Chris and Kim......She's Not Coming Home

I'm not letting her. I mean look how much fun she's having! We all love having Ashleigh here and I think she's having fun too. This is Emma and Ross. Ashleigh went to dinner and the pubs with them last night. She said it was very laid back and fun. It's a completely different scene from the clubs the night before and it's nice she could see two sides of Glasgow's nightlife.

It's also nice she didn't have to hang out with her OLD aunt and uncle and her wee cousins for a change!

Cousins in Glasgow

Ashleigh shared her pictures with me from Edinburgh Castle and Pollok Park so I thought I'd share them with you!







This is Pollok House. The family that donated the house and land to Glasgow still use the top apartment but the rest is open to visitors. The original kitchen is the restaurant today and the servants quarters contain a wonderful gift shop.








I just love these guys. I mean really, how cute are they?








Oh and I mean really. I am his mother, but he's pretty cute! Thanks Ashleigh for capturing this!






Awwww....a wee Scotsman.







And the views from the castle are so fantastic!

All Things Scottish

We feel so blessed to live in this beautiful country and when friends and family come to visit, it's always tough to choose what to see and do. This is what we chose this weekend......

Scott, Janice, Davis, Ethan, and Christopher spent Friday at the British Open. As many may know, it is being held at the beautiful Turnberry Course on the West Coast of Scotland. Janice said she could think of nothing more Scottish then watching the Open! We had good weather on Friday and they spent the day watching the golfers and enjoying the views. The boys were thrilled to get a close view of Tiger Woods but were a little disappointed that they could not take their cameras or phones to get his photograph.

Ashleigh, Charlie and I spent the day cooking and shopping and then Ashleigh went out "clubbing" with one of our friend's daughters. It was so surreal for me to take them to the club and drop them off (at 10pm) only to watch them head over to the bouncer and then into the club! I waited up for her and loved hearing about her night when she returned home. She was beaming. (I'm kicking myself for not taking their photograph before I dropped them off!)

Then Saturday, Scott took the whole crew to Edinburgh Castle for the day. They had fun and it truly is something you must see while in Scotland. (I was hosting a Sip and See for my friend Pippa so I missed the fun, but enjoyed the day with friends and with baby Harry.)

Last night, Gemma (our beloved babysitter) took the 4 boys to the cinema while Ashleigh went out to dinner with another friend and Janice, Scott and I went to a dinner party. Fun times were had by all and we are having a relaxing day today.

Scott's just headed to the airport with Janice (we tried to talk her into to staying) and everyone else is still asleep. Happy weekend to you all!

Lack of sleep

Davis did not sleep on his plane ride from America so by Thursday night, he was delirious.

Ashleigh, Janice and I were in the kitchen baking and we heard tons of giggling. And this is why...

The boys found the costume bucket and were thoroughly entertained! Good, clean, cousin fun.

Davis caught up on his sleep last night and today. Life is good.

Even One More Cousin!

Guess what else happened today??

Cousin Janice popped over from Berlin for a visit! She has an internship there this month.

Now, I am a planner. (Janice is a planner too.) But spontaneous visits from fun cousins must always be part of the plan. So when Janice emailed yesterday to see if she could possibly come this weekend, we said, heck yea! Come on over! I know these sort of weekends (or plans) always turn out to the be the best ones ever. What a treat to have 3 cousins here for the weekend.

Janice is in Graduate School in Austin and we were able to catch up with her in Mammoth last summer. And we love having her here in our home. She is a delight. A breath of fresh air. I don't know what I am going to do when she and Ashleigh leave.

While trying to keep Davis awake today, we picked up Janice at the airport and then headed to Pollok Park. This is another one of our favorite local attractions. It has a fantastic museum, stunning grounds, Highland Cows, a formal garden with a maze, a river, a playpark, a cafe, bike trails and much more. We spent a few hours there and then met Scott at home for Indian take away! What a fantastic day.

Janice is studying landscape architecture so when Christopher and Charlie chased her through the formal garden, she was thrilled. She said it was so nice to see the gardens being used. Our boys love a good game of chase here and she was up for the task!!!

Playdoh

"I never mixed my Playdoh when I was a little girl," says Ashleigh after she opens every pot looking for a simple true color. Oh Ashleigh, how I could have guessed this experience was going to be disturbing for you!

As the firstborn of 3 girls, I'm sure there will be many disturbing discoveries while staying with the Nicols this week! Poor thing.

Her sense of order will never be the same and boy do I empathize! In this house full of boys, I hear ya girl!

More Cousins

That's what we are up to today! Yippee, Yahoo!!!

Cousin Davis arrived this morning and Ethan stood on the corner for 45 minutes waiting for Scott to bring him home from the airport. Davis is tired but great and we are so glad to have him here for 3 weeks! He flew all by himself, brave boy!

Here is Ethan entertaining himself while waiting and peering down to the end of the street for Scott's car. He should have just gotten up to go to the airport!

We're up to more cousin fun this afternoon so stay tuned.