14/05/2023
Summer is certainly around the corner, we have had some actual hot days recently, our hedge has completely turned in the past week, the UK is looking exceptionally green.
The kids have enjoyed lapping up all the sun and spending lots of time outdoors.
Lachlan has been keeping Eloise on her toes as they continue to learn how to share toys in the backyard. Eloise is a big fan of picking plants and leaves from the garden and mixing them up in her cauldron to make “special magic potions”. Between runs back to the garden bed, Lachlan is a fan of tipping out said potions. He knows he is not allowed to do this, as he then runs off with a cheeky giggle.
Without a doubt, it was taps-aff on Saturday. Lachlan had been waiting a long time to work on his tan.
At one point, we thought we had lost them but then heard giggling coming from the back.
Just after lunch, we spotted the colourful Dubai Airshow A380, we assume they only painted one like that. Lachlan was very excited.
Eloise was more interested in her ice lolly. Her go-to to stay cool.
In the afternoon Emma and Jo had a fabulous idea, we met them near Garscube Sports Complex to make the most of the sun. Lachlan zipped off again, he didn’t know where we were going but that did not stop him.
Emma and Jo led us to a nice spot for a paddle. Lachlan was eager to get in the water, we had to keep dragging him back so he did not get completely wet, we should have brought his boardies. Emma and Eloise had a joyous time playing fetch with the random dog.
Emma was busy playing with the dog as we cracked into the delicious picnic snacks Super Mum had made.
The treats hit the spot, Lachlan was covered in brownie, lucky he had the Super Mum towel at hand.
We sat back and enjoyed being outside while the kids chased each other around in circles. Lachlan found a Lachlan-sized hole which he happily sat in.
As we all tired, by ‘all’, I mean everyone except Lachlan, we headed back through the park.
Just when Emma thought she had Lachlan under control, with a quick dodge he was away.
It was finally appropriate weather to crack out the World’s slowest barbie. Eloise was starving and could not wait, she made her own blue sand chickpea pie topped with bubbles.
Saturday night was the Eurovision Final. The Glaswegians were not sure whether they should tune in or were still protesting after Liverpool had nicked it from Glasgow. “Sweden’s Loreen has taken out the 2023 Eurovision song contest with the song Tattoo”. We were not much of a fan of either the Australian or United Kingdom’s performances, with them coming in 9th and 25th respectively. “Princess of Wales Kate Middleton has made a surprise appearance in the opening segment of the Eurovision grand final” to give the British something to cheer about.
This morning the kids started early with Lachlan showing off his reverse limbo. The kids were getting a real chuckle from this game. After we had tired Lachlan out a little bit we dropped him off at Emma and Jo’s who were kindly looking after him today. Emma was excited to be looking after Lachlan today.
With Lachlan having a great time playing with Emma, the three of us made our way to the train. Today we were all excited about Eloise’s second dance show. Her first show had been fantastic. Today was a massive leap up, no longer at Bearsden’s community hall, we were heading to the Scottish Event Campus Armadillo. Glasgow’s second-largest SEC venue.
Eloise did not seem to be nervous as we dropped her off, to be fair, we don’t think she quite understood the scale of what she was about to do. We had to check out the Finnieston Crane while we were in the area.
The Finnieston Crane or Stobcross Crane is a disused giant cantilever crane in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. It is no longer operational, but is retained as a symbol of the city’s engineering heritage. The crane was used for loading cargo, in particular steam locomotives, onto ships to be exported around the world. The first crane to be called ‘Finnieston Crane’ was moved from a site opposite York Street to Finnieston Quay in 1848. It was tested with a load of 30 tons of pig-iron and ready for use at the end of April of that year.
Eloise has thoroughly enjoyed her dance class each week and it had all been building up to this moment. She was itching to get in and join her dance buddies.
As we dropped her off, Liam being Liam could not help it and snuck down the Dad corridor to check out the stage. After paying a small fortune for Eloise’s dance show we were quite excited to be in the Armadillo ourselves. We were flabbergasted about how a little community dance studio could afford this. Perhaps Glasgow was banking on Eurovision being in town? This was much better anyway.
We headed in early to find our seats impressed with how grand it was.
The SEC Armadillo (originally known as the Clyde Auditorium) is an auditorium located near the River Clyde, in Glasgow, Scotland… Plans for a new building to increase the capacity of the SECC complex were initiated in 1994. Designed by architects Foster and Partners, construction of the 3,000 seat venue started in September 1995, and was completed in August 1997, by which time it had earned its affectionate nickname, due to the similarity of its shape to that of the animal of the same name. Many comparisons have been made with the Sydney Opera House, although this was not the architects’ inspiration for the design, which was in fact an interlocking series of ship’s hulls, in reference to the Clyde’s shipbuilding heritage.
Meanwhile, Jo had done a terrific job getting Lachlan to sleep, not sure how much Emma was helping occupying the front seat.
After getting onto Ticketek early, we kid you not, Super Mum had secured second row seats. The stage was massive, reminded me of the time Simon made me watch Life of Pi from the front row.
The Dance Studio had a dozen different classes which rotated through the stage. Before each dance began the lights would turn off as the dancers ran out into position. For Eloise’s preschool class, they would close the curtain, and you would then hear lots of little feet shuffling around, they would then raise the curtain as the music started with half of the kids looking like deer in the headlights as they noticed the massive stage and crowd. Understandably they were all a little unsure and stunned during their first dance.
Eloise was looking cute in her Scottish attire and enjoyed waving her flag as she warmed up and wiggled on stage for their tap song. Afterwards we asked what flag she was dancing with and she said “it’s the X marks the spot flag”. Everyone was cheering loudly and having a great time, it was adorable.
Half an hour later, the curtain closed, which only met one thing. Shuffle shuffle shuffle, Eloise’s second dance was to The Greatest Showman, A Million Dreams. Eloise had been talking all week about a dance involving a real lantern, all the girls were taking great care with their lanterns. There was not a tremendous amount of ballet, but no lanterns were damaged in the process.
Eloise’s third dance was a jazz number and she really came alive in this one. She adored the Mickey Mouse ears and you could see how much fun she was having.
We had no idea how Eloise was going to go but we were very proud of her. It would have been daunting in front of the large audience, but she danced her wee heart out.
After congratulating Eloise on a terrific performance we rushed off to pick up Lachlan. Although, we are not sure if he wanted to leave. He had a blast with Emma and King Lach had Jo running back and for continuous snacks.
Again Jo (and Emma), thank you for looking after Lachlan for the 19824495 time. He would not have lasted at Eloise’s dance show and would have been trying to get up on stage the whole time.
Great job Eloise on your big dancing performance!
Well done Eloise!