End of Summer & Trip to Huntly Castle, etc

I figured it was time for another update here now that summer is drawing to an end. Well, still some weeks yet of the *season* of summer, but we're back to homeschooling next week - so end of summer holidays! Not to mention the weather turning more autumnal now too! We've been blessed with a very good summer this year and have enjoyed so much sunshine and warmth over the past few months. Nothing like Texas heat, of course - but for the Scottish Highlands, it's been great! One of the best summers for a while. So despite the fact that we've been at home all summer, I think the kids have had a lot of fun. Many hours spent outdoors nearly every day, riding bikes, eating ice creams, and just generally relaxing and enjoying the summer! So I think we're all ready now for a new school year to start and back into the routine of "normal life". :-)

We did make a point of having a "proper" day out last week (before the summer was gone) and took the kids to Huntly Castle. I think young children enjoy a slightly ruined castle more than a palace where you can't touch anything. It gives them a chance to explore a bit. So here are some photos from our adventures last week.

The biggest 4 in Huntly Castle

Having fun outside the castle - Elijah wanted to jump off the tree stump, of course!

Huntly Castle - this version of the castle is only from 1550 or so. The cellars inside are from the 1460 castle. And the hill next to it had a castle first there in 1180, but nothing remains of that castle but the hill (motte).

Medieval road

Exploring :-)

Elijah "reading" one of the notices! ;-) He's *always* looking out for "E for Elijah" - rather obsessed with that letter of the alphabet!

Dungeon!

Fire place that's over 400 years old

Notice about the fire place in photo above

Beautiful views

Elijah was complaining that he was too short to see out the window ....

So helpful big brother Benjamin to the rescue - lifting him up to see out! :-)

Small boy and very big trees!

After being at Huntly Castle we took a drive towards the coast, and stopped off at Duff House. We only looked at the outside though.

Then back to Elgin for dinner at McDonald's - special request of Benjamin! ;-)

Elijah said it was very yummy! ;-)

Back to normal days, Deborah learned to ride a bike without stabilisers (training wheels) this summer! She got this bike and within about 30 minutes, she was riding all over on her own! Her older siblings were most impressed, as they were more like 5 before they did this! And she's still only 3 - not 4 until October.

Deborah is very pleased with her new ability and has spent many hours outside on her bike!

This wee guy still likes to hang out with his mama a lot...

and being in the kitchen means getting to have yummy things to eat - like raw orange peppers! [yum] Notice the homemade chocolate chip cookie that has been left behind - peppers are much better!

These two play together a LOT - it's so fun to see all the adventures they have together! This was a hospital Deborah made outside the front door of the house. :-P He looks very ill indeed, doesn't he?! ;-)

Abigail was giving sewing lessons to Clement here. Well, at least showing him how the sewing machine works.

Yep, best friends they are! Found them tucked into Deborah's bed pretending to be asleep. Notice the doll in the middle - looks like they do "co-sleeping"! ;-)

And with school starting back next week, I've been busy printing and getting everything organised for lessons! :-) Clement turned 5 in April, so that means he's officially school age this year and I'll now have 3 "full time" students to be teaching. It means I'll be even more busy with a bigger age gap between my "students". Abigail & Benjamin are only a year apart as far as schooling goes (only 16 months different age wise anyway), but Clement is 2 years younger, so trying to make sure Clement will have plenty that is fun and age appropriate to him. But I think I'll have it rather easy with him already knowing how to read - he learned about a year ago, when he was only 4 - so that makes things so much easier when they start school already being a very able reader! :-) The A-Z lapbook pages in the photo above is for Deborah to do. She'll be school age next year, so figured it was a good time to start her on some of the basics - especially as she's always begging for her own school work to do.

I guess that's all for now! I'm feeling relieved to have reached the end of the busiest part of our season at the holiday house in Edderton! I've made it through the summer of nonstop/back to back bookings! I'm very thankful for health and strength and no illness in the family all summer, so everything went smoothly! The house is occupied at the moment, and then only 2 more bookings left to do before the end of September. And each of those have a week of it empty between them, so at least means I won't have a changeover on the same day - as in, cleaning it up from one lot of guests and getting it ready for the next all in the space of a very few hours! So that will make it a lot easier as I get closer to baby being due! So I feel a big sense of relief and that the end is in sight. It's been wonderful to have a busy summer there, but I'm also looking forward to the end of the summer season and then getting ready for baby to arrive in October, God willing! Not *too* many weeks yet!

Fun Summer Days

Well, it's not quite a full month since I last posted here, but it feels longer as the days have been busy. But not too busy to enjoy the sun and warmth over the past several weeks. We have been blessed with wonderful weather this summer! Living in the north of Scotland, there are far more days that are cold, dark and wet. So it makes the nice days (and weeks!) extra special - especially when they happen at the same time as the school holidays! :-) The children have spent soooooo much time outside and just love it! There's no need to go away or spend lots of money - plenty of fun and good memories to be made close to home! :-)

At the beginning of the holidays (or perhaps just before they started) we had a meet-up in Golspie with other homeschoolers - mostly from Caithness. It was sunny (as is obvious in the photos!) and the kids had a great afternoon. It *was* cold and windy down on the beach that day, but the time at the park was perfect.

My 3 boys - enjoying their picnic! :-)

Fun at the park

Very chilled out Elijah!

A relaxed Benjamin too!

Clement looking hot after lots of running around.

Benjamin

Fun with friends

Abigail - who seems to be getting taller & taller! :)

My girls!

Deborah loves the sand

Yes, I said it was windy - the sand was getting in their eyes.

Benjamin and Clement

Working together

Elijah looking cosy!

Can't have too many trips to a park in one day! ;-)

But most days, the kids just have fun and hang out at home! I love this one of Deborah & Benjamin together!

Deborah is working on a loom band bracelet here - concentrating too hard to notice me! ;-)

Last week the children even braved getting wet in paddling pools! :-p Though I must admit that the boys found it too cold very quickly and came in. But the girls spent a lot of time out there.

Painting in the garden = less mess indoors. :-)

Last week I took the kids for a walk down to the bottom of the town where there's a park and we had a picnic by the shore. A bit of a muddy seaside view, I must admit - at least when the tide is out! ;-) But it's still rather special to have the sea within walking distance.

Enjoying their picnic - in the shade this time.

Very green and lush by the duck pond.

Elijah & Deborah feeding the ducks.

Clement, Abigail, and Benjamin feeding the ducks.

A Moorhen - there were a couple of nesting families of them there.

Elijah at the top and Clement at the bottom - Elijah *loves* slides. The bigger the better, of course!

Climbing boys

Biggest 4

"I'm a big boy, mummy" said Elijah. He wants to make sure I know he can do things by himself! :-P

I love planting random seed mixes in the window boxes on the kids' playhouse. You never know what flowers will appear. I was pleased to see this sweet pea this morning - I didn't realise it was there!

I'm not sure I ever shared a photo of the garden shed Peter built in Edderton over the winter/spring. He had to remove an old garage (the size of the concrete area around the shed) and then made this lovely shed instead! He drew the plans up himself (similar to the playhouse he made the kids a few years ago). It certainly makes the back garden there a lot brighter - and the new fence helps too!

And I always enjoy the view from the front windows of the house in Edderton! It's very peaceful to look out when I'm getting the house ready for guests - though I'm usually too busy to pause for long.

Elijah's favourite colour is orange, so he was very excited to see these flowers open up in the front garden a couple of weeks ago. They *only* open when there is full, intense sun!

Enjoying some fish and chips for dinner one evening last week. Peter had been doing some clearing out of his dad's house in Dingwall in the afternoon and time got away. So we got fish & chips and ate it in the park there. It was a lovely sunny evening. So relaxing and nice to get a rare break from cooking dinner! ;-)

Fish & chips

The biggest three looking in the pond - a few minutes before Deborah managed to slip in! [oops] At least I had for once actually packed a spare change of clothes for her, which was very handy! :-) Though she *didn't* enjoy the experience at all.

Elijah loves trains! I remember Abigail & Benjamin having lots of fun in this train when they were small - back when we lived in Dingwall.

Well, that's all for now! Still several weeks of the summer holidays left (I think!) - so time for more fun & adventures yet to happen. Though some of the holiday bookings in Edderton are a bit more busy in August (like someone coming for only 4 nights, and then more guests arriving the day they leave - in the middle of the week!). So that will be a very busy week with 3 change overs happening in the space of 7 days!! But otherwise, hopefully a bit of time to relax before we start a new year of homeschooling! :-) And then, less than 13 weeks until baby is due to arrive. I must admit, I really look forward to the sickness and nausea going away then. But for now, looks like I've got another 13 weeks (or so) of it yet to "enjoy"! It IS worth it though - Elijah is my daily reminder that 9 months of sickness gave us a wonderful blessing and joy! :-)