Picnic with Friends

We don't get to see blue sky very often around here but when we do, we take full advantage of it. While the kids were out of school on Spring holiday, we had a remarkably sunny (and slightly warm) day. At 8:30 a.m. when I saw the sun, I immediately sent an email to all of my Tea Group friends and invited them and their families to join us for a picnic. Miraculously, by the time we headed out for Arthur's Seat at lunch time the sun was still shining!

For those of you who haven't yet been to Scotland, there is this little mountain (or maybe it's just a hill...not sure) called Arthur's Seat which is in a very central part of the city. It is great for a short day hike and boasts beautiful views of the city and the sea. One day soon we hope to walk Arthur's Seat with Emerson (we've been trying to build up her stamina so she can make it on her own) so we'll have some pictures from the top. In the meantime, we are very blessed to enjoy views of Arthur's Seat from our flat. The grassy spot surrounding Arthur's Seat and the Crags was our picnic spot on this fine day since it is such a short walk from Blacket Avenue.

Adrian & Colleen with their children and those familiar red heads.

The perfect picnic spot! Again, there is Adrian & Colleen and also my friend Bev...too many kids in this crowd to name them all.

Emerson and Ward picnicing with Edinburgh city center in the background.

Emerson going for a little run.

Emerson and her friend Hannah.

A great view of the Crags. Andrej and Sarah playing frisbee.

Ward with his "American" football.

Ward walking with Mommy.

Easter in York

After a month of ear aches, sinus infections, and general illness, we decided it would do us all good to get out of the flat and take in some fresh air. So, we took advantage of the long Easter weekend and headed south...well, a little bit south...to York, England.


Emerson has been asking for a train trip ever since our arrival in Scotland last fall. This was a great opportunity since York is only about 2.5 hours by train. When Trey and I said we were going to York for the weekend, Emerson squealed with delight..."OH! New York!...I have been wanting to go there!" (I used to be a frequent Today show watcher when we lived in Atlanta) Trey told her it wasn't New York, it was just York. She paused with that typical Emerson expression that includes serious thought. She then perked up and said "So we are going to OLD York! That's good too." So Good Friday morning we loaded up and headed to Waverly Station.



When we left Edinburgh, the sky was blue and the air was crisp and comfortable... several hours later, when we settled into The Limes, our B&B, and were about to head out for a little site-seeing, we noticed that it had started to snow. And, this was just a precurser... It snowed the entire weekend, which is why we don't have too many photos of this lovely little town. The other little dissappointing fact was that our train ride and fresh air weren't quite as effective as antibiotics when it came to curing our ailments. So, we spent a little more time at the B&B, something I' m sure delighted our host family!!!

Saturday Sightseeing:

York's narrow streets.

Emerson our little traveler.

Inside the Minster.

Enthusiastic Ward


The high points of our journey were that York is lovely (even when cold). The entire city is surrounded by a grassy embankment topped by stone walls. At this time of year they are set of beautifully by thousands of daffodils all around the city. I hope you can manage to make this out in some of our pictures. We also enjoyed the York Minster which is one of the highlights of the city's architecture. We went to Easter services here, again following in the path of our general weekend, not quite as glorious and worshipful as we had anticipated since Emerson fell off of her chair and busted her lip on the stone floor and Ward cried through much of the service..aah! We had a great time at the Castle Museum, which has an entire city street built inside and gives children the opportunity to "experience" history by trying on and touching things rather than just looking at them behind glass. And on a personal note, Ward's 2-3 steps turned into real walking which is really fun.

Easter Sunday:

Ward walking...if only he would walk toward the camera!

Cutie Easter clothes, compliments of MyLu and PopO. You can't really get the full effect in the picture, but they were really cute and even coordinated (which we never do around here).

Such sweet kisses.

York Minster in the snow.

This is Emerson huddled on Trey's shoulders crying "I'm really freezin" all the way from the Minster to the Castle Museum.