19/08/2023
The boys were happy Saturday morning, inspired by the Matildas heroics. it was Lachlan’s first Football Buzz session after practicing all week. He had cheekily snuck into one of Eloise’s classes last year. It was great to have some Dad chat with some of the familiar faces from when Eloise used to attend. The sessions have now moved to Bearsden Academy which is enormous. Lachlan did not want to leave and enjoyed sprinting through the large empty corridors.
Lachlan was great at his first session. It has certainly helped that he copied Eloise for the past couple of years. He has work to do with his kicking, but my oh my the boy is good at dribbling at pace. He was very happy when he managed to get the yellow ball, his favourite colour.
We then rushed home to see how our beloved Matildas were going. Unbelievably, David, Maria and Co had the best seats in the house again! We are so jealous we have missed it.
Always a bit odd the third place play off, unfortunately, “Matildas’ loss to Sweden falls short in a World Cup that surpassed expectations”. It would have been nice to end with another win, but the Matildas have come leaps and bounds and united a nation over the past month.
In the afternoon we made the wet walk to Bearsden Cross for Eloise’s dance party. They had told Eloise on Tuesday that Barbie would be there and she could not have wished for this moment faster. Look how happy she is. Lachlan fell asleep for a late nap on the way.
Eloise, being Eloise, made sure we were the first ones there, she is such a little Sophie. She did not want to miss anything and was the first to grab a balloon and jump in the Barbie box with a big smile.
Eloise hopped out as she noticed there was face painting and was jumping up and down when she requested another unicorn.
Eloise was having such a good time she had forgotten about Barbie. Eloise was so happy when Barbie arrived that she threw her cupcake at us and ran over to dance with Barbie. As it was open to the community, Eloise was thrilled to have all her dance and nursery friends there with her. A chance for us to meet some of the other parents too.
The Barbie dance music was very loud, Lachlan must have been tired. As the room filled up, Lachlan woke up surrounded by kids, loud Barbie music and a bouncy castle.
Understandably, Lachlan took a few minutes to work out where he was and which way was up. When he had made some sense of where he was, Eloise grabbed his hand and brought him over to Barbie. Eloise was having the time of her life, she had just won the first dance competition and was sporting her new favourite thing, a pink tiara.
It was a great catch up with friends, Eloise and Lachlan had a quick bounce on the bouncy castle and then we had to dash. We quickly dropped the kids off at Juju’s house, Jane was amazingly babysitting for us again. Lachlan was quick to make his way into the house and find Juju’s play kitchen. Massive thank you again Jane! We mega double owe you now.
We dashed back to Ingliston Park and Ride and jumped on the tram into the heart of Edinburgh. Super Mum was craving burritos so that was the go for dinner, Barburrito hit the spot.
With bellies full, we made our way to Edinburgh Castle, now that we were #kidfree we flew straight up the stairs amazed at how much easier travelling was.
This evening we were finally heading to The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, it had been on our bucket list since the day we arrived in Scotland. All those years watching it on TV from Australia, we never thought we would actually be here. It was certainly busy heading up to the castle, the whole of Edinburgh looks a bit like this at the moment with Fringe fever.
They were installing the impressive stands when Liam was in Edinburgh to see Tom back in June, unsurprisingly the whole event was organised to military precision. The stage was set and people were warming up everywhere as we made our way to our seats, the excitement was building. It had actually started with a threatening sky, we had full trust in the MET that Storm Betty and her 66mph gusts were not going to wreak havoc, it was certainly blowy up high. We would have been devastated if they had canceled it.
The two year wait was definitely worth it! It was a breathtaking start with the pipers entering the arena from the castle. Have you ever seen a better backdrop to a show? The colours and particularly the marching were just as striking as the sound.
The countries worked their way through their shows, each as incredible as the last. The sousaphone players were extraordinary, must be difficult marching in them. We don’t think we have seen a alphorn in action either.
The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo is an annual series of military tattoos performed by British Armed Forces, Commonwealth and international military bands, and artistic performance teams on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle in the capital of Scotland. The event is held each August as one of the Edinburgh Festivals… The Tattoo performance takes place every weekday evening and twice on Saturdays throughout August and has never been cancelled due to inclement weather. However, in 2020 and 2021 the performances were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2010 the event became the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo after HM Queen Elizabeth awarded the Royal title in celebration of its six decades of existence. Since 2012, each performance has included a fireworks display. From 2005 to 2015, a son et lumière element projected on to the facade of the Castle. In 2016, the projection technology on the castle was upgraded to utilize modern projection mapping technology. In 2018, laser technology was used for the first time.
It was a truly fabulous show, we were so happy we had made it across for it, well worth the trip. With adrenaline still pumping we descended down from the castle to join the masses surrounding street performers. The Edinburgh Fringe was in full force!
Super Mum was in the market for a tartan scarf, an important life decision, there were just too many tables of them to select from, we will be back. We passed through a few more shops before grabbing snacks for the journey home and to save Jane.
Wow what an amazing experience! Well worth the effort and your last opportunity to get there!
Looks great!