Merry Christmas!

I'm baaaack! :)
Hope you've all had a Merry Christmas.... here's a bit of mine!

We had a fantastic Christmas at my mum & dad's house; we were a bit concerned about the drive there on Wednesday night (well, to be honest, everyone but ME was concerned, and I was the driver! Ohhh if I'd had a pound for every time somebody said 'drive carefully, the roads will be icy'!!!) but as it turned out the roads were fine until we got about half an hour away from mum's then it got really foggy, but still not icy. So that was fine, made it in the normal 3 hours... my mum was sooooo excited to see us and both kiddies woke up and played with Gran & Grandad, and didn't go to bed until about 11pm! (We arrived at 9!)
There was a fair bit of snow there so on Christmas Eve we all went sledding, had SO much fun. Kathryn was SOOO tired as she got up at a normal time despite her late night, but she still enjoyed it, and Alexander had loads of fun. My mum's neighbours had given us permission to sled on their hill as they were away for Christmas anyway so it was just right next door, fantastic place.



We had a nice and relaxed Christmas Eve, prepared the veggies for Christmas dinner, and just played and vegged out a bit. We watched the old Disney cartoons (Mickey and Donald with the Chipmunks etc) in the evening, then put the kids to bed and we watched a Muppet's Christmas Carol and wrapped the last few presents.... then put all of the presies under the tree (which looked obscene there were so many!! Wasn't even my fault this year - we didn't overdo it! ) and off to bed ourselves.

I woke up every hour on the hour, either due to Kathryn coughing (she'd got a terrible cough while we were away) or needing a pee, or thinking I heard Alexander up, or maybe just 'cos I was excited too... but anyway, Kathryn got us up at 7am and we opened our stockings on the bed then went through to Gran & Grandad and opened all of the presents under the tree... it took a good few hours to get through them all but was good fun! Alexander was incredibly impressed with his Lego - Santa had wrapped 2 lego kits (a crane and a flatbed lorry), a big box of mixed lego bits, and 2 sets of Daily Mirror Lego mini-kits all in one big box, so when he opened it it was just 'wow! Wow! WOW! WOW!"

I can't even remember everything I got.... some shirts & some socks, a mini printer for printing off photos (which isn't economical for large amounts but if I just want a quick picture to put in a letter or osmething it's ideal - it also prints postcards etc!), the wiifit plus game, a REAL slinky , a watch... ummmmmm some yummies.... can't remember everything else off the top of my head, but I really was spoiled!

The kids were insanely spoiled too, but I won't list everything they got, haha, would take forever!

We played and relaxed a bit, then Kathryn went for a nap while we tidied up. My mum's 2 sisters and their families arrived at 2 and we all went sledding again which was loads of fun.

The rest of the day passed in normal Christmas-day fashion - dinner (11 of us at the table!), more presents with mum's family, then a lazy evening socializing and playing with them.



Boxing day we didn't do much although Adam and I went sledding with the kids again by which time I was totally and completely exhausted!!! We packed all of our stuff up that night although didn't put it in the car until the next morning.... my parents' big present for us was a month's worth of shopping which they bought and wrapped in a huge box hehe, so it was quite a LOT of stuff to put in the car, with all of our presents as well. We were well and truly packed in tight - we even had a couple of things shoved under the frount seats lol... but that's all part of Christmas away!

It snowed overnight that night so we woke up to 6+ inches of snow the morning we were meant to be leaving... couldn't get up their wee road so they had to give us a push around the corner... but once we got up the roads were clear the rest of the way... we went through Perth instead of bypassing, thinking the roads would be clearer than in the little towns near Perth... but it was the worst part of road we'd been on, the roads hadn't been cleared, they were just slush and ice and wet. Awful!!! Anyway the rest of the trip was uneventful and we got home about 5.30pm.

Took the kids in to Adam's parents' house, emptied our car then went in to his parents' house again for presies and dinner... had a nice evening there and then home for bed - and even MORE presents to open the next morning, ones that we'd left at home rather than take to mum & dad's just to save space! Not too many for Monday morning but still! Our wee house is fit to burst now! Going to have to spend the next week finding spaces to put all of our new toys! :)



Anyway, off to bury my nose in a book for a wee while before bed, will try and post more often! :)

xxx

More Camping!! :)

We went camping again this weekend, had a lovely time! We ended up going to the same place, and just pitched the tent on the other beach, because we couldn't decide where else to go instead!
The weather was forecast to be very hot and sunny, but it was actually a really strange day - it was overcast but hot, one of those days that you get sunburnt without suspecting it - which we all did! :( Poor babykin has a burnt back, bald patch and cheeks(I did put sunscreen on but I guess I didn't reapply soon enough! :( ), Alexander has sunburnt ears & face, Adam's arms & neck got it, and I have a slight sunburn on my back & face (but not too bad - and I'm the only one that didn't have sunscreen on :) I have a very different complexion to Adam!) My worst burn is actually the parting in my hair - I had bunches in, and the line right down the middle of my head is stinging!!! But anyway, it kept looking like the weather might change for the worse but the bad stuff must have bypassed us and by about 4pm the sun was shining fully again and it was lovely.



We got there just before lunchtime, put up the tent, had lunch, FINALLY managed to get Kathryn to take a nap (after a lot of screaming!)We played for AGES on the beach... built castles, played at the water's edge a bit, mostly just running away from the waves, which Alexander loves doing! :)




The boys also collected firewood for our campfire, and went rock climbing :) For dinner, we had bough a couple of steaks and cut them into cubes so we made kebabs with steak and tomatos and peppers... they were sooooo yummy. We also had the usual hot dogs & sausages & baked potatos & a tin of beans (and a tin of spaghetti o's this time too heehee)... then watermelon and toasted marshmallows for pudding. Yummmmmmmmmy! ;D



Kathryn went to bed first although it took her ages to go to sleep, she just misses her cot I think! She just sleeps in the tent next to me so nothing to resemble a bed at all really. She sleeps in her grobag but she's stopped sleeping in it at home so she probably doesn't associate it with sleep any more. Alexander was in bed before she was asleep but she did calm down around then anyway (after me sitting cuddling her for ages) and then slept like a log the rest of the night. Mind you, they weren't in bed until probably close to 9.30 or 10pm.
Adam and I ended up sitting chatting until almost midnight, it was such a lovely evening, not cold at all (we just had sweaters & jeans on) and sat by the campfire talking and drinking tea!

I woke up a few times through the night, but woke up with a start in the morning as I heard someone walk past the tent! :o We were COMPLETELY remote, and I knew it had to be early... all four of us were in the tent so I was a bit freaked out. But anyway the noise disappeared so I lay back down. I was wide awake though and just lay there listening, heard a few more noises but couldn't be sure of what I was hearing. So I just stayed there awake (we didn't have watches, so no idea what time it was other than if we turned our mobile phones on - they just stayed off otherwise while we were there cos there's no signal!) and waited. Alexander woke up a few minutes later bursting for a pee so opened the tent up, looked out and saw:




TONS of them!!! They'd made their way to the beach right past our tent early in the morning - that's what I'd heard!!!
They didn't bother with us anyway, so we just carried on and had our breakfast (sausages on bread, cooked on the camping stove!) and tried to function a little. Turned out it aws about 7am so not too bad. It was chilly but sunny. I was insanely tired though (I think I must have been awoken from the wrong stage of sleep or something - I was actually falling asleep sitting up at some points!) so by about 9.30 I had to go for a nap, so Kathryn & I both fell asleep in the tent for an hour or so, which I needed. I woke up with a start again to hear a cow chewing right by my head; I looked up and there was an outline of a cow on the side fo the tent lol, it was right behind it! Then looked out the frount and there were two more wandering around our picnic blanket (Adam & Alexander were up on the rocks watching all of this!). Anyway I dozed off and when I woke up a few minutes later, they were gone. Went out to where the boys were and they said there was one nosing right in the frount of our tent, but I must have been asleep then... and the cameras were in the tent so they couldnt' get a picture!
Anyway, after the cows left we went down to the beach but it was so covered in cow-pats that we had to go over to the other beach instead! We skimmed stones and played in the sand a bit, and Alexander played with his ferry boat in the sea :) and we just spent a few hours playing, really.




Then had lunch, got changed out of sandy clothes, and slowly packed up and came home. It was about 3.00 when we left, 3.40 when we got home... Kathryn fell asleep about 3.30 in the car, and Alexander fell asleep on the couch inside at about 4pm, then Adam fell asleep at about 4.45 :lol: so I just sat at teh computer and caught up on posts etc!! haha! Kathryn woke at about 5 and I had to wake the boys up at half past 5 hahaha!

We had a lovely time anyway!!! Hope we get to go again soon! :)

Camping again! :)

We decided to go camping again this weekend - I was supposed to be going to Oban for a choir rehearsal today, but I decided to skip it and go camping with the family - much more fun! :)
The weather was amazing, the kids had SO much fun... they went paddling in the sea and built sandcastles and we played frisbee... we had hotdogs and pork kebabs and ribs, baked potatos (in tinfoil in the fire!) and a tin of beans for dinner, followed by toasted marshmallows... the kiddies ended up not going to bed until about 9ish for Kathryn and 10ish for Alexander as it was so light and we didn't have watches on that we hadn't realized the time until we checked our phones!!
We used our new tent which we ordered off of Amazon for £30 and it's GREAT! It's bigger, easy to assemble and easy to put away! We were much warmer than last time, and slept much better!
Kathryn woke up at 5.30 with an exploded nappy but then after half an hour of playing went back to sleep 'til 7.30 which was okay! Poor wee thing was very tired today and didn't have her morning nap but she fell asleep as soon as we got in the car to drive home. She has SO much fun though being outside all of the time, it's so lovely.
Poor Kathryn got a sunburnt bald patch on the top of her head though!! We put sunscreen all over her but never even throught of her head! Alexander has two little sunburnt patches on the backs of his legs and Adam's neck is bright red! I'm the only one that didn't wear any sunscreen and I just have a little bit of red on my shoulder's and that's it! Think the kids must have inherited Adam's complexion!
We're all exhausted now though, and stink of campfire smoke, and have to wash everything that we took with us because it's all smokey too. But it's worth it! Had a lovely lovely time! Can't wait to go again!!!

Here are some pictures! :)





That's all for now! :)

Camping!

Well we decided to go camping after all :) We didn't decide until about noon on Saturday, and camping with two small children is quite a complicated affair, so we didn't actually LEAVE Tobermory until about two o'clock.

We decided to go to the black sands beach near Ulva Ferry, I can't remember its real name... so when we eventually found it we took the car down a tiny little bumpy farm road as far as we could, then had to walk over a really rickety bridge with all of our camping stuff (well, I walked over the rickety bridge, Adam jumped over the stream!). But it was absolutely gorgeous, we were the only people there and it was perfect! Alexander had lots of fun climbing on rocks (he really IS a little monkey!) and building sandcastles. We had a lovely campfire, Adam took a quick dip in the sea (crazy boy!), Kathryn kept raiding the food box :) and we all enjoyed ourselves throroughly. We couldn't find my sleeping bag, and Adam & I shared his as a mattress and covered up with two fleecy blankets, but they weren't nearly warm enough and we did quite freeze. We did not sleep much at all because we were so cold. We also need to consider investing in a bigger tent - when Kathryn is just a bit bigger is will definately be too small in there for four, comfortably! Other than the lack of sleep though, it was wonderful -the kids slept fine anyway- and Kathryn and I did take a nice cozy nap this morning in the tent once the sun warmed it all up! I'm so glad we went - it was such a nice change for a weekend and such perfect weather too. This morning we were so relaxed, Adam & Alexander played on the beach a bit while Kathryn & I napped, and we just had a peaceful morning, then a little lunch and packed up the car by 2pm. We will definately be doing it again, hopefully we'll have such lovely weather again next time too!! :)

Off to bed now, though, exhausted! :)

A Day at the Beach!

I've had a lovely day today! I was childminding, and as the forecast was great and we were going to Dervaig anyway for toddler group in the morning, I decided to pack a picnic and take the kids to the beach in the afternoon!

We had a fantastic afternoon, the kids were all very well behaved and none of us wanted to leave, but we had to get home. I took loads of pictures of the beach and the sky and the sea, though, and I'm trying to put together my first scrappy pack of goodies!! It's a whole new, exciting project! :) Not sure when it'll be finished though as I'm hopefully going to be busy this weekend as it's meant to be sunny again!

We spoke about going camping but I'm not sure if it will happen. The place where we'd normally go has public toilets but I found out today that they're currently out of order, which isn't really a problem for me & Adam (we used to camp rough a lot ;) ) but not so good for Alexander! We might still do it though. I'm going to have to clean the house in the morning I think so that we can go out in the afternoon and maybe go camping too! :) Just going to play it by ear though!!

Today at the beach I remembered again how incredibly lucky we are to live where we do.... when it's wet & foggy I don't appreciate it nearly as much ;) but when the sun shines it is amazing. We are only a half hour drive away from Calgary Beach and as you can see from the photos, it's amazing!! And I spotted a golden eagle sitting in a tree at the side of the road on the way to the beach, and one flying overhead on the way home! Amazing!! :)

Anyway, here are a couple of photos... I must be off to bed though! :)

G'night! :)