Scotland: Celebrating our 5th Anniversary!

In honor of our 5th wedding anniversary (?!), Jude woke us up at 5am sharp in Pitlochry! Thanks little buddy. That day we drove to Queen's View to take in the view and then headed to Edinburgh via Dunfermline to visit the resting place of King Robert the Bruce in the Dunfermline Abbey. Pops found a scenic route to get to Dunfermline, which took us through some gorgeous glens. 

Good morning, Pitlochry! 

Queen's View 

Dunfermline Abbey

Three generations with our ancestor!

In Edinburgh, we rented an AirBnB apartment with views over Arthur's Seat. Nana and Pops stayed in to babysit while Pete and I enjoyed a night out. Our parents spoiled us with dinner and champagne at Wedgewood and then we strolled the Royal Mile to see the castle lit up at night. An anniversary to remember! 

Happy Halloween!

When I would think of one day having children of my own, I would always imagine holidays and how special they would be to experience through the eyes of a child.  I feel giddy just thinking about Christmas with a baby! Jude's first Halloween was pretty special.  Even in a country that doesn't celebrate the holiday!

My mom made most of our costumes as kids and I hoped to do the same. An American mom friend had a sewing machine in her attic that she offered to lend me. I had no excuse not to try! I know that I only have a few years when I will have any influence over what Jude wears for Halloween so I wanted this first costume to be special. Inspired by our trip to Scotland's castles and by a pair of Marks & Spencer's pants that I bought him, I decided to make Jude a dragon. Pete gave his approval and I was off to the Albert Cuyp market to buy felt with a friend's help to distract Jude so I could actually shop.

"Rarrr, I'm a dragon"

Today was Nana and Pops last day with us in Amsterdam (tear). I had Jude's baby sensory class so they came along. I had mentioned to some of the other moms that I was going to dress Jude up and a few others did the same. 

"This is soooo embarrassing!"

"You guys, it's awfully hard to see around this hood!"

GQ pose

"What is this thing on my back?!"

All he wanted was to chew the tail!

With Jude'e early bedtime and living in a country that doesn't celebrate Halloween, I didn't have any expectations to do anything this evening. Earlier this week, Pete shared with me that the International School was hosting trick-or-treating a 10 minute walk from our house. We strolled over with Jude the Dragon around 6pm and were shocked at the scene. The International School has some 1200 students (according to Pete, no energy to fact check that :)) and hundreds of kids and their parents were out and about in an 8 block radius of the route. Despite being tired, Jude sat calmly in his stroller just staring at all of the kids dressed up. We tried to shield his eyes when an especially scary kid (or parent!) walked by. We ran into some families we know from the school, fellow teachers, our babysitter and a number of Pete's other students. It was a balmy evening near 60 degrees. We even got some candy to bring home :) 

Friend Melanie hosting the kiddos. 

Taking in the scene.

Pete's students meet Jude the Dragon

Happy Halloween to all those properly celebrating in the States! Can't wait to see pictures of all your kiddos dressed up, too!  

Scotland: Inverness and Pitlochry

To continue our loop around Scotland, we had a stopover in Inverness in the North. The day began with a Pops-inspired photo shoot of Jude in a tartan :) We did a wee walk through the city before heading straight South to the lovely town of Pitlochry, our home for the night. We decided that with all of the driving we had done, we needed to finally do a good hike. The fall colors there could not have been more gorgeous. We took a walk through town, up to some waterfalls, through farm fields and over to a small village with a quaint pub for a celebratory brew. That evening, my parents went to see a play at the Pitlochry Theater Festival and while Pete stayed at the B&B to do some school work, I went downtown to listen to some live music at a pub. A perfect day in Scotland all around!

He is very patient with our photo shoots. We'll see how long that lasts!

Looking out at Inverness from the B&B

Downtown Inverness

Outside our B&B in Pitlochry

Another distillery. Still no babies allowed. 

Waterfalls

These Floridians are excited for Fall! 

Baa!

Scotland's Smallest Distillery

Manor Home turned Hotel

Real Ales from the Moulin Brewery with my guys!

Scotland: Loch Ness, Urquhart Castle and the Black Isle

After saying goodbye to the Isle of Skye, we drove East and then North along Loch Ness, stopping at the ruins of the Urquhart Castle. I would have loved to have seen it in its glory as shown below, but alas, hundreds of years of wars have left it in shambles. The castle juts out into Loch Ness. No Nessie sightings, but with the cold, cold wind and on and off drizzle, we didn't linger long enough to properly search! 

All bundled up!

The remaining ruins

Loved the colors of the hillside behind the castle. Mixed in with patches of evergreens were larch trees, identical to the evergreens, but with bright yellow colors. 

We continued North and passed through Inverness and onto the Black Isle region, named for the dark, fertile soil of the area. We detoured to the Glen Ord Distillery where Nana and Pops went on the informative tour. Sadly, babies were not allowed. I was surprised by the number of places in Scotland that do not allow babies. Maybe we have just been spoiled living in Brooklyn and Amsterdam.

Nana's expression post-taste is pretty priceless!

We also found the Black Isle Brewing Company, which of course thrilled Pete. There, we were given a free tasting of four of their beers. All quite good!

Black sheep against gold fields in the Black Isle