Up to Scotland

So after a week with the Blunks down South we headed up North for another week of fun. We drove up in two cars, my Dad had kindly lent me his for the week. We had a girls car and a boys car - which worked very well all week. We stopped in North Allerton to have lunch with Allen's Auntie Rosemary. The sun was shining when we got there so we had a lovely lunch in the garden. I'd not seen Rosemary's house, even though she moved a few years ago! It's great, lots of character and a superb garden too.

We had managed to get tickets for Brazil versus Honduras, Olympic football at St James's Park so Allen took Tim, Betsy, Will and Jacob while I drove the girls up to Allen's Mum's. We arrived and got sorted and they all agot there around 9.30pm, so not bad at all.

We then had a week exploring Scotland. We did a day in Edinburgh with the children, it was very wet so we'd booked the underground cave visit - Allen and I dropped everyone off and then came right to the door to pick them up as it was raining very hard! Edinburgh was extremely busy due to the festival. The adults got to come back again as Allen and Tim played golf with Ernie so Betsy and I got to shop and have a look around for the day. Marion and Louise had the children for us, a lovely relaxing day for me and Betsy!

While in Scotand we had a night away on Loch Lomond, luckily the weather improved so we walked up Connick Hill - not something you should do in Fit Flops, I ended up taking them off to get down! We also took a boat out to a little island on the Loch and spent some time on the beach. It was beautiful, I've included a photo looking down on the Loch with Abi in the for ground and me and Jacob down below - we did make it up to the top too! There are also photos from the grounds of a historic house near Melrose and one in Marion's garden.

We also celebrated my birthday with a pub supper and pedicures for Betsy and myself!

After a great week we drove down to Birmingham and stayed in a huge Hilton. Betsy and Tim managed to get on the executive floor so we had access to the drinks and snacks happy hour, which we took full advantage of. The pool was great for the kids so it was a relaxing end to our holiday. Allen then dropped the Blunks at the airport. The two weeks flew past but it was a trip of a lifetime. Can't wait to get out to Denver for a bit of skiing and to catch up with the Blunks again.

We then dropped Dad's car back, had a BBQ at Holwell and made our way down to Ashford. Stayed in our first Premier Inn and was very impressed, so much that we've booked another one for when we swop our car next month!

Now we are getting ready for our move to SHAPE in two weeks. We've got rid of loads of rubbish that we have been carrying around for years, still lots to sort though! Visitors welcome, we have a lovely new build house, garden is all a bit open as there's nothing in it and it looks directly onto base but I have ensuite so I don't care. See you in Belgium, Rachael x