On Tuesday Amy went shopping with our cousin Beth and Alex did his own thing. Dad and I wanted to go and find the cemetary where his parents are burried. He had the address and some directions. We left the flat and took the bus down to waverly bridge and decided to go and have lunch at Prince's mall. We got backed potatoes with tunafish in them. It was weird but not bad. I think I might actually try it again sometime.





The picture above is one of a few signs that are in the mall. I'm pretty sure the natives were laughing at me as I took pictures of the funny signs. I'm such a tourist!!





We got the bus to the cemetary, dad was wrong about where the bus stop was to get off so we had a nice walk to find it, the people at the cemetary were able to print off a map to show us where the plot was. We found it and took some pictures. The above picture is of the gravestone.







This is me with the gravestone. It was neat to go and see that. It gives me more of a connection to my grandparents. I met my granny a few times as a small child but grandpa passed away before my parents even met. So it was neat to be able to go and see that. It started raining a bit while we were there so we waited under a tree for a bit until it slowed down.





As we were walking back to the bus stop we were walking through these trees. Everything is green, they get so much rain that the trees have LOTS of moss on them which gives them this green tint. It's actually pretty cool.





We took the bus for a little ways and then dad decided we should get off and go for a walk. We walked over to this road where we had a really good view of Arthur's Seat and the craigs alongside it. Dad took this picture of me with Arthur's Seat in the background. We walked along this little ridge across the street from Arthur's Seat. Dad pointed out in the distant the school that my grandpa was a janitor at for many years. We actually walked over to it and down the street and dad showed me where he lived as a little boy when his dad was the Janitor. He showed me some other streets and stuff. It started raining again and we ducked into a little close (alley) for cover. After a bit we started walking again. We came across a police station and dad wanted to ask a question so we went in and did that. We caught the bus back to the flat and got ready for dinner at Trish's.







This is a picture of the school that grandpa worked at in the distantance.







Trish invited us over for Tea(supper) so we went over there and visited and had dinner of yummy lasagna. After dinner it was decided that we would go on a walk to Cramond and to see the ponies(a little pony farm). The picture above is by the water in Cramond. I just thought it was really pretty.





One of my ancestors on my mom's side was the tollkeeper for Cramond Brig Toll many years ago so I had to take a picture. It was neat to be able to put a place to a name. I'm so excited about Family History now.







This is me with the Cramond Brig Toll behind me.





This is the street that the used to live on.



This is dad watching everyone playing at the park before we went back to Trish's.



This is Alex and Sarah playing on this funky swing thing that you stand up on and make it go around in circles. It was hillarious to watch.





This is Amy, Beth and Sarah on this cool bowl swing. Alex was pushing them. It was crazy I was almost expecting them to fall out. After the park we went back to Trish's for desert of ice cream and fruit. It was a lovely day and evening.



On Wednesday Sarah had to work in the morning and we arranged to meet on the Royal Mile after lunch so we could go to Edinburgh Castle. Dad, Amy, Alex, Sarah, Beth and I as well as Sarah's former roommat Jessica and Jessica's daughter met us there as well. The picture above is when we were walking up the castle esplanade. Most of us had the Historic pass so we didn't have to wait in line. We had to wait for those that did have to pay though. We looked at the view and stuff while we waited.


This is the view from the castle.



and another view from the castle

How many girls can you get on a cannon? well in this case you can get Sarah, Jessica, C, Beth, Amy and Becky!!



this is the one o clock gun. They actually fire this gun every day at one o clock.
\ There are these little holes in the wall i think maybe where they would shoot guns/cannons from and we all decided it would be fun to sit in them and take pictures.

Scotland 2009 Part Two

So here is another long post about my awesome trip. Below are a few more pictures of our trip to Stirling Castle on the first Saturday we were here.


The picture above is of I believe the Great Hall in Stirling Castle they still use it for parties to this day.


The picture above is of the courtyard at Stirling Castle.


This one is a view of Wallace Monument from the Wall around Stirling Castle




This Tapestry had a role in the movie Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.


After the Castle on the drive back to Edinburgh we stopped and saw the Robert The Bruce statue, there are two of these statues in the world, one here and one in Calgary by SAIT now I have a picture taken with both.

We went back to Edinburgh. Sarah took dad, Amy and Alex too see the flat that she was living in, there wasn't room in her car so I stayed at James' flat and wrote in my journal and watched t.v. After we had dinner Sarah, Amy, Beth and I went and saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It was the 2nd time most of us had seen it. We had a fun little girls evening. Sunday dad and I went to church with James and Beth and Sarah met us there for Sacrament meeting. Sunday evening everyone came over to James' flat for Sunday Tea (which is what they call supper) Everyone was there except for Iain. After dinner all the men went bowling for James's stag night. Us girls went over to Trish's house and spent the evening visiting and hanging out it was lots of fun.


On Monday Alex, dad and Amy decided that they wanted to go to the Hearts store (football team) and a motorcycle store. That doesn't interest me at all so I did the touritsy thing and took the bus down to Waverly Bridge and got a ticket for the bus tours that you can take around Edinburgh. I got the one that lets me go on any of the tours for a 24 hour period. The picture above is of Princes Street mall.


This is a view of New Register House from the bus tour. Auntie Trish works here I believe.

This is a view of some buildings from the bus.


This is the Scottish Parliment Building. The design has to do with there open door policy, hence why you can see in the windows. It looks cool.


This is the Queens gallery at Holyrood house palace.



This is the Abbey at Holyrood house palace. I was so excited to come here. I had read about it online and really wanted to come. The palace is where the Queen stays when she comes to Edinburgh. There is also a lot of history to do with Mary Queen of Scotts. I got to the Palace just a few minutes before a guide was going to do a tour of the Abbey ruins so I was able to do that. It was really neat to see the ruins and here him explain about all the things that happened here. With my admission to the palace you get an audio guide to use for your tour so it was cool to listen and go through all the rooms in the palace. Your not allowed to take pictures inside the palace because it's a residence of the Queen. It's beautiful inside. I did buy the guidebook which has pictures and talks about everything.


This is me standing inside the Abbey.

This is Holyrood House Palace

Me in front of the fountain at Holyrood House Palace

After lunch at the palace I got back on a tour bus and continued around Edinburgh and saw lots of other neat buildings. Above is Grassmarket

This is a picture of Arthur's seat. It looks like the head of a lion. It's magnificent to look at. I kind of wish I could have climbed it but I didn't!


This is just one of many neat buildings around Edinburgh. I love that everything is made of Stone and is so old.


This is a private school that J.K. Rowling modeled hogwarts after in the Harry Potter books

This is St. Andrews Square it always looked busy. It would be a nice place to sit and read a book.

I took another bus tour out to Leith to Ocean Terminal it's a mall and also has the Royal Yacht Britannia docked there. It's now a museum. This is a picture of it. I didn't do the tour. It was already late in the day. I did a little shopping and then headed back into Edinburgh.


This is a funny sign that I saw on the way back from Leith. Definitly wouldn't get my hair cut at this place!

There is a skeleton in the window of this flat. Don't know why but it's funny!

This is one of the observatories in Edinburgh. Dad used to work at one when he lived here.

This is a view of Waverley Station and some I believe Parliment buildings in the background.

This is the Scott Monument on Princes Street. If you climb it you get a certificate. I didn't climb it. But thought it looked cool. I wandered along Princes Street and did some shopping. Got some souveniers and gifts for people. Including at Marks and Spencers. Got to get Battenburg! After that I headed back to the flat and ran into dad and Amy when I got off the bus. We went to the little Chinese restaurant by the bus stop and got dinner and then went back to the flat.

Finally an update!!!

Robin and I at the mid singles conference

Sisters



Grandma

The whole family

Kids with mom

Wow I am really bad at this blogging thing!!! So what's been going on lately? I've been busy with work. My grandma passed away on June 14th which was a really hard thing for me, I've alwasy been really close with her. I can't believe it's been a month, I keep wanting to phone her to tell her something. I'm taking it day by day, I'm very glad she's in a better place where she isn't suffering anymore. She was creamated so we had the internment of the ashes at the cemetery. A few family members from out of town were able to come and be there for that. It was a hard day but it was a nice day at the same time. The entire day was dedicated to spending time with family that we haven't seen in a long time. It was really nice to see them all.

My sister Sarah who moved to Scotland a few years ago was able to come back for the funeral which was really nice. It's been a few years since we've seen her. It was fun to visit with her and of course she brough us yummy sweets!!

So now for the exciting news my uncle James is marrying his fiancee in Ireland in August. So my dad, my sister Amy and my brother Alex are going!!!! We are flying out of Calgary on July 29th to glasgow Scotland and we'll be spending most of our time in and around Edinburgh. We'll be in Ireland for 3 days and 2 nights. I cannot wait it's gonig to be such an awesome trip. I'm really excited to be able to go with my family. My dad grew up in Scotland so it will be neat to have him show us lots of things and places. We have lots of cousins and relatives over there so it will be fun to meet them. I'll definitly be taking lots of pictures and posting them on here and on facebook. I tend to update facebook way more often then this.

I've still been having loads of fun making cards, I made a bunch of new ones over the last couple of weeks I haven't taken any pictures of them yet but when once I have I will post them.

For the last 10 days Calgary has been home to the Calgary Stampede! It's a fair and a rodeo and all sorts of things all rolled into one. I actually didn't make it down there this year. It's expensive and I couldn't justify spending that much money when I'm going on holidays. There have been lots of free pancake breakfasts around town though which has been fun. Also being able to wear jeans to work is a definite bonus.

Now for some pictures: