They're Here!!

It was at least about four weeks out when Jens and I began our countdown. For me it was a countdown for just one thing but really the countdown meant the end of term, my family's arrival and then a few days later, Jens getting to go home. Literally, every time we saw each other we would shout out the weeks and then days remaining. In those four weeks our conversations always ended up the same. They may have begun with a "Hello" or even a "How are you?" but always turned into "X more days!! I'm so excited. Oh, I can hardly wait." And so on and so on until everyone here was really looking forward to the visit. Whether they were merely excited for me or excited to meet my family for themselves I think it varied but everyone was interested in who was coming and what we were doing and when they were arriving.

You can imagine that when I heard about the snow in Seattle, I was a bit worried about my family's travel plans. After counting down for four weeks I did not want to think about flight delays. I tried to be reasonable though and I told myself that it could happen and that they'll get here when they get here. In order to ease the disappointment should they be delayed, I began making an effort to not be too excited anymore. I was working on this tactic on Friday morning as I sat down at my computer to check if their flight landed on time. Just as I sat down Kirsten knocked at my door to say, "Your family's in the office." !!!!!!!!!



My train buddy. Riding a train was never so exciting as riding it with Henrik and sharing in his excitement. Can you guess already who is going to be the star of these photos? I think you can.

Our adorable little cottage in Portnockie.
The coast. This was not even two minutes from our cottage. It was so nice to spend some time on the coast. I really loved it.More coast.
It was COLD. This little guy is all bundled up but the poor thing could barely see most of the time because that hat just wouldn't stay above his eyes. He never really complained though.
Goin' for a walk.

Tryin' out the Ugg look. This was entertaining. I picked him up and put him in the boots but then his little feet kept getting turned around inside when he tried walking and it was hilarious.
My nephew is prettier than your nephew!Those bracelets were on and off and on and off but he knew exactly which bracelets he wanted on which wrists.

My lovely mother made me a proper pumpkin pie!! Well, okay, not just for me. But oh, it was delicious.
And then the apple pie!!
A beautiful sight.
I just love that face!Our fake fireplace.
The tree. Unbelievable but my father still got his photo of everyone in front of the tree this year. By the way Dad, I need your photos.


Just hangin' out in the cottage.
The harbor. Portnockie is a fishing village. FYI.
Out for a walk with Grandma.
Tide pools. Enjoying a wee bit o' beach combing.

Henrik helping great grandma with the dishes.


My mummy is the best cook!! It was so nice to eat her cooking for two weeks. Even if it had a slightly Scottish twist because we couldn't find the usual ingredients.
So sweet! This boy was handing out hugs and kisses left and right. Lucky me. I stocked up.


Oh, there is more. Coming soon I promise.

Christmas Term: Part 2

Gerusa and Jens with their lanterns for St. Martin's Day Festival. With each of the children we made lanterns and gathered at the hall. From the hall we carried our light to a few of the houses within the school where we sang for sweets. Our very own winter wonder land. We had several days of snow this term. Never very much and it never lasted very long but very beautiful. The very first day that it snowed Boris made plans for part of our class to go to the "mountains" to go sledging. We had a lot of fun and as always a bit of adventure. If I can get those photos from Boris then I'll post them later.

From my window.

Kirsten, making our Advent wreath. Our house gathered together one night in the sitting room, around the fire to sing carols and make our wreath.Kirsten getting a little help from Neil.


Santa Lucia Festival. That is Annie as Santa Lucia and then myself, Esther, Caroline and Kirsten.
Processing around the room, singing.

This was our last outing with the class. Boris dropped Stefan and I off on this road here with two of the boys and we were told to follow the road toward that farmhouse in the distance on the right. Boris said just follow the road walk around the house and through the courtyard area past the fields and find the river. Strange as it sounded that is what we did and when we past the barn and weren't sure which way to go, the kind man on the tractor gave us directions to cross through his fields until we found the river. Meanwhile, Boris and the others were following the river from the other direction (they parked the car down the road at the coffee shop) to meet us and then walk back toward the coffee shop together. I love outings that end in a coffee shop!
We found the river!!

I hope you have enjoyed this brief glimpse at our Christmas term here at school. It was a very eventful term as you can see, full of festivals. It was a wonderful term made even better with the anticipation of a visit from my family.......

Christmas Term: Part 1

I really can't believe it but five months have passed since I first came to Scotland and we are now at the end of our second term here at the school. This term went by so quickly I couldn't even remember what we did until I looked back at the photos. It has been a very eventful term I must say, full of festivals, trips with the class, weekend adventures, changes in the house and so much more. Here are just a few of the photos from this term.

Halloween. Stefan getting dressed in Sycamore. We all wore these white nightgowns and I'm not quite sure what we were supposed to be....something dead I guess.
Belvidere had a Star Wars theme. I don't know Star Wars well enough to remember who he is meant to be but this is one of the Belvidere boys all dressed up.
Gerusa as Yoda.
Again I don't know the movies well enough but here's Jens all dressed up trying to look intimidating.
Priory's theme was vegetables, Esther was a carrot. It was pretty cute to see them all together in their vegetable costumes.
Veit as a ghosty, dead something.
My youngest boy and I, cutin' up the dance floor.
David as Dracula I think, and Simeon as some Star Wars character.
The dohnut game.
Remember, remember the 5th of November! Well, maybe only if you are Scottish. This is Guy Fawkes Day when everyone celebrates with bonfires and fireworks. My oldest boy and I got to go along with the Belvidere boys to Perth to see the HUGE bonfire there and the fireworks show. As we drove on the motorway you could look out in any direction over the fields and see bonfires everywhere. It is really a major celebration here, it was quite fun to see.


Taco night. If you don't know already we are often cooking together here and one night we made tacos. Very popular. There's Simeon cooking the meat.
Stefan and Gerusa grating some cheese. Very important.Everyone in the kitchen. Simeon looking very intensely at the meat.

The spread.
We had everything. Including the refried beans which was something that caused a lot of suspicion. Inspite of how they look and smell most everyone tried the beans and liked them. Class outing to St. Mary's Walk. This is my boy from class who is a bit camera shy. As soon as I took out the camera he was trying to avoid having his photo taken.

This is where we were walking.That is the rest of the walking group. Another group from the class was cycling the trail instead of walking. We drove out to this trail on more than a few occasions. Mostly with a cycling group and a walking group. I did have the chance to be a part of the cycling group once, and on our last trip out there everyone was meant to cycle but I was unable. Unfortunately, it was planned for me to ride tandem with one of the girls but Boris didn't consider that I may be too short for the bike. Sadly my short legs and I had to walk the trail that day as well.