Aberdeen

On the road again...and you can see how excited the boys are to be back on a bus!

This time we were headed for Aberdeen, the "city of granite." Exciting I know, but they were celebrating "Tartan Day" and we wanted to check it out. Really, I have never seen so many granite buildings and it was beautiful. I think this picture looks like we are just standing in front of a backdrop.
We got there just in time for the bagpipe parade. Just as we were thinking what a nice day is was for a parade, it began to rain. I love that a little rain doesn't detour anyone in this country. The umbrellas just came out and everyone enjoyed the parade.

This was taken right after the parade got over. Note the blue skies now overhead. The weather here changes so fast.

What's a stone statue without a seagull perched on it's head?
After the parade, there was to be a festival at one of the parks. As Scottish weather would have it, we were only there a few minutes before it began to really pour this time. We just hid under a tree and ate one of the best hamburgers ever, made from real Angus beef. (Today, I get an email from Brittany saying not to eat the meat over here because of mad cow disease. Whoops, hope we don't die!)
It did finally clear up and we were able to have a great time. There was bagpipe bands, Celtic dancing, and people dressed up in kilts all over the place. Thomas looked like a complete tourist with his sneakers, hoody and kilt. But, he didn't know the difference. (I brought Nate's kilt as well, but forgot to put it on him. Thomas of course, insisted.) The other boys, in their full attire looked much more classy.
I wish we had a better picture of this...it was so funny. Thomas was running up and down in front of the crowd, wearing his kilt, flashing those on the front row and waving his sword just like "Brave Heart."

Who knew a little paper flag could provide so much entertainment?
Thomas could not be persuaded to try on the real helmet, as he is in love with his four dollar plastic one.

The flip side to this wonderfully fun filled family day was that we almost didn't make it back home. We usually buy our tickets for these kind of trips at the Dundee bus station ticket office. This time for some reason, they wouldn't sell us the tickets and said that we would need cash to buy them from the bus driver. So, Ryan runs off with Thomas to try and find an ATM. It seems to me like they are taking forever. When he gets back he tells me that he couldn't find a machine that would give us any money. (Ryan just got paid, hurray!! So, funds shouldn't have been a problem.) He was finally able to find one, but was only able to get out 10 pounds at a time. He got enough for one way tickets and we were on our way.

We get to Aberdeen and have a great time and then realize that we don't have enough cash for our ticket home. Long story, short we had a frustrating couple of hours walking around the city trying to find an ATM that would give us money.(The boys are tired and crying.) We somehow figure out that for some crazy reason the machines pull the money from the savings account, which is umm...empty. So then we are walking around trying to find internet access to transfer money. And of course by this time it is evening and everything is closed. We finally get cash in our hands and run to the bus station to make the last bus back, to find a huge line to a bus that doesn't have a ticket machine, the ticket office is closed and oh it's raining. The first bus driver looked and me with no mercy, but his friend in the back let us on when we paid him cash, which I am sure that he just pocketed. But, at this point we are just happy to be on our way home!