Jedi Knights

Katie is super into Star Wars right now. She's got a few of friends that that really love Star Wars and have lightsaber fights all the time with brothers and neighborhood friends. We had purchased some lightsabers at Sea World of all places and unfortunately one broke while they were playing with them. I was kind of hoping that was the end of it. Silly me! 






A friend asked me if I could make some Jedi cloaks for a 4 year old boy's birthday party. It was a fun challenge and I came up with a pattern that seemed to work. I had some spare white fabric, so I made one with that first. Then, I *had* to make an extra one so that both big girls could have a cloak. (The cloaks I made for the party were brown.) I let the girls help pack their bags with clothes and toys and their Jedi cloaks were one of the must-have items.

Today, we were on our way back from the gym and I got a little turned around with the bus stops. We wound up missing our bus, which meant that we would have to wait 15 minutes for the next one. And, guess what?!?! The bus stop is right next to a toy/gaming store, and they have Star Wars items in the window. So, I let the girls go inside and pick out one toy each. They picked up a few different Star Wars items and settled on matching green lightsabers. I told them that they could play with them only outside and that they had to first take naps.


Cole got home early from work that day. So, we all went out to a little field behind our flat. Katie and Dani put on their cloaks and even made a lightsaber for Claire out of constructors. We put a little green cape on Claire, but she didn't feel like wearing it for very long. They girls had a blast battling each other. They really loved it when they were able to start ganging up on Cole! And, Cindy and Cole really enjoyed the background views of this epic battle!

Here's a picture of the back of our flat from the field: 

Bad Hair ... Low Flow Shower

We've got a lovely flat here that is withing walking distance to about four coffee shops (one is Starbucks), a Tesco (which Katie keeps calling Publix - can you guess what kind of store it is?!?!), some places to eat, and a few shops. And, keep in mind that when I say "walking distance" that must be mighty close since almost every time we walk to one of these places we're either pushing/carrying 3 kids or we're walking with 3 kids. So, they're all pretty darn close!


We've got a washer/dryer combo - It's an odd front loading contraption that both washes the clothes *and* dries them when it's done. This thing is tiny, so I'm washing clothes almost every day. And, the clothes are really wrinkled! It looks like we've wadded them up and left them in a pile for months! But, at least they are clean and smell good. We do have a little fridge and freezer. And, a dishwasher.


The problem we've had lately, though, is that the water pressure is nonexistent and the hot water runs for about a minute. This makes showers quite interesting. And, forget giving the kids a bath! We got one the first day here and Cindy about FROZE poor Dani. So, we're basically sponging them off here and there and hoping that this gets resolved. Tomorrow we're off to see Nessie! That means a hotel! I think that means HOT SHOWERS!!! Please keep your fingers crossed that we actually do get hot showers and baths and are able to get everyone clean. And, hopefully, while we're gone they will fix this problem. It's a long weekend (It's Bank Day Monday), so I'm worried that people will decide to start the long weekend early and won't get around to fixing the water heat and pressure issues.


And, when visiting Nessie, we'll also get to ride on a train. This is the first train ride for the girls. We're all very excited!

Writing Post Cards

One of our first days here, we bought some post cards and stamps. The goal was to get Katie to write notes to her friends and family. We're off to a bit of a slow start. We try to have homework time every afternoon or evening for at least an hour where Katie (and sometimes Dani) works on her writing or math. Today, she had to write her post card to her class back at Brentwood (www.GoBrentwoodSchool.com). Here are a few pictures.

In case you can't read it in the picture above, she wrote: "I watched Hannah Montana on the plane. I saw Nessie from the plane! I rode on a double decker bus. - on top. Love, Katie" She was quite excited that the plane had tv's for each seat and that you could pick what you want to watch. And, one of those options was the Hannah Montana movie!!! Also, she swears that as we were landing she saw Nessie in the water. And, the highlight for any 5 year old is riding on not just an ordinary bus, but a double-decker bus! We'll have to have her write post cards to friends at least once a month to have a collection of her thoughts. She can also keep track of things in her travel journal from school. Thanks Ms. Davies!

Virgin Active Gym

Once Claire reached about 18 months in age, I decided that it was about time for me to get back in shape. Before kids, Cole and I were both active. We hiked, walked, and backpacked and I would work out with the elliptical or bike and weights almost everyday. Then, we had kids. It was hard to keep active. So, we got a little soft. 


Well, at the end of November, I joined Gainesville Health and Fitness Club (www.ghfc.com). I started out with Zumba classes and LOVED them. Once I felt like I was in a little better shape, I started trying out other classes, like Body Pump, Body Combat, Pure Muscle, Spin, and even Body Flow. And, Cole started working out with the Wii. By watching what we ate and building some muscle mass, we were both able to lose some weight. We want to be healthy for ourselves, and we both want to be a little smaller. But, we also want to set the best examples we can for our kids. 


Well, after losing about 15 pounds, I didn't want to head to Edinburgh and gain it all back! Plus, I really like my time at the gym. The kids have fun in the Kids Club and I get my 1 hour (or more) a day without any demands on me. Without our wonderful support group that we have in Gainesville, I felt like I really *needed* to find a fitness club in Edinburgh! 

Before we left, I did find one that looked good: Virgin Active. I contacted them before we left and tried to go on Monday. But, I learned that at this club, you have to book your spot in classes.  You also have to book your kids in "Club V," their Kids Club. So, they didn't have slots for 3 extra kids on Monday. But, we were able to find time on Tuesday. We went there and after some miscommunications, I was able to exercise some and sign up for the gym. 

The rules here are bit different, but the gym seems lovely. I had to call Club V and book the kids in slots throughout the week. With 3 kids, I had to take what I could get. But, by next weekend I should be able to get in and take some of the classes that I really like. And, they told me that if I'm there when there are no classes in session, I can use the studios to do my own exercises. On Thursday I plan to do my own Zumba class. Thanks Jessica!!! 

Let's Climb the Mountain

Our flat is quite close to Holyrood Park. And, from our window upstairs, we're even able to see a pretty little church and a large hill rising in the background. Cole and I really love the view! Here's a picture taken from our window:

Here's a little information on Arthur's Seat. It is the the main peak of the group of hills which form most of Holyrood Park, a wild piece of highland landscape in the centre of the city of Edinburgh, about a mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle. The hill rises above the city to a height of 251 m (823 ft), provides excellent panoramic views of the city, is quite easy to climb, and is a popular walk. Though it can be climbed from almost any direction, the easiest and simplest ascent is from the East, where a grassy slope rises above Dunsapie Loch. (Thanks Wikipedia!) 

We fondly remember these hills from our visit back in 2002. Once, while Cole was at his conference, I decided to trek up the hills and wound up at Arthur's Seat. It was lovely up there, and later during the week, Cole, Joe Hartman, and I went up. This time we were accompanied by a college of theirs, Phil Scarf, who went up the mountain wearing dress shoes. We didn't choose the best path and Phil went up like a mountain goat making it look quite easy. We, on the other hand, were scrambling up with our hands and knees in contact with the ground.

All this to say that we really hope our girls inherited some of our sense of adventure and love of hiking. We live in Florida, so the girls lives mostly consist of swimming and lots of heat. Cole and I like cool weather and love camping, hiking, and backpacking. Since we've had kids we really haven't done much of this. So, we were thrilled when Katie asked when we were going to go "climb the mountain." Then, she asked again 5 minutes later.... And, again another 5 minutes later.... You get the point. We weren't as thrilled after the 100th time, but we still wanted to let the girls "climb the mountain." 


Monday was the first day that Cole was off at the University working. I was left to fend for myself with the kids. We were going to visit a local gym (Er, "Fitness Club"), but they didn't have enough people there to watch the girls while I checked things out. So, we got the double stroller ready and we set off to climb the mountain! 

We basically just walked toward the mountain behind the church that you can see in the pictures above. Then, we went down a hill and found stairs that led up to a path. We all went up the stairs and followed a dirt path around. This then led to a path with built in steps (with the wooden beams) that went down to a road, across from which is Holyrood Park. The girls had fun playing along the path and climbing around there.

It took a bit of time to safely cross the road. It was only 2 lanes wide, but the traffic was staggered enough that it felt like we stood there forever. The girls were great. They stayed close to me and they didn't even complain. (Wow!) Then, we went to the park and the girls had fun climbing the mountain! However, there were some brambles that scratched up their legs a bit and both big girls swore up and down that from now on they would wear pants (under their skirts or dresses) whenever they went hiking.

(If you're wondering about Claire's outfit, she actually picked out the zebra hot pants. She insisted on wearing them over her pants. I didn't have the heart to take them off of her before we left the flat.) And, Claire was a bit of a handful at the end. She wanted to be carried, but I couldn't always do that. So, Katie helped out a bunch by picking her up and moving her around. She actually even helped her up the steps on the way back to the flat!


Remember I said that I put the kids in the stroller??? At first, I ditched the stroller right at the top of the first set of stairs that we climbed. I wasn't sure if I would come straight back on the same path, so I lugged that thing up, around, and down the path the whole way! So, I didn't get to go to the fitness club, but I'm pretty sure I got a decent work out! The girls did, too, since a lot of the places we went weren't exactly stroller friendly. So, they had to walk most of the way. And, at the end, Katie was talking about how tired she was from carrying Claire around! 


Well, we had fun. We didn't really make it very far up the mountain and the girls were well aware of that. So, one day soon we'll head back (with Cole) to see how far we can actually make it!

The Castle is Uphill from the Bus Stop!

Today, among other adventures, we took a bus into the city center (centre?), got some bus passes (more on that later), and decided to make our big trip to Edinburgh Castle!

We might need to try this again some time.  It really isn't the easiest thing to do with three kids and a stroller.  In addition to the narrow cobblestone streets, it is a very steep climb!  To make matters even more adventurous, we passed by a huge bank of stairs.  Cole smarted off to the kids (before remembering being bulletproof at that age), "Hey, you guys want to climb all those stairs?

Off they went.

 

Cole counted 129 total.  Katie counted something like 302.  Each time we'd reach the top of some stairs, we'd find more stairs that were out of view from the bottom.  Katie and Dani made it to the summit of their mountain before continuing on to the castle.

But by the time we were at the castle's (admission) gates, the kids and the parents were too tired to try to go in.  The girls were a bit cold...but not too cold for ice cream!  Claire had been pretty grumpy, but ice cream makes everything better.  

Refreshed from our brief adventure near the castle, we hopped a bus and came home.  And as it always works out, kids are fascinated by the part of the trip that parents find the least interesting.  In this case, it's public transportation.  Cindy aptly remarked that one good outing for us might be to simply ride the buses all over town.  Seeing as how this was the highlight of the girls' trip, she seems like she's absolutely right!

Rock Stars and Zip Lines

We drove by this really cool playground from the airport to our flat. Since then the girls have been BEGGING to go there pretty much every waking minute! Cole looked it up on-line to make sure we knew how to get there and stumbled across another language barrier issue. You see, it's really hard to look things up when you're not really sure what they're called. In the US, we'd call this a playground. Well, here in Scotland, they call it a play park! With super sleuthing skills and the keen desire to make his girls happy, Cole located Meadows Park, which is a half mile or so south of our flat.  According to Wikipedia, it used to be a lake (er, loch) and was home to both of Edinburgh’s soccer teams.
 
We thought about going to see a game involving one of those soccer teams (Heart of Midlothian), but got off to a slow start as Claire adjusted to the lack of sleep and refused to budge out of bed until noon. Instead, we journeyed out to The Meadows, because the girls just had to go visit. Can’t say we blame them:  It looked really cool from the cab!

On the way in, we passed a guitar shop. Cole remarked that rock stars get their guitars from places like this, and incidentally, that he used to be a rock star. As usual, Katie wasn’t buying it. Just then, a couple in front of us turned around, and the lady said, “There he is!”  Cole turned to Katie and said, “See?” The man then told Cole that he was great back in the 80s and asked who it was that was opening for him. Van Halen, of course (but both agreed that they weren’t very good...the man referred to them as “rubbish,” which might have been harsh).
 
Despite the kindness of strangers, Katie still wasn’t buying it.
 

The kids had an absolute blast at the playground. There were all sorts of playsets and weird and fun contraptions. The jewel was a miniature zip wire (!) that spanned two posts about fifteen feet tall. Katie tried it a few times, and then Dani went next.

At night, we did only a little stroll through a rather crowded part of Edinburgh. We let them peek through a small bar window to see some musicians playing, and hope that we’ll get them some time at a real concert later, Claire-permitting.

Arrival

Our trip to Edinburgh was long, but all in all uneventful. Cindy started out by driving to Orlando with the girls in a rental car. Claire was tired, so she had to scream a little before taking a cat nap at the end of the trip. The ladies met Cole in Orlando (who was coming back from another trip), and all brought the luggage into the airport. We got in a huge line for check-in and passed through security without a minute to spare. They were loading us the second we got to the gate!

The first flight was to Newark, NJ. Claire was EXHAUSTED! So, she had to cry some on the plane. She slept most of the way on Cindy and then stretched out on her seat. After landing, we were in Newark for five hours! The girls, especially Claire, LOVED the moving sidewalks. So, we took them on those some and in the end, Katie and Dani watched a movie while Cole and Claire walked on the moving sidewalks. Claire kept saying, "I wanna ride!" They would go one direction then turn around and walk back on the other direction. Around dinner time, we went to a place that claimed to be an authentic New Jersey diner. The girls had pancakes with whipped cream and syrup, while Mom and Dad had a beer to help calm us down a little. And there was much rejoicing!


We got to our gate a little early and the girls enjoyed riding on the escalator (until a uniformed person told Cole to stop letting them go on it).  The girls then watched planes take off and saw our luggage go onto the plane. After that, it was time for the dreaded flight to Edinburgh, Scotland. The plane wasn't too big. It was only six seats across, with three on either side of the aisle. Like on the last flight, Cole sat on one side with Katie and Dani on either side of him (Katie HAD to be next to the window!). Cindy sat across the aisle with Claire. During this flight, though, there was much crying of "I want Daddy!" So, Claire spend some time with the other three on the other side of the aisle. Claire did rather well on this flight. She did cry a little off and on, but not for very long.

The flight was about 6.5 hours. Claire slept about four hours, Katie slept an hour or two. And, Dani fell straight asleep after having a panic attack about using the potty on the airplane.  (She explained that she didn’t like it being next to the kitchen. That’s understandable.)  She probably slept about 3.5 hours. Mommy and Daddy...we might have gotten about 5 minutes total! When we got to Edinburgh, there was a little issue with Katie needing a potty and it taking us a little time to get through customs, but it worked out.

We got a big van that could fit us and all of our luggage. Getting to our flat was easy, and Cole's friend (Burak Buke, a faculty member at the University of Edinburgh) met us there with the keys. We got our luggage in and tried to do something with the girls, but it became obvious that they needed sleep right then! Especially Claire. So, we all took a very long nap (over five hours).


The girls and Cindy got showers, but we ran out of water before Cole could get his. (It seems like we not only ran out of hot water, but ran out of water altogether!  Strange.) Cole found an Indian restaurant within walking distance, so we headed out there, were treated like family, and ate a little too much.