The FitzGeralds in Scotland

At the beginning of July, my brother Todd and his family arrived for 2 weeks in Scotland. We spent one week in Glasgow exploring things close to home and one week in the Highlands exploring the great wet outdoors!

Our sister-in-law Amy is pregnant and gets extremely car sick so she graciously endured many winding roads and outings that are horrible when you are car sick and pregnant!

Our niece Stella put up with hours of sibling squabbles and noise that she does not have at her home or for that matter on her vacations!

And my brother Todd, one of the world's best communicators, helped us all discuss/digest what a 2 week extended family vacation looks like when one family is active, loud, dirty, all boy, and 3 children versus one family that is intellectual, not-so-active, clean, all girl, and 1 child! The stark differences between our families only helped us to appreciate each other more.

When I hear the boys talk about their visit with their cousin Stella, it's all fun, adventure, laughter filled memories for them. I just hope that Stella, Todd and Amy feel the same!

Here are highlights from our 2 weeks:

Isle of Arran:

Pollok House, Pollok Park and the Burrell Museum

Botanic Gardens and Park, Kelvingrove Park and Museum

Edinburgh Castle, Vanity Fair Exhibit, Castle Park

and other highlights in and around Glasgow: Glasgow Academy, Swim at the Gym, Play in the Garden, Wagamama, Date Night, Shish Mahal with Pippa and Neil, Buchannan Street, and chats to catch up!

Then we were off to the Highlands (Spean Bridge to be specific):

A 3 hour drive turned into an 8 hour drive because the only highway north was shut down because of an accident. Argh! Along the way we tried to trace a bit of Amy's McGregor family history and had an impromptu picnic at a beautiful spot in Glencoe:

Jousting at Fort George and the Nessie Mueseum at Loch Ness

Exploring the Bog and Burn behind our Holiday Home:

Fishing the Roy River (no luck and notice the thrill on Charlie's face about sharing the fishing rod with Stella) and cycling around the house:

Glenfinnian Monument, Neptune's Staircase (Caledonian Canal Lock and Dam System where we watched an commercial boat and 2 private sailboats come through the swing bridge and "staircase" and the boys helped the operator open the lock), Jacobite Steam Train (sighting), and the aqueduct in the Harry Potter Movie:

Mountain Biking and the Highland Wildlife Park:

And last but not least, Tea Cakes are the best!

Whew! I apologize for the extra pictures and the condensed words but as you can see, we had a wonderful visit and great memories that will last a lifetime!

Where in the World are the MacNicols?

Well, we have not been abducted by aliens but we've just spent 5 weeks with family and friends in Glasgow, The Highlands, Dallas, Arlington, Fairfield, CA, Alamo, CA, and Mammoth Lakes, CA!

It has been a busy, fun, exciting, emotional and exhausting 5 weeks! I apologize to those of you that have been checking in. I just couldn't get to my computer for long enough to make sense of anything!

So in a quick attempt to catch you all up to date with our adventure, here goes:

On July the 2nd, our dear friends the Christopher's arrived in Glasgow for a few nights and days of fun. We walked all over Glasgow despite the rain and managed to see a few sights with our busy families. We enjoyed the Botanic Gardens, The Kelvingrove Museum, a walk through Kelvingrove Park in the pouring rain (little boys love this by the way), coffee at the Bean Scene, the Transport Museum, and many meals, games and stories together in our few days! I hope we did not wear them out! Thank you Christopher Family for sharing your vacation time with us!

Sports Day and TGA Highland Games

During the last week of school, all three boys participated in the school sponsored Sports Day (Field Day) and the PTA sponsored Highland Games. The Sports Day included formal competitions in a variety of track and field events. The Highland Games included the not so formal competitions like Haggis Hurling (to which our boys said no way!), Wellie Toss, and Tug of War. The Highland Games also included activities like a bounce house, a military obstacle course and a Beat the Goalie Game.

The Sports Day was so organized that all of the Prep School competed at the same time on the same field. This would have been great if I had three heads but since Scott was out of town and I was trying to catch all three boys' events, this was not a particularly fun outing for me! The boys had a nice time and it was a beautiful day so I should not complain!

The Highland Games were much more relaxed but a little less organized so there was a different feel to the day. It is also less competitive as the children were divided into their school houses and therefore are competing in groups which also helps it to feel more relaxed! Christopher did score third for his age group in the Wellie Toss! Go Little American Boy!

School's Out 4 Summer

School finally finished for our boys yesterday! We've been counting down and now the holiday is here! Check out the picture of the boys from their last day of school. I've posted the first day photo again just for comparison!

Ethan had his friends Michael and Chris over for a sleepover and so we've been counting down for that as well!

The boys enjoyed the diet coke/mentos explosion trick, a water gun fight, movies and a Wii tournament.

Scott had been on a business trip for 10 days and returned yesterday as well, so that made everything that much sweeter!

The weather has turned cold and rainy but we are not going to let that get us down!

Hope your summer is splendid!

First Day of Summer

Today is the first day of summer and when you are this far North, you can really see the difference in light!

The sun rose at 4:30am and the weather channel says it will set at 10:06; but if today is relatively clear, that will be more like 11:30pm!

It makes the evenings so long that you can really accomplish anything you'd like! Our only problem is getting the boys to bed on time since they are still in school! Only 2 more days and then we can be a little more flexible.

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful, lazy summer so far!