WeeDay

19/11/2023

It was a cool start to the week, certainly hiding in your pram in your bear suit kind of weather as we made our way to nursery.

It was so windy in fact that there were white caps at the local reservoir, Liam just managed to battle the winds up to the top.

The temperature went from low single digits to mid-single digits, enough for Lachlan to leave his bear suit at home to pick up Eloise in the afternoon.

When we got home, Eloise and Lachlan were glad to be together again to play all sorts of games, starting with chasey dress-ups.

Just as dinner was served, Eloise had a surprise, she went to her bag and pulled out a couple of wee pizzas that she had made at nursery. No dinner required Super Mum. Eloise is a great pizza chef.

Tuesday at nursery Eloise was busy attacking some kid and learning about Glaswegian rhyming words.

Meanwhile, Lachlan had a furious look on his face, I did not dare get between him and his beloved puddles.

Wednesday morning was a relatively quiet start to the day as Lachlan began hiding from the family in his den.

We decided it was close enough to Christmas to start the gingerbread production. Lachlan flew out of his den when he heard the plan.

After dropping off Eloise at nursery, Lachlan knew he had full rein of her birthday camera and was snapping away making the most of it.

Sue, the masks are still hanging in there, just… Lachlan refused to pick up Eloise without his deer mask.

Lachlan cannot wait until he turns three and his free childcare kicks in. He is already well-known by all of Eloise’s nursery staff. Lachlan does love a good stroll about checking out his future nursery.

On Wednesday the storms continued to rack up this winter, already at letter ‘D’, with Storm Debi which has “brought heavy rain and strong winds to several regions after wild weather hit large parts of the UK”. Luckily, Glasgow seemed to get off lightly again.

Eloise woke up Thursday in a creative mood. We quickly headed downstairs so she could continue on her custom personalised Christmas cards. After some tomfoolery from Lachlan he decided to help her out. Eloise gave him strict instructions, she takes her artwork very seriously.

We were excited to host another colleague from Australia on Thursday night. The kids had to get all their sillies out beforehand.

After Lachlan’s Friday babyccino, we headed back to pick up Eloise and made our way to the library, Lachlan did his best to jump in as many puddles as he could on the way there.

Eloise and Lachlan were excited to pick up some Christmas books for the next week.

Saturday Lachlan had a double breakfast, he had to make sure he was all cylinders firing for Football Buzz, we were both keen as we had missed last week when we checked out the Flying Scotsman.

We were off to a tricky start, Lachlan was full of energy but with the missed week we had forgotten how to football. I think Lachlan was just relieved that we arrived early enough to secure his beloved yellow ball.

After a successful class with plenty of energy burnt, we picked up the girls and were told the next stop was Strathkelvin Retail Park. Eloise had a plan. As we arrived Lachlan found his favourite thing in the world. The Venn diagram of his three favourite things: “t-tops”, yellow things and babies, his eyes lit up when we spotted a “YELLLLOOOOWW BABY TTTTT-TTTOPS“, Lachlan was quick to add it to his Christmas list.

After checking out a few stores, Eloise finally found what she was after and could not wait to put them on as she made us run back to the car.

With the kids screaming in excitement we headed to the new Allander Leisure Centre and on went the swimming costumes as they call them here. The kids, who have not really done much swimming since last summer in Australia had no worries in the world as they jumped in. Eloise was impressive with her floaties and we think even impressed herself. Eloise was shouting at us to make sure we saw how fast she was going. Jane, thank you for the ring, Lachlan was having the time of his life in it while running his legs underwater.

This morning started pretty much where Saturday ended. Both Eloise and Lachlan were telling Nali all about their pool adventures from yesterday.

In fact, Eloise was desperate to get back in the water trying to push Dad out of his shower. She thought she was very funny with the shaving cream.

Back by popular demand, we were at Allander again. Lachlan sprinted through the reception gate with his doughnut as if he owned the place.

Appropriately, the weekend ended with Super Mum back at Allander as she bounced back to netball.

12/11/2023

After a fantastic family day on the Flying Scotsman yesterday, it was time to depart South Yorkshire. We have already checked out Manchester, Leeds and York so thought we would push on a bit further to see what Middlesbrough had to offer and to break up the journey.

After another Remembrance Day service it was time to explore Middelsborough’s Dorman Memorial Museum, Lachlan was buzzing to see what was inside.

It was a great museum for the kids, with lots to play with and Lego mini figurines to search for.

We liked the bird collection and even found some more puffins.

Day 674: The Quest for the Elusive Holy Golden Puffin

A long way from home we spotted some emu eggs. Eloise was puzzled how they got all the way from Australia.

As we were trying to keep up with Lachlan throughout the museum we suddenly heard an excited shriek, he had found a dinosaur. He spent quite a while inspecting the dino footprint.

Dorman Museum is a local and social history museum on the town centre side of Albert Park, Linthorpe in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. It is one of two museums operated by the local borough council, along with the Captain Cook birthplace in Stewart Park… At its official opening on 1 July 1904, the museum’s theme was the natural sciences. Since then, galleries of the local Linthorpe Art Pottery, work by Victorian industrial designer Christopher Dresser, and Middlesbrough’s history have eclipsed this early theme. Remnants of the original Victorian and Edwardian collection of taxidermied, plinth-mounted animals are in the Nelson Room; various taxidermied exotic birds in their original cases with decorative painted backgrounds and colourful and large birds’ eggs.

This really set the theme for the day. We were about to settle in for the long final leg back to Glasgow when a special park caught Lachlan’s attention. Forget Australia, Austria, Hungary and Portugal, Lachlan’s highlight of the year was Middlesbrough’s Teessaurus Park. Lachlan was darting about, shouting, a dream come true, he sure does love a Dino park.

The real highlight was at the top of the hill where Lachlan found not one but three triceratops or as he calls them “t-tops”, his favourite dinosaur.

There was quite the display, spread throughout the park. Eloise and Lachlan had made their way around in no time at all.

Eloise’s new birthday camera is getting a good workout with plenty of photos of their journey, Eloise is very good at sharing with Lachlan but is not always happy with how long it takes to get the camera back.

We tried to tire the kids out a little bit before the final leg home.

We got home just in time for a bit of sun and to stretch our legs to feed the ducks. It is certainly getting cooler up here.

07/11/2023

After last week, Eloise wanted to arrive at nursery in style again, it does help us all move along quickly in the morning, Lachlan loves racing along.

Once we had dropped Eloise off and Liam had continued on his way it was shopping time for Lachmeister and I at Braehead.

After stocking up on winter layers for our upcoming European winter holiday Lachlan was rewarded with playtime.

Lachlan loved the diggers, he had to sit on each one.

This morning was exciting as we were up before the crack of dawn (and most other things) for Super Mum’s birthday woot woot! The kids were thrilled to copy Super Mum and threw on their dressing gowns before we skipped down the stairs for presents.

After nursery drop-off, Lachlan had a playdate at Juju’s while Super Mum returned to nursery for Eloise’s ‘stay and play’ session, it was good to have a crack at the woodworking station with Eloise. Super Mum then dashed back to take Lachlan swimming with Juju.

After the weekend’s early birthday celebrations, we partied on with polar bear “dunky babyccino” while waiting for Eloise at dance.

It was a relatively quiet night as we prepared for a busy week ahead…

05/11/2023

Wednesday morning before nursery Eloise and Lachlan were playing pizza shops and having a jolly good time.

Lachlan had so much fun on Tuesday night trick-or-treating that he was keeping his eyes peeled for any trick-or-treaters who were running a day late. He was excited whenever someone was walking up the street.

Eloise’s Barbie camper set continues to be one of Lachlan’s favourite toys, he enjoys preparing Barbie for another road trip before seeing what over toys he can find in “Sista’s room” in the afternoon.

The last few Fridays after Lachlan’s gymnastics sessions when we return at midday we would usually do a lovely stroll into Milngavie with Lachlan napping in the pram, it then turned to pram walk with Lachlan resisting the nap. These days he just rejects the pram altogether before screaming babyccino and heading off, he knows the way.

Saturday morning, Eloise was buzzing to ring her new wee cousin and show her the new cat notebook that she had made with Dad. Although, no matter how much shouting she did she could not wake her up. “Dad, Dad, you know, maybe she will like one when she is older you know”. Surprisingly, Lachlan was the calm one when he saw she was sleeping.

It was another great week at Football Buzz this week, happy to report we are on a two-week hot streak for not pushing over other children.

As soon as da boyz got home the gals kicked them out of the car and they were off. Eloise was super excited about her friend’s birthday party, she has a jam-packed social calendar. It was such a fun party at Edenmill.

Da boyz had to head out for some secret boys business, we have big plans for next week which we had to prepare for. After a nap and some crackers, Lachlan enjoyed sprinting through the Autumn leaves.

Super Mum’s birthday is next week so we decided to head out to the most orange restaurant we have ever seen for burgers while we had a quiet weekend. Eloise would like you all to know that she finished her whole burger all by herself, she was very proud of herself.

When we woke up Sunday we had no plans at all. It was a lovely day which we had to make the most of so jumped in the car and headed across to Edinburgh, we have a long list of people we need to restock souvenirs for after our trip back to Australia in July. Eloise was sad she forgot her camera, her shots are getting better.

If it was up to Lachlan, Aubrey would be receiving a lot more coos, we all know how much Lachlan loves “baby coos”.

By mid-morning, Lachlan wanted to run through ye old town which is always a bit tricky. We decided to let him loose in the Scottish National Gallery as we checked out a bit more, he enjoys pointing out the animals in the impressive paintings.

The Edinburgh weather was holding out spectacularly, although the tourist numbers have certainly dropped after the Fringe.

On day two of Super Mum’s early birthday celebrations, we headed to her favorite restaurant, back to Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen & Bar. We were all missing Laura and co.

After delicious meals, we passed through the pretty Tron Kirk Market before we made our way back with Ms Poppy-Nose.

We were tired, however, both Eloise and Lachlan seemed to only be getting started as they bolted towards Salisbury Crags and Arthur’s Seat, Eloise said she would like to return to climb again.

We then made the drive back across Scotland with the sun at an awkward height. After dinner Super Mum slipped out to netball. Tonight is Guy Fawkes Night. We did not quite manage to get Eloise to bed before 12 hours of fireworks started so instead she slipped on down with Dad, Eloise says “hiiiiii everyyyoneee!”

21/10/2023

Lachlan was up early Monday morning making modifications to his beloved farm truck, he has had a recent growth spurt and struggles to scoot along on the truck now.

With beanies on it is always smiles on the way to pick up Eloise from nursery. Lachlan was happily singing all the way there.

When we got home Eloise rushed to get her bike so she could keep practicing without her training wheels.

Not wanting to be shown up by her Dad, Eloise had been workin’ hard in the woodwork department at nursery making another two new robots. Lachlan is always interested to greet the new members of the family at the dinner table.

After some spiritual dancing it was time for books and bed. The Lego book is a family favourite, Eloise knows it so well she reads it to Lachlan each night.

Tuesday was a freezing foggy start. Eloise was concerned that we may get lost on the way to nursery in the morning and Dad’s ears almost snapped off on the way into the office.

On Tuesday in Sydney, “a 2-0 win has handed Australia the Ashes… the Soccer Ashes that is. The Socceroos took on New Zealand for a trophy that, until recently, had been missing for almost 70 years”.

Wednesday, it was no warmer but jobs needed completing before a super Sunday. Eloise rugged up and started pulling out the weeds which was “very tricky, very trick you know”.

Lachlan made sure to rug up in his new winter bear suit but was not too interested in weeding, just like Eloise, he is trying his hardest to cycle too.

With freezing hands we all deserved a treat after all that hard work, Lachlan managed to find his apron and helped out making some delicious British scones.

We had to rush to get Eloise to nursery in the afternoon by the time Lachlan had found his baby and pram to come along for the ride.

Thursday the temperature kept dropping as the United Kingdom braces for Storm Babet. It was a quiet one inside as we fired up the radiators for the first time this winter. Admittedly, Lachlan is giving the carpets a hard time, Super Mum reckons she plays cars with him for at least two hours a day.

Friday morning, Eloise was in a particularly cheeky mood. Hanging up signs around the house showing Dad which rooms he was not allowed in, poor Dad.

There was sadly no gymnastics due to October half-term school holidays. This was a big problem for us parents as we were left with lots of energetic kids with nowhere to go. Eloise absolutely loved her movie Daddy date last week so headed back to the cinemas with Super Mum and her pals to watch the new Trolls film.

Meanwhile, the boys went for a stroll, mainly trying to stay inside so we did not get blown away by Storm Babet which was in full strength. Lachlan was enjoying sprinting between cars.

After the movie, we all headed to TGI Fridays for a late lunch, all the kids were having a great time playing together and I think the adults were glad to get them out of the houses.

This morning we braved the stormy weather to get to football. Lachlan was doing well but we sat out for a while and had a talk after Lachlan pushed a kid over off the ball, it would have been a straight red.

In the afternoon the sky miraculously turned blue. It seemed that Storm Babet was wreaking havoc all around Glagsow. We made a dash to the park for some cycling practice. The last few cycling sessions Eloise tends to get to speed and then get concerned and ditch, completely letting go of the bike. We figured we should work on stopping properly before we can push her off on her way.

Eloise cheekily cycled to the playground and then that is where her lesson ended. She had a good crack at it today.

Meanwhile, Lachlan had woken up at home and was helping Super Mum prepare for the massive day tomorrow. We got home just in time for Eloise to help with the clean up.

On Saturday, “second red warning in a week as Storm Babet flooding continues” with “eight Scottish Professional Football League matches… being postponed”. Sadly “three people have died and a man remains missing in Aberdeenshire”.

15/10/2023

Lachlan was very happy at the start of the week as it started off with a minion ride with Juju as they caught up at Braehead Shopping Centre for shopping and biscuit dunking.

After all that excitement, both Lachlan and Juju nodded off as we made our way back across the river.

On Tuesday, Lachlan’s play dates continued, he has a busy social calendar. Lachlan met the new secondee babies and was having a jolly good time. We swung past nursery on the way home to pick up Eloise and rush her to dance. Eloise could not believe her luck at dance, she received another early birthday present and could not wait to get home to open it. Freya, you made Eloise very happy, her first Barbie! She completely lost her mind and could hardly sit still.

It was not just any ol’ Barbie, Eloise had a mermaid Barbie, two of her favourite things. Eloise did not let it out of her grasp and could hardly sit still at the dinner table.

Wednesday was nice blue skies, albeit the mercury is dropping. With Eloise at nursery, Lachlan enjoyed a few cheeky plays with the Barbie, don’t tell Eloise though. He made sure to bring her along with him as we went to pick up Eloise.

On Thursday, Eloise offered to look after her wee bro and suggested Super Mum could clean the whole house while she put her legs up, great, thanks Eloise.

Too cold to go outside and with Dad at work, Eloise had her sights on one thing. Her F-22 Raptor. After assembling her Spitfire last year, we had been saving it for a rainy day.

Lachlan did not seem to be phased by the aircraft assembly as he was preoccupied with mopping the whole house from top to bottom, conveniently his new favourite activity.

Thursday night, Dad had an information session at nursery, Eloise did not believe that he was going to nursery at night time. It was actually a very informative session with lots to discuss about Eloise. There were no surprises when all of her educators said how much she loved drawings and artwork.

One of Eloise’s favourite activities at nursery is woodwork, especially when it comes to making robots, she has a large army of them now. They even let me sneak in to make my very own Daddy robot.

Thursday night the Scots were furious that “McTominay golazo ruled out in loss to Spain” as VAR makes the headlines again making Scotland’s Euro qualifications a wee bit more challenging.

Friday morning, when Eloise made her way down the stairs and found a Daddy robot she was gobsmacked, giggling her head off. She quickly introduced Daddy robot to her other robots, however, poor Daddy robot got a good beating much to her amusement.

Friday morning Lachlan was big smiles as he made his way to gymnastics, his balance and somersaults have dramatically improved.

Eloise and Lachlan’s new craze is Where’s Wally? They were quite pleased to borrow the book.

After dropping Eloise off at gymnastics we ventured into Milngavie, Lachlan made it clear that he was not going in the pram this time and that there would be no midday nap.

We were looking forward to England vs Australia at Wembley on Friday night but it was a bit of a fizzer as England’s C’s beat the Socceroos A-League 1-0. It was strange timing for a friendly as England rested players for an important Euro qualifier against Italy next week.

Friday marked 169 days since Liam ‘helped’ march through the heart of London and start the Legacy Centenary Torch Relay. It had successfully made it through France, Belgium, the United Kingdom and around a large chunk of Australia to conclude at the Shrine of Remembrance at the War Memorial in Melbourne, Australia.

Saturday morning was a loud one as all the Duplo was tipped out. Eloise was excited to start building with her new Lego library book, she was so excited she had actually cuddled her book all night. Lachlan was also keen to get in on the action and of course gathered all the yellow blocks.

We had lost track of time and had to dash off to Football Buzz. Due to school holidays, Football Buzz had moved back to Westerton Hall. Lachlan was glad to be reunited with his pals.

Saturday was an enormous day in Australian history as they headed to the polls for The Voice referendum. What a disaster! By the time we made it home from Football Buzz most of the polling booths in Australia had closed less than a couple of hours earlier and The Voice had already disappointingly been defeated, in fact in Western Australia “polls [closed] more than an hour and a half after victory was already declared for the No vote nationally”. A sad outcome as “Australians have rejected recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the nation’s first people in the constitution through the establishment of a Voice to Parliament advisory body”.

It was looking like a beautiful day but don’t be fooled. It is now down to single digits. We made sure we all had our beanies on as we rendezvoused with Juju’s Clan at Partick Farmers Market, the kids were desperate to catch up, even though Lachlan had seen Juju at the start of the week.

Lachlan was not happy in the pram and knew just the way to warm up.

It was a nice spot to let the kids loose and play together, we all wished we had their energy.

It was then time to hit the courts, with the girls ganging up on the boys. Lachlan managed a few sneaky intercepts.

We made our way towards Kelvingrove Park but did not get far as matching flashing headbands caught the girl’s attention. Unbelievably, Eloise got another early birthday present as her birthday month celebrations rolled on.

Of course, Gyros was the easy decision before we all froze and made our way home.

Eloise has been keen to remove her training wheels the past few weeks and on Sunday morning we finally did. Eloise made sure we had all the right tools as we piled into the car and headed to Pollok Country Park.

We made our way to the National Cycle Network with Eloise flying along with her training wheels for the final time.

Lachlan was in hot pursuit on his scooter before helping with the tools.

Eloise had a solid effort for her first attempt at cycling with no training wheels. There was one bad tumble but she quickly got up and kept on pedalling. It brought back tough memories of when Grandpa Dave pushed me on my bike into a tennis net so I was feeling Eloise’s pain. Practice makes perfect, we will have to stick with it. Lachlan was enjoying himself darting about all over the place.

On the way home there was a bit of a shopathon as we prepare for Eloise’s party and winter.

It was a late night as Lachlan could not go to bed before he had found all the “yellow Wally’s”, he is not content with actual Wally.

The good news on Sunday night was that Scotland was that Spain’s winning streak continued, “Scotland have qualified for Euro 2024 with two games to spare thanks to Spain’s 1-0 win over Norway, which has guaranteed Steve Clarke’s side a top-two finish in Group A”.

17/09/2023

Lachlan was ecstatic to start the week off as he got to help Super Mum look after Juju again for the day. There were toys everywhere as Lachlan did a great job sharing with Juju. In the afternoon Lachlan was showing off his Football Buzz skills to Super Mum, luckily he enjoys a good kickabout.

Eloise started the week at nursery drawing self portraits and learning about facial expressions.

The sad news from Scotland on Monday was that “One of the creators of the world’s first cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep, has died at the age of 79. Prof Sir Ian Wilmut’s work, at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, laid the foundations for stem cell research… The creation of Dolly in 1996 was arguably one of the greatest scientific achievements of the 20th Century”.

Lachlan was particularly cuddly on Tuesday and made sure that Super Mum paid him full attention.

After dropping Eloise off at nursery, Lachlan lucked out with a David Lloyd visitor pass from Juju and had a grand ol’ time climbing in the soft play and swimming with her.

We are not sure what is up with the weather, we were spoilt last week and it keeps on coming. During this good spell Lachlan has drastically improved at cycling, he has sorted out the pedalling although we still need to keep turning him around at either end. Lachlan has always loved cycling.

For dinner, we had probably our last BBQ for the year. It is definitely getting cooler at night. Of course, we snuck in some more football while waiting for the World’s slowest BBQ.

It was then Aussie animals before bed, luckily Lachlan still gets very excited when he spots the Koala.

All football fans in the UK were excited Wednesday night for the friendly between Scotland and England at Hampden Park in Glasgow. Listen to the video below, the crowd were belting Flowers of Scotland, making a point not to sing God Save the King. Although they started with high energy and a vocal crowd behind them, they could not contain England’s firepower as Scottish “fans embrace brief high before 3-1 loss”.

On Wednesday, Eloise had her hands full while helping Super Mum out with the shopping in the morning, she made sure that all her babies had snacks for the week.

Lachlan certainly is determined, no matter how many times he falls off, he bounces back up just as fast, he has the pedalling and steering down pat now. Not easy on Eloise’s £5 rust bucket of a bike. You can tell how happy he was with himself, singing his head off as he cycled around in circles.

All that cycling is tough work though and he was out for the count in the afternoon. He kept fighting Super Mum so that he could have an extended nap.

It was a loud dinner Wednesday night as Eloise proudly brought her harmonica that she had made in the afternoon at nursery to the dinner table. She enjoyed the noise that it made and said she will make one for Lachlan next week.

It was then final rolls, before calling it a night. The gymnastics classes are paying dividends.

Thursday morning, the wait was finally over, after attending our visa extension interviews almost a couple of months ago we finally received our new biometric residence permits and we are free to exit/ enter the UK again. This was music to our ears and Eloise took a five minute break from her working from home setup for a celebratory scoot followed by the usual backyard games in the evening.

Thursday night we celebrated our freedom by booking our next holiday into Europe, it is going to be a special one, we cannot wait! There were also celebrations a bit further north as “Falkirk park has been praised for bringing a multimillion-pound tourism boost to the area on its 10th anniversary. The Helix, home of the Kelpies, has attracted millions of visitors since it opened on 14 September, 2013. The idea to transform a piece of little-used grassland near the eastern end of the Forth and Clyde Canal into an eco-park was first mooted in 2003. Last year, more than 850,000 people visited the attraction”. We have had many fun times strolling around the Kelpies where it all began.

Friday morning Lachlan requested his Barbie pump up music as he made his way to his weekly gymnastics session. It was another great session, the boy is a daredevil. After lunch we headed back to Milngavie Library before Eloise’s session. It is a great way to launch into the weekend seeing the kids catch up with their friends in the area.

Eloise does an amazing job at teaching Lachlan pretty much everything, she does love helping her bro and he very much appreciates the attention.

There it is, it had to happen in the end, the weather has started to turn. The rain jackets were dusted off as we killed time in Milngavie waiting for Eloise. We were actually hoping that Lachlan would have a nap.

Mmm yeah, there would be no napping from Lachlan he was too interested in singing “rain rain go away”.

After Eloise’s gymnastics we made our way over to Braehead Shopping Centre where we finally gave in, you win this time Lachlan.

Eloise picked up some more puddle pants and put them on as soon as we got home, she wanted to test by running and jumping in the rain.

Saturday morning, Eloise finally decided that Lachlan was sensible enough to use scissors and made sure that she showed him how to cut safely. She pointed out multiple times that Lachlan did not need to put his hair up because he does not have much hair.

Football Buzz was absolutely packed this week, the absolute definition of chaos. Lachlan loved the obstacle course. There was also a funny moment where he scored a worldie of a goal and then got stuck in the net as I struggled to free him.

Meanwhile, Eloise was working hard with Super Mum making pouches, Eloise’s new favourite hobby, making random sized pouches to put all her pencils in.

We hit Glasgow Fort as Eloise wanted to send some birthday requests to Grandma, she could not believe all the Barbie options, she couldn’t stand still.

Lachlan, feeling a wee bit left out, tried to convince us that we needed this plush cat in our lives.

Both the kids nodded off on the way home, Eloise fell asleep while eating her Happy Meal.

As soon as we got home, Lachlan was straight back out on the bike, he was still a bit drowsy but nothing some Irn-Bru could not fix before dinner.

Eloise randomly then remembered the evenings she would take Dad on a night walk last winter and was keen to start the tradition again, ecstatic that Lachlan could now come with. She was telling Lachlan all about the fun. Sadly it is still too bright for her torch.

On Saturday it was good to hear that “thousands rally in Adelaide in Yes campaign event ahead of Voice to Parliament referendum”.

This morning, the kids were loaded up with marshmallows and we were on our way.

We thought that it was about time that we travelled back to Heaven. However, we could have picked a better day. As we made our way east across Scotland the rain was getting heavier. It was still coming down as we pulled into St Andrews so sheltered in Costas. Turns out it was packed as university in Scotland starts tomorrow. There are two demographics that live in St Andrews, university students and retired golf enthusiasts with nothing in between.

Still drizzling, we made our way along Market Street and then ducked into a bookstore. Believe it or not, preparing to repatriate is starting to take up some bandwidth, we have lots more souvenirs to sort out.

Luckily the rain started to ease, to be fair, it was about time we got caught in the rain, it had been well overdue. Eloise and Lachlan jumped into their beloved puddle suits and we made it to the Old Course. We noticed that they had started putting the stands up again. Turns out the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship starts soon which is “one of the richest golf tournaments on the European Tour. It is played in September, on three different links courses, centred on the “home of golf”, St Andrews in Fife, Scotland”.

Eloise and Lachlan made sure that we did not leave the house without “their” golf clubs and golf balls. In no time at all, Lachlan was quick to inspect the fairways ahead of the championships.

The course was busy there certainly were the most tourists we had seen, Super Mum said we don’t count as tourists anymore. Eloise and Lachlan made a best friend. They are missing Delilah, Maya and Lily very much.

We then bashed our way through the rough until Lachlan got very concerned for Eloise, she had gone, “Sista, Sista, SIIISSSSTTTAAAA, where are you?”

She had just found another large bunker and was busy at work preparing it. Always makes us chuckle when she calls these “beaches”.

We were all starving by this point so we looped back around with the kids hockeying their way down the 16th fairway.

After a quick snap with one of the Scottish Terriers, we made our way into the Jigger Inn.

Super Mum mentioned putt putt and the kids were up out of their seat and eager to get back out onto the golf course. We headed over to the St Andrews Ladies’ Putting Club: Himalayas Putting we knew the kids were going to enjoy this, fantastic fun for a couple of pounds. They even had the perfect size club for Lachlan.

Lachlan had just as much fun being the obstacles as putting, often making Eloise putt through his legs as he giggled uncontrollably.

It was the perfect place for Eloise to practice her number recognition. Although, Lachlan went for whatever hole he thought looked the best.

Eloise was starting to take it very seriously, it was interesting to see her competitive side. It was just as well, she needed everything she had as she approached the boss level…

… Final hole 9 was the trickiest of the lot, you had to get a hole in one around Lachlan, otherwise, Lachlan would yeet it back to you with interest. Eloise tricked him with a bit of multi ball and snuck past him to win.

We then made our way home at the danger time, trying to keep both of the kids awake. However, there was little chance of that, Eloise asked Super Mum for a “wee nap” and she was out of it.

10/09/2023

It was a happy, loud, shouting singing, start to the week. Lachlan got lots of applause as we made our way down the street to drop Eloise off at nursery.

After making sure that the whole of Bearsden was up bright and early it was back home to change into his beloved Adelaide top and enjoy the sun, the forecast said it was going to be a hot week.

Meanwhile, Eloise was learning all about shapes at nursery. Nursery have requested lots of photos of the kids in front of famous buildings this week and Eloise has absolutely smashed the challenge out of the park.

After nursery the kids were eager to swing past the library early before Eloise spotted some bows for Aubrey and decided she deserved matching ones.

When we got back home, Lachlan was excited to show Eloise all the games he had invented in the backyard during the day. Eloise was not sure about them and proceeded with caution.

It was a high energy dinner. The kids only agreed to eat their food if they could eat it on the run. We lost track of how many laps they did. Some dinner was consumed.

Tuesday morning, Lachlan was over the moon as the day started picking up Juju, she was coming over for a play date, he was glad to see her again. In the car, Lachlan kept offering Juju his dinosaurs but was taken aback that she was not as excited about dinos as he was.

Lachlan and Juju had a great day together and she even helped us pick up Eloise from nursery. Eloise was squealing from behind the gate when she saw Juju had come to greet her. The nursery teachers asked whether they were cousins, close enough.

It was the usual quick change for Eloise and off to dance while Lachlan gave Juju the tour of his beloved library, of course, straight to the dino books.

The kids were up to their usual dinner tricks, this time, insisting on an outside couch dinner. It was strangely peaceful at our outside dinner table.

Wednesday morning started early, well they all start early, but even earlier than early this time. Perhaps Lachlan woke up extra hungry, it was straight to making pancakes.

It has been a hot week, in fact “the hottest day of the year is expected in the next two days, with parts of the UK already in heatwave conditions”. Lachlan our Energiser Bunny has been lapping it up and zipping all about.

Eloise, always thinking ahead was way ahead of us, she had put one of her yogurts in the freezer for after nursery, she knew it was going to be another hot one.

Thursday the mercury kept climbing as “UK’s long-lasting snow patch melts away for 10th time in 300 years”. We made sure to hit up the PG early in the day. We were surprised that it took them this long to start screaming for ice creams.

After too much sugar, Lachlan wanted to double check if he still fit in the KALLAX. He was happy to announce that he still fits.

Sue, two of the beloved masks are still going strong. The kids pull out every trick in the book to try and extend their bedtime.

Friday morning our family walk was a foggy one, it was quite eerie around “Kilmardinny Loch”.

Eloise and Lachlan were glad to catch the big birthday boy who had lucked out with a new pirate ship upgrade.

Eloise then put on her bathers or swimming costume as they call it here before helping Lachlan get changed. There was no stopping them from getting wet again. Super Mum quickly geared them up with the cleaning appliances and sent them on their way.

Emma the giant then magically appeared to spoil Eloise with a huge batch of clothes before all the kids rushed off to their beloved gymnastic sessions. Afterwards, there was no rest for the wicked as we made our way into the West End. In hindsight it was not the best day for it, it felt like a furnace with all the tall tenements trapping the heat in.

After checking out some unairconditioned shops we needed to get away from the buildings and headed to Glasgow Botanic Gardens to let the kids run free. It was looking spectacular from the sun recently. It seemed like half of Glagsow was out enjoying the sun.

Lachlan then bolted, with Eloise in hot pursuit, the boy had seen a squirrel.

After we got home, it was a quick change into “let it go” and one of Emma’s numbers before Fox Boy sang his wee heart out all the way down to the local chippie, he was excited.

Funnily enough, Eloise and Lachlan only eat room temperature food. They won’t eat anything hot. As their dinner was cooling down it gave them plenty of time under the sprinkler again. This inevitably led to another running dinner like the start of the week.

After the kids had made themselves feel sick running around eating dinner it was another quick change into Emma’s nightie before books and bed. Although Eloise and Dad had a terrible night, it was far too hot to get any sleep as “UK has hottest day of the year, beating Thursday’s record”.

Friday night, we shameful forgot to watch the football as “Steve Clarke’s side on brink of Euro 2024 qualification after fifth straight victory”.

Saturday morning, Lachlan was all giggles on the way to Football Buzz, now that Google listens to him, he was very happy to request Barbie music.

Liam made sure not to show Lachlan his post Football Buzz snack beforehand this time and he had another stellar session. Lachlan very much does not like using his right foot though. there was even a game with dino eggs, Lachlan had a great time.

Meanwhile, Eloise was working on her selfie and funny faces game.