Scotland en Famille

We had a weeks' vacation at my parents' in Scotland a couple of weeks ago. Plenty of rain and fun!

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo

I managed to nab some tickets to the Edinburgh Tattoo for my Dad's birthday. It's a month long celebration of military pomp and circumstance, and is held at the beautiful castle, in the evening. It also goes on at the same time as the Festival. This is all we saw of the Festival this year (on the way up to the tattoo):

The chap holding the other up, went from lying to standing while holding his friend. They had to make 2 attempts. We missed a lot of the schtick.

My photography ofcourse didn't capture the spectacle very well, but here are some highlights.
It's lovely to hear the massed pipe bands, and apparently the whole Commonwealth was represented there. The blue 'thing' is the castle all lit up with thistles.
This is for Helen, Sherry and Anna. Hosses! They were all huge Clydesdales, and were very well behaved, even with cannon and pipes around them. Only one had to be cleaned up after.
When these 'bikers' first came out, Walter, my Mum, Dad and I all thought independently: "I didn't know you could train monkeys to ride bikes". We weren't expecting little children (some Allie's age) to be doing this kind of thing.

Kilmarnock and the seaside

On the warm day we had, Jamie joined us at the South Beach in Troon for a walk. It turned out to be so warm that the wee boys stripped and swam. The water here is sometimes warmer than the atmosphere due to the Gulf Stream that comes down the west coast of Scotland. It's also incredibly shallow out to a great distance.

What's this hairy thing?

Unlce Jamie walked and walked, and it only came up to his knees.

Uncle John came up to visit for a few days, and gave the wee boys endless entertainment :)

He even came for a walk to Dean Castle with us.

Grandma Cake stops for a tea break at Dean Castle.

We're exploring the area where my parents now live, and are finding new castle attractions. This is Dundonald Castle. Small, perfectly formed and near the 'rents :)


Another attraction, not too far away is Kelburn Castle, on the coast. It has lovely gardens, a wee animal area and 'stuff' to do. It's also home of "The Graffiti Project" (I couldn't find a working official url). The castle is actually occupied, so we couldn't go in, but walking around was nice.

This is the sight that awaited us when we arrived. 2 pooped boys.

Allie under a giant leaf. Since the castle's on the coast, things grow there that don't make it in other places.
This is a thousand year old yew tree!!!!

Kirkwall Fun!

Jamie's a pilot for Loganair, and he flies mainly between Glasgow and the Shetlands, Orkneys and Ireland. My Mum,Dad and Susan have already flown with him, and Walter and I jumped at the opportunity too. He flew us up to Kirkwall in the Orkneys on a Wednesday morning and then 'picked us up' again on the following Thurday. A whirlwind trip!

St Magnus Cathedral

A gravestone inside the cathedral. Most stones (~17th century) were rather lacking in the whole life after death thing, having inscriptions like "Death is the end" and "Remember Death". The Western Isles always have a feeling of religiosity about them (catholic and protestant), but it really didn't feel like it here. I don't know if it's the Norwegian influence, or remoteness. The town is quite pretty, but it's a bleak, treeless island. Nice for a visit!

Viking influences in the cathedral.

We can't remember who was standing on who here or why.

One must always stop for tea at the local shoppe.

Jamie dropped us off, we walked around Kirkwall, then met up with him for dinner, after which, we took a walk. This is part of the harbour at night. Sunsets are a prolonged affair this far north in the summer. I'd love to see the Northern lights.
The next morning Jamie had an early flight to Edinburgh, then back up to Kirwall to get us again. That's him waving from the plane :)

Captain Jamie and his co-pilot getting ready to take us home.

Jamie, the flight attendant Natalie and his co-pilot after we got back to Glasgow.
The capn' n us.

It was a super fun trip. It's weird hearing your wee brother doing 'captain speak' over the intercom, then flying you rather high off the ground for long distances. The plane flew low enough to see the geography of the north of Scotland. Lovely.
Next visit will be to celebrate my brother Robert's 30th and my Mum's 60th birthdays. Woohoo!