Lost Camera

I think that I have lost (hopefully just misplaced) our camera and I am totally bummed. It's one of those things that just leaves a pit in your stomach as you try to rack your brain thinking of where you may have last left it and remembering all of the cute pictures that may or may not have been on it. Oh well...here are some pictures of last week's Thunderkids activities. (Thanks Wendy for the pics!) The kids learned about Korea and made drums.

Saturday we went to the new children's museum in Phoenix. Thomas and Nate loved the "trike wash" the best.

Bull Frogs

We have LOVED being back at the pool. We go about everyday. Thomas swims really well...if he knows that he can touch. Nathan has surprised us. He has no fear. He will walk right out to where he can barely reach anymore and then just waits for me to come and get him. He doesn't even panic as the water is right up to his nose! I was finally able to find him some arm floaties and he thinks he is so big. He kicks his little legs behind him, just like a little "Bull" frog. I couldn't seem to get it on video this day, but I thought I would post anyways.

Where's Willy Wonka?

We went with the Thunderkids group to a candy company here in town. It was fun to see everybody again.


I'm not really sure what the purpose of these tables were...the kids couldn't really see over the counter, but were not allowed to stand on the tables. So, they just played under them!

It was unfortunate that this worker didn't seem to be having as much fun as Lucy did. (I love that episode.)

It wasn't as interactive for the kids as we would have liked...but who's to turn down free chocolate?? Not me! Thomas was just happy to be back with all of his buddies.

"What were you thinking?"

I feel like I am more than frequently telling Thomas, "Stay out of mom's makeup." and "Don't pour things on your brother's head." Well this afternoon he combined the two. I was in the process of making dinner when I hear Nathan crying and Ryan yelling for me to come. I was expecting to see Nate hurt...instead I see that Thomas for a second must have lost his mind, because for some reason he decided to squeeze the entire tube of foundation on top of Nate's head!!

We had to throw him in the bath and really scrub to get his hair clean. (By this point I was finally calmed down enough to think to grab the camera.) Man, did that leave a ring around the tub. Makes you think twice about putting that stuff on your face!

Thanks Mama & Papa Bull!!

Ryan's parents took a trip down to Arizona to help us move in. They were at the airport to pick us up. Even though Thomas was exhausted from the long day of traveling, he was so happy to see them. He was asleep as we put him in the car but woke up just for a second to see "Mama Bull." He sleepily said, "Oh, I love you grandma!" And then was back to sleep. It was so cute. We are all still trying to get over the jet lag. Ryan's parents were so wonderful in helping us not only move everything back into the apartment, but were up with the boys in the middle of the night so that Ryan and I could get a little sleep. We love you so much!! Thanks again for everything!

Time's Up

Tomorrow we make the big flight back to Arizona and I am starting to get a little sad. We have had a great time here and it seems that just as you are starting to meet people and get things figured out, then it is time to go. There are a lot of things that I am going to miss like...

• Just being in Scotland, it is such a beautiful country.


• Every weekend going on an adventure with the family to someplace new. (Today Ryan took the boys to see a "pirate ship.")



• Walking on the cobble stone roads. It sounds silly, but I love the sound as cars drive over the cobble stone too. I think it reminds me of my mission in Germany.


• How everything is a mixture of old and new. Not many Subways look like this in the US.
  People refer to our place as the "new apartments, yet I think it is so fun that this is our house key.




• People calling Thomas and Nathan, "Wee bonnie boys."



• Muller Rice...yumm. This is the reason for a few extra pounds now and on my mission. It says "low fat" but don't you believe it. It's probably a good thing that we don't have this at home!
  

But there are quite a few things that I am looking forward to, such as...

• Being able to use a blow dryer again. (Every time I have used a blow dyer out of the good old US of A, it seems to always short out and break the first time. Being as cheap as I am, I wasn't willing to chance it and have to buy a new one over here to only have it work in the UK outlets, just to buy a new one when I got home. So, the result is my hair in all of the previous pictures!)


• The sun and swimming pool.


• Having a car, a disposal and a washer and dryer that can handle more than one load a day. (Our kitchen cub boards hide all kind of surprises. The washer/dryer combo was right next to the fridge. Kinda weird.)


• Being close to friends and family again...well at least in the same country!

Dundee

I realized recently that I haven't posted any pictures of where we actually spend 90 percent of our time, which is in the city of Dundee. Last night a friend of ours said it best when he commented that the great thing about Dundee is that it is close to so many other places. We have been enjoying that fact, as we have traveled on the weekends. Even though, Dundee isn't the most popular city in Scotland (When we flew into Edinburgh an airport employee told me to "watch out for those Dundonians.") we still have really enjoyed our time here.
I'm pointing to the "balcony" of our apartment.
The boys like to sit in front of this boat and play with the rocks as we wait to see Ryan walking home from work in the evenings. This is just around the corner from our apartment.
We cross this bridge to get into town everyday.
We walk on a path along this water to get to the grocery store. (That's the bridge that you take to get to St. Andrews.) Really beautiful. I love that we live right on the water.

Since there are not many parks, you always see kids (including mine) playing on the statues in town.
Baxter Park is the closest park with a playground. We walk through here every Sunday on our way to church, but only came a few times to play because it is a couple miles straight up hill.
Town Square, where we often meet Ryan for lunch.