Edinburgh Weeks 2 & 3

Aricin in front of a college we stumbled upon on our long walk

Aricin and Daddy at the beach

Portobello Beach

Aricin and Daddy at the Edinburgh National Zoo

Aricin giving Simon a hug

Aricin with the Chipmunks

Tummy time

sleepy girl

In daddy's shoes

sleepy time

At the end of our 17 mile walk

We followed the trail along the canal to the port at Leith

Aricin wanted so bad to see the Ocean but fell asleep before we got there

Leith

Canal to Leith

Trail to Leith

runaway cow

Yes Please

"To Let" means "For Rent" but every time i see these signs i think it says "Toilet"

Aricin riding the Lochness Monster in the park (Castle in the background)

hike around the park below the castle

Daddy and Aricin at Princes St. Gardens

Everyone comes out to the park when it's sunny

This is how i look when i venture out with the kiddos alone

Our happy lass

Aricin and the fountain

fountain and the castle in the background

Playtime at the park with daddy and Aricin

St. John's Church's Cross

I can't believe we've been here for almost 3 weeks! It's gone by so fast. Last weekend we took a long long walk through the Royal Mile, past the grass market, down Princes St., by Stockbridge where we shopped in fun charity shops and found a couple great finds (a pair of euro jeans for me for 3.50 pounds and a shirt for Aaron). We also went to the Botanical Gardens before jumping down to the canal and following it to Leith where we got to see the Ocean. We got lost a few times but enjoyed the sunshine and scenery. We even get to see the Royal Yacht from a distance. The Leith harbor was pretty rocky and the port reminded me of Long Beach. On our way back we got hit with a monsoon type rain that came out of nowhere and absolutely drenched us. When we got back we checked online through Google maps how long we had gone and it turns out our long walk was about 17 miles. All and all the kids did great and we had fun.

This last week i got to go a couple different mom's groups and meet some new people. Aaron got to take part in some research and may actually start doing some writing with his Advisor on an experiential ed. project- he's super excited about this. Yesterday we hopped on a double decker bus and went to the Edinburgh National Zoo- the Zoo was awesome and on a big hill with great views of the countryside. We also got to see lots of baby animals which was precious. And did i mention they had several parks for kids within the zoo and a high ropes course- it was pretty cool. After the zoo we hopped back on the double decker and went to Portobello Beach. Portobello was sweet and we even got to watch a little of a beach volleyball tournament going on. This beach was so much better then Leith and i look forward to going back. After the beach we hopped on another bus and went to Costco and Ikea- fun times. Everyday is an adventure, today however we both are very soar from our busy weekend.

Edinburgh the first 10 days...

Wish you could hear the pipes

Aricin loved his first ride on a zip line at the park

the parks out here have fun different things to play on

our happy girl

Really???

Aaron and Aricin on the steps to the castle

A few of our favorite things

Peaches

Ready for a cold Edinburgh day

Greyfriar's Bobby- went to his grave every day for 14 years after he died. Good dog

Amen

Cool tower in old town

School that Harry Potter's school was modeled after

Edinburgh is were JK Rowling wrote all of the Harry Potter novels

This is one of my favorite streets. You can walk up above in the midevil old town or down below in the boutiques on the way to new town

love these red phone booths

Old University of Edinburgh Library

So much to say... I'm not sure where i should begin. Let me start by sharing a little about where we live. We live in a apartment complex called the Dumbiedykes it's low income government housing that was built in the 1960's. More recently the state has started selling the flats and they are being remodeled and inhabited by young professionals, students, and of course some of the original inhabitants. It's quite a mix that we live amongst but all and all we feel safe and love the flat. It's location is awesome, a couple blocks from the palace, next door to the University, across the street from the new Scottish parliament building and super close to the castle. We were told that one of the buildings of our complex has one wall covered in bricks- it's the one wall that's visible from the palace and they wanted that wall to look nice for when the queen looks out her window.

Speaking of the palace, the Royal Helicopter flew over today having lived in southern California my first thought was that they were looking for someone or that it was a high speed chase but i was wrong, apparently Prince Charles is hear right now. I'm tempted to pop over and see if i can borrow one of Camilla's wild hats :)

Out our window down the street i noticed some graffiti. The tagging said "Hibs" now coming from California my first thought was that this must be a gang reference but i was wrong. There are two soccer (football) clubs here in Scotland that have a pretty intense rivalry. The Hiberians are originally from Ireland and have a strong Irish Catholic following their rivals are the Midlothian Hearts who are followed by much of protestant Scotland. A couple days ago i saw more tagging over the "Hibs" the new tagging said "Hearts". It made me laugh because it's basically like living in LA and someone tagging Dodgers then someone else tagging Angels. The rivalry here is so intense here that most bars state "No football colors" as when fiery fans have a few beers brawls sometimes ensue.

So something crazy happened a few days ago, Monday morning i looked out our kitchen window to see a body, blood, police men, and paramedics. Apparently in the flat across from ours on the sixth floor a couple got in a fight and a guy climbed out of a window and fell. We didn't see it but yikes it was crazy. Two different officers came up to our flat questioning us as to if we had seen anything- i hope and pray the guy is alright.

Things here in Edinburgh are going well. Aaron's got his own little office and spends most of his days reading and writing notes on articles for his dissertation. Talia is in a rolly phase and rolls all around our flat and loves sweet potatoes but not at the same time. Aricin is a crack up. He loves to ask questions and talk. Today on our walk down the royal mile he pointed to a statue and said "Who's that?" Aaron said "That's the philosopher David Hume." then Aricin said "Bye David Hume." as we walked by he then asked when he saw another statue "Who's that?" Aaron said "that's the Christian reformer John Knox" Aricin then said "Bye John Knox" as we walked by. And as for me... I'm feeling far more acclimated. Thursday i went to a mom's group at our church P's and G's (St. Pauls and St. George's) they play group was awesome with about 80 kids. Aricin had fun playing, made a pot and planted a sunflower seed, and then enjoyed music time and i was able to meet a couple moms. Today i went to another mom's group across the street from our flat at a community center and met a few moms while Aricin made a couple new friends.

We are soo enjoying being able to go on walks and explore the city every afternoon. There are soo many little city's within this city and so many little parks within parks. We're even starting to find our favorite spots that we frequent.