In the good ol' USA!

Well we are here in the good ol' USA, Virginia to be exact and are enjoying our new surroundings! We arrived in August and Shawn started teaching at the college on the 25th of August. Alexander and Benjamin are in grade 2 and Hannah and Jacob are home for one more year before starting kindergarten. They spend their days exploring our new surroundings and doing a bit of school work at home.
Here are some photos from the last 2 months (yikes! Has it been that long since I last posted something here?). They are in no particular order since I can't remember how to change their position in the post:

Alexander and Benjamin turned 7 in August and we took them golfing for their birthday. Now that I think of it though, this picture is actually from last week when we took them golfing again! Hannah was at a birthday sleepover so we decided to take the 3 boys golfing for the afternoon. Here they are posing in the cart.

As I wrote above, Shawn started teaching (his title says Christian Studies as he has to teach both Old and New Testaments) in August and Hannah and Jacob and I went over to capture his "first day of school"! This was after all the students had left. :)

My mom and dad got new bikes for the boys for their birthday. Alexander and Benjamin picked them out and decided to get the same one (they must be twins or something!).

And here are Alexander and Benjamin on their first day of school, walking to the bus stop.

On the last day of summer holidays, we went to the local county fair. They loved the rides as well as the animals in the barns. There was also an "Exotic Animal Farm" at the fair. We couldn't believe it when we saw this wonderful reminder of Scotland!

Alexander and Jacob enjoying the bumper cars at the fair

Benjamin and Hannah had fun as well

We had to buy a vehicle shortly after we arrived and here are the children proudly displaying our Toyota Sienna

Hannah and Jacob aren't quite 5 yet but my parents told them to pick out their bikes early so they could get some riding in before it got too cold

This was taken of Alexander just last week and I liked the leaves starting to change as you look down the fairway on this hole

We went to the dollar store the other day and each of the children got to pick out a toy. Here is Hannah "displaying" her purchase. We have great neighbors who have two little girls (5 and 8) and Hannah is turning into quite a princess with their help! :)

The primary school had a fall festival and there were fireworks at the end of the night. I hadn't realized that none of the children had seen fireworks before....we had seen lots from our windows in Edinburgh but not in person. They weren't quite keen on the "close up experience". They were quite funny....they really didn't want to watch as they quite a bit scared yet they couldn't take their eyes off of the fireworks.

That is all for now. I know that many of you have seen these on facebook already but there are a few who still enjoy our blog.....these are for you! Hope you are all doing well and that our paths cross again soon!

Back in Canada!

Well, we are back in Canada! What a great feeling it was to see friends and family whom we haven't seen in 3 years. And what a treat it has been showing the children around a country they really don't remember. We have had a great month back in Canada, below you will find some photos of some of the things we have been doing here.
Our time in Canada is drawing to a close, however, as we will move to the US at the end of this month. So my next post will likely be from the US!
Here are some photos of our activities over the last month in Canada:

Our first week was spent at my mom's cottage in NB. Here are the children playing Bocce Ball with my mom on her front lawn:

Arriving in Canada!!

Going to the beach at my mom's cottage. We have had some great days here.

Helping Grammy plant her garden while Alexander and Benjamin are golfing with Shawn

Going for a walk on the beach

Cows ice cream in PEI

On the coast of the Bay of Fundy

Lighthouse of Cape Enrage, NB

Some more shots on the coast

The famous flowerpot at the Hopewell Rocks, NB

Weekend Away in Perthshire

This past weekend was a long holiday weekend so we went off with some friends for a little holiday. We did a little exploring in Perthshire, Scotland and had a great weekend away. Here are some photos from our adventure:

This is a photo of the whole gang in Dunkeld.

This was on a hike outside Dunkeld. It really reminded us of the trails in Fundy National Park. We can't wait to take the children there this summer!

Jacob exploring by the river

Benjamin listening to the flowing river

Shawn and I hadn't had a photo together for awhile...

The children all up on a big log flying away into the forest!

It was great to get away and explore another area of this great country. And we can't wait to get back to Canada for the summer to do some exploring of that great country too!!!

It's been a long time coming.....

I really haven't updated the blog in ages as I am unsure whether anyone looks at it anymore. I know many people see these photos on facebook, but just in case there is someone out there who isn't on facebook and still wants to see what we have been up to, here are some photos from the last wee while:

To start off, here are some recent close ups of the children. We were waiting at the bus stop to go the Edinburgh zoo on the last day of the Easter holidays. The children had 2 1/2 weeks off over Easter and we went on a few adventures during that time.

Hannah

Benjamin

Alexander

Jacob always likes to do a funny face for his photos

During a Christmas hike at a reservoir on the outskirts of Edinburgh on Dec 27.....we were dreaming of a white Christmas but there was no such thing!

This is at one of the many fountains in the city centre of Sheffield, England during Easter school holidays.

This is a very big piece of drift wood on the beach! This is in Berwick-upon-Tweed, England.

The children posing in Berwick-upon-Tweed, England when we were on Easter holidays

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hello all,
As I sit here to write this and add these photos, it is windy, rainy and about 10 degrees.....We are missing the snow and cold weather (if you can believe it!). All the reports of 20 cm or more of snow are making us very jealous and we are longing for Canada. This is our 3rd winter away and it is taking it's tole a bit. We still love Edinburgh and the UK in general and are extremely thankful for the wonderful experiences we are having here. Our family is richly blessed! We are here in Edinburgh for Christmas and are heading over to the west coast of Scotland to Stranraer for New Year to spend some time with friends at their family's dairy farm. I think the children will really enjoy the time in the country - going for walks, milking cows, etc. And add to that our friends with their 3 children, we will be having a grand time to start off the new year.
We hope you are all doing well in preparation for the time of celebration of our Saviour's birth. Blessings to you all from Edinburgh!

Here is a photo we took after one of our favorite family activities. The Edinburgh Capitals are an ice hockey team (the ONLY ice hockey team) and we are excited to get to as many games as possible. Alexander and Benjamin have enjoyed many activities with the kids' club.

And here is a photo taken in our back garden about a month ago. Benjamin is in the blue stripes and Alexander in the red (just like when they were infants if any of you remember our color-coding system!). I think Hannah, Jacob, Shawn and I are a little easier to identify!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Stirling Castle

Yesterday was St. Andrews day here in Scotland so all the castles had special activities and free admission. So we decided (well, really, I decided and dragged Shawn and the children along. Ha ha!) to go up to Stirling on the train and check out the castle and sites. It was absolutely freezing (for here anyhow....I may not get much sympathy from all you folk in Canada who are covered in snow). We had a good time anyhow and enjoyed our day. Here are some photos from Stirling Castle and Argyll’s Lodging, which is "Scotland’s most splendid and complete example of a 17th century townhouse".

An interesting seat in the drawing room

The kitchen with a very big "oven"

Alexander on the cannon at Stirling castle

Jacob the knight

Benjamin the knight

A look at the castle

We found a very interesting old jail on the way up to the castle

Birthdays

We celebrated Alexander and Benjamin's sixth birthday in August and Hannah and Jacob's fourth birthday just yesterday.....Hard to believe they are getting so old since I am still so young! :)
So here are some photos for those of you who still check out the blog:

Alexander and Benjamin got new wallets from a friend for their birthday so Jacob was very happy (although you can't tell by the picture) to get his own for his birthday too!

These are from Alexander and Benjamin's birthday. Shawn is still working away at his second career of pinata making in case this whole PhD thing doesn't work out!

So the yellow one is the team logos of all the Canadian hockey teams, the black one is a goalie mask (Anaheim ducks who had beaten the Ottawa Senators, so they wanted to hit them with the bat instead of their favorite team! Ha Ha), and the third, green one is of the Celtic football club from here in the UK.

Here is Benjamin with his hockey birthday cake

And Alexander with his football birthday cake

Here is Hannah playing the piano in her birthday, fairy, princess dress

Jacob with his football cake

Hannah with her "pink" cake

Hannah and Jacob with their pinatas from the movie CARS (Sally and Chick Hicks)

Hannah at Pizza Hut on the night of their birthday opening up her princess dress. We went out to eat on their actual birth day and had a party a few days later. They chose Pizza Hut because they have an all you can eat, self-serve ice cream bar!

We are all doing well and enjoying life here in Edinburgh although we are quite home sick at times...it has been over 2 years since we have been on Canadian soil! As you can tell by the pinatas and cakes, however, we are still Canadian at heart and keep a close eye on NHL.com for all the scores and highlights as well as enjoying games from our very own Edinburgh Capitals Ice Hockey team (who have half their players from Canada!). Hope you are all well, drop us a line when you get a chance.