Cindy's Visit

Here are a few pictures of the first week of Cindy's visit. We are very happy to have her here and the children (and Shawn and I too) are having a great time with her. We have gone to the City Art Center to do crafts, a new playground, swimming at the pool, the zoo, Holyrood Park, the zoo, and many other outings. Tomorrow we are off to the city farm.

What a crew we have here!!

And here they are with Aunt Cindy waiting for the penguin parade at the zoo

Asleep on the bus coming home from the zoo

Cindy working her sleeping magic with Hannah (already asleep in the background) and Jacob (enjoying some cuddle time before bed tonight)

Here they are crowded around a great ice cream cone...wouldn't that taste yummy??

Cindy and the boys at the fountain in Princes Street Gardens

Jacob at the new playground

The boys at the bottom of a great tunnel slide at the new playground

And look at this little cutie by the pretty flowers

We are enjoying this city as we show our friend around all the sites and attractions. Hope your summer is also going well!

Our Fun of Late....

Today we went to the museum for a Picasso exhibit and a special craft time. We arrived just after lunch and had a lovely day out. The museum was great as always, we went to a restaurant for supper, and then stopped by our beloved sweetie shop for dessert on the way home. What more could you ask for?
Anyhow, without further ado, here are some pictures:

Here are Hannah and Alexander standing in front of the wall where they were displaying all the crafts the children did today for the Picasso craft time.

Here are the children working on their works of art.



Alexander showing his mean Roman Soldier face

Benjamin was a happy Roman Soldier!

The Museum has a great Jungle area where the children can explore and dress up. Here is Jacob the scarey crocodile or alligator...I am always confused on the difference.

Hannah the monkey...in more ways than just dressing up!

Benjamin the colorful bird.
Alexander playing the feed the spider game. You have to throw fuzzy bugs at the velcro spider web to feed the big spider.

We have been working on some new puzzles lately. The charity shops here have some great deals for around £1 each so we pick up a new one every now and then and enjoy the challenge. Here are some of the ones we have completed in the last few weeks.

And this photo was just too cute not to share. Sometimes siblings do really show they love each other. Benjamin called me into the kitchen the other day to take this picture.

FIRE STATION FUN!!

Today we went to a local fire station for an open day. The children had fun although they were a bit scared. There were demonstrations of rescues and the boys were a little worried that someone would get hurt. They still scream when the fire alarm goes off in our building (as it often does since there are 8 flats, all with very sensitive smoke detectors).
Anyhow, once reassured that these were all just drills and that no one's house was really on fire, they enjoyed watching the firefighters climb the big ladder truck, rappel down the side of the building, and break through the front door with hoses.
They even got to hold the fire hose to shoot the water at a pylon! Hannah didn't want to have a go and Benjamin decided against it as well as he didn't want to take his fingers out of his ears long enough to try it (the firefighters were also letting the children sound the sirens). They all said they enjoyed the day even with the noise and initial fear of bodily harm!
So here are some pictures of our little firefighters:

Here are the two boys decked out in their outfits

Hannah and Jacob with a rear view of the suits

Jacob was the first to be dressed up. And he was very proud of it.

Alexander spraying the fire hose

Jacob firing away

Hannah and Jacob in the fire truck with a friend
Hannah and Jacob at the bottom of "a real fire pole"!!

Canada Day in Scotland

We were fortunate to be able to spend Canada Day with some Canadian friends. We all enjoyed a BBQ (which had to be done under the bridge here as it was pouring rain!), great salads, and a marvelous cake. It was great food and great company to celebrate with. Later in the evening, it even stopped raining so we could do sparklers....I don't think I had done sparklers since I was a kid! It was great although the children were a little scared of them at first. So here are our photos from our little celebration.

Here is the great cake

Here is Jacob playing with a sparkler....unfortunately he was too scared to hold it and by the time I convinced him to try, the sparkler was pretty much done.

Alexander was a little uncertain about his turn as well

Here is Benjamin with his sparkler.

Here are some of the children celebrating. Benjamin is showing off his Canada tatoo; something that all the children got on their arms.

We hope you all had great celebration as well. We look forward to seeing photos of your celebrations.....Hint Hint!!