Chris and Lindsay's European Adventure - Edinburgh

It makes me very happy to tell you that the very first thing we did after checking into our hotel in Edinburgh was to have dinner with Sophie. She (and her wedding) was, after all, the whole reason for the trip. And she was kind enough to spare and entire evening for us just 3 days before her wedding so that we'd be sure to have time to catch up. We met the day we moved into our dorms when I studied abroad at the University of Edinburgh in the fall of 2003 and become best friends almost instantly. Although it had been 7 years since we'd seen each other face to face, it was like no time had passed at all. Still the same Sophie, but an improved version now with Tim in her life. Oh yeah, and we got to meet each other's husbands, which was a bonus! And I got to see her beautiful flat, and meet her mom, and it was just wonderful to chat for several hours. I left that night truly saddened by the fact that we live worlds apart, and as I type this I am missing her dearly.

The next morning we were back to being tourists - Castle Rock was calling! Oh how I love this city! So unique in its structure with all the levels, Old Town and New Town, a 1000 year old castle overlooking a modern train station. Anywho, we took a short guided tour of the castle grounds and then went inside all of the buildings on our own. We went inside the oldest structure on the grounds, 900 year old Margaret's Chapel. I sweat the walls were 2 feet think and there would barely be room for 25 people to stand up in there! Of course there were royal banquet halls and chambers, a few military museums and a memorial to those killed in combat. There was also an old prison, used as recently as WWII I believe! In more "recent" times it was used mostly for prisoners of war, and they talked a great deal about how well all the prisoners were treated. Except, of course, for the Americans during their "war for independence, as they were traitors to the crown!"Over the next day and a half we explored the Grassmarket, my old university stomping grounds, and the Royal Mile, including The High Kirk of St. Giles. Being Presbyterian, we did a little reading while we were over there and learned that the Church of Scotland (of which St. Giles is a part) still actually holds many beliefs similar to that of the modern PCA. Another reason to like the country :-) We walked by many, and into a few, "closes" (small alleyways) along the royal mile. Look what this one was called...not too far off of Hunniford, eh? We went down a few of these closes at night during our "haunted history tour." Fun stories, but it lost a little something since it wasn't dark outside.



We also explored that Palace of Holyroodhouse. By the way, do you know why the street is called the Royal Mile? Well, at one end in the castle, at the other is the Palace, and its about a mile long. There you go. The Palace is still a "working royal residence" and is closed to the public when the Queen is in residence in the middle of the summer. So, even when its open you can only see certain areas. No one gets the see QEII's bedroom, bummer. Last time I was there the ruins of the old catholic church out back looked even sadder because it was cooooold and wet. BUT this time I got to see it in the summer, which means the gardens were open! Maybe someday I'll snag an invite to the Queen's garden party.

I had in my head that we would climb Arthur's Seat while we were in town. Arthur's seat is a dormant volcano that is over 800 feet tall and is in the middle of a large park in the middle of the city. It also happened to be right behind my dorm when I lived there, so we climbed it often. Truth be told, we were a bit worn out by the time we got to Edinburgh - we crammed so much into our 10-day trip, and were particularly worn out by the adventures in Oban. So we settled for looking at it from afar and crashing in our hotel. We spent 5 blissful, child-free hours relaxing on our hotel bed one afternoon. Ahhh.That brings us to the wedding! Saturday we switched hotels so we could stay close to the venue. We got ourselves all dolled up and headed to the castle where Sophie and Tim were to be wed. Pretty cool place for a wedding, huh? The ceremony was in the original chapel and to say it was a tight fit would be an understatement! But they squeezed us all in and I watched my Sophie get married! Since she is from Germany, the ceremony had several elements in both languages. That was a first for me!

Next was cocktail hour. I got to meet several of Sophie's friends that I heard about over the years. Fun fact, several of them knew who I was before we ever met. I felt like a bit of a celebrity! I even got to be in one of the formal wedding pictures with all of her college friends!

Then we moved out to the tent for dinner and dancing. Too bad it was a rainy day or it would have been lovely to walk around on all the castle grounds. The food was yummy, the picture booth entertaining, and the whole thing long-lasting. There were several toasts, and they were collectively some of the best wedding toasts I've heard in a long time! I tell ya, they know how to party over there! The ceremony started at 2 and when we left around 10 they were just starting the traditional Scottish dancing (we tried, we just couldn't keep up). It was so fun, so wonderful to see Sophie, to see her get married, and to meet her friends. The perfect way to end our trip.

The next morning we boarded a plane and headed home to our boy. More on his trip to come!

Chris and Lindsay's European Adventure - Oban

4Late Sunday night we boarded a night train to Scotland. We had our own private sleeping birth complete with two beds that fold out of the wall, and sink with a counter that folded down over it a place to put our two duffel bags and about 2'x4' of floor space. I'd been on one before and knew what to expect, so we didn't pack in large suitcases. It was a fun experience! In the morning we changed trains in Glasgow and continued on to Oban in the Highlands.

I find the Scottish Highlands to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Well, at least of the places I've been. So I knew I wanted to get Chris up there for a few days. We had help in selecting the small coastal town and then did a little research on our own of how to spend our time there.

We started at the Oban Whisky Distillery on Monday afternoon. Did you know that if Whisky is made in Scotland (Scotch Whisky) it is spelled with no "e," but if made anywhere else it is spelled Whiskey? We learned all kinds of fun facts about the process, how they achieve different flavors and strengths to the whisky, and even got to sample some.

Next we headed up to McCaig's Tower. Some guy wanted to build it to look like the coliseum, but it was never finished because they ran out of money when he died. Its very pretty the way it is and offers some really wonderful views of the bay, the town and everything around. I decided it would be a wonderful place for a wedding ceremony.
Tuesday morning saw the beginning of our outdoor adventures. Ever been gorge scrambling? This is how the website describes it:
An exhilarating adventure through an awesome natural gorge. Weave along deep narrow passages and splash your way through water pools. A truly captivating and awe-inspiring experience, one you will never forget.
You can see a few of their professional pictures on the website too, but I don't want to steal them. The third and fifth pictures look like what we did. We had so much fun! We looked ridiculous and the water was freezing (and I'm literally only off my a few degrees), but it was great. It was just the two of us and our guide. We climbed and swam and slid down waterfalls. At one difficult point our guide tried to get a rope out to help us. He got it stuck and spent 10 minutes trying to un-stuck it. In the meantime Chris and I climbed up the obstacle ourselves and were quite proud of ourselves! By the end of our adventure my feet had gone from "a little numb so the cold isn't as intense anymore" to "so numb that I can't control them and should probably get out." So the timing worked out well. Interesting - way easier to climb up the gorge than back down.

We were exhausted after that, so we had a laid back afternoon boat ride over to one of the nearby islands. Once there we walked to a castle that was randomly shut down because its up for sale, so we only saw the outside. We decided this was the one thing on the trip that we would skip if we could do it again, but we did enjoy riding on the boat and got some nice views, and a warm cup of coffee, on the ride.


I need to tell you that at dinner on Tuesday night at a lovely pub down the street I was hit on by an 80 year old man while Chris was in the bathroom.

Wednesday morning we rented bikes! We had them for a few hours and enjoyed lovely and hilly ride to a few more castles. Along the ride we saw some little neighborhoods as well as pastureland. Nothing like those hairy highland cows to make you smile :-) The castles were both in the state of "ruin," but its pretty neat to imagine what would have gone on there so many years ago. These things are kind of all over the place in the Highlands, and if you understand the old Scottish clan system then you understand why.

That afternoon we caught a train to Edinburgh. The first two portions of our trip could not have been more different. We never stopped moving in London, and to be honest I don't see how you ever could. There's just so much going on all the time, you feel like you're missing something if you sit down! Oban, on the other hand, is much sleepier. We were among the youngest there, which was funny. We certainly took a different, more active approach to our time there than the old people did! But it was nice to slow down a bit and just enjoy the beauty around us.

Chris and Lindsay's European Adventure - London

Less than 48 hours after returning from Ohio, we put Sam on a plane with Grammy (Chris's Mom) to spend 10 days in Florida. That night, Chris and I boarded a plane for London. The reason for the trip? A dear friend's wedding, but we'll get to that later. We made a ten-day excursion out of it, so we'll start at the beginning. Forgive me if this gets long, but this blog is the only real way I'm documenting my trip.

By the time we arrived at our Hotel in London it was 2pm on Friday. So after a quick turnaround we headed out to the nearby Tower Of London. One of my favorite tourist spots in the city. Excellent stories of torture, imprisonments, battles, tradition, treaties, etc. They like to tell you that its "still in operation" because it houses the crown jewels (the line was 2 hours long, we skipped it. So sad.) and its ceremonially locked and guarded every night. If it were really in use, I think there'd be a few more executions available for public display, because they were sooooo into those around those parts. We also found some armor for Sam! They used to believe it was made for a midget, but later learned it was made for a young prince. I'd give anything to see him wearing it!
We rounded out the day with a visit to the Tate Modern museum (we loved the photography exhibit), dinner, and back to the hotel early. That, however, afforded us the opportunity to watch some awesome British television. Lets just say they're pretty loose with what they allow on broadcast TV over there! The view from our window on the back of the hotel was better than I anticipated!

Day two, Saturday, we hit up the super-touristy "Hop-on, Hop-off" bus tour. We only had a few days and I knew it was the best way for Chris to see lots of attractions quickly. Chris would want me to tell you about this pub, which is very near to Parliament. There is a bell inside that, for centuries now, is rung when it is time for a vote so all them men can finish their drinks and get back on time. One of the places we hopped off was near Buckingham Palace, but we couldn't get too close because they were practicing for the Trooping of the Color the following weekend. We did, however, get up close and personal with St. Paul's Cathedral. Admission to St. Paul's includes a self-guided audio tour which now comes to you in the form of several podcasts on an iPod touch. So modern! After completing the ground level of the tour we hiked up - and up and up and up a total of 528 narrow, winding, single file, oh look there's more damage from the Blitz, hope you're not claustrophobic steps.

*I'd like to make a note here. This is not an activity I recommend for 5 year olds. If you've got one with you on your vaca to London, please think of the child and skip the climb. If you are foolish enough to take her up, be prepared to carry her down. Not willing to carry her? Kindly step aside when there is an opening to let the 100 people behind you pass by. Not willing to do that? Ok, you just continue literally dragging your poor, exhausted child down the steps while the rest of us wait patiently...*

Beautiful views, though. Very windy! And there are some pretty cool stories about how the locals worked to protect the church during WWII.

Saturday night we went to the theater. We saw Jersey Boys and had and loved it. Chris was really going to humor me, but he ended up really enjoying it himself. Its such a fun show that is full of songs you know and can sing along to. Good story, too. Perhaps just as much fun as watching the show was watching the other audience members watch the show. There were people there who were clearly young when Frankie Valley and the 4 Seasons were popular, and you could practically see the memories rush back to them. And the two middle aged women in the box to the right of the stage? Wow were they having fun. They literally danced their way through the second act. All this to say, an excellent show that's worth the ticket price if you get a chance to go.

Day 3, Sunday, we visited the Churchill and Cabinet War Rooms. This was a special request by my WWII-obsessed husband and something I'd never done. Basically, its a basement to a random government building that was covered with a 6' cement "ceiling" and used as offices and living quarters for the cabinet and support staff during most of WWII. A few days after VE Day the last employee walked out and no one walked back in for another 30 years. The map still holds the pins that were in place at the end of the war, and one man's desk still held his carefully wrapped ration of sugar cubes. A very neat place to visit.

We also spent a few hours at the British Museum. Interesting thing about this place is that nothing here is actually British, but more like stuff the British have collected as souvenirs from their various conquests throughout history. The mummies were pretty neat to see, and I really liked the clock exhibit! They have lots of pieces old statues and parts of structures from ancient Greece and Rome, and I get it, they're really old and its amazing they survived this long. But really, that's just a leg. You're putting just a leg on display? Anywho, we saw the Rosetta Stone too.

Our last tourist item in London was the Jack The Ripper Walking Tour. We learned a little history and a little lore while seeing a part of the city we hadn't seen yet. It was an enjoyable evening.

Lets see, other notes from our time in London... Being in London reminds me that Houston likes to believe its a big city, but we're not quite all grown up yet. London has a lot going for it - awesome public transportation, great theater, fun markets, etc. We actually stayed near a wonderful market (Borough Market) that we stopped at a few times to grab yummy, fresh food, and then visited another one (Spittlefields Market) where I bought a fun dress :-) But the TRAFFIC! I know there's always traffic, but there's also lots of construction right now as they prepare for the Olympics next summer so it was way worse this time.

Next up...Scotland!

Lakeside with the Ladies

Mama got away for a few days. Its a big part of the reason that Sam and I stayed the whole week. It was time for my annual "Girls Weekend" with my dear friends from high school. So it was Memorial Weekend 2011 with the class of 2001...I'll let you do the math on that one ;-)

Remember last year when we went to Megan's parents' place in Florida? This year we hit up Meri's parents' place in Lakeside, Ohio. What? You've never heard of it? I'm shocked! It is a quaint little community on Lake Erie in northeast Ohio. Its an old Methodist vacation spot where no one locks their doors (honestly, we didn't have a key to the place we stayed in) and kids roam free on the streets. Golf carts or walking are favorable to cars and there's no need to do anything other than sun on the pier, play putt-putt and hit up the evening show.

And chat endlessly with your girlfriends. Our lives are all so different that on paper you'd never pick us out as friends. But at one point our lives were SO similar and we just can't seem to shake that bond :-)

A week in Ohio

Before I forget to mention it, this is how to survive a plane ride with a toddler:

After all the excitement of the shower weekend, Daddy headed home to go back to work while Sam and I hung around Gommy (sp?) and Papa's house for awhile. I spent some time prepping for my next trip (more to come!), but we also had plenty of time to fit in some fun.

Sam spent a lot of time playing out back. It wasn't 95 and humid, which was WONDERFUL for us. And he had lots of willing participants, including Papa and Uncle Matt. He picked up a new sport - Lacrosse. He mimicked everything that Uncle Matt did with that stick! And he and Papa played endless amounts of "baket ball." And my parents have new neighbors (well, new since I lived there) and there are kids on either side! So he got to play on a swing set and a bounce house out back as well.

Gommy and I and finally got around to taking Sam to COSI (http://www.cosi.org/), which we'd been meaning to do for quite some time. We went straight to the little kids area, which is the same concept as the Tot Spot and the Children's Museum in Houston that we love so much. What made this kind of special, though, was that Mommy used to play here when she was little. Well, kind of. The museum has moved buildings and changed a few things, but there were several elements that I clearly remembered using when I was little. No more baby chicks, though :-( It took Sam a few minutes to get comfortable in the new space, but once he had the lay of the land he felt like he owned the place. He even started telling other children what they were not allowed to play with because they were "mine!" Yeah, not uncommon these days, unfortunately. By the way, I love that they had rain coats for the water play area, but am wondering why they didn't have any in preschool sizes in an area designed for 5 and under? Hmm... But they DID have a very cool "hang out" room for big siblings. Since absolutely no kids over 5 are allowed in the little kid area, they have a supervised movie room for big siblings. How nice that must be for the mamas with a wide spread of kiddos!

Gommy also schedule a playdate for Sam. Who knew that she had friends with preschoolers?! Well we had a great time at an amazing park. Our neighborhood has some great parks that are always full of kids, but this one was fancy! Aw, the suburbs. They do have their draws...

And guess what - I got to go shopping for an entire afternoon! Papa kept the boy and the ladies hit up 2 malls and I took my time trying on dresses. Ahhh. It was wonderful, and I am a much better shopper when I have another opinion, and Sam doesn't care yet.

Sam also got to hit up the Big Pool for the first time this year. He loves the pool in my parents' neighborhood. With the beach entry, splash pad and baby pool that comes complete with "friends," who wouldn't love it? He mastered the art of jumping off the edge and is practicing kicking his legs while in a swimming position. I don't think we got any pictures, but I think he went three times while Mommy was gone.

That's right, Mommy was gone for a few days...

Celebrate Kate

Almost a month ago...wow its really been that long...we all flew up to Ohio to Celebrate Kate! It was time to throw this Bride-to-Be her first shower, and the whole family was coming for the occasion. For the first time, all TEN of us were in the same city: Kristen, George and Molly flew in from SoCal, we flew in from Houston, Matt flew in from Chi-Town, and Kate drove in from Indy. We're keeping the travel industry afloat.

Yes, so not only did we have a shower, but I met my niece for the first time! Sad that she was 5 months old, but fun nonetheless. She and I practiced rolling from back to front (a skill she mastered the day after she left me, I might add) and gave her mommy some tips on how to coerce a less-than-enthused baby into eating from a spoon (a skill I wish I didn't have, but glad to assist anyhow). She also gave me a nasty glare several times when I tried to make her do tummy time...he he he. She looks like a Stegmiller and has her daddy's mellow personality to go along with it. Speaking of whom, we also George for the first time since he returned from war, which was over a year ago. It'd be super-great if that threesome would move eastward and stop heading off to the dessert for lengthy spans of time.

The shower was pretty, my mom and DeLisa did a wonderful job. I felt for Kate, as I once had a shower much like this one was for her. All the guests are your fiance's family and his mothers' friends - its just a bit overwhelming! She did an amazing job meeting everyone and putting faces with stories she heard, etc. And it helps that Matt and Kate got loads of good loot. Kate's parents also came in for the occasion, so I finally met them.
Poor Sam didn't love that afternoon. The boys went out for lunch and to get fitted for tuxes (yes, Sam, too) while we partied. They brought him home an hour past nap time, so he didn't sleep long. When he woke up lots of people were still milling about, he was still tired, and disoriented, and just plane overwhelmed. He had probably his worst meltdown to date. It was BAD and LONG. Nothing would calm him. Finally he was able to get out the words "People Leave!" And slowly they did. And he played with Matt and Papa out back till it was all clear. Poor guy just doesn't do well with unfamiliar crowds. I guess he takes after Papa a little bit, too ;-)

Home

We've been gone, and gone again. Hence the radio silence on the blog front. We are home now, but its also VBS week at our church, so Sam and I are spending most of our time there this week. Hopefully I'll have some updates by this weekend...