Picnics, Paints, Play

To catch you up to speed on what we have been doing when we aren't out on the town, this post will do the trick.  Like I have said in a previous post, Bobby and I have had to work a lot this summer.  Summer school is very intense and very fast (6 weeks).  To help occupy the kids in our small apartment with not many toys; I have used paints, lentils, library books, and the playground.  Below are a couple of silly pictures.

I cut shapes into potatoes to use as a stamp.  Amelie loved it and it was really easy.

This was the first use of paints with Liam since he was really little.  He loved it!  He called all of the colors blue...we are working on knowing our colors now! ;)

We had a bag of lentils in our cupboard when we moved in.  Out of desperation one morning I pulled them out with some measuring cups and spoons.  Both kids have played multiple days for a good chunk of time with these lentils.  It was a great find!

Yes, playing with lentils makes a mess.  However, it turns into a teachable moment.  They each take turns cleaning up their area.  Amelie knows that if she wants to play with them then she has to help me clean them up afterwards.  They actually both like vacuuming so it's a win/win.

Down the street from our apartment is a very nice square.  When I don't want to make the walk to the playground, we come to the square to burn some energy.  We bring bread to feed the seagulls and ducks.  We have a duck family and a swan family that are in the river outside of our apartment.  We enjoy watching them too.  In the square are round barriers.  A game Amelie has come up with is to play dot-to-dot where we run from one sphere to the next.  It's a beautiful area to pass the time.

Don't worry, this is a statue. 

We have also started doing the same kind of picnics that we did when we lived in Paris.  Buying turkey, cheese, cherry tomatoes, bread, and fruit.  It's an easy, delicious lunch.  This picnic was had at Leith Links after playing on the playground.  

Part of living out of one suitcase is you don't have a handy picnic blanket.   The kids don't mind.

Liam's favorite part of the picnic are the tomatoes.  We try to break them in half for him but he is fast and will shove the whole tomato in his mouth.  He is proud of himself when he accomplishes this feat and has tomato seeds dripping down his chin.

Liam trying to tackle Bobby. 

Amelie is talented...kicking while eating bread.

The benefit of being close to home is we are able to take good naps in our own beds. 

We have found OUR spot

With our newly acquired bus pass, we have been out exploring close to home.  Naturally, we are interested in being near the water so on our short list of places to go was Portobello Beach.  Portobello Beach is along the coast of the Firth of Forth.  Like everything else in Edinburgh it also has a rich history of visitors and events including William Wallace, Oliver Cromwell, kings, and lots of beach goers on holiday dating back to the 18th century.  Amelie's favorite part of Portobello is the chance to get ice cream.  There is a cheap soft-serve ice cream stand along the board walk that we have stopped by.  We have not been great about having our camera on us.  It is easy to stash the camera away in the stroller; however, Liam enjoys having freedom and not being contained so we have not been taking the stroller when possible.  I am going to try to be more intentional about making sure we have our camera!

Bobby and Liam went one morning to the beach by themselves.  After playing in the sand, they ate a fish and chips lunch.

This Edinburgh artist was making a spectacular castle.  We all had a nice chat with him as he worked. 

Even with the nice sunshine, the water was extremely chilly....but that doesn't stop Amelie!

Also, with the bus pass we are more apt to hop on the bus in the late afternoon to go to nearby beaches for a couple of hours before dinner.  In addition to Portobello beach, we have spent time at Granton Harbor and Silverknowes Beach.

Amelie and Bobby's favorite thing at Granton Harbor (Wardie Steps bus stop) is to collect different color sea glass.

We walked along the harbor wall, enjoying the scenery and talking to fishermen.   Liam was able to touch a mackerel  which made the trip worth it to him. Mackerel's are beautiful fish.

On Sunday, we spent all day playing at Silverknowes Beach (without any sunscreen).  Poor Amelie got sunburned.  We have spent the rest of the week in long sleeves and lots of sunscreen.  The weather has been in the mid 70's and sunny and we have been loving it!

Our .5 mile walk down to the beach from the bus stop.  This was our only picture before Bobby's phone died.  We will have to go back to get more pictures.  We ended up coming because of a recommendation from a local while we were waiting at the bus stop.  We were glad we came!

Although the beaches are not the soft white sands like those found in the Gulf, it is still fun to be on the coast again.  It's crazy how you feel far outside of the city, but it is only about a 10 minute bus ride away from our house.  I have a feeling we are going to be spending many more days playing in the sands.  Both kids now have their own shovel and bucket.  They both enjoy collecting rocks, shells, and smoothed glass.  Liam will get a nice collection of rocks to bring to me to "frow it!"  I throw the rock into the ocean, and he cheers.   Amelie enjoys building sand castles followed by decorating them with shells, seaweed, and sticks.  As you can see, we all love being at the beach.

Bobby tells us to say "cheese" and Liam and I responded the same way!

Back in America

A trip back to the States was not in our original plans, but we were thankful for a chance to spend some quality time with family and friends.  Bobby and I needed to attend a two day conference with our work so we decided to make the best of it by scheduling as much fun into a week that we could (all while continuing to work full time!).

Although flying with two little ones is not at the top of my most enjoyable moments list, it is always good for some good cuddle moments with your small children.  Liam, weighing in at 35 pounds, is still under 2 years old so is a free infant in lap candidate.  He did a good job sleeping on and off for at least half of the flights both coming and going back.  Amelie also did a wonderful job on the flight going back to Edinburgh cuddling on Bobby's lap and having a good snooze.  The flights were long and at times I thought would never end...not because of my children, but because of my own boredom!  We enjoyed our airport times of watching the planes land and take off.  Speaking of taking off, Liam's vocabulary is also shooting through the roof.  He repeats everything and is talking more and more.  Some of his new words over the last few weeks include: plane, fly, high, tall, get me out of here...just kidding on that last one.  With taking public transportation regularly, we are all becoming more patient and able to roll with the punches.  We were afforded many compliments on the good behavior of our children.  Never from the person who sat directly in front of Liam or the flight attendants who had to clean up a couple of spills, but who's keeping track. Our upcoming flights will be a lot shorter, thank goodness for all of our sanity's sake!  Upon our arrival to Atlanta Amelie says, "I know we can walk to Chick-fil-a for dinner!"  We had fun informing her that we wouldn't need to walk, but would be taking a car every where we went.  We had fun riding in Mimi and Poppy's car all week.  It's funny how they enjoyed having car rides again.  As we walk around town now, Liam is often pointing out Katie's car or Mimi's car.

A benefit for being away for a couple of months is that family and friends welcome the chance to spend time with you again.  Seriously, we had so much fun with everyone that we had a hard time leaving!  Bobby and I's conference, luckily, was held in Athens.  Our parents took turns watching the kiddos while we had two days and one night of freedom.  Since we do not have a cell plan, yes it is like being in the 90's all over again, it made it a little challenging to communicate.  However, we were able to contact friends allowing us to catch up and have a wonderful evening out.  We are thankful to everyone who made an effort to come and see us!  You have know idea how much we miss you all.  Any time you want to jump on a plane and come exploring with us know that you have a free invitation. ;)

Once back in Lawrenceville, we were able to spend some time with my sister who had driven down with her family from Pennsylvania.  Amelie continues to talk about how much she loves her cousin, Joanna, and wants to live with her for forever.  It was precious time spent with the entire family playing at a neighborhood playground, exploring through the GA aquarium, splashing in the Suwannee fountains, and destroying my parent's basement.  We also spent some quality time with Bobby's family. We are thankful that everyone came to us. Bobby's mom, Nanny, was so excited to see us that she spent the night at my parent's house just to hang out with us.  We know driving, especially through ATL traffic, is not fun, but it was good to be able to spend as much time as possible together.

Bobby and I also got to spend some quality time apart with close personal friends.  He was able to go golfing for an afternoon while I was able to visit with my college roomies.  How it refreshed our souls!  We value having people in our lives that ask us critical questions, that push us to reflect, and that help point us to having proper priorities.  The good news is that even though we are all spread out, technology is wonderful in helping stay in touch.

As you would expect, we are learning through our travels.  One of the biggest things is to travel light.  So much so that we brought a suitcase worth of stuff back to leave.  Can we manage for six months on one suitcase and a pack's worth of stuff?  The verdict is still out on that one.  We also did not bring our camera so we do not have very many pictures.  My sisters took some wonderful pictures below:

The playground was a perfect way to help get out some extra energy after dinner each night.

Amelie loved being around Alaina.  She was very sweet and relished every opportunity she was allowed to hold her.

Aunt Katie is a fun aunt.  She made big blanket tents, played lots of games, and more. 

We had a wonderful time catching up with my grandparents (Nana & Papa and GG).  I'm thankful they live close enough to come over for meals when we are in town.  Amelie and Liam were able to talk their ears off and show off new skills.  Liam showed GG and Uncle David his highland dancing skills.

Loving the wide open space of the basement with endless amounts of toys.  Amelie is still begging to go back to Mimi and Poppy's.  Guess our tiny apartment doesn't have anything on that!  On a side note, Amelie likes to wear her head bands like Rambo.

The fountain was cold, but it didn't take the kids long to jump in the fun.

Yes, we didn't have our bathing suits...our children are either under-clothed or over-clothed when it comes to playing in fountains....We didn't think running around in panties would be acceptable here... ;)

My lovely family (minus Bobby).  

Who doesn't have fun in the penguin tunnels?  Kim and I climbed through them at least twice!

Sweet cousin love.

Liam is a cute mess...look at that look...you never know when he goes into full tackle mode but this look is a good warning.

Mimi and Aunt Katie helping the girls get a better look at the tidal pool.

The Beluga whales are my personal favorite.  We also all enjoyed the Dolphin show.

After all this fun, was it hard coming back to Edinburgh?  Yes!  I feel like we have had to detox.  We were spoiled by the many hands helping us with the kids, the conveniences that familiarity affords, and lots of relational time filling up our empty relationship tanks. 

Thankfully Summer semester is drawing to a close so we will have a couple of weeks with no teaching responsibilities.  We will be able to set off and explore more than we have been able to do.  We bought a bus pass that allows us unlimited bus usage for the month which has already helped pick up our spirits.  If we are not exploring and learning, then we all get a little stir crazy!

What is the number one question that Amelie (and Liam in his own way) asks?  "When are we going back?"  This is another teaching moment, not just for the kids but for me too.  We are working on living in the moment.  We are focusing on what we have in front of us, and not what is six months out.  We are waking up each morning being thankful for TODAY. 

Leith Festival

Edinburgh during the summer has gobs of festivals.  It is fitting that the first festival we attended was the Leith Festival (since we live in Leith).  We started the festivities on Friday evening by going to the carnival set up across from the playground in Leith Links.  We had seen all of the rides and RVs pull in and start getting set up for a couple days prior to opening to the public.  Amelie and Liam had a hard time choosing the 3 rides that they wanted to do.  Bobby and I laughed at the lack of regulations at this fair.  Of course, the rides we could participate in were all very safe.   After our carnival fun, we ate at a delicious restaurant that is on our walk home.  This was the 2nd time we've eaten out since we've lived here, and it was delicious.  It was a very fun evening for all of us!

Bobby and Liam riding a motorcycle.  Amelie is behind them driving the double decker bus while ringing the bell.

Liam and I rode the lady bugs.  He did not want to get out once the ride was over.  

Amelie driving the bumper boat while Liam holds on for dear life.
Amelie couldn't figure out steering so they spun in a circle for the majority of the time.
Apart from being scared to death that Liam would decide to jump out, I was laughing hysterically at Amelie driving.   

Amelie was able to jump in an enclosed, large jump house.  Since the carnival was slow, the manager let us throw Liam in for a couple minutes at the end of Amelie's time.  They had a great time running and jumping and falling as all kids do in jump houses.

On Saturday, we attended the larger event with tons of booths set up all over Leith Links.  Amelie was able to have her face painted, ride a horse, and even eat a couple pieces of hard candy.  Liam participated in a dance contest and even though he was the youngest participant, he danced his heart out. ;)

Saturday afternoon, Liam and I rested while Bobby and Amelie went back to watch a friendly soccer game.  The local football club played a match against old pro's.  In this friendly match there was a lot of scoring that occurred which made it fun for them to watch.  

The closing of the festivities was the Leith Festival Tattoo on Sunday evening.  This took place a block away from our apartment in front of the Watch Tower on the Shore.  We saw highland dancing, bag pipes, belly dancers, and more.  Liam enjoyed the dancing so much that he stood up and mimicked the dancing as best as he could.  It was hilarious.  He held his pants as the girls were hold their skirts out, and he would hold his hands up and hop as they would.   I am not making this up, I promise!  Unfortunately, Bobby didn't get any videos of this.  The video below is a clip of the entire group of performers playing Amazing Grace.  It was absolutely beautiful.

Leith Links

With summer school is full swing for Bobby and I, we have spent many days close to the apartment. Our favorite place to play is Leith Links.  This area was formerly used as a golf links.  The rules of golf were formed here and then later sold to St. Andrews.  The park now consists of lots of fields used for soccer, an informal cricket pitch that has existed since 1826, and the playground.

Amelie and Liam love this playground.  It is about an 8 minute walk from our apartment.  They swing, climb, slide, ride the zipline, kick the soccer ball, play with the wood chips, jump rope (or at least carry it around), blow bubbles, and do all of the afore mentioned over again.

Since we have been spending so much of our afternoons here lately, I decided to pull out the camera in an attempt to capture the fun we have.  Bobby and I are ready to explore more that the city of Edinburgh has to offer us, but Amelie and Liam are perfectly content to spend every day at Leith Links.