Happy 4th Birthday Finlay

Finlay has been excited about his birthday for months now and since his Daddy's birthday he was telling everybody that it was his next and couldn't wait to be 4. Every night for the week before he would ask how many sleeps to go. He woke up on the day, came running into our room and asked "Is it my Birthday today?"..."Yes, Finlay, it's your birthday"....."Today, today, really today, yeah....Heather , Heather !! It's my birthday today" and the pair of them proceeded to bounce on the bed.

His Birthday was a picnic at Cascade Ponds with a Spiderman theme. James had been busy preparing for pin the spider on spiderman while we were in the UK and had excelled in the art work. We were able to use it for pinning the spider and also water balloon games and at one point it was used as a shooting hide out.

Water balloons with the perfect target!!

fun with bubbles.

Flying kites.

water fights.

scavenger hunt

Birthday cake!

and smiles.

And Finlay was finally four...two days later he was saying " I am four and now I am nearly five".

Don't grow up too quick or too fast and enjoy your youth .

Kelburn Castle

On our return to Scotland we were blessed with our one day of sunshine and a visit to Kelburn castle. The day had started off cloudy and we all had our wellies on again.
Kelburn Castle dates back to the 13th century and is home to the present earl. Embracing the walls and turrets of the south of the castle is the graffiti project, a murel created by Brazilian graffiti artists and makes Kelburn Castle the most colourful castle in Scotland.

We all enjoyed a scavenger hunt through the secret forest, following clues and gaining answers through the mysterious grotto, maze of the green man, Chinese pagoda, ginger bread house, giant's castle, teeny weeny's house and many other surprises. Once we had collected the answers Heather and finlay were able to open a treasure chest to received lots of goodies as a reward.

We also enjoyed a walk around the grounds through pathways, bridges and gorges to see the colourful castle.

After our day trip and adventure, what better way to enjoy an ice cream from the world famous Nardini's in Largs.

Finlay always enjoys clambering over his Grandad.

The magical world of Beatrix potter

The following day we took a trip to Bowness on Windermere to see the world of Beatrix Potter. Now I think the story goes that Gruncle Jeff had mentioned a scenic route across the countryside which Grandad thought was a great idea, however we drove through the clouds, saw waterfalls and windy roads up and down hills and as I looked at Finlay and Heather, quickly realised that this was perhaps not a good idea. Thankfully we had a polly bag and before long we had two kids puking up in the back of the car, a Mum in the middle passing the bag back and forth as best as possible, feeling quite quesey herself. However we arrived in one piece and not too messy...Grauntie Kath was there to meet us with the baby wipes!!!

However once we got our land legs we enjoyed a wet walk along the front and had a magical visit to the world of Beatrix Potter.

Camping adventure to Penrith

Well three days into our holiday the rain kept coming and seemed to be getting heavier and heavier, I slowly realised that I hadn't packed any appropriate foot wear for camping and found myself buying a pair of wellies, black and white polka dots at  half price .
We had arranged to meet Granny and Grandad, Auntie Helen, Josh and Sam at Penrith in the Lake district. Heather, Finlay and myself were to catch the train from Glasgow down the West coast. For two days before our trip there were news reports of severe flooding on the East Coast line, train services were majorly disrupted and there had been electrical faults on the West coast between Glasgow and Carlisle, however by some amazing fate the three of us were able to complete our journey with no delay.
We camped for three nights in an awning, with the rain pouring and the ground sheet saturated, however that did not dampen our spirits and the kids just had a blast with their big cousins. Finlay enjoyed the boyish capers and clowning around and Heather enjoyed lots of hugs.

During our visit we enjoyed a wet day at Ulswater, took in a local craft fare, had lunch in a local pub and had a surprise visit from Great Auntie Kath and Great Uncle Jeff. We managed a short walk along Ulswater as the rain seized for a short while. Then it was a trip to the shops to buy substantial rain coats for the kids.