"It's like Deja Vu all over again..."

Maybe it's the suburban in me but animals on or in your house is not a good idea.  Maybe it's different here because of the kind of bird it is.  To be honest, it's fucking disgusting.  The swallows make these mud nests in the top corner of the window sills.  Great.  All that stuff on the window and on the sill - that's swallow shit.  It's disgusting.  Hi, stay at our place and enjoy the swallows and their shit as they toss it out of the nest.  Or do they turn around and stick their asses out of the hole?  Either way it's gross and I do not get grossed out that easily.  Don't get me wrong, they're cool to watch but that's a lot of shit to have to contend with and eventually clean up.

While I was trying to shower, Malcolm came in and had to pee and update me on the current situation in the house which included "Duncan's in his crib."  When I asked how, he said, "I don't know."  When I asked if he helped him, he said no.  When I went to get changed, I figured out the mystery myself.

He was jumping from the luggage, on to the crib.  He's strong too so he was able to pull himself up and over and in.  But then he can't get out.  It's like a baby trap.  They should make them for swallows too.

It was a relatively calm morning.  We were waiting for the woman who takes care of the plance to let us into the bothy so that we could use the dryer.  That didn't happen.  So, we have clothes hanging all over the place.  Not a big deal but it would have been easier, especially to dry my clothing if we could have accessed the dryer.  

Below is a small dose of what it looks like then they are fighting in the car.  The set up of the car seat is not the best so I had to use my phone to get a picture of them.  There is still a lot of touching and when that starts to turn more serious, there is kicking and that results in the "He kicked me in my eye and I can't see out of it anymore."  We also get the obligatory six-hundred "Are we there yet?" from Malcolm.  I think on one of the longer rides I am going to keep track of exactly how many times he asks.

We were able to hit a few nicely preserved castles - Tolquohn and a revisit to Huntly, which we had previously visited in 2013 with Neil.

Tolquohn Castle was pretty cool.  Apparently, it was never attacked because it was hidden and they couldn’t find it.  It was in good shape and there were lots of rooms and staircases to explore.  They missed half of it because they headed down with their mother - but not daddy.

Picture of a woman taking a picture.

We headed back to the car and grabbed our lunch and headed to Haddo House.

On the way in there were signs about the number og red squirrels that had died.  Apparently, there was a lot of killing of the reds.  Invasive American gray squirrels are also taking over.  I'm not sure what Malcolm heard in this conversation but out of the back seat we hear, "Neil can you protect me from the gray squirrels?"  Neil said no.  Mommy said yes.  Malcolm is mommy's boy.

Haddo House - we didn't take the tour because we got there late.  Additionally, it was going to be like 75 minutes.  There is no way that they would have survived.  It was almost the witching hour.  

Haddo House

Door to the family church.

We decided to walk around and went to the gardens first.

These two are going to get us deported.

When we got down to the pond area, Jess, Neil and Malcolm were already feeding the ducks.  Duncan was taking his time strolling down the walk.  I saw a football on the others side of the water and wondered if it belonged to the family that was there.  It did.  One of the moms went in to the water to walk across and get it.  It was only up to her ankles - but as some point, she started to sink and then she fell over.   

Feeding the ducks.

We got to the playground and hung out and played for a while - they had lots of good stuff, including a zip line.  There have been zip lines all over our trips to Europe and there is a need for there to be more in the US.

Got in the car to head to Huntly.  When we got there, Neil woke from his nap.  Everyone was was napping.  But then, Neil, who was cranky decided to be nasty and wake up Duncan - or anyone for the matter. But it was Duncan and he started screaming  bloody murder because he wasn't ready to get up yet.  He was not happy.

Neither was Jess.

We had been here in 2013 when we came with Neil.  It is well preserved given its history.  The family were Jacobites and Catholics.  Once that was resolved here, they were doomed.  Some of the awesome stonework with Catholic iconography was destroyed by the Covenanters.  As a whole though, I really like this castle.  There is a lot to see and you can walk up to multiple levels and even below to the prison, where they have two prisoners.

   

If Jess were here we could have recreated a picture...

THIS is the OG...

Honestly - the driving hasn't been that bad. It's been worse in the past, as has hers.  We've not had any issues this trip, thankfully, save a tiny one but I am not documenting that on the internet.  

When we played in the playground there was a French lady who said "Ooooo lalalalalala," to her kid.  I thought that was pretty funny.  They had a good time running around, and hopping on the swings and other playground stuff.  A good time was had by all - I suppose.  

We went back to the house and.....played soccer and drank some beers.  I feel like this blog is becoming more of a picture blog than a written one.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  Given the fact that we are trying to entertain three very demanding little boys and I am only a day behind, this is probably a good thing - especially given the shitty internet we have had the past few days.   There's probably only so many times we can complain about how they beat each other up, complain and fight...right?

Not a fair match up...

Water break....

Side Note:  If you go to the UK expect shitty crisps.  By crisps, I mean chips.  Who makes this shit?

The Dorito flavors are even worse.  What the hell - roast chicken?  Prawn cocktail?