Dinner with the girls

Tonight Nieve, Zara, and her new brother Daniel came over for dinner. Their Mummies and Daddies also came so Craig and I had someone to play with :)

It is amazing what three almost two year olds can do to a clean house. It was worth it though, they had a lot of fun. This isn't a good picture but its the only one from the night.

Daddy's Girls

We are currently in the middle of dealing with jet lag and getting back into a routine, so posting is limited at the moment. However, I took these pictures tonight. Isla was super happy to see her Daddy when we got back. Obviously Leah was too, she is just too small to show it yet.Leah found her toes last week :)

Home Sweet Home

These pictures are from our last day in Texas, three days ago. No I haven't been lazy and not blogged, it just took us THAT long to get home.

Wow. What a trip. I am so glad it is over.

Here are the highlights of why it took us three days to get home:

1. Two drunk obnoxious women were arrested before we took off and the inside of the plane was 38C/100F while we were waiting almost an hour for the police to show up.
2. We had an unscheduled emergency land in Chicago because one of the pressure units had failed. The scary landing was followed by three hours of repair work. We had to sit on the plane with no AC all that time :(
3. By the time we got to Heathrow we had missed our flight to Edinburgh.
4. We also missed the flight American Airlines had booked us on because we couldn't transfer terminals fast enough.
5. We also missed the next flight we were booked on to because immigration and security were ridiculously back logged.
6. Then every other flight to Glasgow or Edinburgh was fully booked so we had to stay over night at a hotel near Heathrow and fly out today!!
7. Although we are home, we are now bag-less :(
   

And that is me just going into the significant issues we encountered. There were plenty of other issues due to unhelpful staff etc. THANK GOD my Dad was flying with me. The girls were great, I really couldn't have asked for them to be any better. So, as tired and as dirty as we are, we are all really glad to be home. We were all really happy to see Daddy and Ringo.

Back to the pictures. Here is Isla lovin' on her donuts. Actually I should rephrase that as she really only loved eating the sprinkles.
The girls loved swimming. We are going to have to try hard to keep the swimming up now we are back here.From the pictures over the last few weeks, I think you can tell we had a good time in Texas. It was wonderful getting to see my family and friends.

Thank you Mum and Dad for a great break. We had so much fun and we miss you already!!

Dallas World Aqaurium

Its our second to last day in Texas. We head back home to Scotland tomorrow night. While it has been wonderful hanging out with the fam in the sunshine, I am really looking forward to going home. We miss Daddy and Ringo.

To make the most of our last days, today we headed to the Dallas World Aquarium. If you come to Dallas with kids, it is a must.

The first picture was taken while Isla was explaining to Lee-Lee that Tuck (the turtle from the Wonder Pets) was having a salad for lunch :)

Just us

Sunday Andrew headed back to Brownsville, Monday Carlo left for Vegas, and on Tuesday Alex left to go home too. The girls have loved getting to spend so much time with their aunt and uncles and I have enjoyed watching Isla and Leah's relationships with them blossom. We are already looking forward to our Christmas vacation :)

Cleanliness

Isla has been indulging herself in my Mum and Dad's amazing bathroom. Between the spa bath, the rain shower, and the his and her sinks, Isla is in bathroom heaven.

Last night

Last night our favourite German family, the Bergmanns, came over for dinner. Carlo and Alex cooked a great dinner and we ended up chatting out by the pool until late.

Uncle Carlo AKA Uncle Coco

Carlo flew in from Vegas yesterday afternoon. Much to Alex's shock Isla took to Carlo immediately. She let him play with Bugsy, held his hand at dinner, and even gave him a goodnight kiss! The love continued today when he pushed her on the swings for ages and made her cheesey quesadillas. Alex however, did impress Isla with her super canonball jump which encouraged Isla to jump of the diving board for the first time :)While we were swimming Lee-Lee spent some quality time with Nana. Nana taught her how to blow some amazing raspberries watching the tennis yesterday and she hasn't stopped blowing them since.

Jessica, Stan and Dean

This morning Leah and Isla got to meet Dean. I went to high school with his Mummy, Jessica, way back when. Its hard to beleive we graduated 16 years ago now!!! It was nice finally getting to meet Stan and Dean and to catch up with Jessica in person as opposed to reading status updates on Facebook :)

Pool Party

On Thursday afternoon Bethany, Dave, and Violet came over with their friends Jason, Jill, and Will for a swim and a BBQ. Isla loved hanging out with Violet which is pretty cute since they are normally just blog pals via their Mummies.

Isla's busy day...

Her makeup lessons have continued!Mum and Dad put a swing up in the front garden while we were in Austin. I think we have all been out pushing her in 100+ degree heat more than we would've liked!Now Isla is back with her Nana and Granddad, she is being treated like a Princess. Check this out. Breakfast in bed and Mamma Mia!!??!!As I wrote earlier, Alex and my Dad took Isla to pick berries. They were meant to be picking corn however that ended yesterday. As a result of this minor slip up we are getting a yuumy berry pie courtesy of RecessionRecip.es

Last lunch in Austin

We ended our non stop eat-a-thon at Billy's BBQ. Most of the gang made it to lunch despite work commitments. Emmylou and Miller came too.

Although it was a pretty hectic trip it was great getting to see everyone in Austin. Each time I leave that city I am reminded at just how much I miss that place and the people that make it so special.Poor Alex has had to try pretty hard to win Isla's love. Until yesterday she hadn't had much success, that was until Isla discovered that Alex's makeup was in her purse. Isla finally has time for her Aunt. They even went berry picking together today without me :)

Freddies

Tuesday night we met up with everyone at Freddies, a restaurant with an outdoor play ground for Isla and Rhea.Freddies was right by the Greetings from Austin mural so, when in Austin...

Barton Springs & Lunch

Monday morning we met Bethany, Dave, Violet, Katee, Reagan, and Melita at Barton Springs. Its hard to beleive that in all the years I lived in Austin and all my subsequent visits, I'd never been there. It is an amazing place. Its even more amazing that it is right in the heart of the city. Unfortunately Isla didn't like it so much. The water was cold and we ended up leaving after an hour to ride the Zilker Park train. She loved that.After Isla had passed out from heat exhaustion on the train, we all met Johanna and Zoe for lunch. I haven't seen Johanna in years. This visit, I got to see her twice in one weekend :)

Denise and Mike

Denise and Mike were nice enough to have us over Sunday night to beat the heat in their pool and to BBQ. We were so busy swimming that I just have one picture of their son Jesse. My friend Bill commented how things had changed in the last few years....there are now more kids around than dogs :)

Waterloo Ice House

On Sunday Alex, Andrew, Isla, Leah, and I headed down to Austin so we could catch up with our friends.

The girls and I went to Waterloo Ice House to catch up with some old friends. The last time we were in Austin (May 2008) we missed Leo, Bev, and Jim. Leo is so grown up now!Isla and Violet have met a few times already. Violet, Bethany and Dave came to visit us in Scotland when they were just little babies and last May we had an outing to Sea World. This year it was nice to see the two of them finally kinda, sorta play together. Melita was just a few weeks away from making her entrance into the world. when we last saw Katee and Reagan. Its hard to believe she is now one and we are only just now meeting her!!

Andrew's Birthday

That is us back from a great but exhausting trip to Austin. Before I have even more pictures to post, I thought I'd better get caught up.

June 26th was Andrew's birthday. To celebrate we went totally mad and took the girls to the Fort Worth Zoo when it was 105F/42C degrees outside. We all usually love the zoo but that day, it was just too much even with a water spray bottle.That night we also went to Symphony in the Park where we drank wine and watched the Gumbo Kings. The girls slept through the whole thing so I got to drink my wine and listen to some jazz in peace :)

Isla Link

Click onto Andrew's blog to check out his pictures from Austin. Mine are coming...

Kandyland

On Thursday we went for a play date at Kandy Garrett's house. Her daughter, Lisa, went to school with Alex and I way back when. Lisa has a little girl called Georgia who is absolutely adorable. Isla loved playing with her and it was nice for Mum, Alex, and I to catch up on everyone's news.

Howdy Y'all

We made it to Texas!! The flight was long but not too bad in retrospect. It is HOT here. Damn HOT. We have been up since 3.30am today with jet lag, so Isla and Leah are currently fast asleep in my parents bedroom. Since everyone is still a bit tired we just hung about the house today. Leah got to go swimming for the first time.

Trampolining at Granny's

Cousins

Isla loves bath time. She loves bath time with her cousins even more :)

Drumlanrig

Today we took a family day trip to Drumlanrig. Leah managed to stay awake for a lot of the sightseeing. Isla spent the whole tour of the castle looking for a Princess because she has a book about a Princess who lives in a castle. Apparently she finally saw the princess waving out a window as we were leaving :)

New Jammies

When we got back from London Isla got to open a couple of presents from her Granddad's latest trip to China.

Lanimer Day Recap

Last Thursday it was Lanimer Day in Lanark. Last year Isla was a bit too small to really like the procession. This year she was mostly scared of it until we found Maddy, her big cousin. Isla thinks Maddy is the best thing since sliced bread!Every year my friend Sharon takes part in the Lanimer parade. This year she and her daughter Sophie dressed up as vikings.After Lanimers we headed back to Granny's house so the girls could play on the trampoline. I took millions of pictures of the girls but when I got home there was a massive greasy smudge right across the lens that pretty much ruined all the pictures. I managed to salvage one of Maddy and Leah.

Post wedding brunch

Mairwen and Tal hosted a brunch on Sunday at Dewi and Pat's amazing house. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. When we got home last night it was 9 degrees and raining. It was 25 in London that afternoon. If only we could relocate the fishfarm 400 miles further south!!

Gareth & Michelle's Wedding

Here are a few pictures from Saturday's beautiful wedding. It was a lot of fun catching up with old friends. It was also great to get dressed up and be child free for an evening because Leah stayed at Dewi and Pat's house with a babysitter! It felt wonderful wearing a dress that I didn't have to whip my boobs out of even though I did have to take a quick cab ride back to feed her after dinner. Despite practising with a bottle during the week running up to the wedding, she flat out refused the formula. Little minx.

Greenwich Mean Time

Gareth and Michelle got married at Queens House in Greenwich (the amazing white house in the middle of the first picture). Since my friends Dewi and Pat live right by Greenwich and Dewi happens to be related to Gareth, they were kind enough to put us up for the weekend. It was brilliant getting to catch up with them again because we haven't seen them since lthey visited us up in Scotland last summer.

Literally 10 minutes walk away from their house is the Royal Observatory and the Meridian Line. Since we had never seen it before we went for a visit so Leah could straddle the Meridian Line

First plane trip

On Friday Leah, Craig and I went to London for Gareth and Michelle's wedding so Leah got a practice run travelling by plane before we head to Texas next week. She was a little star the whole weekend :)

Makes me smile

All of Isla's prancing and dancing makes Leah smile. In fact she is pretty much smiling and cooing non stop these days. I love it.

However, Leah's smiling and cooing isn't enough for Isla. She is desperate for Leah to do something. Andrew, this video is especially for you :)

Claiming that Leah bit her...

Grease is the word

I meant to post this a couple of weeks back. This was the beginning of Isla's infatuation with Grease. You should see how good her dance routine is now :)

Chalk

A couple of weeks ago Craig and I started a new DIY project when Isla was at daycare. We converted a storage cupboard in our family room into another play room because you can never have enough space for toys!

This morning all the paint work I finished yesterday was finally dry and Isla got to use the new chalkboard her Daddy made for her on the wall. She loved it and was even yelling at Leah to "draw!" Now we get the job of teaching her that not ALL walls are for drawing on.

Stop that whining...

We have been through few really tough weeks with Isla. I'm not sure if she has been playing up because her routine has been altered because Leah is here or if it is just the terrible twos. What ever the reason, apart from the lack of sleep, the worst part of the last few weeks has been the whining. Man, can she whine and it is awful.

However in positive news, I think we have turned a corner. The last two days and nights with her have been great. To get here, Craig and I have been pretty tough on her to get her back into a good routine. By doing this, Leah is now in some sort of a "routine" too so Craig and I get a little time to ourselves each night. I get to blog in peace and Craig is currently enjoying Street Crime UK in peace :)

During an internet search on "How not to kill your kid because of her incessant whining," I found this article. We both thought it was pretty good. So in case you have a whiny toddler too, click here: Stop that Whining!

Science Centre

The plan for today was to take Maddy, Ailsa, Leah, and Isla to the Glasgow Science Centre.....if would could find our car keys.

After a lot of frantic searching, I found them in the bathroom, inside a make up bag, which just happened to be next to the Q-tips I'd caught Isla throwing down the toilet earlier this morning :(

Anyways, once we got there we had a lot of fun. The girls are far to young to understand the concepts behind the exhibits but they are at a great age to play with them all.
After the Science Centre we met Sarah for lunch. There was a little fair going on in the parking lot so Maddy and Isla went on the teacups. Guess who loved them??And guess you hated them?

Hairy Coos

Look who was in our front garden this afternoon.

The Highland cows are back at our house after spending the winter up at my mother and father in law's. It is easier to feed a herd of cows up at their house over the winter months but there is plenty of grass for them at ours over the summer months. Isla will be so happy she can watch them while she swings :)

Isla still wants to feed Lee-Lee

Blowing bubbles

When the sun shines, we'll shine together

Since it never rains where Maddy and Ailsa live, this morning Isla showed her cousins how to jump in puddles. I still need to get a good picture of Maddy. She was hiding underneath her umbrella in all the pictures I took this morning.

Small Miracles

During the past two weeks or so it has been near on impossible to get Isla to bed. I have no idea if it has been too hot, too light, or if she is playing up because Leah is still downstairs with us. Whatever the reason is, we have had hours and hours of screaming at bed time. Tough love sucks for everyone involved.

However, tonight a small miracle happened.

We have been putting Leah into bed (in the same room as Isla) after Isla has settled. Tonight, after our Grease dance off, Isla wanted Leah to go to bed at the same time as her. I thought we were in for a rough ride however, Leah went straight to sleep...and here is the miracle part....Isla went to bed with NO CRYING!

It is 8:30pm and I've done a bunch of ironing and I'm even going to get to watch a little TV before I pass out :)

Almond Valley Heritage Centre

Yesterday, along with most of central Scotland, we went to Almond Valley Heritage Centre. Zara, Susie, and Jay also came along to enjoy the sunshine.Trying to get a good picture of all her pals in near on impossible, this is the best of the bunch. I found out my friend Avril is expecting her second baby at the end of last week! So along with Susie and Zara, Jay is also going to get a wee brother or sister :)Isla is pretty possessive over Leah. She likes to let everyone know she is hers. Jay was checking Leah out in the pram and she ran over and screamed "mine!" at him while shoving him out the way. It was not pretty. She was pretty much the same and my mother and father in law's house last night. There were a number of Mexican standoffs when she decided to guard "her" stuff from Maddy and Ailsa. I know it is only a matter of time before she freaks out about sharing her Granny too :( Looks like it is going to be a long summer teaching her the importance of sharing.

Cousins

Isla and Leah's cousins arrived just in time to celebrate their Grandpa's and Aunty Jean's birthday!!