13/07/2023
Monday morning, Eloise came sprinting out the back of the house “THAT’S ENOUGH NOOOOO FOOOTBALL INSIDE DAD AND LACHLAN!!!”, disappointed that they were not listening to her she had no choice but to confiscate both of the balls to make them stop. Lachlan was not happy but it was time for breakfast.

It was a super productive start to the week as we left the kids with Nali and Grandpa DAVE and checked out the house, visited a couple of schools, a nursery, test drove a car and tried to solve all our other problems in the remaining week in Australia. In the afternoon, Eloise and Lachlan were jumping up and down when they spotted Grandma, Amy and Aubrey making their way down the driveway. Eloise was not impressed that Aubrey was asleep, “don’t worry Dad, don’t worry, it’s okay, I will just wake her up”. Eloise was ready for Aubrey to play with her and Aubrey did not have a choice.


In the evening, Eloise and Lachlan were in full scale orange juice production. Eloise made sure that Nali was at close hand to remove the skin and the pulpy bits as the precious princess didn’t want to touch the “yucky bits”.



After a better sleep by all, we may finally be getting over the jetlag. Eloise was ready for action first thing Tuesday morning. Kitted out in her koala unicorn get up with her beloved PEZ at hand.

Liam had a list of fixes at the house which was timely as we were in the area and set off with Grandpa DAVE in support. On the way we dropped Super Mum and the kiddies at the aunties walk from Mount Lofty Summit to Cleland.


Unfortunately, we did not have a hiking carrier at hand so Super Mum had to make do with the koala carrier. It had been a long time since Lachlan was in this.

Eloise did a good job running to keep up with the fast great aunties although she was disappointed that Aubrey didn’t walk with her. About halfway she hitched a ride on Uber Becca to charge to the finish line.

In the afternoon, “playground” was the shout. The sun was shining so we could not say ‘no’.

Curious Eloise, plucked up the courage for her first attempt at the Kensington Gardens Pyramid. Eloise was full of focus telling Dad “no photos Dad, I need to concentrate”.




It was a somewhat bizarre dinner hosting two of our colleagues from Scotland, never would have imagined that happening two years ago. No haggis was served.

Wednesday morning, Super Mum dropped into work for a coffee to see if the company has survived the last three years without her. Meanwhile, Dad entertained the kids in Rundle Mall. King Lachlan had submitted an early request to visit his best pal Mr Pigeon.





Eloise was amazed by the lifts going up the side of Kmart building so we had to go for a joyride, no signage was going to stop her. It was a much nicer day, albeit fairly cold still, even by Glaswegian standards.

In the afternoon, we were finishing up some work on our house, we were keen to show Eloise and Lachlan for the first time. Eloise called first dibs on her room.

After Super Mum had fulfilled her daily cravings for sushi we pushed on to Grandma’s house to play on the scooters.


With all this exercise it was important that the kids limbered up with Frozen yoga.

Eloise was excited to finally see Uncle Kochy for dinner, he had brought everyone rocks to look at, yayyy.

Eloise and Lachlan quickly moved on to giving their attention to their beloved Delilah. Lachlan especially has come a long way with loving dogs.


It was getting late so we said our final farewells to Aubrey, see you in a year Aubrey.



Thursday morning when we woke up Grandpa DAVE was already gone, luckily this gave the kids more time to wrap their presents and make cards.



We headed back up to Stirling and met Grandma at the PG, she was concerned with Lachan’s tumbles down the slippery dip.


Eloise had set up a wee shop and was charging Grandma excessive prices. The only problem was Grandma did not have any pounds and Eloise was not satisfied with Australian Dollars.



Everybody was more than happy for a second day of sushi in a row. Eloise is also becoming addicted.

Shortly after we arrived home, Grandpa DAVE appeared. After missing his 70th last year, the kids were excited to hand him his grandpa gifts. Eloise was not happy with how slowly and carefully Grandpa DAVE was unwrapping her creation.



Eloise then sprung into action, helping Super Mum whip up a delicious orange chocolate cake.



Exciting news from Glasgow Thursday night was “a recently refurbished Glasgow museum has won one of the world’s most lucrative art prizes. The Burrell Collection has been named the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2023, which comes with a £120,000 award”. It certainly had Nali and Grandpa DAVE’s vote, it is a must visit in Glasgow, impressively edging out London’s Natural History Museum.

[…] enrolled Eloise into school, scary thought. The family then headed to Sushi Train to make it three sushi lunches in a row. For whatever reason sushi in the UK is extraordinarily expensive, so we have had to consume our […]