Laura’s Life

Are you forming the impression that my boys really enjoy treasure hunts?

This morning was breezy but sunny but rain is anticipated (and did indeed arrive as an afternoon downpour) so I decided to sieze the opportunity to take the boys out for a walk around the loch and to motivate their wee legs I turned it into a treasure hunt.

Checking the treasure list as we set off around the loch:

Aidan immediately found the shiny leaf that was on the list of things to find:

Arlo and me:

I think Evan is looking a bit sorry for himself in this photo because I just read him the riot act about trying to wade into the water:

Orin carrying the “treasure bag”:

Evan having a turn at carrying it:

Guess who actually ended up carrying it all the way around?  That would be me then.

A view of the loch:

Aidan:

Orin found the brightly coloured flower from the list:

The boys running off in search of more treasure:

A bug on a flower:

I actually like the stark contrast of light and shadow in this photo for some reason.  I guess it looks like Evan is bathed in sunlight:

Orin:

Evan looking contemplative:

Orin yapping away about something:

Aidan ticking another treasure find off the list:

“I’m the King of the Castle …”

A pretty purple flower:

Evan chuffed to have found the long leaf from the list.  He crinkles his nose just like I did as a kid (and now maybe):

Evan paddling in the loch:

Arlo and me at the loch’s shore:

The boys inside the bird hide:

Someone had added clay features to the trees to make them look like faces:

The boys having some kind of battle.  It looks like the other two ganged up against Aidan but he seems to have found it funny:

Sitting on a perch:

Finding a slug, which was another item on the list.  Yes, slugs can be treasure!

Flowers:

Climbing on a drystone dyke:

Orin:

Drawing patterns and shapes in the grit - as one does!

Running off in search of the last items of treasure:

More perching:

Orin being a zombie:

Evan wearing Aidan’s jacket as well as his own:

Doing some kind of matador thing with their jackets:

Another shot of Arlo and me:

Evan looking huffy while waiting for his brothers to catch up:

Aidan and Orin catching up in the cheekiest way possible:

Evan with a beaver.  Ufortunately we did not manage to spot any real live beavers:

Arlo awake - but back in the car.  For him the walk just never happened:

Back in the car and ready to go home:

We never did find a feather - the last item on the treasure list - but a good time was had by one and all.

Monday was a bit of a minging day so our entertainment was all indoors.  I decided, therefore, to run some energy out of the boys by organising an indoor treasure hunt.

The Team:

Aidan reading the first clue:

Evan finding the first treasure - the treasure being Kung Fu Panda toys (gotta love ebay!)

Aidan trying to work out the next clue:

Orin with an item of treasure:

Solving another clue and finding the treasure:

Orin finding treasure inside a welly boot:

Aidan finding another item of treasure:

Orin finding Po in his bedroom:

Solving another clue and finding the treasure hidden behind the stair basket:

Orin finding the final piece of treasure:

The boys with their treasure:

I had rather a panic yesterday when - on downloading images from my camera to the hard drive - my battery packed up and the files on my memory card were consequently corrupted.  I was in a bit of a flap, as you can imagine, since I had 500+ photos on the memory card at the time representing a whole week’s worth of memories.  Small beer in the scheme of things, yes, but photos mean a lot to me so I was gutted.

However, thanks to a lot of help and advice from a friend, I was able to recover the majority of the files.  Here, therefore, are some images from last week.

Orin decided to decorate Arlo’s car seat with pirate skull stickers:

Arlo finally fits (well, just about) in his bouncy chair:

Check out the skinny wee pins on Arlo!

The boys eating the pancake peaches they were given by Mum / Granny:

Arlo with his Daddy:

One night last week I discovered that Aidan had climbed into bed beside Orin.  I thought it was quite cute so obviously I had to take a photo:

(Note: the wierd pink mark on the duvet cover was not actually there in real life.  It is something that has happened when editing the photo I assume.)

Arlo aged 8 weeks:

Being cheeky sticking his tongue out at Mummy:

Yesterday afternoon, Evan was so exhausted following a playdate that he fell asleep standing up:

The children decorated some biscuits last week with coloured icing, sprinkles and silver balls.  It was pretty messy (and, therefore, a tad stressful for me) but they had a load of fun making different patterns with the icing and they also enjoyed eating them.

A glitch with transferring images from my camera to the hard drive meant I lost some of the photos but thankfully I was able to recover a few.

Decorating:

Eating:

(Yes, Orin has had a black eye for over a week now.  He and Aidan had a collision of heads and Orin got a shiner as a result.  For some reason it is taking ages for the bruise to leave so it looks like he is wearing eye shadow.)

On Sunday we took the kids on a trip to the Aquarium at Loch Lomond - in keeping with our ocean theme activities.  The photos are not great because a) I could not, of course, use a flash b) I had no tripod with me and c) all the subjects were moving constantly - especially the sharks because I never did get a decent photo of them.

I love the markings on this eel:

Pike.  I like their “hard man” jawline.  I once saw one schnarfle a duckling:

Orin watching the trout in the loch tank:

Trout:

I don’t know what this fish is but I liked its face:

I absolutely adored all the seahorses:

A baby ray.  How cute is that?

Chris and the bigger boys studying a tank:

More baby rays:

A dogfish:

Evan watching the otter:

The otter:

I think it is fair to say that Arlo did not get much out of his trip to the aquarium:

A view of Loch Lomond from the aquarium:

Fish (could be chub?)

I gave Aidan one of my compact cameras (my backup backup) and he surprised me by getting really into taking photographs, despite the tricky lighting conditions.  I think he might be my protege he is so obsessed with photography already:

Orin and Aidan touching anenomes in a rockpool exhibit:

A ray.  I love their funny faces:

I failed to get a good photo of it but there were sharks bobbing up and down in the water like corks.  I guess they knew it was close to feeding time and were looking for their dinner to be arriving:

Jellyfish:

A cute blue fish:

A dragonfish (It was like the cast of the book ‘Tiddler’ in the tunnel tank):

Chris, Evan, Orin and Aidan outside the aquarium:

Evan outside the aquarium:

Orin in the car park swinging around a lamppost:

Evan in the boot of the car:

This Summer, the kids have been doing various activities on the theme of the Ocean.  It has not been as intensive as last year’s programme of activities because frankly I am not capable of being that organised this summer, but we have still managed to do quite a bit so far.

Heather / Grandmummy bought them some great activity books that each focus on different types of ecosystem.  Aidan has been doing the one on ocean life.  Orin and Evan have been doing ones on garden life and the savannah.  Here they are with their books:

We have also been painting ocean scenes.  These photos show the boys painting the sea using different shades of blue paint:

Then they drew sea creatures and stuck them onto their sea backgrounds.  (Yes, Evan had a bit of help from me with the drawing.)

I don’t know why Evan was having a meltdown.  It is not that I have forgotten - he just never explained why he was in such a tizzy.  I guess he is just two.

There will be more ocean activities to follow in a later blog entry.

While Arlo and I were away at Mark and Claire’s wedding, Chris took Aidan, Orin and Evan to Skipness to visit the castle and play on the beach.  Several things happen on an outing with Daddy.

1) Photos only get taken at the last minute (and I suspect that is just to appease me anyway) and any photos taken will be out of focus.

2) No change of clothes bags will be taken on the trip.  Probably not even any spare nappies.

Hence …..

3)  Everyone will have a ton of fun regardless of how disorganised, hectic and messy the day out is.

Aidan took this photo of Chris (and managed to be better at focusing the camera than his Daddy):

My cousin Mark got married to Claire on Friday 17 July.  Arlo and I attended the wedding with my parents and siblings.

Here is Arlo in the church waiting for the ceremony to begin:

Leanne and Aaron:

Aimee:

Me and Arlo in a pew:

Claire being walked down the aisle by her father:

I had to leave the church during the actual ceremony because Arlo was whimpering so did not get any actual photos of the wedding itself.  Never mind.

Mark all dressed up:

The new Mr and Mrs Smith:

Mark and Claire’s horse and carriage:

Claire exiting the church:

The happy couple inside their carriage:

Arlo with his Auntie Leanne waiting in the car:

Leanne and Aaron at the hotel:

Dad and Aimee:

Me and Aaron:

The wedding cake:

The decoration on top of the cake was cute because of how it replicated the bride’s dress and the groom’s kilt, even down to the sequins on Claire’s train:

This photo is totally skew-wiff because of the angle I had to stand at in order to take it but it shows everyone who was seated at our table:

Bill (Mum’s cousin) and his wife Anne:

Arlo sitting and watching me eat:

Big Man and Wee Man - Mark holding Arlo:

Another photo on the skwonk.  Mum and Dad:

Aimee, Arlo and Mum:

Aunt Janice dancing with Claire’s father:

Mark and Claire dancing:

Aimee and Mum:

Aaron:

Leanne and Arlo under a bridal bower:

Aimee and Arlo under the bower:

Ronnie, Kirsten and Alex:

Anne holding Arlo:

By that stage in the evening, Arlo had not had a proper sleep all day, my head was pounding from the noise of the music and Aaron had also had enough.  So the three of us headed home for some rest and quiet.  Arlo was no sooner in his jammies than he was fast asleep (he sleeps on his tummy because of his reflux):

It is a rare occasion for all four of us to be together at the same time so I had Dad take a couple of photos of me, Leanne, Aimee and Aaron.  So here we are in July 2009:

The last time a photo of all four of us was taken was 1991.  This is how we looked then:

What a difference seventeen years make.

These are some photos I took while visiting over in Fife.  They don’t really fit in with any other blog entry so I am just collecting them into this entry.

Rhys holding his littlest cousin, Arlo:

This is what I wore to the wedding.  Thank you to everyone who offered me styling advice but, as you can see, there is only so much polishing that can be achieved with me.  A saying about a sow’s ear and a silk purse comes to mind.  In any case, any credit for how I look must go to my sisters who primped and styled me as much as I would allow.

Arlo with his Uncle Aaron:

Arlo with his Grandpa:

Logan (my nephew):

The smallest of the cousins, Logan and Arlo:

And somehow we are back where we began: Rhys holding Arlo: