Archives for 2015

Finding God at Iona Abbey

John and I are not particularly religious people, but we can appreciate religious artifacts, and lord knows we love a ruin. When we arrived on Iona, we were hungry for lunch, and knew that we really only had time to visit the Abbey. So, we walked through the Nunnery, and then had lunch... One the way to the Abbey was the first of many tall Celtic crosses. I was amazed at how beautiful it was. We stopped to take a picture. It really is amazing that this still stands, and is still so … [Read more...]

Flat Tire Adventure

Right after Sean fell into Loch Ness, we found the Waterfall Cafe and decided to have lunch.  Then, we decided to visit the falls right across the road, Foyers Falls.  At some point after lunch, it was pointed out to us that we had a flat tire.  Wow.  I had thought it looked low at the stop before, but I thought nothing of it. So, we called the service, and waited.  What a great place to have to wait.  They had all kinds of games to play, and the falls were beautiful.  The falls were down … [Read more...]

My Starbucks Name

Yesterday, I went outside of my comfort zone, and went to work out with two mommies from school.  I've had a gym membership since at least April, and I've never gone.  Every time I said I was going to go, I had an excuse as to why I couldn't. Last week, John asked me about the membership.  He asked if maybe I shouldn't give it up since I didn't go.  I told him I really wanted to go.  So, when one of the mommies asked me to go to the gym with her today, I said yes.  I told John I really didn't … [Read more...]

Underpants?!

It is amazing what kids cling to.  It really is.  There are days when I hear "butt" or you said "butt" or you said "bootie" for no less than 4 hours a day.  To say that my son is infatuated with the human body would be a understatement.  Based upon experiences with his friends, I believe this is absolutely normal 7 year old boy behaviour. So when we went to Edinburgh Castle, I played devils advocate.  I suggested to Sean that not only are the guards wearing skirts...  They are not wearing, … [Read more...]

Our Loch Ness Adventure

Sometimes there are stories that you are sure that you have told... And then you have realized that you have not. I knew I talked about this story on Facebook recently. It was all about how inappropriate I was this day. We had decided that this was a day to just look around Loch Ness, and see what it was about. We said, should we go left or right. From where we were, we chose left. Left as we soon found out was a slower road, with less traffic and fewer tourist traps. Great … [Read more...]

Climbing the Lions at Nelson’s Column

Picking stories to scrapbook from our trip has been tough. There are so many to choose from, and there are so many types.  There are big stories, like jumping from 11 meters, and little stories like this one...  This day was so busy.  We visited the Memorial to the London Fire in the morning.  Hopped on the off and off bus.  Visited the biggest bookstore in London.  Walked to the National Portrait Gallery (where the two paintings I wanted to see were NOT there).  Got back on the off and on bus … [Read more...]

NO! NO! NO! yes!

While we were on vacation, we were always looking for fun things that we could all enjoy. When we saw the signs for Ben Nevis, and gondola and ropes course, we said "awesome! something for the whole family." We found out when we got there that there was really only time for us to do one thing. The gondola ride or the ropes course. John and I really wanted to do the gondola. Sean wanted the ropes course. So, of course, we did the ropes course. Or Sean did the ropes course. It's not really our … [Read more...]

We Went Down… The Big Pit

One of the most thrilling things we did on our vacation was to go down the Big Pit in Wales. It's a coal mine that is now a National Museum of Wales. It was amazing. I've never been in such total blackness. It's kind of eerie, but in the same sense, it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Getting into the pit was hard for Sean. He had quite the hissy fit before we went down. I'm thinking he needed some park time. It was misting out that day, and we hadn't planned to be inside, under … [Read more...]

The Search for Blue Plaques

As I continue working on my album from my vacation in England, I'm having such happy memories! This is one of those crazy memories of things we did, just because John thinks it would be fun... And don't you know... It really was. It was a great way to get Sean engaged in British history while having fun hunting for something small.  We ended up having a great time looking.  It didn't hurt that John paid Sean £1 for each one he found. Again I used ephemera.  This time I used the London tube … [Read more...]

A Stream in the Sky

I can't believe how crafty I've been as of late. It's like my mojo trapped by my appendix, and when it came out, so did it. Yesterday,  I printed pictures for two LOs.  And, that Heidi Swapp is still hanging out on my desk.  I also was listening to an old Paperclipping Round Table, that featured May Flaum.  She was talking about small letters that she was running out of...  Which reminded me that I still have a TON of those Sassafras letters!  So I pulled out a color that "went" with the … [Read more...]