Edinburgh, Scotland

I'm finally tackling our Scotland pictures. I'm going to split them up in posts by days/location, as I think that will be the easiest.

We flew in to Edinburgh on Sunday and were able to do an early check-in at the hotel around noon. That gave us most of the day on Sunday to explore. We walked the Magnificient Mile (which our hotel was directly on), ate at a Hog cafe (which was recommended in our Frommer's book), toured an old church, did a Scotch Whisky Tour and toured Edinburgh Castle. Sunday was super busy, but fun.

 The hog sandwich place was amazing. It was off the mile a block or so and was lined with people. They had about six seats in the whole place. Super cheap and delicious. We were both glad that we decided to try it.

The Scotch tour was definitely a good one. It gave us an introductory in to making scotch and we had a tasting at the end. It's definitely not to my liking, but Luke likes it. 

 

 

 This was the church that we went it. I can't remember the history behind it, but it's super old. lol

 This is a picture of Edinburgh Castle from the shopping district. We spent about 2 hours at Edinburgh Castle and enjoyed it. Looking back over the trip, this was our least favorite castle.

On to Day 2 in Edinburgh:

We visited the Palace of Holyroodhouse first thing. It is where the Queen and Royal family stay when they are in Scotland. 

We both really liked the Palace. The whole thing (well, the parts you could walk through), had original furnishing and lots of plaques to read. Very informative and just plain neat. 

The above and below pictures are part of the Palace. Where we are standing there used to be an Abbey before the Palace was built.

After that we grabbed a strawberry shortbread creme filled sconce (the best I've ever had) and decided to climb Arthur's Seat. It was supposed to have the best views of Edinburgh. 

 The above picture shows Arthur's Seat (or what we thought it was). Funny thing... we climbed that and I huffed and puffed the whole way. Some other people were climbing it as well, but there was a bigger mountain thing right behind it too. Well, there were lots of people on that one. We didn't figure out till we went back to the hotel, that the bigger one was Arthur's Seat. I would have never made it on the actual one. Climbing is just not my thing.

View from the top.

After climbing, we headed back in to the newer part of town. We hit up a coffee shop, restaurant and some stores. Frommer's had recommended Paper Source and Tiger Lily as cool shops and I loved them both. 

That pretty much concluded our time in Edinburgh.

Mother's Day

We started Mother's Day celebrations early this year. We did our annual Jimmy John's picnic at the park on Sunday. Low-key and fun. 

 I love you this much...

 No more pictures...

 The boy still loves his underdogs...

On Sunday, we went to church and then Luke cooked us an amazing dinner. Love my boys.

March & April Reading List

I'm totally behind in updating my March and April reading list, but it is finally here.

Charlotte, one of my Columbia friends, recommended this to me. I liked it. It was a super easy read and just a bit different than I usually pick. 

This is the second one of the series. Definitely not as good as the first, but still ok.

I've read this one before, but I just love the author. Good historical romance.

Same as above.

Same as above.

I read this last year and wanted to pick it back up. I enjoyed it the second time around as well. 

Really loved this book (adult version too!). I loved the discipline section and most of the book isn't even about that. I will definitely be re-reading this again.

Hmm, I feel bad saying this but I hated this book. It was a struggle to make it to the end. The writer (I felt) was all over the place. Just not for me.

Very informative. I liked it and was totally intrigued by the life of Irene. 

Year to Date:

1. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
2. All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein
3. Nurture Shock by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman
4. An Unlikely Countess by Jo Beverly
5. One Man's Love by Karen Ranney
6. Stolen Lives Twenty Years in a Desert Jail  by Malika Oufkir and Michele Fitoussi
7. What to Wear for the Rest of your Life by Kim Johnson Gross
8. The Secret Service The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency by Philip H. Melanson and Peter Stevens
9. Young House Love by Sherry & John Petersik
10. Three Cups of Tea  by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
11. The Smart Traveler's Passport  by Nina Willdorf and the readers of Budget Travel
12. Say You Love Me by Johanna Lindsey
13. Savage Hope by Cassie Edwards
14. Divergent by Veronica Roth
15. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
16.Castles in the Midst by Josie Litton
17. Fountain of Dreams by Josie Litton
18. Fountain of Fire by Josie Litton
19. How Do You Tuck in a Superhero by Rachel Balducci
20. The Five Love Languages of Children by Gary Chapman and Ross Campbell
21.Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner
22. Shattered Dreams by Irene Spencer

A month of our life

 Playing at the "train" park in Ozark

 Breakfast at the Hilton on the Landing

 Shopping on the Landing

 Storytime in bed

 Play date with Preston

 Lunch at Incredible Pizza with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa

 Go carts at Incredible Pizza

 Playing "drive thru"

 Enjoying his play set

London

So, I hate to say it, but I was disappointed in London. Actually, I think I was just so excited to see Scotland that I just wanted to get the London part over with. Luke and I basically had Friday night and Saturday all day to see the sights. We went to dinner with his coworkers (at a really nice steak place) and spend most of the night there. Too much food and too much wine. =) Fun times. 

Saturday morning we got up and a few of the guys from his office went with us to Buckingham Palace. I wanted to see the changing of the guard, which happens around 11:30. It was a mad house there! We pressed up to the gates to watch the guard change and it was pretty disappointing. Basically, all they do is change places. LOL. I don't know what I expected. 

(Buckingham Palace)

We left the Palace and headed to the river to walk to see Big Ben. About five minutes later, we hear quite the commotion. We look back to the street where Buckingham Palace is and there is a parade of the furry hat guards. *I LOVE FURRY HAT GUARDS!

Luke, the other guys and I all look at each other and basically run up to the street. It was pretty comical. 

 (Big Ben)

We walked a mile or so and saw Big Ben. Then Luke and I went off by ourself and went shopping on Oxford Street. Loved it! Ok, the UK has the cutest boy clothes ever! Next time we go, I am taking a whole suitcase just to bring back clothes for Greyson. They are skinny legged Gap looking clothes at great prices. 

From there, we walked to Tower Bridge. You can go up in it, but we didn't. I know we will go back and that is something Greyson will love to do, so we decided to wait to do it with him.

Sledding with Daddy

Last month when it snowed, Luke stayed home for a few days and the boys got to have some quality time outside. They had a blast and I loved watching (from the window).