Have I finally done it???

A few pictures?

 

 

 

 

I've switched from Photobucket to Picasa, which is much easier. I haven't quite got it figured out yet, but here are a few pictures from our amazing trip.

The Eitzenneys again at last!

A few months ago Allison suggested we needed a name for our big clan. I like Eitzenneys since it gets almost both our last names smushed together. Got another idea? I'd love to hear it! My heart is happy this afternoon. All my favorite little friends are together again. Here are some snippets of conversation from the backyard:

Abby: Teresa, watch me!
Diana: This is where the Webkinz with Dwarfism live (Lil kinz)
Josh: Yeah, and we'll put the arctic ones over here (they have no less than 27 Webkinz in their zoo-I counted)
Abby: Teresa, watch me!
Mary: Look at my Lego car, mama (she's playing in the livingroom by herself)
Laura: Mooooom, so and so dumped a bucket of water on my head.
Abby: Teresa, watch me!
James: Hey, let's squirt the flowers, fence, chair, window, swing...

And of course, there's tons of giggling and belly laughing. The world is right again.

Pictures, grrrrrr!

Judy was right...Photobucket is not my friend! I've spent hours putting together 50 of my favorite pictures into a great slideshow with clever titles, and even my computer genius husband can't get it to work. Our best guess is that it's too big. We'll keep trying, though, so be patient. I'm too tired now to even do something simple...

Home, Sweet Home

We made it! We landed about midnight on Wednesday after 26 hours awake. Everything went really smoothly on the way home. Luckily we had a room at the airport so we didn't have much farther to go that night. We got into McMinnville about 1:00 yesterday and are wading through laundry and big piles of stuff. Many stuffed sheep, highland cows, reindeer and Loch Ness monsters came home with us. It was a really amazing trip that went far too quickly. When I think back, though it seems like we were gone for a really long time. I'll need a few days to recover and sort through everything. Hopefully I will be able to get a slide show of my favorite pictures posted in the next few days.

Cairngorm Reindeer Scheme! as crazy as it sounds...

Today was a really amazing day! For Christmas, our Scottish friends “adopted” a reindeer called Wallace for the girls. This morning we rented wellies and hiked off across the moors to meet him. He lives at a reindeer center but was in a field a ways away. It was quite misty and cool, but somehow that was fitting. The walk was pretty easy and the setting was beautiful. Eventually we were surrounded by heather, both purple and white, and walked on soft peat moss. I was surprised when we reached the herd. Reindeer are much smaller than I had imagined, they’re very quiet and gentle. When they walk, a tendon in their feet makes this clicking sound. This is so they can hear each other and stay together during heavy snow. The girls were happy to hear that they can’t bite because they don’t have any top teeth. You should have heard the giggles as Wallace ate reindeer chow right out of our hands. He was soft and warm, and the girls were thrilled, especially Mary who could have stayed all day. Believe it or not, I loved every minute of it: slogging through muck in the rain with reindeer slurm all over me. Can you believe it? It is something I never would have done on my own, and I’m thrilled my Scottish and American families got to share the experience together. We had a good lunch in the boat house at Loch Insh then went to the Highland Folk Museum. It was fully interactive with docents dressed in period costumes. The girls (okay, and I!) loved the 1937 school house with its inkwells and leather strap for naughty children. I got some great pictures for school in the 1700’s village. I don’t know how women survived in those dark, dreary, smoky mud houses! What a dreary life they must have had. I shouldn’t complain about laundry anymore!

A few notes...

Here are a couple more pcitures just for fun...

We cannot reply to email although we can read it fine. So...

Beth, there's a phone box thingy in Michele's room. It's between the window and the play kitchen. Check to see if it got unplugged before you call the phone company. Maybe it got bumped somehow.

Allison, we were teasing Diana about Broen yesterday. She turns a cute pink color whenever we mention his name so we do it lots just for fun. Later she said to me, "You know I don't really like Broen, don't you Mom." I told her I did know that and for her "It's all about Josh." Then she turned her cute shade of pink, giggled and said, "Yeah, you're right." Love it!

By the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond!

This week we’re up in the highlands in a small resort town. It’s a big ski area in the winter and the mountains are beautiful. It reminds us of Sunriver a bit. Our cottages are at the end of a cul de sac so the girls can run back and forth between the two. Outside we’re nearly surrounded by pasture with the Cairngorm Mountains in the distance. Little brown rabbits run wild every where, and big fluffy sheep graze just outside the window. We can hear them bleating night and day. The weather is cool, gray, cloudy, and a bit misty today. We're at 57 degrees north so it's daylight from about 3:30 am to 11:30 pm. It’s just the Scotland that you would imagine.

This morning we rode an old steam train north for about half an hour and then back. We passed pastures full of cows and sheep, moors of heather, and golf courses. It was fun for me to see a couple of places where my favorite Scottish soap, “Monarch of the Glen,” was filmed. The girls (and my dad, especially) loved the old train and ventured into the restaurant car for coffees and shortbread for everyone. This afternoon, Allison’s taking us to a good shopping place, and Steve and Uncle Jimmy are hoping it’s dry enough to get in a round of golf.

Today’s Scottish misunderstanding:
Diana: Grandpa, Baba bought you a rubbish tart.
Grandpa: I hope you mean a rhubarb tart!

A latte and wifi!

And, here's Mary at Dean Castle play park. It took her quite awhile to get to the top, but she finally made it to the "potato chip". She was really proud of herself!

I have no idea how this post is going to look. Between the very wee keyboard and me being a novice blogger, it could be ugly. My apologies. Cheers!

Laura's picture is of her wearing a princess crown and costume in Dean Castle, Kilmarnock. We went into the keep, great hall, kitchens, and looked down into the dungeon. It was creepy! They had dress ups with real chain mail for kids to try on.

I am a happy woman! It's just a ten minute walk from our house in the highlands. We'll be here all week so I'll be in touch more often. I'm going to start by having each girl choose a picture of herself to post. Here's Diana's pick. This is the dress Baba got her in Spain.

Here we are!

Wifi is non existent in this old country, but we're at a friends' for lunch. They're letting us use their computer. The trip over was smooth and easy. We arrived no problem and are having a great time. My parents and Diana are tired from 10 very busy days in Spain so we've been taking it easy. That's given us a chance to recover from jet lag, too. Yesterday we spent at a local castle, built in the 1530's. The girls enjoyed the tour, especially the dungeon. The castle has a great park so we had lunch outdoors and the girls played. One little girl in line at the zip cord asked Diana where she was from. Diana told her America and the little girl replied, "Is that near London?" Steve is doing an amazing job driving, and we're all enjoying our big Mercedes, which was a free upgrade. Grocery shopping is an adventure, and everything is super expensive. Steve's gotten in one round of golf already and several more are planned. Our friends are all good; not as aged as I had feared. I'm sure I'll gain ten pounds from all the tea and baked treats we have everywhere we go. On our first day, Aunt Betty sent Mary "to the toilet" (meaning bathroom) to wash her hands. Mary's response, after a long pause, was, "Can I use the sink?" I'm hoping to have more computer access when we go up north next week. I've got lots of pictures I'd love to post. Take care, everyone! We miss you all!