Stan and Freddie's Weblog

Letter to Father Christmas

2012-01-02T09:14:00.001Z

As part of our Artic project we all wrote letters to Father Christmas at the North Pole. I left mine out with a mince pie, glass of sherry and a carrot for Rudolf. I asked him if he knew any animals that I'd been studying in school. On Christmas morning we found that Father Christmas had written back to us! It must take ages for him to deliver all the presents and write letters back to everyone, particularly if, as Grandad Alan mentioned, he does so in this very neat and stylish handwriting.

School project

2011-12-30T10:49:00.000Z

Last term at school we had our first big project, the Arctic and Antarctic. I know now that polar bears and the Inuit live in the Arctic and penguins and scientists live in the Antarctic. We also collected milk cartons and made a great igloo and draw lots of pictures of penguins and leopard seals.

Boxing Day walk

2011-12-26T16:58:00.000Z

Today we went for a quick walk around Balmaha. Mummy didn't take any photos of the walk but she did remember to take one of her enormous banoffee pie she had in the pub afterwards.

Lego and Grandma

2011-12-26T16:57:00.000Z

Here's a photo of us with Grandma and two of our presents - a Lego Harry Potter Knight Bus and a Lego Ninjago Earth Dragon.

Christmas Day

2011-12-26T08:50:00.000Z

It's Christmas day!!!!!!!!!!

We have not been this excited for at least a year. Unfortunately Mum and Dad were not sufficiently excited to want to be woken at 4am (particularly since they went to bed at 1am). After a few hours of wriggling in Mum and Dad's bed and quite a lot of moaning about not being able to get back to sleep we forced them to get out of bed and drag themselves downstairs.

Father Christmas had drunk his sherry, eaten his mince pie and one of his reindeers had eaten most of the carrot...and he remembered to leave a huge pile of presents.

We were very luckily and had a huge number of presents. Fred was particularly lucky to get a furry seal and two little furry owls (one from me), lots of lego and Ninjago stuff, paints, some brilliant books about animals, a Cars2 dvd...and I got loads of Lego as well, a Kung Fu Panda 2 dvd, a wallet (from Fred), lots of books (a great dinosaur one) and an airfix kit of a red arrow.

We both also got watches and Star Wars towels and new coats just like Mum's that we insisted on wearing straight away, and a brilliant Ninjago Lego temple and a mini-pool table (Grandad's been demonstrating his snooker skills)!

After all the presents we went to church and then came back to a huge Christmas dinner feast. There was an enormous turkey and a lovely salmon for Daddy that Grandma and Grandad had brought up from Dumfries. There were crackers and parsnips and gravy which are our favourite things.

There was so much food that we had to have a two hour gap between dinner and pudding. Just enough time to watch Cars 2 in the cinema room (actually a bed sheet attached to the bookshelves)...

...and for Grandad to have a quick nap.

Prince caspian's castle

2011-12-18T14:09:00.000Z

This is the picture I drew at Grandma's house last weekend while I was watching Prince Caspian. I love drawing quite complicated pictures and if there's a battle in there then all the better.

School play

2011-12-16T10:50:00.000Z

For the last few weeks Fred and I have been spending a lot of time at school practising for the school play. We both had important parts to remember. Freddie was a squirrel with a lot of songs and some complicated dance moves and I had a line. My main job though was as a sceneshifter and there was at least three changes of scenes (inside Santa's house, outside Santa's house, back to inside Santa's house and then outside Santa's house again). Mummy and Daddy were very proud of us both.

Tree!!!!

2011-12-16T10:48:00.000Z

It's getting very exciting. We went to pick a tree from the local Forestry Commission place and found all the decorations in the loft so that we could all decorate the tree. As usual it's a little bit lopsided in its decorations, with a large amount of baubles at 5-year old height.

Snowy Edinburgh

2011-12-11T10:18:00.000Z

A couple of weekends ago we popped over to Edinburgh to visit Niamh and Rosie in their new house. It's a great house with loads of rooms to explore and it's right in the centre of town. We walked to their local park and made a lot of snowmen. This one that we made has sunglasses (it was very bright) and a rather fetching moustache (he kept it after growing it in November).

We also made an igloo, and a team of around 20 helped with it. The roof was very tricky but we used a lot of fallen branches to strengthen it. Unfortunately Daddy is a mathematician and not a civil engineer so the roof fell in on top of us all and we had to have an emergency disaster effort to dig everyone out.

After all that excitement we then had a sleepover at Niamh's house and got to watch all of their videos.

Storms

2011-12-08T15:40:00.000Z

We're getting used to the stormy weather living in Balfron. Maybe it's been a particularly windy year but Glasgow didn't seem nearly as bad. While we were in Lismore this year a lot of trees fell down in our garden (we've nearly burned all of them on our fire already) but that was a very big storm. The recent winds weren't quite as bad, but the trees at the bottom of the garden did sway around a lot and many of them fell over. Now the road to the left has a great tunnel of fallen trees. Our car fits under them but the bin lorry has problems.

Meet Ron and Rex

2011-12-06T12:33:00.001Z

We have two new members of the family. No Mummy hasn't had twins, we now have two pet gerbils. The brown gerbil is called Ron (after a ginger-haired wizard) and the black gerbil is Rex (after a dinosaur) and are great fun. They live in a corner of our kitchen (the only warm(ish) room in the house) and have a two-tier house and a special little tunnel to sleep in.

They run around a lot, they have a ball which they roll around in and they have lots of food. They do make quite a noise, but that just masks the noise of our other little visitors that we share our house. We absolutely must NOT let them out, mainly because there are lots of holes they could disappear down, and other potential dangers.

First snow

2011-12-05T12:32:00.000Z

It's snowed! Hurray hurray hurray. It's very cold of course but we're going to try and build a snowman soon.

I'm 5!

2011-12-05T11:57:00.002Z

Yes, it's been a long time coming but I am now 5 and I'm still two years younger than Stan. Now that I am at school I could invite my whole class so there was an awful lot of 4 and 5 year olds in one small space.

We had my party straight after school one day and all walked across to the church hall. Grandma and Grandad had done sterling work decorating the hall with bunting and balloons. Grandad's magic balloon sticking hair came in very useful.

We first had some chocolate-based snacks so that we were extraspecially excited...and then the animal man came. Some people were a little scared because I had told them at school that he might be bringing a tiger, but they had grown-up laps to sit on so it was okay.

Animal Man had lots of exciting creatures...a cockerel that sits on your head, a snake, a cockroach that liked to crawl on Mummy's face, a scorpion, a rat, a bunny and a huge spider.

It was the best animal-related party that anyone had ever been to.

Even my cake had animals on...

I was very very lucky to get an awful lot of presents this year. I have been opening them quite gradually and even a month later there is still one present unopened. Here is a photo of Stan and me playing with one present that I loved. It has a robot bug in it.

I haven't got a photo of possibly my favourite present but I will post one soon...two gerbils called Rex and Ron.

London

2011-11-07T19:55:00.000Z

A few weeks ago we went for a few days to London...on a plane! We haven't been on a plane for ages and ages and Freddie was so young then he can't remember it. We liked pretty much everything about the plane, even the queuing was fun. The views from the plane were fantastic and we almost flew over our house. The mist was covering the valleys so we couldn't actually see Balfron though.

When we'd arrived in London (well, Kent actually) we had a train trip and a table to play Star Wars Lego on. Then we met Dexter and Max in the Science museum for a quick run around (and some loud explosions) before we went back to their house to play with their toys...mainly their great Thunderbirds toys.

The next day we had lots planned. Unfortunately Dexter and Max had to go to school and nursery so we went on our own to the middle of London to see the sights.

We started at the Houses of Parliament where very important people decided on the laws and how much money we should pay so that the schools and hospitals can run.

Then we walked across the road to Westminster Abbey. This is where the Kings and Queens of England (and the UK and even Scotland) are crowned. We didn't go inside because we thought we'd spend our money on crisps instead.

A quick walk in the park and we were at the Queen's house. She really hasn't got far to walk from where she goes to church or where she meets the government, and it's a lovely stroll in the park for her.

We were very interested in the guards and how they marched around and the huge guns they have. We were particularly interested in how they know to start marching at exactly the same time.

Because it was nearly remembrance day there were lots of poppies in the park and we learnt a lot about the wars and what our Great Grandads did. There was even a set of poppies for Mummy and the other ladies that cook lunch on Thursdays. Mum said that if we have a big war then she will have to do lots more cooking or putting out fires or driving ambulances.

After a quick run around the park kicking leaves we then went on the underground (lots bigger than Glasgow's) to the Natural History Museum.

The museum was so exciting we hardly took any photos at all. The only one we did take was this one of the T Rex...it was very lifelike and Freddie was a little scared.

We had a wonderful time in London and it was fantastic to see Dexter and Max again. Hopefully we'll come back soon and they can show us more of the sights.

Scarface

2011-11-05T18:34:00.001Z

Last weekend, while on a walk/bike ride with Rachel, Freddie fell over and managed to spear himself with his bike handlebar. There was quite a bit of blood, warranting a trip to the hospital and a big bandage. Fred was very brave and hardly cried at all. He did feel very sorry for himself and he did enjoy the day off school he had because he had to make sure the wound didn't open up again.

Hopefully it's healing okay. When we changed the stitches this morning it looked quite impressive.

The best walks involve lots of mud!

2011-11-05T17:54:00.000Z

Today we went for a walk in the Autumn sunshine with Rosie and Niamh.

The best country walks are the muddy ones and luckily all the paths around us are very very muddy. We had lots of fun getting stuck and squelching about. The Mummies gave up trying to keep us clean, and Rosie even ended up losing her welly and getting her tights very mucky.

We also played skimming stones in the river...and Pooh sticks on the bridge.

On the way back we practised lots of funny walks and Simon let us look through his binoculars . We spotted an owl and a buzzard.

Ooooh...Ahhhh

2011-11-05T09:16:00.002Z

Last night we went to Killearn fireworks night...it was amazing. Easily the best fireworks we have ever ever seen. Very loud, very big, very colourful and full of wonderful multistage fireworks.

I found lots of my friends there but Freddie was very tired and needed to go home straight after the fireworks. (Dad: perhaps because he got up at 5.55am).

Parents' evening

2011-11-05T09:08:00.000Z

This week Mummy and Daddy went into school for parents' evening. Freddie was very worried (this was his first parents' evening) because he thought that Miss Gough would mention an incident which involved a tennis raquet and Fraser (Daddy couldn't get anymore information than that). Luckily Miss Gough must have forgotten about it.

When they came back they were very happy and our teachers had been very complimentary. Fred just had to do things a bit slower and I had to do things a bit faster. Mum and Dad looked at all our work as well and took these to photos. Above is Fred's drawing of a zebra trying to hunt a mouse (his own story) and below is my work on Judaism.

Homework

2011-11-04T16:30:00.000Z

Homework is much more fun when I help Freddie read his book.

Secret passage

2011-11-04T16:26:00.000Z

Dad is going DIY crazy. He's attacking the damp wall in the bedroom upstairs. He's already patched up the lead work on the roof and is now insisting on knocking down part of the bedroom wall. It looks like it's a secret passage but it turns out it's an old fireplace. Unfortunately he has found a huge lump of concrete up the flue which he has to get out...but first he might have to tackle that very flaky asbestos looking plaster in the fireplace.

Mud

2011-11-01T07:56:00.000Z

Freddie loves mud...perhaps more than he loves animals...definitely more than he loves sweets. He's quite an expert on its quality and texture and here he is with teaching one of his friends how to mix together exactly the perfect mud: two parts soil from the vegetable patch, one part soil from the flower bed and one part water, all in a tin pot and stirred for four minutes with a stick (oak).

A walk by the Endrick

2011-10-29T09:45:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago we went on a walk down to the river at the bottom of the lane. Mummy found this walk on one of her constitutionals. It was a lovely sunny day but still quite cold but that didn't mean Fred didn't have plans to have a swim.

Luckily we managed to persuade him that it wasn't one of his better ideas but he does really want to get to the other side.

On the way back we found a lot of mud.Mummy was first in shortly followed by Fred of course.

Punk

2011-10-28T09:46:00.000+01:00

Freddie loves having new hairdos. Not sure who he reminds us of though...maybe...or maybe...

Halloween Disco

2011-10-28T08:11:00.001+01:00

Last night we had a brilliant Halloween Disco at school. After school we came home to get into our costumes and have some dinner. Fred put on his batman outfit (much better than his original suggestion of a teddy bear...he would have been very hot in his fluffy teddy bear dressing gown) and I made my own outfit. I used a black cape and my new trident, and made a Dracula mask.

We were ready nearly two hours early.

So then we had our tea (I think Batman must take off his mask before he eats because its very easy to get very messy).

Eventually we got to go to the party and absolutely all our friends were there. There was a dancing competition and lots of sweets and scary popcorn and some fantastic costumes (my favourite was a huge robot costume).

We got back and were so tired we almost went to bed in our costumes.

Budding scientist

2011-10-26T19:57:00.002+01:00

After a very successful trip to the science centre we decided to get out the magic science kit which I got for my birthday (thanks Carly and Dylan). So far I have made the magic wand that came with the kit (Daddy insists it isn't necessary to wave a magic wand to do science experiments) and I have made magic writing ink and then made it disappear. Tomorrow's experiment is "fizzing frenzy".

Science

2011-10-26T15:20:00.002+01:00

Unfortunately we haven't got many photos from our trip down to Sandbach in half term. Maybe Grandma or Uncle Lee have some. Anyway, we did have a trip to the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry which was great. We lifted a mini up, saw hundreds of planes and trains, and also made our own earthquakes and hurricanes.

While we were down in Sandbach we also had fun on Great Grandma Dot's stairlift.

Pocket money

2011-10-25T16:00:00.000+01:00

Now that we get pocket money every week (£1 if we are good with extra if we help Mummy and Daddy and do our homework) we love thinking of things to spend it on. The picture above is from a recent trip to Stirling. Daddy could have a nice cup of coffee and a pastry while we pored over the Argos catalogue and ate kit-kats.

Fred spends it as soon as he has enough for a toy (this boat has a shark in it!) but I usually save mine for a while. I was saving up for something very big but now I think I'll probably wait and see if I get any money for Christmas and buy something a bit smaller.

Beaver guy

2011-10-19T08:29:00.002+01:00

Last week at Beavers we made guys. Ours was very nicely dressed and even had a fur coat! (and egg box shoes). You might just be able to see his very sad face...maybe he knows what's going to happen. All the lodges made guys but we do think ours was the best.

This week we had a very exciting Beavers night, a bonfire, a sing song, fireworks and hotdogs. Our guy was hoisted onto the fire and he burnt very well...we love the smell of a bonfire, and burning synthetic fibres.

Urchin

2011-09-30T10:02:00.000+01:00

When Fred goes to school he has clean smart clothes.

Boating

2011-09-28T09:59:00.000+01:00

We thought we'd put this photo up because we think it's funny. Mummy looks like she should be lazing on a yacht moored off Capri, Daddy looks like he should be in a canoe on the Cahulawassee River...but in fact we're in a pedalo going in circles on a small pond.

[Note: Daddy tells me the XXL lifejacket was very roomy on him.]

Loch Ard

2011-09-27T17:12:00.001+01:00

Last weekend we went for a bike ride along Loch Ard near Milton. It was a lovely day with lovely views along the valley. We did quite a lot of bike riding, although it was quite bumpy, and we went to see Rob Roy's Cave...but he wasn't in.

After the cave we had a picnic by the loch and tried to throw sticks into the water.

After lunch it turned out Freddie's legs had stopped working, he couldn't even stand up, or sit on his bike while someone pushed it. After much discussion (moaning) he was persuaded to soldier on and battle through the psychological wall...then he whizzed off on his bike...then fell off.

Anyway, an ice cream in Aberfoyle made everything alright in the end.

Wildlife

2011-09-26T09:43:00.003+01:00

While Mia and Jack were here we went into the garden and saw a lovely hedgehog. He gradually shuffled off into the garden and we think he's living amongst the Montbretia.

Then we saw a couple of otters near the stream...

...and then we saw a lion sunbathing near to the wood at the bottom of the garden.

Uncle Eif

2011-09-26T09:38:00.001+01:00

Uncle Eif is great! When we went to Inchcailloch he was very keen to go swimming, even though it was a little chilly. Everyone else was very happy to let him take all four of us out into the water and he got us all swimming. Even though Fred and I are Scottish we were the ones who didn't like it so cold, Mia and Jack were great at the swimming.

Fred actually preferred to lie around in the shallows.

After a lovely swim we relaxed in the sun, eating our sandwiches and crisps together.

When we went to David Marshall Lodge Uncle Eif also saw a bit of water and wanted a swim. We had to climb very high up the waterfall to get a deep enough pool, and Fred did fall in a few times.

But eventually we found a (very cold) pool of water and Eif could have his swim.

It was great fun playing with Eif. He lives so far away that we don't get to see him as often as we like but maybe we'll see him at Christmas.

Mia and Jack

2011-09-26T09:23:00.001+01:00

It's been a while since they were here but we've only just had time to sort out photos and blog about Mia and Jack coming to visit (they also came with Uncle Lee, his lovely new girlfriend Alison, Little Grandma, Grandad Brian and Uncle Eif).

We had a wonderful time and we did so much it's hard to fit it all in one blog post. I'll just mention here all the things that we loved to do with Jack and Mia.

As you can see from the photo above, Jack is really great at climbing, we did so much climbing all week and found that rhododendron bushes are great.

We also did a lot of swinging. We didn't need to wear helmets of course but we had just got back from a bike ride and didn't have time to take them off. We quite often had some very interested bullocks. They would stampede from the other end of the field and then just watch us go back and forward on the swing.

We also showed Mia and Jack the wood at the bottom of the garden. We did lots of climbing of course and we also found big sticks and splashed in the muddy pool left after a couple of trees fell in the storms.

Another thing we loved doing with Mia and Jack was going to the Edinburgh Fringe to see The List Operators. They were two very very funny men, Daddy probably laughed more than anyone else, oh and we all got tomato sauce flavoured crisps.

After the funny men we went for lunch at Pizza Express and had a lovely little coffee afterwards...

...and huge ice creams...

...another day and a another climb. This time we climbed all the way to the top of the hill on Inchcailloch, a little island in the middle of Loch Lomond. It was a lovely sunny day and we had a great picnic on the beach and a swim (more of that in a later post).

You may have realised by now that climbing was a theme of the week. You can just see us in the photo below trying to explore the source of the Allt a' Mhangham, the river that runs through the forest near to our house. We didn't find the start of the river but we did get very very wet.

After all that we had a relaxing afternoon with a video, pick-and-mix and popcorn.

We had a lovely time with Mia and Jack (and the rest of the family) and we were very sorry to see them leave. We'll see them very soon though and hopefully they will be back up to visit soon as well.

I just read my first proper book!

2011-09-04T19:47:00.001+01:00

Today I decided to show Mummy and Daddy just how good my reading is suddenly getting. I read 60 whole pages and 6 chapters straight through and amazed them both!

I was rewarded with lots of kisses from Mummy and an extra 20 pence pocket money . Now I want to read everything and even tried to tackle a long boring letter from my school about The Parent Council meeting that I found lying around.

Freddie surprised Mummy and Daddy too by writing all of his numbers and memorising the little rhyme that went with each one.

We do like to keep Mummy and Daddy on their toes.

Gardening

2011-08-29T13:21:00.000+01:00

It's a bit of an understatement to say that there is a lot of work to do in the garden. There was a lot of work to do when we got here in January...there was even more to do because we left the house between April and July, when everything grew so much...and then there was even more when the May storms brought down a few trees.

Luckily Daddy likes gardening and we have lots of great friends and relatives who also like to help. A few weekends ago Niamh and Rosie and Ana and Bruno came to visit. Luckily they also brought their parents and we all helped to clear away a lot of the fallen trees and rhododendron bushes.

The dads also helped to start the wood shed that Daddy has planned.

Everyone helped...

...and helped...

...and helped.

Then everyone was rewarded with a video/beer/dinner.

I've started school!

2011-08-16T09:58:00.003+01:00

This last week has been a very busy week because we've had so many people staying (Mia, Jack, Uncle Lee, Alison, Little Grandma, Grandad, Uncle Eif). We'll be writing all about it on the blog in the next week or so (Daddy is busy at work at the moment) but we had to post this picture...

It's school time again! In fact I've started school for the very first time. Stan is going into P3.

I'll tell you what it's like when I come back from school but I was very happy with my school uniform...particularly my army combat bag.

I am a tin of peas

2011-08-02T20:19:00.001+01:00

We always enjoy going to the cafe up the lane and playing Hedbanz. Particularly when grown-ups play.

Reunited with the triplets

2011-07-29T18:12:00.001+01:00

Yesterday we went to Mugdock Park to meet up with the triplets. We haven't seen them for so long. They are all going to school in a few weeks just like me but unfortunately not the same school. They have also grown very tall, almost as tall as Stan, and they are very good at walking (and not moaning). We played on the trees, in the playpark, and on the way to the castle we saw lots and lots of baby frogs.

Tamsin's house

2011-07-28T09:30:00.002+01:00

For the first few weeks on Lismore Tamsin was my nursery teacher. Unfortunately she then hurt her hand and couldn't work anymore. I love going around to her house though as she has loads of lovely animals.

This weekend we popped round to help feed everyone. First we said hello to Buttycup the lamb...

Then we went to find the three horses, Charlie is my favourite...

and we took them back to the stables for a quick brush...

We also chased around the two cats and three dogs, and we fed the chickens.

After all that we had to have a rest on Tamsin's great porch swing.

Rachel and Donald's house

2011-07-28T08:17:00.002+01:00

On our trip to Lismore we camped in the Rachel and Donald's garden. We're both very good friends with Rachel because she is in the year in between us at school (and Donald but be wasn't at our school yet). In fact we both tend to fight for her attention.

It was such lovely weather that we spent all weekend playing in her garden and the fields around her house (this gave the grown-ups lots of time to drink whisky and talk about tractors). She lives on a croft so there is loads of space.

My favourite place was her den. It's so far away that you can hardly see it from the house (it's in the trees in the distance).

It was a bit sparsely decorated at first but we soon got to work moving tables and chairs in.

Then we could play families. We had a tablecloth and wood for the fire. We even had chopsticks to eat our spaghetti bolognese with.

Rachel was always the Mummy of the family and I was either the Daddy or the 14-year old son. It was better when I was the Daddy though, as I was a very naughty teenager.

Ceilidh

2011-07-28T08:16:00.004+01:00

After the excitement of the races we got to stay up very (very) late and go to the dance. We didn't even get there until 10pm!

We didn't actually dance at all but we watched Mum and Dad all night.

I think Fred was trying to pluck up the courage to ask Rachel to dance but in the end he fell asleep instead. This was the latest we have ever been allowed to stay awake. We were very tired in the morning because (as usual) we woke up at 6.30am.

Races

2011-07-28T08:15:00.001+01:00

After the raft race we all went up to the top field for lots more races. There were running races (Mummy came third and Fred came third), egg and spoon race (I came third), three-legged and wheelbarrow races (did not compete), three-armed race for under fives (Fred and Rachel came first).

There were also some very exciting throwing events. Mummy did very well in the tossing the sheaf event, Daddy made it through to the second round of the hammer throw (but not in the shot-put). None of us wanted to do the hill-race (maybe next year).

After all that activity we deserved some of the delicious beef burgers and ice cream.

Raft race

2011-07-28T08:14:00.006+01:00

We were back in Lismore this weekend for the annual Raft Race and Sports Day.

It was a great day, brilliant sunshine and loads of fun. We didn't have a chance to build a raft as we're not on the island but Rachel's dad had a spare space on his raft for Daddy to join in.

It was a hard fought race and it was a close thing (except for the semi-professional team) and they eventually managed to fight back to third place.

After the race had finished all the kids could have a go. We didn't get very far but at least we didn't fall in like some of the adults.

Repair shop

2011-07-19T07:31:00.002+01:00

This weekend we gave our bikes a quick overhaul. My new blue bike (it has gears!) needed a new tyre and we checked for punctures as well because it hadn't been used for about a year. Then we took Fred's stabilisers off and gave everything a quick oil/WD40.

I can ride a bike

2011-07-18T21:53:00.002+01:00

Now that we are back in Balfron Daddy has taken my stabilisers off and I can ride a bike like a big boy. I can't start or stop yet but this was only the first hour of riding properly.

Oh, and I get distracted by tractors.

Oops!

2011-07-14T13:20:00.001+01:00

Only two days back home in Balfron and I got my head stuck in the gate. First my parents laughed...took photos...but then they realised I really couldn't get my head through. I was getting very excited about the fire engines coming and Mum was about to get the butter to grease my ears when Stan told them that I only got that way by squeezing my whole body through the gate, it was only my head that hadn't fit through.

So I just put my whole body back through the gate and I was free.

Fun in the sun

2011-07-14T12:09:00.001+01:00

Today was another wonderfully sunny day and it was time to get the paddling pool out. Daddy was busy weeding one of the flower beds (he's spent two days on it already) so couldn't play with us but we did manage to have a great time, mainly running in and out of the water, shouting and screaming.

Our favourite game is running from the swing, all the way across the lawn, and then jumping in to the water. It's easy for me but Freddie sometimes doesn't quite make the hurdle over the pool side.

Lemahamish

2011-07-13T13:28:00.004+01:00

One of our favourite places near our house is a bend in the river near to the Cobleland campsite, called Lemahamish. It's a great place for a picnic and today we were the only people there for a while.

We had a paddle, then even a swim, and then an explore down the river. This time we were big enough to wade across the whole river and get to the other side. We had a quick walk down the river to see if we could see any otters but they were probably asleep.

When we came back we had a quick go on the swing.

Showing Debs and Steff our island

2011-07-10T17:18:00.002+01:00

On our last weekend on Lismore, Debs and Stef came to visit us. We love having people to stay because we can show them all our favourite things.

We show them how to look for hermit crabs and little fish, and we cycle from home to the cafe.

We particularly love it when Debs and Stef visit because of Stef's cakes and Debs's spanish accent.

Bye bye Lismore

2011-07-08T19:11:00.001+01:00

It's our final week on Lismore. We have had a wonderful time and it's very sad to be going home...in fact it feels like this is our home now and we've started calling our real home "the house in Balfron".

In this last post from Lismore (until we go back in two weeks for a weekend) we thought we'd include a few photos of some of our favourite places. Every day we wait for Daddy to come home from work and sometimes we sit on the fence watching the ferry coming.
We all love Port Ramsey because it is a very pretty place, has a great shoreline to explore with lots of seaweed to look under and jellyfish to count, it has a great place to have a bonfire barbecue. It is also just about the limit of how far Freddie can cycle (a three mile round trip).

Almost everyday we have played on the little beach outside our house. We love to climb on the rocks, make waterfalls in the little pools, sit in our own special rock-seats, slide down the slide and look for crabs under the seaweed.

We have had a great time here and will miss it a lot. We'll be coming back every so often though.

Aubergine for sale

2011-07-05T10:27:00.004+01:00

Huge Purple Volvo for Sale

(NOW SOLD)

Very reliable, luxurious interior, tape player, radio which receives BBC Radio nan Gaidheal, electric windows, opening doors, at least four wheels, large boot (comfortably fits four children), aerial that goes up and down automatically, tow-bar, will do 0-60.

Only £200!

Secret cave

2011-07-04T12:05:00.004+01:00

I quite like walking now, particularly when we go and visit secret places. I like to go to my secret beach and now I have found a secret cave. Yesterday Daddy and I went for a big hike all the way to my cave, and we took a water bottle and marshmallows in case of emergencies.

Bouncy castle

2011-06-29T10:13:00.002+01:00

7

2011-06-25T11:01:00.008+01:00

I'm SEVEN! I know it's unbelievable isn't it? I had a wonderful birthday on Saturday. It started when I was given the largest pile of presents in the world, mainly Star Wars Lego. I spent a long time building the biggest of my spaceships but it was soon time for my party.

Lots of my friends came from Balfron and Dex and Max from London and Niamh and Rosie from Glasgow. We first ran around the garden in a generally demented way, then the bouncy castle turned up and we bounced for about an hour.

After that we played a game of "Jungle on Fire!" which everyone enjoyed and Mavia was the best at.

Then it was time for cake. A great Star Wars Stan cake, expertly iced by Connie. I had a brilliant birthday and was very tired at the end of the day. I went to bed hugging my ARC-170 Starfighter.

Daddy

2011-06-23T11:55:00.003+01:00

You don't often get to see photos of Daddy because he is usually behind the camera so I thought you'd like to see this one. Can you spot the recent addition?...no not Badger or Kevin...his beard! He started growing it when we came to the island. In no particular order here are some facts about his beard:

It's ginger.
Freddie likes to pluck hairs from his beard when Daddy isn't watching.
It's a bit like the fuzzy side of velcro.
Food and toothpaste have started to accumulate in it.
If the sun ever shone it might be a bit too warm.
It needs trimming.
It looks like his head is on upside-down.

Badger

2011-06-20T14:03:00.003+01:00

Badger is found!

Hurray! Badger is back safe and sound. Someone found him on the mainland, gave him a bath, sewed him up and now he looks just like new. I am very happy, and so is badger.

Collecting

2011-06-18T12:41:00.002+01:00

One of our favourite things to do on Lismore is to wait until Daddy comes home from work, to cycle with him to a nearby beach and collect debris. The seagulls like to leave lots of shells (my favourite are scallop shells) and bits of half eaten crabs (Stan's speciality) and we love to collect them all into a pile and bring them home. We also sometimes find useful pieces of wood.

School trip

2011-06-17T15:43:00.001+01:00

Lat week we went on the school trip...to Glasgow. I know it seems like we've only just moved from Glasgow up to Lismore but it was great going back with all my new school friends. Fred was allowed to come and Mummy came to look after him. Daddy also joined us later on as he was working in Glasgow that day.

We started with a trip on the big ferry to Oban and then a long minibus drive down to Glasgow. There are lots of winding roads and as with any school trip there had to be the obligatory stop for someone who was car sick. This is normally me but I was okay this time.

When we got to Glasgow we visited Glasgow Science Centre, we had Pizza for dinner, I went to the cinema (Fred went back to the hotel because he was tired), and we stayed in the hotel across from Daddy's office. Our room was enormous and we overlooked a crossroads so Fred was glued to the window because he loves watching taxis.

The next day we went to make puppets and then after a quick stop for lunch we were on our way home. This time two people were sick...

Sports day

2011-06-16T12:35:00.001+01:00

This week we had sports day at school. Well, because there are only nine children in the school it wouldn't of been a very good sports day (one of the big girls might have won every race). So all the schools (Lismore,Barcaldine, Strath of Appin, Ardchattan) around this area team up to have a big sports day at Ardchattan.

First we played lots of great games like throwing tennis balls at people, and football, and racing round an obstacle course. Mummy helped out with the water obstacle course and demonstrated how to do it to all the onlooking kids and teachers and parents. Unfortunately she went slightly wrong, ended up in the boggy area, slipped, and got covered in mud. After she had borrowed a pair of trousers of a very nice lady from a different school she managed to carry on.

After lunch we did running races like sprinting and the egg and spoon race (Stan is very careful when he does the egg and spoon race, he didn't drop his tennis ball but was also nearly last)...

... and a hopping race (the pre-5s hopping race was the funniest race of the whole day).

We all had a very good time and I got three badges, Stan got one and Mummy got very dirty trousers.

Emergency rescue!

2011-06-15T09:40:00.003+01:00

Badger is lost!

Last weekend Badger went to play on the beach by the old jetty and he didn't come back. I'm fairly certain I was holding him when I had to put him down as I tied up the boat. Then he probably stayed there to look at the sea. Unfortunately this was below the high-water mark and he has now been for a swim.

He might turn up on a beach somewhere so we have put posters around to make sure everyone knows to look out for him. He might also have decided to swim over to the mainland and visit his old house where he lived before he came to stay with me.

We have been in touch with them and they promise that if he comes to visit they will send him back (they also promised to sew up his raggedy ears and wash him so that he looks almost like new).

I miss him very much. I hope he comes back soon.

Birthday list

2011-06-13T12:27:00.003+01:00

It's my birthday soon, I'm getting quite excited about this and I've written a big birthday present list. It's quite Lego dominated, and lots of Star Wars stuff, and I know this is far too much for on seven year-old but I'm not expecting everything...

Here's a list of the things (with comments by Daddy, who insisted he needed to "manage expectations")

10131: Lego TIE fighter collection (Dad: far too expensive, this will never be bought, no link is necessary).
8088: Lego X-wing fighter (Dad: A possibility if Stan is an extra-specially good boy).
7658: Lego Star Wars fighter (Dad: again probably too expensive unless someone can find it for significantly lower price).
8014: Lego Clone walker (Dad: that's a bit more like it).
7655: Lego Clone Speeder (Dad: Too expensive for what you get).
7748: Lego Droid crawler (Dad: this shouldn't be this expensive either).
7656: Lego General Grievous ship (Dad: see comment for no. 1)
7659: Lego Stormtrooper ship (Dad: ditto)
Star Wars figures (Dad: available from Toys R Us and Tescos)
Drawing pad (Dad: a nice big A3 pad of plain paper for drawing, maybe a set of pencils is also a good idea).
Watch (Dad: no description provided by Stan...one with hands...and fairly robust).
Narnia DVDs (Dad: i.e. this one, it will be a blessed relief from Star Wars).
(Dad: a couple of other Lego things that are in Tesco and he'd love: this or this).

Right...that's plenty for now (Dad: for now!, that's plenty for the next three birthdays and Christmases put together).

Grandma's birthday

2011-06-04T09:52:00.001+01:00

As well as Daddy's birthday last week there was Mummy's birthday just before, Graham's birthday on Sunday, Grandma's birthday on Tuesday and LB's birthday just as she got back home!

Here's a nice photo of Grandma with her birthday cake at a lovely place that Mummy and her went for afternoon tea.

Daddy is 40!

2011-06-04T09:50:00.002+01:00

Last weekend Daddy celebrated his 40th birthday. This mainly involved lots of celebratory meals, drinking Benedictine, lots of windy walks on cliff tops, rough ferry crossings, crabbing, two birthday cakes, fun with Geoff and fruit, and playing card games with LB and Opal.

For his birthday Daddy got a strimmer, a fold-away barbecue, a pair of binoculars, hundreds of late 80s pop songs, two bottles of whisky, a bottle of Benedictne and an "Easy Reacher". (But no Lego?!)

There aren't that many photos from the weekend because most of them are blurred (shaky hands, sometimes from inclement weather and sometimes from being tired and emotional) but the one above is of Daddy's equation birthday cake and the one below is of Laura preparing for a fishing trip.

...and an equally flattering photo of Daddy with his new strimmer.

Storm damage

2011-06-02T18:57:00.001+01:00

We're back in Balfron for a couple of nights. Look at what the storms have done! Lots more firewood!

Mummy's Birthday

2011-05-30T11:02:00.002+01:00

Last Tuesday was Mummy's Birthday. Graham cooked her a wonderful cake and even expertly iced it as well. She had some nice presents but, strangely, she didn't get any Lego!? Even more strange was that she didn't seem to be that upset.

Boating

2011-05-27T18:04:00.002+01:00

Last weekend we got a call from one of Mummy's friends who had sailed to Lismore! They were in their boat round at Port Ramsey. It hasn't been the best weather recently so when Daddy went to pick them up they were very wet. He managed to fit them into the volvo (a new record of eight people in the car) and eventually prised Bruno, Alex and Ivo out of the boot where they wanted to travel, and drove them to our house for dinner.

We managed to persuade Elsa and Ana that the spare bed upstairs was a much better prospect than sleeping on the boat that night but all the boys decided to go back and spend the night amidst the wind and the rain.

In the morning the winds had died down a bit and we all went over to the boat in the little dinghy.

We had a great time pretending to steer the boat and exploring the cabin and eating bacon sandwiches.

We did not have such a good time getting back to shore during the cold, rainy, windy, wavy conditions that suddenly appeared when we set off. We were fine once we had all got back home to our nice warm house and had changed all our clothes. I'm not sure sailing is quite our thing just yet but we loved having everyone to visit.

Dancing: take 2

2011-05-26T17:57:00.002+01:00

Everyone was so pleased with our performance at the dancing competition that they asked us to perform again in the community hall. First we showed everyone our dance and then they all joined in.

I'm not sure Mummy has quite got the hang of it, she seems to be doing her own version of the dance.

Extreme weather

2011-05-25T17:32:00.001+01:00

We've recently been having quite a bit of weather. We had weeks and weeks of glorious sunny weather, then some very high tides and then suddenly winter came back. We've had a bit of rain and then yesterday a huge storm came. The waves were too high for the ferry to go (Daddy worked at home), then lots of tree fell down so that the only road on the island was impassable (Uncle Graham was on hand to lift trees), then the electricity cut out (we have candles and coal), we have no gas or telephone anyway but then the TV reception went (we have Mastermind and Happy Families)...but we managed to make it through the night.

At least it didn't last long (the next storm is on its way) and it did mean school finished early and we have had some great rainbows recently.

Happy Birthday Mummy

2011-05-24T16:17:00.000+01:00

It's Mummy's birthday today! We bought her a yacht!

TV Stars

2011-05-24T15:23:00.004+01:00

Last week the BBC came to our school. They came to Lismore because they wanted to know how much things had changed since they came 25 years ago for the Domesday Project.

If you want to see the programme then it might still be here. Or there might be something here in the future.

They filmed quite a lot and all the kids and some parents were on TV. Mummy was filmed walking us to school (the blur in the picture above is Mummy), they filmed me and my friends playing games (I'm the blur below, I was running fast),

and they filmed Freddie (he's the blur below).

Actually, the only one of us not to be a blur is probably Fred's toy Badger.

Mummy actually knew the man making the film and it looked like a nice film to make but she still wasn't very tempted to go back to making TV programmes.

Aviemore

2011-05-15T13:05:00.004+01:00

As usual we have been away in Aviemore to Little Grandma's holiday home. Unfortunately we couldn't stay very long because we needed to get back for school..booo! We did manage to fit a lot into our three days though.

We were very excited about cycling because this was the first year we have been able to cycle for ourselves. In had my own bike and I loved cycling up and down the hills and around the trees. Fred had a great tag-along bike behind Dad's. He screamed with excitement continually for the first six minutes of the bike ride, this turned into five minutes fo laughing and then ten minutes of gentle humming and singing to himself.

We didn't tell Dad but at no point during the bike ride did he actually peddle.

We did find this great rock on our trip which Fred and I managed to get ourselves stuck in.

We also went for a quick trip to Loch Morlich to play on the beach...Dad was the only person to paddle because it was very very cold (the water comes straight from the snow-capped mountains).

We also managed to fit in three trips to the swimming pool, a trip to the soft-play area, a short visit to the pub and a walk along the river in front of the holiday house.

This all meant we were very tired every night...

Rugby

2011-05-12T12:19:00.002+01:00

Last weekend we went to the Oban Lorne Rugby Sevens tournament to see one of Daddy's friends who is a referee. I got a bit distracted from the rugby when I found Steve's touch judge flags. Oh and we did play a game of Hide the Badger...and I had a huge ice cream that lasted 45 minutes.

Stan was, as always, extremely jealous that I had an ice cream while he was at the shops.

Crabs!

2011-05-11T09:16:00.004+01:00

After Naimh and Rosie visited us on the island they got back home and sent us this fantastic book about things to find on the seashore. We love going exploring and turning over every sizeable rock to see what we can find. When we got the book Fred immediately wanted to go and check the rocks and he found two hermit crabs and a velvet swimming crab, without legs.

Beach cleaning

2011-05-10T09:04:00.004+01:00

For one day last week we didn't have any school or nursery in the morning and instead we went to the beach. We thought this was brilliant but then they told us that we were actually there to clean the beach!

There's lots of strange things washed up on the beaches of Lismore so every so often some of them need a bit of a clean, otherwise all the animals could eat the rubbish and get poorly. While we collected litter we also learnt a lot about life on the beach. (For some reason Fred was very grumpy all morning, as you can see from this photo below.)

The beach we cleaned was just by Tirefour Castle, which is a broken down broch. After a morning's hard work we had lunch in the sun looking over to the mainland.

PS: we went to the broch for a picnic last week as well...here's a photo...

Scarlet and Felix

2011-05-06T11:33:00.002+01:00

This weekend our friends Scarlet and Felix came to visit us on the island. We seemed to spend all the weekend outdoors because Felix and Scarlet's favourite thing was crabbing. We explored the usual place we find crabs and this time we found little starfish and big starfish...

...as well as huge crabs (which Felix was brave enough to hold)

We also went down to the jetty when our neighbours were there crabbing and they let us have a go with their lines. It seems crabs love small pieces of bacon.

We also spent a lot of time going for walks and we had a great barbecue near to Port Ramsey. Our repertoire is increasing so that as well as marshmallows we also cooked sausages...

...and even had a proper grill to make them on,

Of course Daddy is a semi-vegetarian so he couldn't have the sausages and had to make do with a barbecued cheese sandwich.

We also cooked baked chocolate bananas which don't look very appetising in the picture below because they are in tinfoil and covered in ash, but taste absolutely wonderful.

After all that food we worked off a few calories by practising for the highland games hammer competition. We had no hammer to through but luckily, in our search for firewood, we had found a slightly mangy stretched tennis ball to throw.

Naimh and Rosie

2011-05-05T09:15:00.001+01:00

Some of our very first visitors to our island home were Niamh and Rosie (and their parents). They came to visit almost as soon as we had arrived and helped us to explore the island and have lots of adventures.

We spent lots and lots of time down at the shore finding starfish, crabs and little eels. Daddy and Jane also picked lots of mussels and cooked them for their dinner. They were full of natural pearls...we have quite a collection now.

We also had our first Port Ramsey beach barbeque with Niamh and Rosie, cooking our own weight in marshmallows.

Hopefully they will be back soon because we've found lots more exciting things on the island and have now expanded our barbeque recipes.

Photography

2011-05-04T09:01:00.003+01:00

You may have noticed a the quality of pictures has increased in the last few posts. This is because Caitlin and Caleb's Dad, Tim, has been the guest photographer for our blog for a few days. Normal service will now be resumed.

Caitlin and Caleb: Inchmahome

2011-05-04T08:16:00.001+01:00

For the last couple of days of Caitlin and Caleb's visit we went back to Balfron to show them our new house. We went to one of our favourite places, Inchmahome Priory. We climbed our favourite tree and played hide and seek all over the island.

It was such a lovely sunny day that we ended up paddling in the Lake/Loch.

It was a wonderful week and Mummy and Daddy were so happy that they could come all the way to visit us.
We were all sorry to see them go and it was particularly sad since it was only on the last day that Fred remembered Caitlin and Caleb's names and didn't call them "the boy" and "the girl".

Caitlin and Caleb: Easter party

2011-05-04T08:00:00.001+01:00

While Caitlin and Caleb were here we also went to the island Easter party. All my school friends were there and lots of other younger children. We played games and decorated eggs and ate chocolate. In fact Caitlin won the best decorated egg competition.

Caitlin and Caleb: outdoor activities

2011-05-04T07:57:00.000+01:00

We didn't just play games indoors when Caitlin and Caleb were here. Not everyone could fit in our car, even though it is very large, so we wanted to all go in the boot.
We had a great barbecue, with lots and lots of marshmallows, on the beach in Port Ramsey.

We climbed the hill behind our house and watched the eerily still water.

We collected mussels for dinner.
We went on a horse and trap ride, constantly talking and nearly falling off when the horse trotted.
We went for lots of bike/scooter rides although the hills were sometimes too steep so a little help was needed.

In fact we had a fun-filled week on Lismore.

Caitlin and Caleb: games

2011-05-04T07:50:00.004+01:00

Another feature of our week with Caitlin and Caleb was games...Fred and I were completely engrossed by Caleb's Nintendo DS and a little guy called Mario. We love that funny little guy.

Of course we all love Angry Birds...and when we can't get all those piggies Daddy is very happy to show us how it is done.

...and the eternal favourite is of course Lego...Caleb's Dad hadn't seen this much Lego in a long long time and he got to work on some great creations. A great fire-fighting spaceship and a black aeroplane were my favourites.

It looks from the photos that all the games involved just the boys but although Caitlin didn't play any of the video games she was extremely good at making up games that involved pebbles and shells. The shells all had their own names and they sat on their own pebble. The shell/pebble people had exciting adventures and Fred and I were completely transfixed. Freddie insisted that his own shell (called Freddie) had a very large rock instead of a pebble.

Caitlin and Caleb: pajamas

2011-05-04T07:44:00.000+01:00

Last week Caitlin and Caleb came to visit. It was lovely to see them and we hadn't been together for such a long time. While Caitlin and Caleb were here we had such a good time...but most of the time we seemed to spend outside in our pajamas playing on scooters and bikes or climbing the hill behind our house.

Highlands and Islands Music and Dance Festival

2011-05-03T10:02:00.002+01:00

Since I've been at my Lismore school we have been practising Scottish country dancing. Since we have only had six days at school in April that isn't much practising. This was the first time I have ever done country dancing but our teacher says I am very good at listening and concentrating on the various steps and moves.

Then suddenly it was announced that we were going to enter in the Highlands and Islands Music and Dance Festival. The school only just managed to enter a team because you need eight people to dance and we only have nine. Because I have only just started dancing it was decided I would be the reserve. Then, only two days before the festival, one of the children hurt their leg, and I was called in to dance! I wasn't at all nervous about this and surprised my parents with how I took it all in my stride.

On the day of the festival we took the ferry across to Oban and played a game of i-spy on the way.

After quite a long walk from the ferry terminal to the dance halls we had some sandwiches and a rest. A quick pep talk from the headteacher was also needed, as well as a game of tickling.

Then it was time for the competition. We were in the "Small Schools, less than 70 pupils" class. This class is then divided into teams of students who are less than 9 years old and those who are older. Unfortunately our team is our whole school so in the end we were in a class of only two teams, ours and Strath of Appin School.

We had a great time dancing (Rabbie's Reel) and only had one pile-up of kids when someone didn't leave a big enough gap to get through.

The judges decided not to award first and second place because we all did so well and everyone got a certificate.

After a great day out it was back to Lismore on the ferry again.

A few photos from our house

2011-05-03T10:01:00.000+01:00

Here are a few photos of things we see from our house. First a very very low tide...we thought we might be able to walk across to Port Appin...

Here is a rainbow, there's a pot of gold (draught beer) in the pub opposite...

This was a lovely bright full moon, which isn't done justice using our camera.

Fixing the roof

2011-04-29T13:04:00.001+01:00

Since we came to Lismore (admittedly on a very rainy day) the roof above the bay window has leaked. We were not very happy about this so Archie (the man who owns the house, we'll tell you lots more about Archie some other time) said he would fix it. So this morning he brought a roofer and a backhoe loader. The roofer didn't have a ladder (a roofer without a ladder!!) so Archie drove his digger up to the house and the roofer sat in the bucket while he looked at the roof. This of course blocked the only road on the island but no one seemed to mind the wait.

Man, sea and mountains

2011-04-27T17:23:00.003+01:00

Daddy is in his element here. He loves mountains and the sea...

...and seaweed...

...and halophytes...

...and metamorphosed limestone.

There are also a lot of birds to spot. So far he has seen herring gulls, eider, red-breasted merganser, cormorant, shag, ringed plover, oyster catcher, linnet, wheatear, corncrake (heard not seen), shelduck, greylag, canada geese, raven, dunnock, pied wagtail, goldfinch and lots of others.

Scottish country dancing

2011-04-27T12:58:00.002+01:00

Breaking News!

One of my classmates has hurt her leg...she can't dance. I will now be dancing in Highlands and Islands Music and Dance Festival...tomorrow...at 12:30pm. Might be good if I can find a top and kilt that fit me a bit better though.

School

2011-04-26T16:22:00.002+01:00

I've been very excited about going to my new island school. It has only eight other children in the whole school and we all learn together in one classroom which overlooks the car ferry jetty. There is one teacher and two other boys and one girl my age and everyone is very friendly and nice.

On my first day we spent the morning playing outside in the garden and the afternoon learning dancing. All the other children have been practising all term for the Scottish country dancing competition in Oban next week. I am going to be first reserve as I'm just getting the hang of all the tricky moves, but the dancing teacher was very impressed by how much I concentrated and picked up the basics. On the day we will all wear kilts and funny black lace up shoes....which I'm less sure about.

My favourite thing about my new school so far is that I get to play with Freddie as his nursery is in a room next to me and we can run about together in the really big garden and play with all the great pedal bikes and scooters in the playground. I also love gardening, pond dipping (I found a newt), nature walks along the beach and watching the interesting boats that dock at the jetty. We've been spending lots of time outside whilst it's been so sunny and I have loved reading and drawing in the garden .

Our house

2011-04-25T09:24:00.000+01:00

Here are a few pictures of our house on Lismore. We're here for only four months but we've already settled in very well. This actually just involved spreading Lego around the living room and we felt right at home.

The house is right on the sea front, with the only road on the island in front of the house, and we are about 20 yards from the little passenger ferry. Behind the house is a little hill, which is easy to climb and you can see all the way across to Morvern to the west, Mull in the south and to Ben Nevis in the north.

In the house we have a big room which is where we play and eat...

...with big (leaky) windows to the front.

The bedrooms are up stairs but they aren't very exciting. The other nice place is in the porch area where we sometimes have lunch and hopefully in the summer we will be having dinner.

Trip to Lismore

2011-04-25T08:55:00.000+01:00

After much anticipation, but virtually no preparation, it was time for us to move to Lismore. We had a busy few weeks before we left because of school and work and visits from friends and family. Eventually it was the day before we were to leave. Only then did Mummy and Daddy decide it was time to pack. We dragged suitcases all over the house, from cupboards and attic spaces and packed everything we could think of.

Daddy and Fred went in the Aubergine to the car ferry while Mummy and I went to the little passenger ferry with a lot of the suitcases.

Luckily the friendly ferryman was there to help but we did fill the ferry with our bags.

When Daddy got to Oban he realised that the ship to Lismore was a bit smaller than the ferries he is used to. This one only carries a couple of cars and he was very lucky that no one else wanted to go to Lismore, because he hadn't booked!

While backing on to the ferry (so he could drive straight off at the other end) we wrecked the exhaust in the process (the ferryman found planks of wood to help us on, they normally only use them for lorries but the Aubergine is a rather big car), and now have it held on by a plastic tie, provided by the postman on Lismore.

We met Mummy and Fred again at the house. It wasn't the best of days but we were very happy to be there. We now had two weeks of holiday to get settled in.

By the evening the rain had stopped and we realised we had very nice views from the house. This one is looking north towards Morvern.

Tidying up

2011-04-25T08:35:00.002+01:00

Right, it's time to tidy this blog up a bit. Now that Daddy has access to the internet at work and we have popped home for a couple of days we will be able to sort out some of these photos...

The Isle of Lismore

2011-04-04T11:11:00.002+01:00

We are going to live on the island today for sixteen weeks!!!

We are, variously, (a) excited beyond belief (b) in a state of utter panic since we only started packing at 8.10am this morning.

There isn't an internet connection in the new house so I'm not sure how much blogging will be possible. We'll be emailing photos to the blog though and we'll do catch-up posts every so often.

Forest walk

2011-04-01T12:32:00.004+01:00

Last weekend we went for a little walk in the forest just up the hill from our house, while Mummy finished her essay. Here are a few of the things we saw...

A big boulder which Daddy got excited about and started muttering about igneous rocks, quartz and glacial deposits...

...a stream to throw stones into...

...a lot of little Christmas trees...

...a very big fallen down tree...

...a lot of logs...

...a strange little prison...

...a huge lorry carrying logs.

New road

2011-03-31T09:52:00.004+01:00

Last week we got very excited when workman came to put down a new road surface on the drive outside. There were a few potholes and it was getting very hard to scooter on so we're very glad they did it.

It was also exciting seeing all the machinery. I wanted to have a go on the little road-roller.

And the big lorry which tipped the gravel was very noisy.

The Aubergine

2011-03-30T09:42:00.003+01:00

We have a new car. It is very big, purple and cheap. Aunty Sarah thinks it looks like an aubergine but we only paid 10 pence per lb...which means it is not even worth its own weight in aubergine. We are going to take it to the island when we live there so that we can get around and Daddy can use the other car to get to work.

Gutters

2011-03-29T09:27:00.001+01:00

Last week Daddy ventured up on to the roof to clear the leaves from the gutters (there were lots and lots of leaves there), while Mummy and I tackled some of the garden. Well, I didn't really do much gardening. I mainly poked around the holes in the garden steps where the family of mice live. As you can see from the photo, we have another resident in the garden and he has been very busy tunnelling.

Daddy managed to safely negotiate the roof - Mummy was very worried that he would emulate a fictional Nigel (who also has a wife called Elizabeth and a son called Freddie).

Spring!

2011-03-29T09:26:00.003+01:00

Spring is definitely here (at last). The snowdrops are wilting, the daffodils are out, the lambs are nearly here, the Ospreys have returned, Mummy and Daddy have started sitting in the garden in the evening, the bumblebees have woken up and the rabbits are getting very excited (and making huge holes in the garden).

Sunday stroll

2011-03-27T17:34:00.002+01:00

On Sunday a few friends from Daddy's work came to visit us and we went for a walk to a very lovely pub. It was a lovely sunny day and we sat in the garden and played on the swings. The walk/cycle/scooter there and back was a bit long for Fred but he liked zooming down the hills on his scooter.

I made a ruined Roman Fort

2011-03-25T18:40:00.002Z

I have been thinking a lot about Romans recently because we have a huge project at school and we are making a museum for all the parents to come and see on Wednesday (they already have the personally written scroll invite, and we have written guides around the museum). Anyway, I decided to make a ruined Roman fort out of Lego. There are a few Romans in the ruin so presumably this is after the time when Agricola visited (but then had to go back home) and is when Lollius Urbicus came back (by which time all the forts had been ruined).