Back in the Scotland groove

For a few pics of the kiddo in his wellies and on the bike, click here.

As I write this, Kort is sleeping, the house is quiet, the sun is shining (for the first time in what seems like ages), and I'm eating an old-fashioned peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I'm sure my friends here would say I'm absolutely mad for eating a p, b and j...but it doesn't get much better than this!

Lately, it seems like we are more than just 'settled in'--it really seems like we've lived here a while. Things that used to seem so strange and funny now seem normal. We have our little routines, I actually like driving here now, and we've slowed down on our weekend explorations. This weekend, however, was one of our stranger outings...

Sunday we went back to the nearest castle (Castle Frazier) for a medieval festival. There were supposed to be various activities and some battle re-enactments from the middle ages. We were slightly underwhelmed. There was 1 food tent which had burgers and sausage in a bun, chips (fries) of course, and as per usual--either coffee or tea or hot sodas. It's so weird to me that people drink hot tea with their lunch. We were somewhat unusual drinking hot Coke out of a can. There was one craft tent and then a "medieval village" with a few tents with people in costumes eating and drinking with utensils from the middle ages and every once and a while demonstrating how to use the various torture devices and weapons. We did stick around for one performance of the "Scottish Heroes", which included a few guys jokingly re-enacting William Wallace (Mel Gibson in Braveheart), Robert the Bruce, Bonnie Prince Charlie and a few other Scots. We left before the finale of the re-enactment of the Battle of Harlaw (but don't think we missed much).

From the castle, we went on a long drive to basically the middle of nowhere. Andy had read about the Lost Gallery, which exhibits a bunch of Scottish artists' work. He'd gotten the idea that we might buy a piece of artwork from a local artist to put in a big empty space in our lounge (living room). But the owner isn't kidding by naming it the "Lost Gallery"...it's in the boonies. I was expecting very little when we arrived, but it actually had some really neat, and really pricey, pieces of work. Andy had his eye on a few photos taken on the Isle of Skye, so we may be getting some local artwork one day.

Other than that, things have been pretty quiet around here: we're trying to get back on track with night time sleeping, weaning a little, and preparing for fall and then winter. Kort is signed up for baby swim classes starting in October (this required me waiting in line on Saturday morning at 7:30 to get registered), seems to be really enjoying his baby gym class, and absolutely LOVES to play in the cul de sac with the older boys. Luckily, they're super nice to him and let him take their soccer ball as they're playing. The rain this week has just about put him over the edge because all the kids are inside playing with their Wii, instead of playing outside. I'm not sure what I'll do with him if the rain comes back!

We head to Amsterdam this weekend for 3 nights at the Swisshotel on the main square. Amsterday may not be the first place you'd think of for a family weekend getaway, but it's a one-hour, non-stop flight, so we're trying it out! We'll post pics soon.