23/07/2023
Tuesday morning we were all relieved to wake up in our own beds, well the kids were in our beds but at least we woke up in our own house. After a couple of months travelling Eloise and Lachlan needed some time to play with their toys.
We had woken up a little early but were feeling pretty good. Eloise was excited about returning to nursery to see her friends, she had a lot of stories to tell. It was also festival week and Eloise was required to wear bright coloured clothes.
Before dropping Eloise off at nursery, we figured we would hit up the local Costa’s for a brew.
With the Scottish Open officially wrapped up, the UK is gearing up for The Open at Royal Liverpool, Lachlan was trying his best for a last minute wildcard entry.
Feeling surprisingly energetic we headed across to Braehead Shopping Centre, Lachlan was quick to jump into “sista’s seat”.
The hayfever has returned as we passed all the wildflowers to collect Eloise after nursery.
Eloise had a great day and was surprisingly still going strong. She had been kept busy with bracelet making, arts and crafts and face painting. Eloise was excited to show Lachlan and tell him everything she had been up to.
Still full of energy it was straight to the local playground in hope it would tire them both out. Lachlan discovered his antigravity crocs allowed him to just walk up and down the slide much to his amusement.
In the afternoon, Lachlan kept pointing to Eloise’s crown. Eloise was concerned that her wee bro was feeling left out and as soon as we got home she got her face paint out. Lachlan had requested Eloise paint a “t-top”, Lachlan does love a triceratops.
Lachlan was a happy “t-tops” and bossy Eloise then demanded it was Dad’s turn as he became a blue cat.
Wednesday morning, the girls could not wait any longer and cracked into the Milo. Seeing as we tried to leave as much of our belongings in Australia as possible, we had lots of free space to bring quite the Aussie food haul back.
Lachlan was preoccupied with pulling together his working from home setup and was typing ferociously.
Lachlan then made the most of the sunny weather, borrowing “sista’s bike” and taking Paddington on another adventure.
Thursday was another beautiful summer’s day. Funnily enough, the dry bulb temperatures are comparable to Adelaide but it is back to t-shirts in Scotland, or taps-aff if you are Lachlan trying to stay cool.
Eloise and Lachlan were then keen to do baking now that they had their kitchen back, starting with biscuits.
Super Mum and Eloise were starting to worry, it was getting late and Amazon’s same day delivery had not delivered the goods yet, luckily just as they were plotting plan B for dinner their sushi mats arrived. Eloise was thrilled. After eating more than our fair share of sushi in Australia, Super Mum and Eloise had decided to keep the sushi train rollin’.
Eloise did a great job rolling out her first Eloise mini-roll. They tasted delicious, in hindsight, we should have set up Lachlan’s dino train to deliver the sushi, next time.
Exciting news from Australia “the Matildas have defeated the Republic of Ireland 1-0 in their World Cup opener on home soil at Stadium Australia after losing captain Sam Kerr to a calf injury”.
We are all still a tad jetlagged, waking up around 05:00 which has been handy for work, Lachlan always tends to wake up the earliest and wants Eloise to play with him. Eloise is not always so happy about this.
We owed Emma big time after missing her birthday party while we were in Adelaide, Eloise and Lachlan were jumping at the front door ready to visit. Having not really thought it through we had brought back a boomerang for Emma, hopefully she has not broken anything Jo.
Emma’s new trampoline was a big hit, safe to say Lachlan will be back soon.
After checking in on Juju’s Clan to invite them over we somehow ended up back at their place again for dinner, luckily we had plenty of Milo, Tim Tams and Shapes for them. It was nice to catch up with all of their summer holiday stories.
After possibly the World’s best train journey a couple of weeks ago to Hogwarts, there was terrible news in Scotland that “services on the “Hogwarts Express” steam train have been cancelled in the Scottish Highlands over safety issues”.
It was a slow start for da boyz Saturday morning, the body clocks are all over the place at the moment. It has been tricky getting Lachlan to have naps and just let him crash when needed. There was absolutely no chance of napping today as his beloved street cat welcomed him home.
At midday we returned to Milngavie Health Habits, we had a terrific time last year with Emma and Jo, Eloise was looking forward to the bungee trampolines and was getting Lachlan excited about it. Lachlan was adorable on the bungee trampoline, having the time of his life.
After a good ten minutes on the bungee trampolines, Eloise surprised us by saying she wanted to climb the tall rock wall, harnessed up and was on her way.
She did well on her first attempt but was finding the foot holds a bit tricky and the height was worrying her, she enjoyed floating down.
Sadly we did not have Emma and Jo with us this year to help Eloise and Lachlan through the assault course but this did not stop them both sprinting through. It was not until they got to the end we realised Lachlan had to climb over a nine foot wall to slide down. Eloise was supportive, helping Lachlan up and dragging him over the top.
Exhausted after passing through the assault course half a dozen times we jumped on the bikes to whip up a smoothie.
Time was of the essence though so we had to dash off to Jill’s PhD party to celebrate. Never did we think we would be slurping down slushies in Scotland, they were a big hit. The red slushies had their effect on Lachlan who was tearing around the backyard for a good hour, playing with the guinea pigs and of course the trampoline.
This morning, we were brainstorming where the day would take us, Eloise only had one request, “I am not going far from home Mum, never again”. Fair enough, we are still working out which way is up. Glasgow is certainly lively at the moment as the city gears up for the Glasgow International Piping Festival, World Pipe Band Championships, and the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships over the next few weeks, there were plenty of tourists throughout the Style Mile.
After emptying our suitcases back in Adelaide, we have to start stocking up on the sweet merch all over again. Lachlan was interested in the mini tartan ties.
The main purpose of visiting the city was to find Eloise new hiking boots. After visiting half a dozen outdoor stores some special shoes caught Eloise’s eye and she started buttering up Dad, promising the world. Coming to a Munro near you…
Eloise loves her new shoes so much, she keeps them safe under her bed so Lachlan cannot get to them. With her shoes safely secured, she quickly penned a letter to Grandma requesting a Barbie Chelsea Doll for her birthday which is many sleeps away.
Although it was dry today in Glasgow, it was quite satisfying knowing that the English weather was working overtime to defeat the English at their own game as “Australia has retained the Ashes thanks to a healthy dose of rain that washed out day five of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, allowing the tourists to salvage a draw”. For our English followers, I would say it was almost as good as their “first-day declaration at Edgbaston”.
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