The Day After the Party

Zara was so overwhelmed by presents, we didn't end up giving her these kitchen tools for two more days. They more than replace the handful of wooden kitchen tools that Coda ate before he developed such stellar self-control.

Happy Birthday, Observed

Chocolate cake with cream cheese (actually neufchâtal) frosting and fresh blueberries picked on Zara's birthday. I had Zara write her name on a piece of parchment paper from which I cut a template for the sprinkles. For the party, we invited a few friends to the Washington Park Pool's free Saturday swim and ordered some pizzas.

Berry Picking

For Zara's birthday, we went to the local no-spray blueberry & raspberry patch. Maryann, Jo and I picked 4 pints of blueberries and 3 pints of raspberries. Zara ate an unknown quantity of both.

Salisbury Crags

Jo & Zara standing in front of Kirk o' Field Parish Church. This shot gives a good feel for the huge, wild green space close by in Edinburgh. A piece of the highlands in a capitol.

Edinburgh Castle

Here's a really cool, really famous castle. This was also the only day all 3 of us got to explore together, since Wes spent the majority of the time we were in Edinburgh working with Jarod (UMich colleague), meeting with U of Edinburgh folks or attending the conference and giving his talk (which he rocked, though I didn't get to hear it myself...). We strolled along the Royal Mile taking in the comparatively not rainy or cloudy weather. Zara was especially fond of the people watching and the bagpipers busking. The Royal Mile has more tourist attractions and shops and such than you can shake a stick, or lot of sticks...

After exploring the free-to-all part of the castle (we're not paying 12 GBP a person to tour the castle until Zara can actually appreciate it), we headed back down towards Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament building when we ran into the aforementioned Jarod. We all had a lovely but brief reunion standing in the middle of the sidewalk, which is rude in many places but not in the droves of tourists flooding Old Town. In deference to Jarod's recent arrival to Scotland and our love for coffee, we had some drinks and lunch at the Black Medicine Coffee Co. One of the baristas, Paul (see the staff page) gave Zara a plastic yellow snake toy which we thought was merely a loan but turned out to be a present. A female co-barista, not to be outdone checked in with me before giving Zara a mini-Krackle. Needless to say, Zara will remember the cafe fondly. Plus, nice food. Good Lattes.

There were naps, there was laundry washing (funny aside - we thought the almost dry just a bit damp clothes would finish drying in the hotel - WRONG! Scotland = wet) and then we had a wonderful dinner at the house of a CBI Preschool Alum and her mom, dad and little brother (who was the same age as Zara). These lovely people, complete strangers to us other than a preschool in common, invited us for a home cooked meal, and it was such a treat. The food was great, the company awesome (also in attendance was another couple with an 8 year old daughter - they had been in Edinburgh for the year and were returning to Toronto the following week) and being able to let Z wander and play and not have to worry about her touching everything (hotels and toddlers don't mix) was a relief. But this is perhaps detail that goes on my blog, not Zara's.... but after dinner and a fabulous stroll across the Meadow to our hotel, Z went to bed with less fuss (though still some fuss) and Wes and Jarod worked on their talks. I watched Scottish television... and thus ends the story of Edinburgh Castle.

Henderson's Salad Table

While I have no memories of it, my parents took me to this very same restaurant about 31 years ago... many say it hasn't changed all that much in the interim! I really wanted to get a picture of the outside, but it was pouring. We actually took a cab here, since the restaurant is firmly ensconced in New Town and our hotel was in Newington - and for those of you whose Edinburgh geography is a bit rusty or non-existent, this is a good several miles and even more kilometers.

The dinner was tasty, a welcomed plethora of fresh veggies. When traveling, especially with Zara and in Scotland, there tends to be a lot of bready things and chips and such. Even curry has rice and bread and often chips! The rain did not seem to be letting up as we finished our meal, so Wes used the free wi-fi to figure out which bus(es) we could take back to the hotel - the cab had been pretty pricey and hoofing it was looking pretty unappealing. While he did this, Zara and I listened to the acoustic guitarist who was playing in the "wine bar" half of the restaurant. His gig was pretty mellow, but Zara and I can dance to anything!

Having successfully located the buses we could take (14, 30, 33 and x40-something), we ventured out into the rain and started looking at every bus kiosk on Hanover St as we made out way down to Princes St. Of course when we found the right stop it had been moved temporarily and had no shelter right there, but the bus arrived quickly. Confusion ensued and instead of 2 one way tickets (singles), we ended up with 2 day tickets - though even this small mistake was cheaper than a return cab. Under 5s are free on Edinburgh buses, in case any of you are wondering....

We made it back to our hotel, very wet but with an excellent sense of accomplishment. This trip really piqued Zara's interest in the bus, which we would take several more times over the next few days as I was on my own much of the time with Z (one of the reasons there are a lot fewer pics from Edinburgh than Glasgow) and so I couldn't take the Ergo and a big backpack as easily, and therefore it was more important to have the backpack and carry Z on shoulders/take the bus/play distracting games so she'd walk more.

Kelvingrove

The Argyll Guest House, formerly the Angus Hotel

This was our hotel in Glasgow. A very reasonable price, a decent-sized room, an excellent breakfast buffet, a superb location just a few blocks from many pubs, cafes, a giant park, museums, etc... the only down side was that our room was on the street side on the first floor, which made for a pretty loud bedtime - car noises, people out and about on a Friday... one floor up or the back of the hotel would probably have been better. Or maybe a better sleeping kid. But it is what it is, and I'd highly recommend this place to anyone looking for a place to stay in Glasgow!

Cheers!

I had lots of nice things to say about these pictures and good stories to tell about the east side of Glasgow (as represented by Glasgow Green, the People's Palace and the Winter Garden), walking from our hotel in the west end to the park and museum in the east, the other lovely playground in Kelvingrove Park (pictured in the 2nd shot), and the excellent kid-friendly pub where we had a pint, some chips, and a mushroom tapas thingie (the last shot).

But my MacBook, which I adore, decided to shut off without warning (grr, battery, grr) so instead you get the very short "sum up" a la Inigo Montoya. Maybe one day, when I'm less bitter or have more free time, I'll tell the tale again. For now, I give you - more Glasgow!

Some thoughts on overnight flights with toddlers...

Well, as you can tell by the previous post, we at least made it as far the plane from Heathrow to Glasgow. Actually, the rest of that trip was pretty uneventful, too. We arrived, our luggage, which was not lost, also arrived, we hopped a bus that took us within 2 blocks of our hotel and we checked on in. We resisted the urge to nap and instead found a little playground (and skate/bmx park) a few blocks from out hotel. Zara played for a bit, we went for an early dinner (almost 6, so not that early) at Taste of Punjab, which had some of the best saag paneer and aloo muttar that we've ever had.... and pints of draft beer and cider to boot! Zara had chips and cheese (which, when dipped in the curry, was oh so much better than poutine!) She actually ended up mostly eating paratha, but hey, she ate, it's all good. We came back to the room and Wes and I alternately fell asleep while trying to put Zara to bed - me while telling a story, Wes while watching iPhone movies with her... but finally (probably not after very long, though it felt like it) she did. We followed suit shortly thereafter when we couldn't keep our eyes open in the darkened room, having gotten less than 8 hours of sleep between the two of us since we left C'ville, and not having slept well for about 2 days before the trip!

And now, for my advice... :)

1. If you are into that sort of thing (and we are), try out an anti-histamine or some such at home before you travel, make sure your kid doesn't get more hyper, and use about an hour before you want them sleeping. Worked wonders (though she was very tired, so tired she seemed like she couldn't sleep!) and i wish we had done it for the first flight because....

2. You have until the first round of service on a flight to get a kid to sleep, after that there's drinks, then food, then tea and coffee.... and you won't (unless you have an amazing sleeper) get another chance until 2+ hours into the flight. So sleep early or just forget it for awhile.

3. Bring snacks. Food replaces sleep.

4. That's really about it. She was bit challenging in all of the security/immigration/biometric ID-ing/etc, but that's understandable. Her inability to follow directions got us both patted down and wanded, but at least they were nice about it. The immigration agent loved her. We were constantly fearing she might say something 'cute' that would cause the men with machine guns (tm) to come chat with us, but luckily no such clever toddler remarks.

Oh, one more thing. Many changes of clothes (for kid) and at least one for parents. We had a lot of spills. Airplane seats are small and there's a lot of elbows... luckily it was me who spilled and it was only water... but still. Love those extra clothes.

Day 2

Here's Zara in a spaceship ride at the Museum of Transport, which was our first museum adventure. She liked it pretty well, though we were all surprised by the lacking of "touching things" - many of the larger vehicles were roped off, and you couldn't really climb on anything. Very disappointing for toddlers looking to climb. On the plus side it's a super cool museum with all kinds of transportation related things -trains, buses, bikes, motorcycles, cars, emergency vehicles, traveler caravans, tons of model ships that go with the history of boat building on the Clyde, baby buggies... you name it! There is also a reproduction 1938 Glasgow Street, complete with Underground station. Also cool. Good for kids, big and small.

We walked around the West End, by U of Glasgow and back through Kelvingrove Park. Zara and I are standing (thanks for the carrier, Heather!) on a bridge over the River Kelvin.

We found 2 playgrounds in this park, and spent considerable time at the 2nd one, featured in the following swing pictures. Just to be clear, Laura, Zara is only standing on the swings due to the bad influence of the wee lass next to her ;)

After naps we played with play-doh in the hotel room while Wes worked on his talk, and then went to dinner at the Firebird Cafe. Bedtime was awful, but as expected when you are 3,000 miles and 5 time zones away from home in a small but comfortable Scottish guest house...

Taste Of Scotland

Here we are at Taste of Punjab, a fabulous establishment that features indian food, fish and chips, pizza, burgers, and beer. Zara and Wes are working on her new dry erase marker activity book - it's super cool and very entertaining. You'll also notice the aforementioned pints of beer (the one on the right is mine and it's actually Strongbow, you guys know how I love the hard cider!).

The Power of Benadryl

Zara slept four hours on the first leg of our trip, so we dosed her with Benadryl for the second leg. Cha-ching!

Dress up, and up, and up...

Zara started camp at CBI this past week. In some ways it is like school - same building (though different classroom and teachers/counselors), same friends (though some new ones, too, and some old ones aren't at camp this summer) and same yummy challah baking goodness on Fridays. I hear music's an every day thing now, which Zara loves. Many of the songs they sing at camp can be heard around our house in the afternoons - a favorite activity these days is singing and reading to Coda. I digress, however, as my main point was the best thing about school and camp and everywhere in the whole world (according to Zara) is... dress up clothes. And shoes. And other accessories. What do ya'll think she'll find to wear in Scotland?

Six Months in the Purple Chair!

Six months ago, Zara & Claire were naughty. So we put them in this chair. And they've been there ever since.