Busted

Paul has inherited his sister's fascination with the tupperware cupboard. I don't even know why I try to keep that thing organized. The moment he spots that it's open, he makes a beeline for it and wreaks havoc on my stacks and piles. Unlike Katie, this obsession with climbing into cupboards has extended to other areas of the house. He'll crawl inside of our nightstand, into the bookshelf (all of the books on the bottom shelves are now sitting on top of the piano--very attractive, I know), onto his changing table shelf--anywhere! I can tell that he's going to be a climber when he starts walking. Full Credits HERE

Seafood

One of the only things Aaron REALLY wanted to do while we were in Scotland was have some good seafood. He absolutely loves it, and he never gets it because I generally don't like it. I usually will try it (not the stuff they ordered this time--they still had eyes!), but I don't want it for a whole meal. So he gets to eat his mahi mahi steaks when I'm away from home, and that's about it. So we decided to stop by this seafood restaurant on the way home from Urquhart Castle (near Inverness, on Loch Ness). I agreed, thinking that usually seafood restaurants will have chicken or pasta or something for us non-fishy types. Not this place! The only thing they had was lamb stew. I usually don't care for lamb (unless my dad cooks it), so I was hesitant to order it. It was quite fatty, but I was too grossed out watching everyone and their carnage to really have much of an appetite. Heather, you would have died! Mom had to send her sea bass back because it still had a head and scales on it. Ewww!!! We did get some great pictures, especially of the huge platter Dad and Ashley split. Full Credits HERE

Sad Boy and Happy Boy

I felt so bad! This evening, Paul was playing on the floor while Katie was eating dinner, Aaron was cleaning the kitchen, and I was eating a pudding cup (desserts are way less fun when you're dieting!). Suddenly, Paul just started to sob hysterically. It was close to bedtime, so I figured he had just had it. I held him, and that didn't console him, so I gave him a few bites of my pudding. He seemed to enjoy it, but he kept spitting it out, so I figured that wasn't what he wanted. After that, I decided to just give him a bottle and put him to bed, even though it was about 15 minutes early. However, instead of settling down in bed like usual, he kept screaming. I wasn't able to just sit there and listen to him, so I decided to rock him for a while before putting him down again. He still wouldn't settle down, and I noticed that he was drooling a ton. I forced open his mouth, and I found one of those prickly burrs (we always called them "stickers") inside of his mouth! He must have found one on the floor that fell off after our walk yesterday and, like any self-respecting 10-month-old, into the mouth it went. I was so glad that I didn't just let him cry it out! Even though our baby was so sad this evening, he's usually very jolly. Today I put together a page using some pictures that were taken when Aaron's family were down to help us put in the yard. The journaling reads: "Paul, you are one of the happiest babies I've ever seen. You always have a grin ready for whoever will give you some of their attention. You loved it when the whole family came down to help us put in the backyard. You were the center of attention, and why shouldn't you have been? You're so darn cute!" Full Credits HERE

Trip Part 2

We arrived in Scotland by train--it was great! No security hassles, no huge crowds, no long delays. We got there in just 4 1/2 hours, which is incredibly fast, considering how far we traveled. The cottage we stayed at was just outside of Stirling (about 40 mins from Edinburgh). It was so picturesque: There was a trampoline on the property, which kept Kiera occupied for hours on end (and gave us some exercise when it was our turn to entertain her). It really was the perfect place to stay. It was centrally located between the two major cities, yet it was in the country so you got that nostalgic feeling. It was roomy enough for all of us to live together for a week comfortably. I would definitely return there in a heartbeat. On Monday we visited Stirling Castle, which was only about 15 minutes away from where we were staying. It is quite different from most of the castles I've been to. Most of the site is in very good repair, and they are working on restoring the castle to how it would have been in the time of Jacob XI. They also have on-site weavers at the castle, who are creating copies of the "Hunt of the Unicorn" tapestry series to decorate the great hall. By far the best part of the castle was the tour guide. He took us on an hour-long tour of the castle that was free with admission. He was so entertaining! I could have listened to him for hours. The journaling on my page reads: "Stirling Castle is built high on volcanic rock at the lowest crossing of the River Forth, which was of great strategic importance. It was the coronation site of several Scottish kings and queens, including the infant Mary Queen of Scots. Our tour guide loved theatrics, demonstrating how heads were chopped off on the closest tourist (usually a young Indian boy, who was completely delighted)." Full Credits HERE

The Weary Travelers Return!

We arrived home Sunday evening after 2 horrendous days of flights (wrong airports, late bus connections, delayed flights, missed flights, you name it). I can't even go into details now because I get so irritated, and I would hate to start my morning off in a mood. Suffice it to say that I will never fly RyanAir again. NEVER. We had an amazing trip, though. We were able to spend a day and a half in London. I have always loved London; I think it's one of the most fascinating cities in the world. As Samuel Johnson so aptly said, "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life." Aaron had never been there before, so I loved being able to show him around. We saw the musical Wicked, which is just brilliant. It's up there in my top 3 favorite musicals. I had listened to the CD a million times before, so I couldn't wait to see it. The songs are some of the most fun songs in a musical and the sets were amazing! I very highly recommend it (in case you couldn't tell). The following day (Friday) we took the Original Bus Tour around London. We knew that we wouldn't be able to visit everything we wanted to in just one day, so we decided to take the tour as an overview of the city and then visit places the next time we came to London. The tour is 2 hours long, unless you do what we did and get on at the wrong stop and have to take part of the tour over again! It takes you around both the city of London and the city of Westminster. You get to see all the famous buildings, and you can get on and off at any of their designated points so that you can explore at your leisure. Our tour guide was great and told all sorts of interesting stories that you would never learn otherwise. We were able to meet up with my friends Stephen and Kiri and have dinner with them. It was so nice, since we hadn't really spent any time together since their wedding, which was over 3 years ago. We had a great dinner at Covent Garden Grill, and we were able to get an excellent deal on it through lastminute.com. We were able to save a ton of money by booking through them, and the restaurant even gave Steve and Kiri our price. The following day we took the train up to Scotland where we joined the rest of my family. I won't go into detail about that segment of the trip in this post, but I will leave you with a page I've created of our days in London. Full Credits HERE

Jane Austen Heroine

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This one's for you, Dad!

My dad called me last night to inform me that some of the links on my page were down. He also let me know that he liked the pages with lots of pictures best. Since I only have about 5 people who even look at this page, I decided it would be wise to please my adoring fans! This one was made with a kit by Manuscraps, whose guest CT I just joined. Don't you just love the many faces of Katie? She can go through all of these, plus some, in a matter of minutes (or even seconds!). Full Credits HERE