was 3. Anyway, the kids were brave, and I was really proud of Rosemary for taking Louis under her wing, he held his hand and walked him into the classroom. There were about 24 kids, split up into 3 groups, and Rosemary and Louis were together in a group. It was kind of a neat experience for us to take them there as if we were "locals." Any fear I had disappeared immediately when I saw the classroom and the teachers -- the teachers immediately seemed wonderful, the school setting was incredible, and the projects were clearly awesome, well thought-out, and very creative. We went from there in a taxi to pick up the rental car -- and spend a leisurely morning together, which was a nice treat. Driving from the car place to pick up the kids with manual transition and driving on the left-side of the road in busy Edinburgh was scary -- but James did admirably. As of today, I still haven't braved driving, though I really ought to...

The school is on the other side of Edinburgh (near where Murray's parents live), in what appears to be an old farm:

The school is situated next to a huge field of oats. It's very cool, in one of the less-cultivated areas, they've plowed trails through the grass for the kids to run through (the grass is taller than they are in most areas) -- when we picked up the kids from camp this week we saw their head poking above every so often, like little field mice scurrying about freely:

There were large pieces of paper taped to the wall -- throughout the week, the kids worked on transforming the classroom into a huge, multi-media art installation. The theme was "under the sea."

See the fishing line and seaweed above?:

A shark in progress:

The kids came home every day covered in paint. Louis even had paint in his ears one day

The outside garden to play in is really wonderful -- of course by mid-week they had come out of their shell more and they didn't want to come home when we picked them up. Seen here, working int eh sandbox:

Rosemary's jellyfish:

She worked on this mermaid -- painstakingly putting small pieces of foil on her tail individually -- with two other Scottish girls:

Louis found independence from Rosemary mid-week by working on this project, an underwater house, all by himself:

His teacher was really impressed by this. I think Louis is very creative, and naturally artistic, but I also think everyone is constantly surprised to find out a lot more is going on in his head than they previously realized (since he looks/acts like a baby still):

The kids all made their own large-scale projects -- boats out of cardboard, sea caves. And this octopus I find ridiculously charming:

A kite:

The mess the teachers had to clean up each day:

Overall I'd say this camp/school is the best I've seen -- or at least the closest in philosophy and approach to how I'd design a preschool if I were to design one. But thankfully I didn't have to! I feel spoiled now... wish we had this school back home (fortunately we have Kyle!).

The next day, Becky and I decided to meet up for a grown-up morning at the National Museum, which is a wonderful museum. It is exceedingly well designed and has enough "meat" to it to make you feel like you really learned something from visiting rather than the way I feel most museums are going -- sort of glorified amusement parks. We left James to work at a coffee shop while we sped through about 1/100th of the exhibits -- and hit the gift shop (where I got Louis a Viking axe, much to his delight -- especially when I told him it was "real"). Then we all picked up the kids together (the kids were so happy that Becky was with us to pick them up). Near the school is Edinburgh's "other" castle -- Craigmillar castle, which dates back to the late 14th century and -- naturally -- homed Mary Queen of Scots as a semi-captive at one point in time (which castle hasn't, I'd like to know?) This one was kind of neat because it is mostly standing but semi-crumbling, giving it a romantic feel. Also there was no one there -- it's a bit in the middle of nowhere -- so we were free to explore it on our own. The kids found it very exciting -- almost too exciting, they kept rushing around at at bewildering place, and I didn't want them to fall to their death -- with its many narrow spiral staircases and narrow passages:

 

Pretending to shoot bad guys from a hidden guard station:

 

That night we had a special outing planned -- thanks to hiring Becky's next-door-neighbor's eldest daughter, Katie, to babysit. Becky and Murray indulged me by taking me to a Ceilidh at Summerhall, an old veterinary college converted into an arts complex. We were expecting a bunch of old folks (who does folk dancing any more) but were very pleasantly surprised to find that it was mostly young folks with just enough older experts. There was a very nice band with a caller and several wranglers, so, although it was intimidating to walk into at first having zero experience, we managed by following their directions. The dances were awesome -- very active (we sweated like pigs, I swear) and with lots of variation between big groups and small groups. Becky at one point matched me up with a whole different set of people, so I even had to manage solo -- in a group with a bunch of really good dancers.  We danced the screaming jig, dashing white sergeant, strip the willow, and the gay gordon. I have to say, it was a singularly great experience -- I wish we had things like that in the US and I wish the kids learned them in school. You can see that it is not too far off from things like the Texas two-step, or square dancing (we all thought of Katie's wonderful wedding), but it seems like people still do it here, and less so in the US. After the dance, Murray took us on a great drive around Arthur's seat around sunset (after 11 of course) and we got some wonderful romantic views of the city.

Unfortunately when we got home we learned some very sad news -- Katy had gone for a routine ultrasound and found out that the baby, who was due at the end of August, had died. This was quite a shock to hear, something we never would have expected in a million years, and we spent some time talking to James's parents on the phone. It was really horrible for everyone, and hard for us to be so far away and wanting to help (though of course there's nothing really anyone could do). Fortunately as I write the shock and the physical part are over for Katy but of course it is a really sad, sad thing, there is no way around it. 

The next day, James and I were still pretty sad and didn't quite know what to do/think, so we just sat around and did work and drank coffee while the kids were in camp. After, I took them all to their first visit to the National Museum, which was a huge hit.

Rosemary in front of a sperm whale skull: 

 

A very beautiful lighthouse:

 

A robot that the kids can program to pick up letter blocks and spell things:

Our goal after the museum was to find Eddie's fish market and procure a whole salmon. We walked through the Meadows back to Becky and Murray's old Spottiswoode flat, and found the very cool fishmonger, run by a very nice Chinese family that offered the kids candy as soon as we walked in and gave us lots of advice. It was one of those places with the fish all on the floor in buckets that clearly had just come off the boat hours ago. In fact, the lady really thought we should buy the whole wild trout, since it was wild, instead of the farmed Scottish salmon (which tends to be better for smoking, since it's fattier), so we bought both -- one for dinner, and one for smoking and bringing down with us to Dent (more to come).

The next day James did work while the kids were in camp, and I walked the Water of Leith walk to meet Becky for brunch and a tad of shopping in Stockbridge, which was good fun. We came back to make loads of apricot jam with the kids, which they thoroughly enjoyed (and in fact, they kicked an entire jar of the stuff over ice cream that night after dinner!)

One highlight of our trip so far was a weekend in Dent, Cumbria, right in the Yorkshire Dales National Park which is part of the famous English hill district. We went down to visit Becky and Murray's good friends, Adrian and Nat, and their two lovely girls, Isla (6 1/2, though almost as tall as Becky!) and Millie (8 almost 9). Becky and Murray headed down the day prior to set up our tent (our family was going to camp in their garden) and settle in, and James and I headed down straight after camp. Dent is a very tiny seemingly remote (though in reality only about 30 minutes to the motorway) village -- the drive down was on single-track unmarked hilly roads and really put James's driving to the test!

This was a fun reunion-of-sorts, from the last time our families met, and got together, during the incredible French villa trip of 2011 to celebrate Becky and Murray's marriage.The Gordons have been renting in Dent for about two years, and recently bought a 250 year old farmhouse and completely renovated it -- and it's beautiful! We really had a magical weekend with a glimpse into village life -- it was neat to see people who were brave enough to make this choice and found the perfect place for them to make a home. We also had a lot of nice fireside conversation, wine, whisky, walks, and just a great time visiting with everyone and watching the kids and dog play.

Isla is very sweet, declaring Rosemary her best friend within the first few hours of our visit, and Millie is very clever and helped take care of Chili and keep an eye on Rosemary (Louis just rambled along behind them all weekend, having the time of his life -- they were very sweet about including him).

 

Murray and the kids in the pool after we arrived:

 

The view from their yard:

 

The finished salmon:

 

Saturday morning walk while Murray and Adrian went to the butcher:

Louis running ahead down the hill because he picked "flowers for the girls" (all his own idea) and wanted to distribute them. What a charmer that kid can be! He actually did NOT make a good showing on the rest of this walk -- insisting on being carried for much of it as he was terrified of nettles and thistles. To be fair, he did cut his one hand on a raspberry and another on a bit of barbed wire AND he got nettles, but he sure wasn't stoic about it...

Stopping for ice cream after the death march:

The streets of Dent village:

We stopped to rest at the village playground, which was apparently designed by the Dent school children:

We walked from the playground to Isla and Millie's village school. There are about 2-3 kids per grade, total, and Natalie says they are very happy with the school (it's a private church school -- I think it's the only choice if they want the kids to go to school in Dent). The unique village tradition is clogging -- so they learn clogging in school. I got to see a video. It is terrific. In many ways, this is a dream childhood! I imagine there will be times village life is hard, but I suspect Isla and Millie will have so much confidence growing up in this kind of place.

An awesome balancing ropes course near Isla and Millie's school:

Millie teaching Rosemary how to do a flip:

Not to be outdone, Louis got straight up on the course -- and promptly fell. Tried again -- this time fell spectacularly and hung upside down by one foot, crying (I tried not to laugh but it was really sad and hilarious at he same time, his determination). Then, to his credit, he tried again, and this time did pretty well with just a little help from me.

More signs that they are into good-old-fashioned school fun in the UK than they are in the States these days -- on that field there are large sticks everywhere that the teachers leave for them to build forts and dens. And there are big sculptures that the sixth graders do as a class project each year, and a giant bamboo (or other tall grass, not sure what it was) tunnel that the kids helped to build.

On the way back home, we were lucky enough to see a real sheep round-up, with sheep dogs! The kids and I were fascinated: 

Isla and Louis about to tuck into a delicious lunch including cherries and olives:

After a few hours of "down time" some of us decided to brave the very steep very windy mountain road to check out a cave. James drove the single-track, sheep-strewn road very very well, although we started the journey by almost hitting Adrian's car and farm wall (didn't though!).

Rosemary and Isla scurrying up the hill:

Inspecting some wool, fallen from the thousands of sheep:

The entrance to the cave. We forgot flashlights, but luckily Adrian had a couple in his car, enough to walk in a little past the entrance into a large chamber. I was proud of Rosemary -- she was scared and wanted to turn back right away, but with some talking down she was able to power through a little ways. I turned around with her and we waited at the entrance. Then the rest returned, very excited as they had seen a waterfall and a spelunker climbing down the waterfall -- so Adrian and Murray offered to accompany me back to the waterfall. Louis, the little man, took my hand and the flashlight in the other and said, "I'll show you mommy," warning me not to trip in any of the dips in the floor as we went. It was very sweet.

Louis of course turned the weak flashlight we had into something more unique by tying it to a stick with a piece of grass:

We had a truly inspired leg of lamb dinner on Saturday night (as usual all the meals were inspired) -- probably tasted extra-good since we had been spending so much time looking at sheep: 

The length of their dining table, which easily fit 10, reminded me of that ultra-long wonderful table at the Villa (though, according to Adrian I am not to compare le Cage to the Villa, as it makes it seem derivative -- this is its own, unique experience -- :-)):

On Sunday, we had another lovely "beer can chicken" lunch and the highlight was an after-lunch walk in the country (after Isla, Rosemary, and Louis had a rousing game of playing fascist dictators -- they took all of Isla's stuffed animals, built them a treehouse, and told them they all had to be friends or they would ship them to Greenland). We walked past a bubbling brook with large limestone waterfalls over mossy rocks and small swimming pools (much like Austin, actually!), where we could see trout swimming, and had to climb through several stone gates and fields of cows and sheep (they have right of passage for walkers through almost all land). We were all worked up over stories we had heard of the cows trampling people because they get excited about the dogs, but Isla was our guide -- she ordered us not to look the cows in the eye, and marched fearlessly on. We all made it! I will admit that Adrian picked up a stick and I was a little nervous when we saw calves. Becky wanted to turn around but Isla and Rosemary insisted on continuing -- but Rosemary whispered to me halfway through the through the third field that she was scared (but didn't cry and carried on!). They were just cows and sheep after all... we were probably working ourselves up. Towards the end of the walk the kids invented a hilarious game of covering Murray with stickyweed:

 

Chili is pooped from all the attention from the kids -- poor thing spent the weekend trying to keep up with them between the farm swing in the field, trampoline, pool, and hikes (not to mention the constant love and treats from the kids -- they made mazes, beds, houses for him): 

We got back late on Sunday, happy and tired. Louis shouted in the car, almost the whole way home, "I want to go back to England NOW!" and Rosemary cried when she had to say goodbye to Isla and Millie.

This week has been pretty quiet, so fewer pictures. We've tried to make it more of a routine livin' week and less of a tourist vacation week -- Monday started out with a much needed "enforced rest day," and the kids headed off to Spanish camp (same school different theme). Spanish camp is also fun but very different -- there are only five kids, total, so R and L are having much more interaction, and they are speaking to them ONLY in Spanish! Kind of crazy for Louis especially, but every day we've been picking them up extremely happy -- yesterday they baked animal-shaped bread, and they were really proud to share their bread with us (Louis's in the shape of a snake, which he quickly tied around his neck with a piece of string, and Rosemary's in the shape of a turtle).

Tuesday James and I dropped the kids off and had a nice breakfast in Broughton -- after a goat-cheese crepe, Becky met me and we happily planned the final details for our Isle of Skye adventure this weekend (I gave her homework for that afternoon to make reservations for us -- by Tuesday, we had all our dinner reservations made for the weekend!). We did a little shopping, too, mostly buying each other gifts. Then James and I picked up the kids and brought them back to the National Museum for the wonderful Mary Queen of Scots exhibit and a look at all the animals and the natural history exhibits (where we found out that our whole family together weighs as much as a blue shark, and our kids individually weigh as much as koalas). The kids really love that museum, as do we. Rosemary also had the chance to spend the 5 pounds 50 pence that she earned from folding several loads of laundry the past weeks. Sweetly, she spent it on a Celtic cross for Flora and then something for herself -- a 3D dinosaur puzzle. James didn't realize how important it was for her to put the money on the counter herself, so we did end up leaving the store crying, but she seemed appeased when she finally calmed down enough for us to explain that her handing the money to daddy and him using different money to pay for it was effectively the same as her using her own money to buy the puzzle and gift.

Goodnight for now, unless you're having so much fun that you don't want to go to sleep and decide to "shoot the moon for it not to be night." (Louis's newest plan -- he intends to do it with rocks he's collected in his car seat).