week in review

It's been a busy week to be sure, but it's not to say that I didn't enjoy my time with my husband and daughter.

We've been trying to plan a family mini-tip for some time and when my darling husband came up with the idea of going to Scotland I said sure why not! Well at the last minute our son decided that he would rather stay home and finish up the virtual ton of homework that he was assigned. We tried to convince him to come with us but alas it was to no avail. So off we went- the 3 of us.

Monday- the first stop on our journey took us to RAF Lakenheath for an orthodontic appointment for our daughter. Hannah is now in braces for a 3rd time. My husband and I finally feel that we're with an orthodontist that actually cares for his patients, he's one that looks into all avenues of treatment and care and the long term goal of said treatments and not just one. Hannah has some special circumstances in regards to her orthodontic care. Circumstances that the other orthodontists didn't address, no matter how much I pressured him on the subject. Then when he did, it was for her to have jaw surgery- all I had to say is...um dude there's so many other avenue to explore and jaw surgery is only a last resort. So we've started down a new road with orthodontics and will be having her jaw/teeth crowding issues addressed by someone who actually cares about his patients.

After we did some shopping at the base we headed out for the first leg of our journey. We ended up in the little town of Whetherby and stayed at a brand new hotel (what are the chances of that happening in England?). We ate dinner in a charming local pub and dinner was delightful! After that it was hanging out in our hotel- reading and then off to slumber land-well at least it was for me. Hannah was doing math homework and the spouse was checking on his fantasy football team, LOL!

Tuesday saw us up at the crack of dawn and out the door---we were Scotland bound to say the least! We stopped off at RAF Menwith Hill to get fill up the gas tank then we were off! It was way too early to call on friends that live up there and we really didn't have time to visit with them properly so after filling up the gas tank we were off!

The drive up was full of detours and for a moment I thought I was in the south- were every trucker was out on the road! The weather,it was pretty typical British weather- fog and rain all day long. But that was not about to stop us for going to Scotland and seeing the city of Edinburgh. We arrived around 1:30 pm and after a little walking around, we were ready for lunch! Ate at a pub- it was so-so. More walking around, looking at the sights and later on in the evening we had Indian take out or as they say here in the UK, take away and it was to die for! Oh my gosh it was the BEST Indian food Hannah and I have ever had! And my husband tried Indian food for the very first time, even he liked it (at least he ate like he liked it, LOL).

Wednesday took us to Edinburgh Castle- if you ever come out this way this is a MUST SEE! It was fantastic! Granted it was foggy and raining intermittently throughout the day but we were not about to let that stop us from enjoying our time in Edinburgh! The view of the city from the castle was amazing! You could see for miles! The history is so well preserved, this place is well taken care of and it shows. We dined at the Castle and the food was delicious! The hot soup was delicious and it warmed us right up and the prices were spot on good!

Along the way on the Royal Mile, we went to many different shops and we bought some things to remind us of our special trip to Scotland. For me it was a Diana,Princess of Wales Memorial Tartan Scarf and Tam set. I'll have to wait on getting myself the serape later-maybe for Valentines Day :-) To find out more on the Diana Memorial Tartan- please click on her name.

Hannah- that girl of mine is too darn cute for her own good! My husband is such a softy when it comes to our daughter :-) We bought her an adorable Angora hand knitted cap, it was simple too sweet on her head! It reminds me of a ripe strawberry (her favorite fruit), it's the perfect sort of thing for a teen girl. After touring the tartan shop we came out with such a new appreciation and knowledge of the various tartan weaves. Yup, this is another MUST SEE MUST DO kind of thing!
I can't begin to tell you how much walking we did , it seems that all of our vacations include a great deal of walking(insert small chuckle here). Even in the cold (40º) and intermittently rainy weather we managed to enjoy our time. Our last dinner out in Edinburgh was at a lovely Italian restaurant. The food was out of this world authentic! None of that watered down subdued Italian like I had in Oxford THIS was the real McCoy! From the pasta to the Tiramisu it was all fresh and obviously hand made! The service everywhere in Scotland was top notch.

The B&B we stayed in was great! Would we stay there again? In a heart beat! I'd tell you all the name but I'm afraid that if I do you'll book it up and we'd have no place to say. I will say this, it has a 4 star rating from the Scottish tourist board- and it deserves every star! Its charming decor and friendly inn keepers make this place some place I want to stay at again.

On our last day (Thursday) we awoke to SNOW! Our inn keeper was concerned for us driving in the snow- we let him know where we last lived that this was "nothing" and we know how to drive in the snow ;-) Our drive home was snow filled, but no true accumulation. We ate lunch at a "Road Chef" restaurant- now I had always sneered at these kinds of places but decided to give it a try (our motto-you only live once). I have to say that our meal was pretty good and a good value for the price. We all had the fail safe meal- fish and chips.

Snow, snow and more snow, some blinding sunlight for a while, sleet and more snow. The highway traffic coming home wasn't that bad and I can honestly say that it was no where as bad as it was getting to Lakenheath, that took us a full 3 hours w/o rest stops!

We finally got to see black and brown sheep. I've not seen them here where I live, but they seemed to be everywhere in Scotland. Cute City! I must be the only one who thinks sheep are adorable! I love lambies and have started a small collection of sheep items.

Alright, my family is still sleeping and it's nearly 6 am- should I wake them? Or just enjoy my coffee in peace and quite while sitting in my favorite recliner? I vote for the recliner...I certainly don't need them around pestering me to make them breakfast, LOL!