Planning, progress and Deja Vu...

I suppose that one-ish post a month is a good thing considering the amount of things that I need to get done on a daily basis.  It's almost the end of May and for people in schools, that's the end of the year and that means that we are getting everything ready for the conclusion of a school year:  graduation, articulation, field trips, 8th grade senior activities, teacher evaluations, reflections for planning for the net year, programming for the next year, wrapping up and certifying purchasing, promotion or lack thereof and consequently summer school planning...the list goes on and for those who think educators do nothing and don't deserve a break, GFY.  You don't even watch your own kids every day for six hours and educate them, let alone educate them and care for their well-being along with a minimum (if you're extremely lucky 20 other kids) with their own personalities and needs.  Ok, off the soapbox.

It's been a busy month.  There have been lots of developments in lots of areas and to be honest, there is more going on right now than should be or should be on my plate.

Neil had to get his passport picture retaken and this was the result:

I have no idea where he gets that scowl from.  But apparently, this was him trying not to laugh.  He's even got the flared nostrils down.  Whenever Jess annoys me with one of her texts, I send her this picture.

And then, possibly most importantly, Liverpool qualified for the Champion's League Final - if you know me, this is massive.  Huge - and hopefully it will be our 6th European Championship - it doesn't get much bigger than this and I think many would argue that it is more important than the World Cup.

It is in THIS house!

Somewhere in the interim, Jess took them for haircuts - despite my disapproval.  They wanted their haircut like me, and yes, I'm  flattered but I pretty much need to cut my hair like this because it is thick and uncontrollable.

Mother's Day was good (I hope).  I took Neil and Malcolm to the store in the morning so that we could get food for the day to make for Mama.  While there, and not listening (they were doing really good at the start) I asked Neil not to climb out of the cart so that I could look for the steak that I needed for dinner (not for Jess).  I hear a woman shriek and as I turn I see in slow motion, the cart go down and Neil with it.  Dad of the Year!  This was the result:

I think we ended the day well, a shirtless Malcolm is standard round these parts.

 It's also standard to draw on your face.

 Then of course, Duncs was Duncs...cheese face and all.

I had to go to work today because my district was hosting a big educational conference.  I was part of a team that did the planning and it was definitely a worthy and pertinent conference for the work that I am currently engaged in.  I wish more of the community had come out to participate in the workshops that were available for them.  I didn't get stay for the whole time because I had to head home to coach Neil's soccer team.  We were the only game to play and they probably should have cancelled it.  But, we won, and that's the important thing.  They had fun playing in the rain except for the really wild kid on the other team who was making a lot of dangerous plays, kicking at kids instead of the ball, pushing, etc.  I had to finally say something to the ref because no one was.  They're 6 and up to 8 years old.  You have to nip that shit in the bud now or it will get worse or worse, when he knocked someone over he could have kicked them in the face.

After we came home and got everyone in bed, Jess said that she wanted to do some planning and figure out the rest of our stops.  We were able to figure out our next two stops and have an idea of what we would like to possibly do with the days that are remaining.

Planning Map

We have managed to book five places thus far.  We have an additional six evenings to plan for.  The very last must be near Inverness airport since we have to be at the airport early in the morning for our flight home.   Our first place will be in Moray, east of Inverness.  We'll stay for two days and three nights and then head clockwise around the country.  Next stop is Seggat - for three nights and then a big drive down to Balerno, which is outside Edinburgh.

We stayed in Curry the last time we were here and I am almost 100% positive that we came to this tiny town - or at least this street.  So while we are looking at some things today for planning, Jess is like, "There's the Gray Horse Tavern in Balerno.  Did we go there?"  She doesn't remember this picture above but she remembers the name of a pub that we might have eaten in.

After doing some research, because I KNOW we were in Balerno, I check out the blog from the trip with just Neil and when traveling was easy and find...

"We tried to compromise on dinner because I wanted pub food and she wanted other stuff.  We headed to the Gray Horse in Balerno because it had both pub food and a Chinese menu.  Yes, really.  Quite bizarre if you ask me.  After sitting at one table, being asked to move to another because a party of five was coming and then choosing a different one, the mayor settled in and began to flirt with the two tables of people who were already there.

The waitress/owner was great and brought him some mango creme crackers because he couldn't eat the prawn chips they put on the table instead of noodles.  Yes, prawn chips.  The mayor went through his usual routine of giving us cheers with his cup and saying hello to everyone - which, of course, people loved. I was hoping we'd get a discount for his services.

I am very picky with Chinese food because I worked in a place when I was in high school.  Chinese in other parts of the world is very different and ofter vile - but I must say, I was pleasantly surprised, it was really good.  After dinner we walked through Balerno.  This took about 30 seconds to make our way up the street."

Yep, that's Neil - looks a lot like Duncan does now.  Only skinny.

So yes, we've been to Balerno and, we're heading back.  Maybe to the Chinese food pub too.  If things work out, we might get to see one of Neil's old soccer coaches who has been living outside Edinburgh.  We liked Coach Tom and we have emailed back and forth a few times  - go figure, I found someone to talk to soccer about.

There's Neil and coach Tom - The MacNeil doing his own thing!

We'll be there during the Fringe Festival so we'll be spending some time in the city and if you haven't been, you need to go before it gets ruined by all the Outlander fans.

From there, we'll head to the Dumfries and Galloway area and stay for three nights outside of Newton Stewart at The Gardeners Cottage which is set within the walled gardens of Corvisel House, built by Rear Admiral John McKerlie in 1829, whoever the hell he was. (OK, after reading his biography, he was a bit of a badass and in one battle, lost his arm and received a wound on the thigh.  I wonder if he had an eye patch too!).  

Onwards and upwards north of Glasgow, and Loch Lomond and a little south of Glencoe to An Tigh Beagh Holiday Cottage, near Tyndrum.  That's right not in it and not in anywhere else, just near it.   And this is why - I'll take it:

We are going to try to plan the last few spots I'm told, "After dinner if I'm not too tired..."  Why would she ever be tired?

Intermission:  

dinner, baths and bedtime, bedtime for us, breakfast, bouncey place, playing in the yard, naptime, family BBQ, work, graduation party, more work, dinner with friends, more work, a Champion's League Final loss....

Yesterday, we headed over to watch the planes take off for the airshow.  I didn't know how many people actually lined up near Republic Airport to watch, I was pretty surprised.  We headed to the Stew Leonard's parking lot thinking it would be less packed.  It wasn't.  We had to stand on the wall in order to see the planes lining up.  Malcolm didn't stay for long, he was scared.  The rest of the day, I went into the city to watch the final.  We got robbed and there was some horrific professional behavior from one of the Madrid players.  But it is what it is and that's football and UEFA loves Madrid, so the cards were always stacked against us.  

The Bhoys and Jess went to visit my parents - really, Jess just wanted to go to Doughology and get really unhealthy donuts for herself.  Sometimes you just have to let that go and this is one of those times.

So it looks like we will be spending three nights in Mallaig.  There may not be a lot to do here, but there are some amazingly beautiful beaches, nice walks and hopefully an easy route to the Isle of Skye.

We now need to find our last two spots - one in the far north and then one near the airport and or in Inverness.  Perhaps we will have our last meal at the Dores Inn on Loch Ness.  I'm not sure about how much we will be doing in the far north.  There might not be a lot other than beautiful scenery, walking and hanging out - which might be ok for me but I am not sure about everyone else.  Hopefully the weather won't be like it is here today...rain, rain and more rain.  

So since we are locked in the house, we are trying to do some planning, but it has been difficult. 

Doin' work!

Time to play some games because the heathens are restless.