Finally Some Summer Fun!

We have been loving the lighter evenings around here! It actually stays lighter for about an hour longer than we've ever been used to living down South which is pretty cool - going to bed at 10.30pm and it still being light out is kind of crazy! 

 

It also means that even after By has finished work, we can still head out and enjoy the warmer evenings! Last month sometime we visited Strathaven Park and introduced Ella to the joys of leaves - she was loving it - until she tried to eat it! Everything goes in her mouth these days!!

She was also pretty keen to check out these little flowers - I think her forester daddy is definitely going to make sure shes a nature lover!

I had a birthday! and had a rather exciting amount of packages arrive all week long :) I'm pretty sure our postman hates us!

Ella helped me open prezzies, but mostly just ate the wrapping paper!

I got this amazing Nutella recipe book from my friend Jade, along with a batch of the best Oreo brownies you will ever taste - all the way from London! She knows me too well!

My mom and sisters are the best present wrappers around! and yes that's caramel and peanut butter flavoured popcorn right there...yummm!

We ate at Bread Meats Bread for a birthday treat - I had been wanting to check out this place for ages after hearing great things about it! Plus the fact that they did Poutine made it a done deal!!

No birthday meal would be complete without this little ray of sunshine!

She was having fun as usual!

and check out the size of those burgers!!

Mine was stuffed with a patty, a million pieces of pepperoni, meatball sauce and soooo much cheesy goodness - it was delish!

and you can't get better than sweet potato fries...but when they collide with poutine, now that is something special!

A week later, Byron's cousin James came to visit us from South Africa.  It was his first visit to the UK so we wanted to show him what Scotland had to offer! We headed to Loch Lomond in an attempt to climb Ben Lomond...it was going to be Ella's first mountain climb! but sadly it was short lived, for her and I anyway.  Half way up we got attached by midges, she got bit by some weird fly and she was crying her little eyes out so I had to walk the whole way down with her, singing every nursery rhyme under the sun until eventually 10 minutes from the bottom she fell asleep!!

I guess she's not a fan of mountains?!

By and James carried on up and snapped these pictures on the way!

Isn't this wild Orchid so beautiful?

Amazing views over the Loch...

and those luscious green hills!

We finished off our day with a spot of cream tea at a fancy hotel near the Loch.  Although apparently not fancy enough to serve clotted cream! but the scones were warm and delicious...which almost made up for it, but not quite!

 We headed to Ketchup for dinner because it's pretty family friendly and all the other meat joints in Glasgow we wanted to eat at wouldn't accept babies!

 

Plus I'm always excited to go somewhere with milkshakes on the menu! When the guy took our order I asked him if the milkshakes were thick, he said he could make them as thick as we wanted so we all said we wanted extra thick - well I'm pretty sure there wasn't even half a teaspoon of ice cream in mine, it was like chocolate milk - sooooo disappointing! I loved that they came in those cute milk bottles, but really if you can't make a milkshake properly then don't put them on your menu!

Ella was happy to chew on her giraffe while we drank our shakes!

Fortunately the food was tasty so it wasn't all bad, my avocado and bacon burger was so good!

and Ella approved of all the toys they had! especially this fun magnet wall - she even created her first ever little sentence ;)

 We stopped at a fro yo place on the way back to the car to make up for the milkshake disaster! Brownie and coconut with white chocolate fro yo - it almost made us feel like we were back in Vancouver!

On Sunday afternoon we walked around the grounds of Chatelheraut because they're very pretty, and James said they don't really have such green wooded areas in Cape Town so he was loving it!

Ella enjoyed the ride on Daddy's shoulders!

On James' last day, we grabbed some tasty brisket sandwiches at Three Sisters Bake, and sampled some of their cake which I wasn't impressed with but our sandwiches were worth the drive.

Ella was a big fan of James, and would smile every time he walked into the room! It was so cute.

We went for a last minute little rowing adventure on a lake down in Renfrewshire...

Ella and I let the boys do the hard work!

Last week we finally got some REAL summer weather! Like, let's break out the rompers and not have to wear a cardigan over them sunny weather! So we took a trip to Calderglen Country Park.

They have a mini zoo so it was Ella's first time at a zoo! I wasn't sure if she'd even notice the animals but she was a pretty good little tracker following them around their cages!

Although sometimes watching other children was more fun for her than watching these pigs!

She liked seeing the bunny! and the fish in their tanks were her favourite to look at - I think she liked all the colours!

She does love a sunny day! and ones spent with Mommy and Daddy are even better! Roll on more weather...and days like these!

Discovering the sights of Scotland..

 

 It may or may not have escaped your attention that we live in Scotland now! We have been for 7 months now, so be prepared for a picture heavy post while I get you all caught up!

Loch Lomond, above, was one of the first places we checked out when we arrived! I had been before in my Stirling days but Byron had never been, and it's only over an hour from our house.

 We took a walk around the Loch and grabbed some homemade scones while we rested our feet!

 A few weeks after we moved, Byron's dad came to check out where we were living so we took him to Loch Lomond too!

 and grabbed a picture of the two of us for once!

We stopped for lunch at this cute little pub that had hundreds of teacups hanging from every wooden beam!

 Scotland knows how to make good pies!

and I've never eaten as much yummy mince/steak as I have since I've been here!

 

At the end of the month, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary!

 by eating out at a place with a polka dot menu! No, that was purely co-incidence.  We picked Guy's because they had venison and veal on the menu and By wanted to try out what Scotland had to offer!

I, of course, had to go for pie again! 

I just can't get enough of their steak pies!

and this tropical pineapple and mango crumble was the perfect way to end a delicious meal!

Mel and Arne and Baby Ellis came to visit and we roadtripped to the seaside town of Largs, for the Viking festival.

 Ellis had a go on his first motorbike!

and enjoyed his first outing to the sea! It was a pretty windy and chilly day, so we warmed up with some amazing Caribbean food!

This pot of rice and peas made me happy! It's an island staple from Turks and Caicos, where we used to live!

 

 No Caribbean food is complete without jerk chicken, and coconut curry! We were loving how good this food was...and couldn't believe how empty the stall was - literally the burger van outside the tent of food stalls had a crazy long queue and this amazing food was getting passed by, that made me sad! People of Scotland need to be more adventurous!

Despite it being so cold, we had to get ice cream sundae's at Nardini's because apparently it's the done thing!

Mel went all tourist and got the tablet sundae, and we went for chocolate fudge.

Ellis ended the day by trying his first bit of ice cream! Aw, look how teeny tiny he was!

We checked out the scarecrow festival in Bothwell, a little village down the road from where we live.

 The whole town got involved, and even Mary Berry the scarecrow featured!

 The oompa loompa scarecrow was my fave!

 We also took a trip one weekend to Stirling, so I could show Byron my old stomping ground from my uni days.

We even checked out the Wallace monument, which is something I'd never done the whole year I was there!  Probably because I tried to avoid anything to do with the whole William Wallace saga since that was what made me so unpopular there in the first place!!

 

 I've made my peace now! which is just as well because we would have missed out on these awesome views!

I also gave him a quick tour around Campus, I was even going to show him where my old room was, and peek through the window - until we discovered my old halls of residence had been knocked down! 

 Mom and Alli came to visit in November and we checked out what Glasgow had to offer!

 I tracked down this South African Deli called Veldt especially for Mom.

 

 It was bunny chow and boerie rolls all round - happy days!

 The autumn leaves were out in full force as we walked around the Kelvingrove park.

Mom found it hilarious the way everything is 'wee' this and 'wee' that when people talk to you up here! so she had to have a picture by the 'wee pub'!

 

We had a rather delicious meal at Ubiquitous Chip, which is in the cool little cobbled street of Ashton Lane.

 It was really nicely done out inside...

and it was smiles all round for their tasty gourmet food!

 We also headed to Edinburgh and checked out the farmers market overlooked by the castle.

 We got some venison to make a casserole with, and some coconut tablet - yum!

The lovely botanical gardens proved a good little spot for a 'bump' shot!

and we had to check out the Missoni hotel by stopping in for a spot of hot choc!

Edinburgh really is beautiful in the autumn.

I love this charming little street with all the coloured shops!

We finished our day with a spot of afternoon tea...

with the castle in the background! It was great to show my mom the delights that Edinburgh and Glasgow had to offer!

A few weeks later my uni friends, Tash and Lucy, came to visit so it was my job to play tour guide again!

We started off in Edinburgh, and the girls had to get the touristy shot with the bagpiper...even though they were rather embarrassed about it!

We caught up with our old pal, William! and checked out the castle...

There are some pretty great views from up there!

We finished off our stint in Edinburgh by showing them my fave festive building, The Dome...

I had admired it from the outside on our last 2 visits...

but this was the first time I had ventured in!

It was quite amazing with lights and decorations everywhere!

You also got hit by the most festive smell as you walked through the door because all those garlands wrapped around the columns were intertwined with tiny bunches of cinnamon sticks!

We headed back to Glasgow for some dinner and settled on Bar Gumbo because we were in the mood for monster burgers topped with onion rings...

the real deal mac n cheese...

and big slabs of meat!

I also couldn't resist taking them to my fave fairy light lined cobbled street in Glasgow, Ashton Lane - it's the cutest!

I showed the girls around Glasgow the next day, although it always pales a bit in comparison to Edinburgh!

So we browsed round some shops and had a spot of lunch at Cup Tea Lounge...

it was so fun spending a whole weekend catching up with my psyc girls...

and of course eating yummy cupcakes!!

Whilst we were in Glasgow the foresters went on a hike to Ben Lomond.

Hiking accompanied by krispy kreme pit stops is always a good combo!

They couldn't have asked for better weather, look how blue that sky is!!

As you can see, it was an amazing view from the top of Loch Lomond down below!

Byron's promised to take my non pregnant self back to this spot so I get to see it for myself!

A week later, By took me to a spot he had found on a site visit for work one day.

The hike up Laing Crags was a bit steeper than anticipated for me and my 30 week bump but luckily my breathing techniques from my birthing class helped me make it up the hill!

I loved all the autumnal colours of the trees down below!

Byron, rocking his 'tache for Movember!

We finished out the year with one final visit to Edinburgh..

and another visitor! Caz braved the Scottish cold to come and see us and the bump!

Everything was looking super festive in the city! With the giant wheel and twinkly lit decorated trees!

We checked out the Christmas market...

and finished our night at a delicious Italian restaurant!

We awoke to another blue sky day, which is just such a rare thing around these parts! so we made the most of it and headed for a nice country walk around Chatelherault...

How we love having visitors, and being able to show off this lovely part of the world we are living in these days!