18/09/2022
Wednesday morning was nice waking up with the family, there were lots of hugs and stories to catchup on. Eloise and Lachlan were the tour guides today, showing Tom around the Falkirk Wheel, sadly no rides today. Luckily Tom had brought the nice weather with him as summer desperately attempts to cling on.




After a short drive and Scuttlebug, the next stop was the Kelpies.




When we got home, Eloise was eager to show off to Dad how she can now trace her name. Although she made it very clear to him, that she does not do CAPITALS.



The afternoon was spent with Dad attempting to siege the castle but was brutally smacked away by the two misfits. Tom was working his magic perfecting his Portuguese Tart after a recent trip and Super Mum was just enjoying half a second to herself.



Wednesday night we booked our flights back to Adelaide for Christmas. Flying into Adelaide from the Northern Hemisphere is a logistical nightmare at the moment, with a couple of tricky connections, we are hoping to touch down the morning of December 23rd. We will be arriving with two children who are significantly larger than when we left. One is fluent in Glaswegian and the other has ants in his pants.

Thursday morning started where Wednesday finished off, with more baking. Tom’s signature Porto Portuguese Tarts were in mass production. Eloise and Lachlan were showing off their Empire Biscuits.





All five of us were completely spent after the last couple of weeks. We all took it easy Thursday, before heading out to dinner at the Tickled Trout. Note to self, grab the chicken pie next time, it looked the real deal. Thank you for shouting dinner Tom. It was a lovely meal, although Lachlan was a cheeky one, a bit of a handful chasing him as he did laps around the pub.



Friday morning, Tom was on his way, Lachlan made the most of the opportunity, trying out the spare air mattress. Both Lachlan and Donkey seemed happy with it.


We were all well overdue for a Emma catchup, we had missed her a lot and were interested to hear how their big holiday had been, it sounds like they had had a blast. Another one to add to the list.





When Dad was finished with work we all met at the Milngavie markets. Eloise was quick to show off Percy, her new penguin that Emma had thoughtfully brought back for her. Funnily enough, penguins are the hot topic in Glasgow at the moment.




After a quick shop, it was home to feed the boy.



They say there is nothing more British than a good queue, it has gone to the next level this weekend with an orderly 30-hour, 5-mile-long queue. So much so that “The queue to see the Queen lying in state at Westminster Hall is at capacity and has been paused for new joiners, the government has said”. Thankfully “the queue to see the Queen lying in state at Westminster Hall has reopened after entry was officially paused for seven hours, the government has said”. There are even bloggers documenting the enormity. Luckily a Kiwi offered a solution to speed up the process.

At the time of writing this Saturday (17/09/2022) there are live feeds from The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport showing a live queue tracker for those British queue lovers playing along at home. There is also a live feed of everybody visiting the Queen Lying in State. We are not sure if the below links will still work by the time you read this.
Saturday morning, Dad had tested positive for a mild case of the Man Flu, you can never be too careful with the Man Flu, so Super Mum headed off to Football Buzz with Eloise.


The men stayed home to get through Mt Everest of folding and a cheeky cuddle of Percy.




It had almost been 24 hours since Eloise had seen Emma, we could not let that happen. To the playground!
The warmth from the sky seems to be fading. The kids were all rugged up for their afternoon walk. Dramatic Eloise was not taking any chances and dug up her ski gloves. The only problem was it made snacks on the road a “bit tricky”.


It was then a good exercise in teamwork to get the shopping done. The little Lidl trollies never fail to entertain.

As soon as they got home, Eloise wanted to finish off her new dance bag so she would not lose her new tap dance shoes. They even made a spare bag for Emma.


This morning started nice and early with Eloise working on her tapping. Lachlan was more than happy to sit back and tune into another episode of Cocomelon.

We are all still a bit tired but were going stir crazy in the house, as seen by Eloise’s accessorising. We headed up to the Loch Lomond markets, picking up Kirrie, the kids’ favourite, on the way.





Eloise was keen for a ride on the Maid of the Loch, however, it was a sight for sore eyes. “Workers had to flee to safety after the Maid of the Loch paddle steamer broke free as it was being winched out of Loch Lomond. The 65-year-old ship was being taken from the water ahead of restoration work [in January 2019] when it slipped its ties”. Coincidentally and topically, “the Maid of the Loch entered service in 1953, the same year as the Queen’s coronation”.



Lachlan does not take long for a full recharge and then it was all systems go again.

After the disappointment of no Sunday roasts in Exeter, we had catchup to play. It was a nice lunch until Lachlan tricked us all into looking away as he knicked Eloise’s last pig in blanket, a bold move.


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