Uncle Craig and Auntie Alison's wedding weekend

Hitting the bar with the big boys

 

Making sure everything is fitting well.

 

       

Heather was so excited and proud to be part of the wedding party and to lead the bride down the isle, she did a great job and smiled all the way. During the ceremony she occasionally blurted out a question to the amusement of the guests and she also enjoyed the sound of her posh tappy shoes on the wooden floor to which the registrar acknowledged as great accompaniment to the ceremony!!!...Just typical of Heather unable to stay still for 5 minutes.

Heather and Finlay were never very far from Craig and Alison during their day.

CHEERS!!! I think the only glass of champagne that Alison held that day and I'm not sure if she drank the whole thing...however it was a few days later that we found out why!!!

Congratulations to the newly weds, a wee cousin on the way for Heather and Finlay!!!

 

 

After a great meal and a sweep stake on the length of the best man's speech  it was off to enjoy the music from the band.

 

 

 

 The ceilidh danced into the night and there was a great turn out on the floor. Heather and Finlay were enjoying themselves too and dancing with new found friends and family  right to the end of the night. It was lovely to catch up with aunties, uncles and cousins and other members of our family and a special time was shared by all. And we were all thankful that most of them stayed the night and enjoyed a family lunch the next day.

Family trip to Aviemore

After our week in Ilkeston and some tearful farewells, we headed for our flight to Glasgow from where we would then make our way to Aviemore near Inverness. This was an active get away for us and we stayed in a cabin in Aviemore which gave us access to cycling and walking activities.

 

 Feeding and chasing ducks was a favorite game for Finlay.

We enjoyed a lovely day and rented some bikes and cycled to a wee beach on the side of Loch Morlich. It was a fine day but it still took only the bravest ones to dip their feet in the water!!!

While we were on holiday the kids were surprised by a couple of special visitors and they were so excited to heat that these visitors were allowed to stay for a few days. Heather and Finlay were treated to a ride on a steam train

During our stay in Aviemore the kids enjoyed a visit to The Landmark Centre an outdoor theme park in the forest. Here they were given the opportunity to get up close to some interesting animals and were braver than I when it came to touching the snake.

 There was climbing....

 ...and crawling...

 ...haunted mazes..

 The highlight of the day for Heather was her first ever roller coaster ride ...which we had to do a total of four times!!!

 ...along with the water slide.

The highlight for dad was a sky dive from the top of a pine tree!!!

After our mini break in Aviemore it was off to Glasgow to organise for the final preparation for Craig's wedding.

Family fun in Ilkeston

Our big family trip to the UK was an exciting time for all of us. Visiting grannies and grandads, aunts and uncles, cousins and extended family, mini break in Aviemore and a family wedding for all to enjoy.
Heather and Finlay did well on the 8 hour flight and were welcomed by an excited granny, grandad, grauntie and gruncle. Heather had only managed an hour of sleep on the plane and then stayed awake until the evening a total of about 30 hours

 All the boys.

 All the girls.

The week was spent spending time and playing with family. We enjoyed walks in Shipley park, walk at Carssington water.

We had a big family walk in Chatsworth grounds and it enabled us all to catch up with everybody that we hadn't seen in about 2 years. We enjoyed a big picnic and spent time climbing on and in old trees

 

 

 Heather and Finlay especially enjoyed a visit to a petting farm with their cousins Louis and Jake. Fun was had on some farm tractors, go carts and best of all sliding down a artificial grass hill on a kids sized saucer. The kids all enjoyed spending time together.

The kids were able to get up close to some of the smaller animals that you find around a farm.

The kids had a great time playing with their cousins Josh and Sam and really looked up to them and enjoyed the extra fun and laughter and rough and tumble that comes along with that age group. They enjoyed swimming and playing in the gardens at Wollerton house, watching the big boys climbing trees and wherever Josh and Sam were Heather and Finlay were close behind.

 

 

 

And Heather enjoyed spending some girl time with her cousin Ruby Mae.