Day 588: Almost Summer-lee

05/03/2023

Saturday morning the sun was shining so it was “sunny glasses” and shorts on for our second attempt at the Pramathon, as we attempted the walk into the city. Halfway there the kids noticed a playground down a side street.

Shortly after the playground we passed a Lidl and restocked the snacks. Something jumped out to Eloise and she lucked out with a “blue sheep” jumper to match Lachlan. They were having a great time.

After a couple of long stops, it was almost three hours later when we arrived in the City of Glasgow. Lachlan celebrated the final leg by walking his beloved dog much to the amusement of the Glaswegians.

Saturday night was the night we started round two of sleep training Lachlan. It was time for the boy that loves snuggling up in our bed to be reunited with his cot. Although he is rapidly approaching two at super speed the boy has not had many full months in one spot. During our trip down under Lachlan’s sleep improved. Turns out that the special oat milk we had been giving him because he couldn’t drink normal milk was also giving him a hard time. Now he is on oat milk 2.0 we have all been sleeping much better since our return. After a wee cuddle, he spent the whole night in his tiny room above the stairs.

This morning started with Lachlan building, he could entertain himself all day with his blocks. Although every day there are tears as his favorite purple dinosaur won’t fit in his plane. A big problem, luckily Lachlan worked out he can fly on top.

After a leisurely Sunday start we dodged the Glaswegian pot holes craters across the city to Heritage Way.

This morning we decided to visit Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life. A free museum that we had not heard much about but thought the kids may find interesting.

The kids flew off as soon we walked through the gates. With big industrial machinery all over the place, there were lots for Eloise and Lachlan to run around and investigate.

We thought the curling stone lathe was interesting, curling stones are an interesting story in their own right with all the granite sourced from Ailsa Craig.

It is warming up but not summer yet, we headed inside to actually warm up and see what the museum had in store.

Luckily there were lots of kids’ displays and buttons to press throughout. The matching blue sheep enjoyed running the furnace together. A wee old map tucked away in the corner caught our eye.

The boy that won’t accept any assistance then tackled the big staircase up to the viewing platform. His agility is coming along pretty well actually, the top half of his body has almost learned to keep up with his lightning legs.

After a fun couple of hours, we heard the distinctive ringing sound of Lachlan running full speed head first into a large Steel I-beam. A little unconventional by his standards, it is usually a glass cabinet. Must be time for lunch.

Once a cheeky someone had stolen all the B out of Dad’s BLT sandwich it was time to start heading home.

Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life is an industrial and social history museum in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is situated on the site of the Victorian Summerlee Iron Works and the former Hydrocon Crane factory. The main Hydrocon factory building became the museum’s exhibition hall but it has been substantially changed and adapted since. The museum aims to show Lanarkshire’s contribution to engineering, mining, steel working, weaving and farming, and also show the lives of the people of the area. It includes interactive displays and a temporary exhibition space. Entry is free of charge. The museum also incorporates several railway steam locomotives, preserved railway carriages from a 1960s-era Glasgow Class 311 and has a short working heritage tram line. The museum covers 22 acres and includes two scheduled monuments, Summerlee Iron Works and the Monkland Canal, a large play area, mine and miners’ row, outdoor exhibits, a cafe, changing place, gift shop and sweet shop.

When we got home, tactical naps were had, Dad completely crashed, falling asleep on a stack of Duplo on the ground.

It was then all systems go again before dinner. Eloise was keen to show off her hopscotch, which she calls “hop jump”, perhaps a nursery thing?

Lachlan then appeared out of the shed with Eloise’s old balance bike eager to give it a crack. He did surprisingly well, he will be even faster soon.

All this running around in the backyard resulted in a hungry boy, he was glad that his favourite was on the menu for dinner.

During dinner, we kept an eye on the most extraordinary Premier League match unfold as “Liverpool have brought Manchester United crashing down to earth with a stunning 7-0 rout at Anfield in the visitors’ worst competitive defeat in more than 90 years”. Whenever watching the football with Dad, Eloise likes to be thrown up in the air if Liverpool scores, it was testing his back tonight. A thrashing even larger than when Liverpool silenced Ibrox.