Gran and Gramps Come to Visit!

So last month Byron's Gran and Gramps came to visit us from South Africa for a whole week! We hadn't seen them since 2010 as we'd missed a visit from them last year when we were over in Vancouver! So it was lovely to get to spend so much time with them, and of course for Ella to meet them!

 On the bank holiday Monday we went to check out a 'Food Fair' at New Lanark.  It was pretty disappointing to be honest, but we did get some coconut and peanut butter tablet so that nearly made the trip worth it!

We also did a walk up to the Falls of Clyde. 

It was very scenic and despite it not being the warmest of days, it didn't rain, so that's always a win when you live in Scotland!

Ella, as usual, spent most of the walk asleep as she slept in the sling!

I used my newly acquired 'moves' app to tell me that we had walked 10,500 steps on our walk up to the falls so that felt pretty good!

The next day we checked out Finlaystone Estate which is in Inverclyde.

We managed a whole rain free day again, despite those clouds lurking! Scotland actually delivered pretty well on the weather front, we only had one wash out day all week! and we just stayed in and drank hot drinks, ate cookies and played Settlers and called that our rest day!

There were lots of beautiful flowers to be seen...

and all kinds of lovely colours in the gardens.

This tree was really spectacular, I've never seen one that has its branches hanging down so low to the ground...it almost looked like a dress! and then it was hiding all those beautiful bluebells underneath!

We walked through the woods to discover even more bluebells which we were pretty pleased about!

How picture perfect can you get!

Oh how I love bluebells...something had to take over my need for cherry blossoms (which Scotland didn't deliver on by the way!)

We were a little disappointed that the three sisters tearoom at Finlaystone is only open on weekends! so we took a drive to Quarriers village to check out the original 'Three Sisters Bake' Cafe, as I'd heard lots about it!

It was really cute inside, and despite not being impressed by their cakes the savoury food we had was great...



 I had pulled pork on homemade focaccia - and it was amazing!!

On our last action packed day before both of our families descended on us for Ella's blessing, we headed to Edinburgh (because it's our fave!) We stopped in at Queensferry on the way through.

Ella wasn't overly impressed and slept through the whole of our time there!

It is rather quaint, I loved the little cobbled streets and all the coloured houses...especially the purple doors! I also found the best gift shop I have found since being in Scotland - I'd go back just for that!

By had been wanting to try out this BBQ place, Clerk's Bar, he'd driven past once, and so we introduced Gran and Gramps to the delights of pulled pork as they'd never had it before! Of course we had to accompany it with sweet potato fries! yum!

I had a monster dog, topped with pulled pork of course...because I'm still trying to make up for all the hot dogs I missed out on whilst pregnant!

By went with this monster burger, and it was a pretty tasty meal all round!

We browsed around, and did the touristy things like checking out the castle! Can you tell how interested Ella was?! Hehe.

We ended our day at my fave bakery in Scotland - Lovecrumbs. By went with a peanut butter and jelly cake!

and I couldn't resist the cream cheese brownie which was delish! Gran and Gramps had some fig scones but since they're not used to the 'food can only be eaten once photographed' rule, their baked goods won't feature!

and Ella... well she just feasted on her fist! and was perfectly happy chilling on their comfy sofas! I think her first visit to Edinburgh was a hit!