12/03/2023
Saturday morning the kids were screaming for more Xavier television and were glad he brought this pirate ship along this time.
After a lot of laughter, it was time to get out and about, Eloise wanted to show Dad her new secret track to Milngavie. Lachlan was doing his best to fight sleep along the way.
The cuddly koala made sure that we jumped down into the creek at every opportunity we could. High risk, the water was freezing.
After all the river running Eloise was also struggling to stay awake and hitched a ride up top on the Dadmobile. To be fair her little legs carried her all the way to Milngavie and most of the way back.
In the afternoon Eloise dressed to impress with her new spooky Peppa outfit and we headed to Nathan’s to pay a visit to Mr Hippo again.
It had been a while since the kids had caught up with the Dream Team. Eloise had George running about and Lachlan had a few new tricks to show off to Kirrie.
Unfortunately for Nathan, the only Englishmen, “Jamie George has apologised to England fans after their 53-10 defeat by France and said he would be “gutted” to watch a performance like that at Twickenham”. The Scots were happy as they resumed their national role of supporting whoever was playing England. It is safe to say the food was much better than England’s performance with Nathan being awarded man of the match.
Thank you again Nathan for an incredible feed, you had outdone yourself.
Sunday morning Eloise and Lachlan happily played together for a long time, they are generally pretty good but it’s always lovely to see them connecting more and more as Eloise offers her words of wisdom and Lachlan’s chatter is coming along nicely.
Eloise had to then get her special dance hair done by Super Mum, Lachlan also made sure he was looking his best as we headed off to the southside for Eloise’s photoshoot for her new dance academy advertisement blitz.
We were a bit unsure how she would go in an unfamiliar studio surrounded by different teachers. Eloise had a great time though and was very good at following the instructions.
Eloise was happy to get one shot with her dance buddy as their cheer squad watched on.
After big smiles, we pushed on further south. We had visited Ayrshire before when visited Culzean Castle, however, we had never had enough legs afterward to stop by the National Trust site of Robert Burns Birthplace Museum.
After dancing about the daffodils we were excited to head in.
Robert Burns is the famous Scottish poet who wrote the poem Address to a Haggis, which Scots sing to a haggis annually on Burns Night.
Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, the National Bard, Bard of Ayrshire, the Ploughman Poet and various other names and epithets, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is in a “light Scots dialect” of English, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland.
We were expecting to visit Burns cottage however we did not know there was also a large museum to check out, it was a fantastic display, well worth the trip.
Even better, there were plenty of displays to entertain Eloise and Lachlan as we took turns slipping away to learn all about potentially the most famous Scot.
There were some impressive displays in a dimly lit room, Lachlan was buzzing about at his regular super speed and amazingly did not collide with any glass cabinets.
The kids’ favorite was the haggis and bagpipes game.
There was an incredible painting of Burns Monument and the Brig o’ Doon which were a ten-minute walk from the museum.
We headed outside, Eloise knows that National Trust sites come with a decent playground and was on the hunt with Lachlan on her heels.
We all know how much Lachlan loves swings, we finally found one where he could get some decent height.
We then passed back through the museum and along Poet’s Path, the kids were sprinting between the displays, an excellent design.
Eloise was particularly intrigued by the massive mouse as we had watched Ratatouille to start the day off. Lachlan on the other hand took a more cautious approach.
Lachlan was much happier when he spotted his beloved dogs. However, we had to push on because the skies were opening, so much for that Spring/ Summer.
The kids soldiered on until we made it to Burns Cottage. The thatched roof was neat.
Burns Cottage, the first home of Robert Burns is located in Alloway, South Ayrshire, Scotland. It was built by his father, William Burness in 1757. Burns, Scotland’s national poet, was born there on 25 January 1759. It is a two-roomed clay and thatch cottage and has been fully restored to become part of Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. The cottage has had a number of uses, including a spell as a pub, run by a Mr Goudie from Riccarton who saw the opportunity to exploit Burns’s developing reputation. At first therefore the cottage was not greatly valued.
As we made our way outside it was still bucketing down, but this did not stop Lachlan from riding his wooden chicken. There was little chance of getting him off in a hurry. To be fair, we had not been caught in the rain for quite some time so it was probably overdue.
We were in such a rush to get out of the rain we had completely forgotten about Burns Monument and Brig o’ Doon which was just around the corner. Turns out we had seen the bridge before on a much sunnier day, I thought it looked familiar in the painting.
After all their running about, the kids quickly fell asleep during the car journey home as they slowly dried off after a fun family day.
Just before bedtime, Eloise was bouncing around in joy as she realised she could still fit in her size one sleeping bag. She made sure Lachlan knew as they got ready for bed together. Although she woke up after half an hour because she was too hot. Classic Eloise.
Love the ballet photo shoot, what a pro!