Day 385: Pirates and Princesses vs Sea Monsters and Eloise

14/08/2022

Saturday morning, Lachlan was a happy boy helping make pancakes in the kitchen. We had lost track of time, we had to quickly get Eloise out of her dance cloggs and make our way to Football Buzz. Sadly we left Lachlan with Super Mum so he could finish his immersive art experience.

After a stinking hot week, it had cooled down. Surprisingly Football Buzz was outside. Always funny when it is outside, the kids are no longer contained and they all scatter all over the place with their footballs. Eloise has made big steps over the past couple of weeks. After a long internal debate about which blade of grass she would place her water bottle, the girl takes drinks breaks very seriously, it was action stations. Humorously the kids practice back heels as part of the warm-up. Eloise is good at the big kicks, she is working on her dribbling and little kicks. She does not really understand why anyone would want to do anything less than a “bigggg kick”.

After a cheeky session where Eloise thought she was hilarious running off with her ball doing big kicks, we rushed home to see how Lachlan was going.

It was turning into another nice day. We started with a trip to Silverburn shopping complex for a bit of a gander. We spotted an interesting looking Thai restaurant, the smell made us hungry. Liam tried out the hot tom yum soup to test out his sense of taste.

With warm full bellies, we needed some exercise. We rendezvoused with Nathan at Pollok Park for a lovely cycle and walk through the trees. After a tiring week, it was lovely sitting about in the sun, relaxing while watching the kids tire themselves out. We all know Lachlan is not one for a casual sit down so instead, he picked a fight with a local reed bush which he enjoyed body slamming from all angles. We were so relaxed we completely forgot to check out the coos.

All that football and cycling eventually caught up with Eloise, she was asleep in no time, Lachlan was not far behind her. Every night Eloise will only fall asleep once she has spotted the moon from her ladybird projector. We are not sure how she manages to fall asleep with the light right next to her face? It works though, so we are not changing anything. Good one Simon!

This morning it was an early start and down to the train station. Lachlan had his makeshift ticket and was ready to go.

After a quick trip, we arrived at Glasgow Queen Street Station and jumped on a bigger train. Safe to say, Eloise was in a good mood.

Not long into the 45-minute express train ride east did Super Mum’s Mini-Me fall fast asleep. Lachlan was out the moment the wheels started rolling, the usual Lachlan on a train scenario.

Near the end of the trip, Eloise discovered the stylus in Liam’s phone and was excited to start her digital art collection. She will probably use blockchains to sell them as NFTs or whatever the Generation Alphas are up to these days.

After a relaxing trip, we need to go on trains more, we arrived in Edinburgh. This was the kids’ first Fringe experience, not bad, at the actual Fringe. The city looked a bit like it was still recovering from the previous night. You could tell it was gearing up, ready to go again. There were Fringe posters absolutely everywhere. There was not enough wall space in Edinburgh that fake walls were put up in places just so more Fringe posters could be displayed.

When we walked out of the train station, one of the first things the kids noticed was a giraffe statue. Lachlan has always been a giraffe enthusiast, so it was set, we would be following the #giraffeabout trail around Edinburgh.

On the hunt for more giraffes, Lachlan made us push him up through the beautiful Old Town.

We grabbed a coffee and babyccino. Lachlan was eyeing off a gingerbread monkey.

After morning snacks spirits were high and we were off to our show at the Gilded Balloon.

We had booked tickets to Pirates and Princesses vs Sea Monsters, a kids’ show, it was rated 3+ but we took a chance. We were not sure how the kids would go, sitting through the whole show. We were hoping they would react similarly to Peppa Pig.

The kids absolutely loved it, both of them dancing to the songs throughout. For those making the trip across, we do recommend the show. Plot twist the Sea Monster turned out to be a goodie. In the final scene the pirate and princess asked for volunteers from the crowd of 60ish people to help save the Sea Monster. As soon as they asked, Eloise’s arm shot up into the air. Not going to lie we were gobsmacked. By the time we had picked up our jaws from the ground they had helped Eloise onto the stage with the big kids. The kids needed to pick up all the rubbish to save the Sea Monster. Eloise’s favourite pastime is to put random objects into boxes, this was right up her alleyway. By this point, Lachlan was up on his feet, squealing, clapping and cheering on his Big Sister.

Blown away by what had just happened we made out way out of the theatre. Jeez, Edinburgh had woken up now. There were street performers and crowds everywhere . The general rule is, if you own a room in Edinburgh you either rent it out for shows, or as accommodation for performers or tourists.

The pipers were out in force. We enjoyed the energetic jolly piper, he was a big hit.

It was difficult to find a spot for lunch due to the number of people. Imagine the Adelaide Fringe but every single room in the city has a show on. Shops, restaurants, office spaces, if it is a room, there is a show. The kids settled for a Happy Meal and we went to East Princes Street Gardens to find a quiet spot.

Full of food, it was all hands on deck to try and keep Lachlan under control. He was struggling with the slope a bit. He had no concerns though, he was having the time of his life working his way up to the top before having a chuckle, turning down hill and sprinting completely out of control. There were limbs flying everywhere with a big wipe out. Repeat… Repeat… Repeat…

Lachlan then grabbed his eighth-generation Pokemon cards. Eight Generations! When did that happen? Feeling old now. Back in my day… There was no time for that, he was off to find another toddler to battle.

After we had lost Lachlan, we realised it was rather peaceful, too peaceful if you ask us. Turns out Eloise had hidden and wanted to play hide and seek. Hide and seek with Eloise is tricky, because she flips and flops between the roles of hiding and seeking when the wind changes direction. It is a common problem to be hiding from Eloise at the same time she is hiding from you. Luckily you can hear her goofy laughter from a mile away.

Lachlan finally returned with his new Pokemon and we made our way back up to street level.

You could see the toll from the heatwaves over the past few months. Edinburgh was looking dry, especially since the kids were tearing around these gardens in March.

We are not sure what was in that Happy Meal but Lachlan then decided that Edinburgh was his new playground and tried his hand out at some parkour. After some fully sik moves on the streets he then conducted a thorough strength audit of all the drains in the city, trying to jump down into the underworld.

From street level, we had noticed an impressive structure overhanging the hill next to Edinburgh Castle. We had to check it out and started the hike up the Royal Mile to the sound of music.

Edinburgh Castle was looking a wee different from our last visit. We did not get tickets, this year, but thought we would checkout the setup for the Royal Tattoo.

These photos do not really do the setup justice. It is impressive when you see it overhanging the edge of the hill. Remembering the castle, “stands 443 feet (135 metres) above sea level and overlooks the city of Edinburgh from a volcanic crag called Castle Rock“.

We made our way down past all the street performers until we arrived back at the National Museum of Scotland, the home of Dolly.

Grandpa DAVE the Anatomy exhibition was still on. It was bit pricey for the half an hour left that the museum was open. Eloise made the decision to skip on by and headed straight back to her favourite world of buttons.

The museum was shutting for the day and we were starting to get peckish. Sadly the elephant house is still not open. Not sure what the deal is here, “Cafe owner David Taylor said no work had been carried out to repair the building and he was left in limbo. Liquidator Mike Solomons said it was “addressing issues” around the fire”.

We were back where it all began (almost), at Bertie’s. Sadly no Muzza Bizza or Aussies this time though.

To be honest Muzza Bizza, after sampling a decent amount of Chippies the past year, Edinburgh does not have the best fish and chips. I don’t mind the chippy sauce though.

We did not have long until our train home. We had to rush around to find a supermarket for Lachlan’s dinner, luckily Eloise enjoys eating on the run.

During our mad scramble the much needed weather started coming in. With so many umbrellas up you could quickly tell how many tourists were about. “Much of the UK has been experiencing another day of high temperatures – but the spell of extreme hot weather is coming to an end with thunderstorms”.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world’s largest arts festival, which in 2018 spanned 25 days and featured more than 55,000 performances of 3,548 different shows in 317 venues. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place in Edinburgh every August. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has become a world-leading celebration of arts and culture, surpassed only by the Olympics and the World Cup in terms of global ticketed events. As an event it “has done more to place Edinburgh in the forefront of world cities than anything else” according to its historian and former chairman of the board, Michael Dale.

It was a packed train on the way back to Glasgow. So packed in fact Liam and Eloise sat on the floor, well Liam sat on the floor, Eloise jumped up and down on him all the way home.

Lachlan felt like he was missing out so came to join us on the floor party.

It had been a fun family day, a great first taste of the Fringe. It was not too late, but well past the kids’ bedtime.

This weekend “the world pipe band champions of 2022 have been crowned after two days of competition in the sunshine in Glasgow… Over 40,000 people watched the spectacle as kilt-clad competitors flooded Glasgow Green”. After the British Pipe Band Championships, and the Scottish Pipe Band Championships, we needed to give our ears a rest.