Scotland part 1

After the craziness at the end of the school year, we are finally done. It was a great year that Jamie and I will both look back on fondly. It's nice to reflect back on what we've learned. It has been a busy, yet satisfying year. Here's a quick list of what we accomplished:

• finished one year of our master's program
• had a great trip to Dubai
• had a baby!
• finished our 2nd year of teaching
• visited Wisconsin over spring break
• saw the largest oasis in the world (Hofuf)
  
• made some great new friends

On another note, we made it safe and sound to Edinburgh Tuesday morning. Aden did a great job again on the plane rides. He is going to be a pro flyer in no time. We spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Edinburgh. Edinburgh Castle is supposed to be pretty neat, but that was dampened (no pun intended) a bit by the downpour of rain that soaked us while we were there. Let's just say the next morning we found a Mothercare store and bought a rain cover for Aden's stroller. Since then, it hasn't done anything but sprinkle a bit. I'd rather be safe than sorry though. The funny part was that Aden laughed when the wind and rain hit his face. He has been such a trooper this whole trip. The weather has been much better the past few days. Wednesday we hung out on Princes Steet which has some beautiful parks. We just absorbed as much greenery as we could. We also toured HM the queen's residence in Edinburgh, Holyrood Palace. She will be coming to visit in about a week and will be throwing a huge garden party for 8,000 people. If we have a chance, we're hoping to make it back to Holyrood Park which has some wonderful walking and views.

After a great time in Edinburgh, we headed north. One of Jamie's goals for the trip was to visit a scotch whiskey distillery. We went to the Dewar's Distillery in Aberfeldy. It was really interesting to see/smell how they make the whiskey and compare it to the brewery tours we've taken. Then we drove a bit farther north to Newtonmore where the MacPherson Clan Museum is located. My side of the family has lineage that goes back to the MacPherson clan. The museum was small, but gave a lot of interesting information about the clan and its history. One more trip in the car took us to Braemar, a small town in the Cairngorn National Park. That brings us to today. Jamie and I like to take a day and do some scenic hiking when we go traveling. We ended up doing 2 hikes, both about 4 miles long. We had wonderful views of the mountains, the town, rivers, pastureland, and even a castle. Aden tried out his new backpack carrier and loved it!

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Tara

 outside Edinburgh Castle

 Daddy and Aden posing

 Aden's new aspiration, to be a bagpiper

 We got a sweet deal on upgrading to an Alfa Romero, so we took it.

 Aden enjoying the Romero

 Daddy, Aden, and the Dewar's Whiskey Highlander

 Gillaspie's, you would have loved the curator unfortunatly I didn't get a picture of him. 

Picture crazy long grey hair and a kilt.... pure awesome.

 Unplanned pit stop on the side of the road to change a blown out diaper.

Aden thought it was a lot of fun.

 Hiking in Cairngorn National Park

 One tuckered out little man.

Settled in and Leaving

We are pretty much settled into our new house now.  Our goal was to have everything all ready so when we came back in the fall we wouldn't have a whole bunch of work to do.  We are leaving in 5 short days and only have two days of school left.  The end of the year is extra crazy this year with the move and we are just finishing our last masters class of the year on top of it all.  We are looking forward to our week in Scotland and then coming back to visit our friends and family.

Enjoy the pictures.

Jamie

Aden's room all put together

Aden playing at Mommy's desk.

Our tenth graders at their graduation dinner

Yep, a baby in a dump truck.

In the New House!

Sorry about the delay between posts, but we have been super busy.  We moved out of our old house and into our new house this Wednesday and Thursday.  It was/is exhausting.  Third period on Wednesday I was asked to leave school and move all the big items a day early because the truck was available now.  So I did, and after the movers and I finished I found out the temperature was around 120 degrees.  Yesterday we loaded up the smaller stuff in a school van and we finished off the move.  It was probably only 110 degrees yesterday though, piece of cake.

On the new house end, all the workers were trying to finish up the last minute cleaning and preparations.  It seemed like there was a time management problem on their end, but they sort of finished and we are in!  Our first night in the new house will be tonight.  Our principal  and his wife offered us a room at their house if the paint fumes were too bad.  Needless to say, the painting was finished the day before and the place reeked, so we took them up on their offer.  After a night of open windows and air purifiers running, we should be good to go.

We'll post more pictures as things progress.  Compare these pics to the ones from a few weeks ago.

Jamie

Aden hanging out (literally) in our new house.

What?

Living Room

Living Room from the other side

Spare bedroom.

Aden's room.

Master bedroom, minus closet doors.

Dinning Room

Kitchen.

This was supposed to be a picture of the beach, but it was a little humid outside.