Day 467: Lachlan goes BANG!

04/11/2022

Tuesday morning is the big day of the week for Eloise, with the nursery and dance double. Eloise was not so fond of the idea of nursery and wanted to skip straight to dance. However, she was brave and had fun in the mud kitchen. Meanwhile, Lachlan helped clean up the house.

Eloise and Lachlan always love catching up when they are reunited in the afternoon so they can play games and resume plotting their path to global domination.

Further north, the grandparents were off on their Inverness day tour in search of Nessie.

The Clava cairn is a type of Bronze Age circular chamber tomb cairn, named after the group of three cairns at Balnuaran of Clava, to the east of Inverness in Scotland. There are about 50 cairns of this type in an area round about Inverness. They fall into two sub-types, one typically consisting of a corbelled passage grave with a single burial chamber linked to the entrance by a short passage and covered with a cairn of stones, with the entrances oriented south west towards midwinter sunset.

Urquhart Castle is a ruined castle that sits beside Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland… The present ruins date from the 13th to the 16th centuries, though built on the site of an early medieval fortification. Founded in the 13th century, Urquhart played a role in the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century. It was subsequently held as a royal castle and was raided on several occasions by the MacDonald Earls of Ross… The castle, situated on a headland overlooking Loch Ness, is one of the largest in Scotland in area.

Tuesday in Roo Land, “a light dusting of snow has fallen in South Australia’s mid north, while the Bureau of Meteorology has issued an initial flood warning for the Light and Wakefield rivers”.

Wednesday morning we welcomed new secondees who had landed with their two young children. Eloise set to work baking her signature Welcome Scones.

The kids did a great job sharing their toys, after all the running about Lachlan was exhausted, what better place for a tactical nap? Eloise was not too sure about nursery in the afternoon but was in good spirits when we picked her up. We were told she had her best day yet.

In the evening after some tricky trains which struggled up icy tracks the grandparents had made it back and started their defrosting process. The kids were happy to hear the front door open, Eloise made sure that she pumped up their bed and Hotel FIK was in order.

The world’s most spoilt kids received more souvenirs. Not sure why they are the ones receiving souvenirs as the hosting residents but hey-ho. Lachlan was eager to tear into his new GlasGlow inspired Dino Duplo.

Thursday morning we officially signed our new contract extension keeping the Fensom train on this wild ride for the foreseeable future. The wee Glaswegians celebrated by a spontaneous Eden Mill soft play.

Just like the partial solar eclipse last week there was alignment in the Lachiverse. Super Mum took her chance and introduced Grandma to Drag Race, Kirrie, thank you for absolutely NOTHING!

Thursday night Liam hit the West End. Luckily, foodie Nathan was in charge of the dinner reservation with a cracker choice of Ka Pao. Let’s hope no COVID-19 this time.

This morning the two misfits were caught red handed. I heard Lachlan do a series of honks to Eloise and all of a sudden they both looked guilty. Eloise slipped away and must have reached up onto the countertop in the kitchen to bring back Lachlan some sweeties, which she happily opened for him.

Funnily enough, Lachlan was not too hungry at lunch but Eloise made sure he got a good feed in.

In the afternoon, we had to drop the Grandparents back to the airport. After their glowing reviews of Lachlan’s FIK Italia Tour they set off on Eloise’s FIK Brussels and Amsterdam Tour, enjoy the waffles and sprinkles.

Afterwards, we made the most of the clear afternoon and headed to the local loch, it has been a while and we were all keen to check up on the ducks. It was apparent the sun is pretty low in the sky these days.

Tonight was Guy Fawkes Night eve, there were a few community fireworks displays that Super Mum had spotted in the Metaverse or whatever they call it these days. It was the perfect night for one and we thought, emphasis on the thought, it might be a smaller and more kid friendly display than Guy Fawkes Night. After an early dinner, we made our way to Dalmuir Park not quite sure what we were getting ourselves into.

After Guy Fawkes Night last year we were blown away by the UK’s love and availability for pyrotechnics. We should have known better, but c’mon it was not even Guy Fawkes night yet. Let’s just say there were probably ten thousand more people than we had expected.

The crowds kept growing and growing as it got closer to 19:30. It was pitch black at this point, don’t let the photos fool you.

The kids’ first official fireworks show started with a bang, obviously, you can have that one for free. The kids were in awe of the colours across the night sky.

The firework display built up and up and up as it quickly became apparent this was more than an ALDI fireworks bundle. Eloise was not enjoying the loud bangs but was brave. Her favourite ones were the quiet spinny wheels that fell out of the sky. Lachlan on the other hand was feeding off of them, totally entranced. He kept trying to rip off his ear muffs but we could not have any of that.

With all that energy it had got up to a toasty 5°C, let’s be honest, tonight was only going to end one way.