Scotland and Easter

Monday morning, I got up early to swim, then headed home to finish packing and then Dad and I were on our way to the airport!  We flew to Texas for one night where I got to see the progress on their kitchen and the changes to their back yard.  Then Tuesday morning was travel day!  Dad and I headed to the airport for our flight to the UK.  Dad surprised me with first class seats on the overseas trip into London which included a super posh meal in the first class lounge and of course big reclining seats in our own little area for the flight - plus pjs and pillows and blankets and such. 

  

Wednesday morning, we got into London, then walked around the airport and ate in the lounge until our flight to Edinburgh.  We got to Edinburgh and got our luggage (yes - all of it - even Dad got his luggage for once!)  then we hopped the bus for the city.  We got checked in to our flat and then went out to walk around the city and see some stuff!  We ended the day late - with a tour of Mary King's Close.  It was a lot of fun and a great bit of History to see.  

Thursday, we got on a train to North Burwick.  Then we walked out to Dirleton Castle and enjoyed wandering around the ancient ruins for awhile, then grabbed some ice cream as we headed back to town for lunch.  

Then we took off again for Tantallen Castle - another beautiful ancient castle 

After, we headed back into town and got to go on a Sea Bird island boat tour.  It was awesome!  We saw puffins, and penquins and gannets and lots more - birds, plus seals!  It was awesome, but cold!  So after we warmed up with hot chocolate and chips and then cooled back down with more ice cream... :)  

Friday, we took the train down to Beamish - and since it was a holiday - it was rather packed!  We had a great time checking out all the exhibits and eating candy and riding a train!  

Saturday, we went down to Stirling.  We got to see the Castle and do a guided tour.

Then we went to the Old Jail and they had a fun little tour with an actor to talk about the Jail and it's history.  

We had a beautiful walk out to the Wallace Monument and climbed to the top.  We stopped at an old ruined Abby on the way back and got to enjoy a few minutes talking to the caretaker when he came to lock up.  Then we walked back to the train station just in time to make the train before it left!  Then we got to the crepe place for dinner just before it closed for the night! 

Sunday was church, followed by the Botanical Gardens.  And of course, ice cream on the way home! 

Dan and the kids kept busy too.  Some friends got together for a little Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday morning, he even found the "big egg" again and he told dad that it was an answer to his prayer.  :) 

Then after, they went to John and Melissa's for another Egg Hunt!  And then after fun eating and playing.  

Their Easter Meeting was late enough that Dad and I were back at the flat and could watch the kids sing in the musical numbers!  They all did awesome!  

Evelyn also had her first Encore concert this weekend - it went super well!  Thankfully there are more to come! 

Crazy....

It has been a crazy busy week.  We had our final choir rehearsals this week - and after the Saturday dress rehearsal, we were feeling pretty solid.  It's amazing how far the choir has come!  

Evelyn had another track meet on Wednesday.  So David went to his friend Anna's house.  Evelyn did ok on her pole vault, but not as well as she would have liked.  She also ran hurdles and took 2nd place.  

David has had a front tooth loose for awhile now - on Monday we had corn on the cob and it got LOTS looser - but he wouldn't pull it out - so it hung on for a couple more days.  It finally came out Wednesday afternoon at Anna's house.  

This week I started helping out coaching the THills 12 and under and and 10 and under groups.  They are such fun kids and it has been great getting to work with them! 

Friday evening, my friend Nicole came over for a puzzle night.  She and Eileen and I worked on the puzzle and got it down just in time for bed!  Plus we had fun chatting, watching movies and eating snacks!  

There was a Water Polo tournament this weekend that both Aaron and I played in.  Me with the masters group and him with Newberg.  We both had a great time.  Our teams lost, but we played well and had fun.  It was out at Mt Hood Community College which is a beautiful outdoor pool - and the weather was nice, we enjoyed a day out in the sun and hanging out with friends and playing water polo!  

While Aaron and I were enjoying the pool and the sun, Dan and James and David and Eileen were enjoying the sun while doing some work around the house.  They pressure washed the front stairs and put in some fresh mulch around the flower bed in the front yard and filled in our ditch in the back yard.  

Today church was wonderful - primary was a bit crazy, but good and after, I started doing some packing.  Dad's flight was delayed, so he was late getting in, but thankfully still in time for the concert in the evening.  Dan came with Eileen, James and David and Sandi and James came up too!  The concert went well and it was wonderful to be a part of it all!  The choir did such an amazing job!  Everyone seemed to love it and I got lots of comments about wanting this to happen again next year - both from choir members and from audience members! 

Where did the week go...

This week has been crazy busy.  David has had swim lessons and he's loving them - he is doing so well!  Evelyn had a track meet this week against Jesuit.  She jumped varsity, but between the bad weather and not having a great week in practice before this, she didn't jump as well as last time, but still had a few good jumps!  She also ran hurdles this week for the first time.  She did well and didn't knock over any of the hurdles!   

It was pouring during the meet, so Dan and I got soaked watching her jump - we didn't stay for the hurdles, which was probably for the best since it continued to rain and she didn't get done until 8 pm....  

On Friday, David had an assembly.  His grade was singing a song and he was holding up a poster for the song.  He was super nervous, but he did a great job!  

This weekend was crazy.  Dan had a race early Saturday morning.  Unfortunatly the race was not very well marked and he ended up a bit lost and didn't finish the actual race, but he had a nice run in a beautiful area.  

It was also General Conference weekend.  So we enjoyed watching as much of the sessions as we could.  Dan made up Monkey Bread on Saturday for the evening session, but we skipped the 7-layer dip this year.  It never really gets all eaten and it feels like a LOT of work when it's really just Dan and Aaron and I who eat it...  

I swam in my first swim meet in over 25 years this weekend.  I only did a couple events and for the most part they went well.  I lost my goggles on the dive on my last event, which sucked, but oh well...  It was fun getting to know some of the team better.  I was in a suit with a tie and one of the ladies on the team said it would get me DQ-ed, and loaned me her other suit- which was a tech suit.  So i shimmied my way into a tech suit for the first time.  It was nice to swim in, but a major pain in the neck to get on and not much better to get off.   Dan came and watched my last race on Saturday and filmed it - kinda eye opening to watch, I've never really seen myself swim before....  

Sunday we had the sister missionaries over for dinner and then Evie had Encore and I had the Messiah Choir practice.  It's coming along well!  Just one more week!!