Week one of our holiday took us to Plockton, a gorgeous
National Trust for Scotland conservation village on the mainland looking onto Skye. Sometimes known as the 'Jewel of the Highlands', Plockton is set amongst lochs and mountains and has carefully preserved its heritage and character, making it a 'must' for any visit to the area.
It was great to get
out of the city and relax amongst some of the best scenery in the UK. Emily
seemed to welcome a return to the Highlands and was immediately in her element
listening out for birds, rivers and any other new sounds she encountered.
The supreme being is absolutely enthralled by the great outdoors. Some
highlights were boat trips on Lochcarron and to Loch Coruisk on Skye where we
had close encounters with seals; watching Emily’s excitement at every new burn
she discovered; getting more fresh air with some early starts up nearby munros;
foraging on the beach for shells and other sea bounty; discovering the world
with a supreme being who delights at every new experience the planet has for
her. She even learnt to sing...if that's what you can call it!
Videoclip: Singing Frozen's Let it Go? One viewing and she was hooked...
I wish I was a punk rocker (with flowers in my hair)
You can't beat splashing in puddles
Beach combing
The second half begins with Bla Bheinn (Blaven)
Lunch :-)
Introducing Emily to the Cuillin
Plockton from the sea
Plockton from the shore
Seals (in case you didn't work it out)
Onwards Mummy...to the Cuillin
Holiday friend...the poor dog Finn that Emily chased round and round and round
To follow up on the sun in Banchory we took a quick trip to see the Gurney's in North Berwick. It's really wonderful having relatives in such a special seaside town - particularly one's that don't mind us landing on their doorstep at regular intervals. North Berwick was in a pretty sunny mood and we managed to hit the beach which was a great delight to the supreme being. More important than this was a very exciting boat trip to see the gannets on Bass Rock, which brought out shrieks of delight from Emily. For those of you that have never seen Bass Rock, its a big volcanic plug which is home to upto 150,000 gannets - so many that it looks white from a distance. It is a magnificent spectacle and often advertised as one of the ornithogical wonders of the world.
It mght have been sunny but the sea was still somewhat chilly
Anyone seen a gannet?
Bass Rock: "Gannets-ville"
Once again Emily loved being away. Her entertaining skills are coming on a treat and she delighted us all with her actorial and musical talents. It seems she really loves to be centre stage and a particularly cute favourite just now is acting out her some of her books. It's great fun to watch and we need to make sure we pack plenty for our holiday next week.
Easter this year brought welcome relief as I was more than ready for a few days off work. So we packed up our bags and headed off for some welcome respite with Tanya's parents in Banchory. The sun shone for the whole of the time we were away so we had a marvellous time. The supreme being delighted at everything that spring had to offer - every daffodil and budding tree brought out shrieks of happiness from her and it was lovely to see. It made me realise once again what a truly amazing planet we live on and how we need to take better care of it for all the future generations of supreme beings.
The wonders of spring - part 1
The wonders of spring - part 2
The wonders of spring - part 3
It's great visiting Nana and Baba as amongst other things they have a wonderful garden which enabled us to spend much time running round in the sun. It also made us think we need to move house. They are wonderful babysitters as well, and Mummy and I got to spend a day munro bagging together as well as an evening trip out. This was the first climbing expedition we had had together since our honeymoon, and was made all the more special by me hitting 141 munros - exactly halfway on my quest to bag them all. Thank you very much Nana and Baba.
Emily always takes a developmental leap when she goes to Banchory - must be all the fresh air. And this time she really got to grips with playing games, having races and a special proud moment was her first climb up a slide and down all by herself. It was brilliant to watch!
We're off on holiday in a few weeks time, let's hope the weather holds as its the bonny Highlands for us, and that we have just as much fun as our Easter escapades.
Sheer sunny delight
Celebrating halfway - let's hope it's downhill from now on
As a supreme being, one is required to be in control of one's emotions at all times. In fact you could go a bit further than that and say one is also required to be able to adopt a particular emotion at any given moment. This skill allows a supreme being to control their world and manipulate desired outcomes according to their wants.
Emily has been perfecting this skill of emotional hoodwinking under the watchful eye of her father, and has recently grasped a whole array of impressions that even the likes of De Niro or Hoffman would be proud of. Her actorial abilities will I hope one day become legion and she will become a famous actor (or at least this is my latest plan to encourage my daughter to fund her father's early retirement options). The early signs at least are promising in this respect...
First smiles on demand for camera
Shock and horror
Videoclip: The supreme being's full emotional repertoire
Emily is at a gorgeous stage discovering the world. Everywhere we go she points things out and wants to know what's going on. Her yearning to learn more and more about the world is so much fun to be around, and I am loving imparting my fatherly wisdom to the supreme being. Her 5-word spoken vocabulary ('Mama', 'Dada', 'bye-bye' Texan style, 'dah' for yes, and her emphatic 'no') does not seem to stop us having in-depth conversations about the way things are, and she patiently sits just absorbing everything that I tell her, and then proceeds to fill in the gaps with her melodic babble. This is how I spend my lovely weekends. It's also the antithesis of my working week - where nobody sits absorbing anything I say, and everyone just babbles when they're not supposed to be saying anything. Hmmm, maybe I should introduce the supreme being to my workplace.
Many of this winter's rainy days were spent frequenting Glasgow's Kelvingrove and Riverside Museums, and Emily has really started to love them and know her way around. So much so, we thought we would focus on our daughter's education and recently ventured out with a trip to the Science Centre to add into the mix. Emily seemed to love the day, although I have to say her parents seemed to enjoy pressing all the buttons probably more than she did. And, this parental engrossment nearly caused a wandering toddler to slip away unnoticed on a number of occasions.
Parental Warning: Keep a close eye on your child whilst pressing buttons.
In short though, Emily is going through a delightful stage experiencing the joy of discovery. Long may it continue as I definitely have lots more to tell her and I hope she continues to enjoy listenting to my babble...
Using her supreme powers to defy the laws of gravity
Thermal Daddy and Daughter
She know's her way around so straight off to see her favourites
Being a supreme being is not as easy as it sounds. There's the constant demands to be placed on others, having to be fed, changed and watered at regular intervals, and of course a regular series of exciting activties to attend every day. Sometimes however, it can all get a bit much and you just want to get a bit of kip. Unfortunately, the desire to sleep can often coincide with other activities. This can have particularly interesting consequences when combined with the need to eat. We've christened this unusual combination 'Sleating'. It's a skill. A fine art that only a supreme being can master...Mummy and Daddy can only watch in awe (whilst videoing the whole sleating experience for posterity - how cruel).
Preparing for a sleating session
Videoclip: A master sleater at work
And yes. She did manage to eat her whole dinner like that. Talented? That's my girl.
I love a good surprise. So for Tanya's birthday this year I surprised her with a short break to Crail, a lovely little fishing village in the East Neuk of Fife. And after the last few months of dark, dreary and damp days it was a well timed opportunity to head to the sunniest part of Scotland.
The first part of my plans involved sending Mummy to the posh spa at the Old Course hotel in St Andrews for the day whilst I was left in charge of the supreme being. Given my highly advanced fathering skills what could go wrong I hear you cry? Well...quite a bit it would appear...
First off there is nothing surer to start the day with tears than waving goodbye to Mummy. As I watched Mummy gleefully disappear into the spa in the rearview mirror, I got to listen to a hysterical supreme being who seemed convinced that I was stealing her from Mummy forever. It was a long 3 minute drive back into St Andrews. Undeterred though, I managed to get Emily out between sobs and attempted to distract her with the beach and a bracing 25mph wind. This seemed to be working well until, possibly unsurprisingly, the wind blew us both into a muddy puddle. Things weren't going my way as the tears started again, only this time with the addition of mud.
The saving grace I figured would be a trip to the aquarium to see fish, seals, penguins and all sorts of other swimmy things - a recipe which was bound to be successful as Emily loves sealife. Fate however is sometimes cruel, and as we descended into the bowels of the fish house, I got a sinking feeling that this wasn't going to be straightforward. As we emerged into the pitch black Amazon area, camouflage netting and gigantic flesh eating fish surrounded us, causing the daughter to instantaneously cling onto my leg like a limpet whilst whimpering loudly. It really wasn't going according to plan.
Hasty action was called for and, after discovering no amount of coercion could detach her from my leg, I scooped her up and sped across a couple of continents into the daylight for a viewing of the seals. Hooray!! It started to work...all sobbing eventually ceased and we had a wonderful rest of morning going round and round the fish tanks (but keeping a wide berth of South America). And, following a successful lunch with Mummy and another not so successful departure from Mummy again, we even enjoyed an afternoon in the Botanical Gardens. My Dad skills weren't so bad after all!!
Enjoying lunch with a seaview
Quality beach time Scottish stylee
Looking cute for Daddy in the Botanics
From there the weekend could only keep on improving. More surprises were planned for Mummy with lunch arranged and an overnight visit from the Gurney's the next day, a trip through the Magic Door to see more Glingbobs and Tootflits, and then an unannounced visit for both Tanya and Layla when their parents arrived to take us all out for a gorgeous lunch on the Sunday. A great trip for all and maximum brownie points for Daddy to boot!
Promenading with big cousin Abbie
Off searching the woods with Aunty Layla
The excitement of the Magic Door
The best part for me about adventuring for a weekend is getting to spend quality time with Emily. She definitely thrives amongst all her family and always seems to take a big developmental leap. She even learnt how to say 'bye bye' with a Texan drawl whilst we were away. The only downside to this is that she then wanted to say 'bye bye' to every dandelion, stone and twig. It took a fair while to leave Crail at that pace...
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