Day 636: “The floor is llama”

22/04/2023

Lachlan started the week in a particularly cheeky mood. Climbing straight into Eloise’s car seat with a big grin, he knew he was being cheeky and was loving it. We are not sure how the next family road trip is going to go. Someone is keen to be forward facing.

After eventually convincing Lachlan to hop out of Eloise’s car seat we headed to the new playground with “Juuuujjuujjuujjuu”, as Lachlan calls her.

Super Mum used the new PG to her advantage and not before long Lachlan was out for the count again.

In the afternoon, Lachlan was reminiscing about his sunny Aussie holiday and was brushing up on his Aussie trivia.

After a stroll to the library to swap out the week’s books, the kids decided to jump in the creek on the way home to cool down. Eloise enjoyed balancing on the stepping stones and Lachlan was cackling while throwing stones at his big sister.

Tuesday morning, Lachlan walked his “Mooo” through Milngavie, he had an appointment with the barber.

Even though there was no Ferrari chair, Lachlan reacted much better than his first haircut, he was still a tad unsure and froze on the spot, making it easy for the barber.

On Tuesday, Eloise’s dance class had its one-year anniversary, Eloise has loved every second of dance and we are looking forward to watching her big dance show next month.

In the afternoon there was plenty of running about the backyard and arts and crafts. When Dad got home he was surprised to see Lachlan’s haircut, it looks great. He now looks like an almost two-year-old.

The kids love outside dinners, although it can sometimes be a bit tricky keeping everyone at the dinner table at the same time. Eloise’s favourite part is when she gets to clean up after Lachlan, although this has ended up with a soaked Super Mum and Lachaln on a couple of occasions, she is on strike two.

Post bath Lachlan was enjoying his new look, we think we like the spiky hair.

In the Australian news on Tuesday was “how Glasgow got a luxury makeover”.

Wednesday morning started in Milngavie, one of the kids’ favorite clothes shops was closing down and they were on the hunt for a bargain. There was no walking past the playground.

Eloise and Lachlan were not happy with the standard of snacks in the house so they decided to make some kids’ banana brownies from Eloise’s cook book.

It is quite tricky putting the kids to sleep this time of year as there is so much sunlight. They are always confused when it is bedtime. Thankfully Dad is good at calming them down before books and bed.

Thursday morning we were still soaking up the sun. Eloise and Lachlan were playing well together. Eloise is always looking at ways to help Lachlan but does not always understand it’s Lachlan’s way or the highway.

Lachlan enjoyed watching his plants grow, it has been two months now since he planted them and they are coming along nicely.

The cherry blossoms all throughout Scotland are in their prime, they do look pretty, hopefully, they can manage to hold on a bit longer in that wind.

Eloise could not believe her luck when she spotted an Easter egg on sale for 19p, she barged straight into Dad’s office to tell him the good news. Eloise knew he would open it for her. Lachlan had lucked out with a £2 snowsuit for 2024.

After meetings at stupid o’clock, Liam clocked off in the early afternoon and met Nathan and CG on the canal. Lachlan was not thrilled that he had been left behind, Liam promised him a bike ride on the weekend.

We had not cycled long before CG was on the hunt for snacks. Bowling was the perfect spot for a cheeky snack break, although there was a cool breeze.

After a tasty snack that certainly was not needed, we flew along the canal, we were making great time. Somewhat concerningly we had an epic tailwind powering us along but that was a future problem. We cruised through to Leven Quay, which seemed to be a nice milestone, literally, as we had an impressive view of the volcanic plug, Dumbarton Castle.

Readers, take note of Nathan’s incredible cycling jersey, we will have to look into picking up one of those.

We then had to battle a fierce headwind all the way home through the cherry blossoms.

Dad just managed to get home in time for books and bed. Luckily he bribed Lachlan with an extra large “milk delivery” bottle and he was forgiven for leaving him behind.

Friday morning, Lachlan was locked and loaded and was full of energy after a good night’s sleep, dragging Super Mum all over the house. Dad and Eloise decided ‘not today’, and enjoyed a lovely 07:00 sleep in #mustbenice.

Eloise was a bit stressed as Emma was coming over in the morning and they still did not have any snacks. She did a terrific job making scones.

As soon as Emma arrived the giggles started and they both headed straight for the princess’ castle.

Once Lachlan had finished his scone he sieged the castle. Eloise was loving the new Elsa shoes that Emma had passed on to her, lucky girl.

Once the scones were polished off, although Emma was more of a cream fan than a scones fan, it was onto biscuits and cheese. Don’t get between Emma and her cheese.

Eloise was buzzing to show Emma how to toast marshmallows, now that she is a seasoned professional. Emma was eager and helped Eloise load up the brazier.

All of Dad’s white shirts seemed to have mysteriously shrunk, certainly nothing to do with the marshmallows. Thankfully Eloise was happy to lend a hand in that department. Meanwhile Lachlan was stuck, not wanting to leave the dinosaur behind.

It was a weekend TV dinner when all of a sudden Dad clonked out, Lachlan was very confused about what to do and found it hilarious. Unbelievable! He even had the 07:00 sleep in.

This morning the kids came running in early and Dad was thrown out of bed to play with them. Eloise did a terrific job making a flower for Super Mum, Lachlan was being a bit of a joker.

After some giggles, cuddles, and kisses we headed for the car. Eloise had a pocket full of textas and her new Elsa shoes on ready for the day.

Super Mum had noticed that it was half-price tickets at Clyde Valley Family Park for our postcode. We had a fantastic family day out there last year, with the kids that little bit older, we were all excited to return. When we arrived Lachlan was glad we were greeted by “moos”.

Disappointingly there were no maps at the door for Eloise, she had to settle for the big wall map to plan out today’s adventure.

Of course, we started at the tractors and pedal racecars.

Eloise was a speed demon herself, after all, her bike riding she is good with pedaling now, but still needs to work on the steering department.

After finishing their race, they started the climb up Clyde Valley Fortress. We didn’t even try the climbing wall last time. As it was a cheap day for our postcode, Eloise was glad to see dance friends walking about.

Eloise and Lachlan found some rabbits, Eloise kept a safe distance, still not convinced by small animals, Lachlan was enjoying them.

One thing Eloise does like is a mega slide, she was keen to show Lachlan, seeing he was now big enough to go down himself.

Just as we grabbed some food for the animals the bell rang, Eloise remembered exactly what that meant, “quick Mum, TRAINNNNN”.

The kids were having a great time feeding the animals from the train, however, we then approached the big blue bridge.

The big blue bridge meant one thing, we were getting close to the joyous llamas.

The joyous llamas bolted in, sticking their big heads into the carriages for some food. Eloise was not having any of it and cowered away, Lachlan fell over as he tried to get away. To be fair they were large and in your face. As the llamas chased us along the kids warmed up to them, Eloise kept repeatedly shouting “no food here llama” so they moved on.

A new addition to the family park which we absolutely loved was the dry sledding slope. There are dry ski slopes all throughout Glasgow which are on the bucket list.

It was fantastic, worth the ticket price alone. A lot of laughter was had, although look how serious Eloise Competitive Fensom is below. It was quite exhilarating, trying to catch the kids as we all slid down, looking back at the footage it was more of a doddle.

The kids absolutely scoffed down their lunch, they wanted to get back out there.

Trampolines straight after lunch, apparently the kids know best. Lachlan was getting some sweet air after all his practice.

Once the kids had bounced all their food down we made our way to their beloved Dad-powered wagon walk.

Eloise jumped out of the wagon a few times along the journey to feed the animals, and Lachlan was more than happy with his feet up in the wagon.

There was a neat sandpit which Eloise and Lachlan did not need a second invitation for.

We started making our way up the steep hill, Lachlan spotted a mega chair for a quick breather.

Eloise led the way up until we arrived at the music forest, Lachlan enjoyed making loud noises.

With a few tumbles and scratched hands, we made it to the top. Eloise has never liked tube slides, until today, which caught us by surprise. She could not wait to get up and have a go, Lachlan was quick on her heels, always happy to throw his body around.

We made out way back to the family park past the wallabies who were keen for a chat.

We were starting to tire after another great family fun day at Clyde Valley Family Park, as we were leaving we timed the train perfectly, the kids still had a bit left in the tank, so we had to go again.

On the way out we took our eyes off Dad for one second and look what he managed to find. The George Nicoll St Andrews made hickory golf club set is growing, an absolute steal for £30 for the four of them. I am going to have to give the National Trust, Kingarrock Hickory Golf Course a crack. Eloise almost smacked Lachlan’s two front teeth out and it was time to head home.