Sledging!

Snow, Snow Everywhere!

Well we are going on our 7th day straight of snowfall! I'm not sure how much it has snowed, (I would guess 3-4 feet) but its a LOT for a native Texan. We have been learning what all these Northerners do...how we have to shovel the snow in our driveway everyday to keep it from icing over,  how to lay grit and de-ice the snow on our walkways, and to help our neighbors push their cars out of the snow! A lot of cars get stuck in the cul-de-sacs like ours because they are the least city treated roads. I was excited to see a tractor come through the cul-de-sac today with a snow plow and move some of the snow to the side. The boys are loving it, I'm still enjoying the sight of it and seeing Trent and Landon having so much fun. School has even been cancelled for the past two days so we have been sledging some. The boys have it all figured out, and both are walking back up the hill on their own which is awesome!

This played weekend we played in the snow and Jon and I cooked our first ever Thanksgiving meal. Jon cooked the turkey and homemade rolls and I cooked the dressing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and pumpkin bread. We had the Hollis family and Wood family over at noon on Saturday and it was so nice and Yummy to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal! The kids all enjoyed playing together as well. We were also so excited that the Aggies won on Thursday evening, we watched the game again on Saturday!

Happy Thanksgiving - WE HAVE SNOW!!!

We have SNOW in Scotland, and lots of it! It has been snowing since yesterday morning and is forecasted to snow for the next 8 days! We have been driving in the snow, playing in the snow, and shoveling the snow. We are learning quickly how to de-ice the car and make sure all the snow is off the driveway so that it does not pile up and get hard like ice (our driveway is on a slope). Right now we are loving it. We have such a great view out all of our windows and it is so pretty to see the snow falling during the day and in the moonlight at night. The boys are having a lot of fun playing in the snow. They had their own ideas of taking their dump trucks and sand shovels from home and driving through the snow. We attempted to build a snow man today but the snow is still like powder, it is hard to stick together. We may wait a couple of days. 

Today we are thinking about everything we have been blessed with in our lives. We are thankful for our sweet little boys, and our family and friends back home. We are thankful for the many blessings God has given us. We will be attending a Thanksgiving dinner with the AWA this evening and then cooking our first Thanksgiving meal on Saturday. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Mommy Time Too!

Well another week has flown by here in Scotland. I think we have been here 7 weeks now! This week we got a big package of goodies from home from Gamma and Gampa. Mommy enjoyed time with other Moms in the American Woman's Group at the popular Rendezvous@Nargile Restaurant, in which the menu included Middle-Eastern and Mediterranean influences. We all had the "Meza" which is a large selection of food in small portions so that we could try different types of food. From the menu: "Mezas are usually strongly flavoured and aromatic, highly spiced and garlicky or sharp with lemon. They include food from little stuffed pastries to varying salads and dips. All served with fresh hot pitta bread." It was very interesting as I think we had around 16 small plates of food to try. Of course there was plenty of wine as well. Mommy also took a trip to Glasgow for some shopping this weekend with other Moms from the International School. There was a Christmas market with 200 stalls and lots of shopping in the malls. I could not believe all the people in the streets! We had lots of fun seeing so many new things at the market.

 Moms night out!

 Glasgow Shopping - This street was full of people!

On Sunday we took the kids to the Christmas Lights On Parade at Union Street. There were bagpipes and bands and we even saw Santa Claus! 

Icy Mornings

It is getting colder here in Scotland. This morning there was even ice on the roads as I was leaving. The main roads are treated for ice but this is a view of our culdesac street.

Weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland

Jon's new car finally arrived so we decided to go on a weekend trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. We decided to drive because we wanted to take a scenic route because the views in the country are just so beautiful and already we are seeing some snow in the highlands. Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland and the second largest city here. We took a double decker bus tour of the Old Town part of Edinburgh, which is a medieval town in the heart of the city. Trent and Landon have been looking forward to riding on the top of a bus since we have been in Scotland! They really enjoyed riding up top and Mommy and Daddy enjoyed listening to the guide and taking in the views. There are so many historical buildings near City Centre. We saw Edinburgh Castle, and went down the Royal Mile which is Edinburgh's mile-long street going uphill linking the Castle with Holyrood Palace (the Queen's residence in the City.) There are very many sights to take pictures of and things to learn about as well as lots of shopping :) The Scott Monument is also a sight to see, it is the largest monument to a writer in the world, commemorating Sir Walter Scott. We also enjoyed seeing the Balmoral Hotel. 

Saturday evening we stayed at the Dalmahoy, A Marriott Hotel & Country Club. It was a very nice hotel in Edinburgh and on a pretty golf course. We did not enjoy waking up in the middle of the night at 2 am to the blaring sound of fire alarms going off in the building, including 2 in our room. I sat up and had to think if this was real! The noise was unbearable, we couldn't even hear each other talk. Landon was crying because of the noise and Trent was hiding further under the blankets. We picked up the kids, I grabbed as many clothing items as I could in one sweep to carry out to keep warm outside as I knew it was raining and freezing. As we walked in the hallway I noticed there was a strange burning smell. We evacuated down the stairs and waited for 45 minutes. It was not fun, turns out it was a small electric fire near the entrance of the hotel but we had to wait for the all clear to get back into the rooms. The whole Fire Brigade had come and the kids saw many firemen. They were shaken up by the whole ordeal but now understand more about evacuating for a real fire. Needless to say I will pay more attention to fire exit routes now everywhere we go! The boys even got to share their experience at school on Monday when a fireman came to visit their class. 

Scott Monument

Balmoral Hotel

Edinburgh Castle (up high)

Our Hotel for the Night

View of Castle Dunnotar from the Drive back home 

The World from a Different View

I enjoy watching Trent and Landon play together and use their imaginations. They love to make tents in the family area with blankets, go on "pretend" trips in the house with their trucks, and like to construct a building with blocks or farm with play tractors. They are at an age that they are using more "pretend" play with their toys.  I often join in on their adventure so today I asked them what we would play and they said "We are loading up the trucks to head to Aberdeen." Notice how Trent's favorite fish is strapped down on the truck!

Mail Delivery and Recycling

Here at our house in Aberdeen our mail is delivered right at the door, its quite nice not having to remember to "go check the mailbox". 

Its been pretty difficult getting used to the idea that our "litter" pickup only comes ONCE every 2 WEEKS or "fortnightly"! We are used to trash pickup coming twice a week back home! All trash bins are called "litter" bins here. We are learning to recycle more things around the home though. It does take more time but we appreciate the fact that we are doing something good for the environment. There is a pickup every 2 weeks for plastic bottles, containers, aluminum and glass in a black container and for paper and cardboard in a white bag (as pictured below). Every 2 weeks there is also a pickup for the brown bin consisting of garden waste (flowers, hedge trimmings, leaves, etc.) Finally, every 2 weeks there is a pickup for food waste (leftover foods) in a food collection container. 

Black Bins and White Bags

Come on In, The Door's Open!

Here are are few pictures of the inside of the house here. I would guess the house is approx. 3000 sq. ft. There are 4-5 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and it is a nice size house here. There are radiators throughout the home in each room which provide heating and as well as radiator towel racks which are nice for heated towels after a shower! No Air Conditioning in these houses, and its really not needed even in the summer. The kitchen is small with a small oven and stovetop compared to those in the US. Temperature is measured in Celsius so I am learning to convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius when using the oven. We are fortunate that Jon's company shipped a full size washer and dryer along with a full size refrigerator here. These in other homes in the UK are usually half the size!


The conservatory area is nice, a lot like a sun room except it is completely glassed in from the ceiling. I like it because we have a great view and can soak up some sunlight on these cold winter days. We have very small showers in the home, and the toilets flush a bit different. The door picture you see is a Sauna in our bathroom, maybe we will use it one day but for now its being used as storage. All of the bedrooms have closets with sliding doors. They are completely full of clothing, shoes and other items. As you can see, I had to downsize my clothing to fit into the closet ;) At least I do not have to put summer clothes in there! They are also purchasing new drapes for the home so many rooms do not have them right now.


Electric outlets in the home are different here, each has its own switch to turn on as well as a wide 3 prong electrical outlet compared to that in the US. We use a 220 voltage here in the UK compared to the US 110. We could not take most of our kitchen appliances, blow dryers or flat irons from the US. They were purchased here. A lot of other things including our Wii, Computer, and Kids Battery operated Ride ons can be used with an Converter purchased here. Thankfully most of our other electronics including phones and chargers from the US are 110-240 Voltage so all we need to plug in is an adapter. 

The house is on a great Cul de sac lot with lots of areas to play in the front for the boys. We even have a park next to us. The back yard is not much, we are actually up on a hill so there are rocks going up from the fence. I love the fact that I am not looking at a fence out the window in the back yard, I look out of the conservatory and kitchen windows and see a valley and field.  We are glad to be settled in the house here!