Summer Family Saturdays

Sometimes on those rare family days when we're meandering around Scotland

Our sweet children;

Those blessed little fruit of my womb ...

(Well that was awkward, 

I promise I'll never say 'fruit of my womb' again.)

(Also, it sounds like men's undergarments.)

Our precious little lambs,

 start to drive me bonkers in the vehicle...

So it's an impromptu hike to St. John's Church along the coast.

Momma is WELL prepared here.

I'll tell you what, boy howdy that was a hike I'll not soon forget.

In the cemetery with Gardenstown in the background.

Also, because of the lack of planning we had no baby sling...

So Mark is going "Moby Wrap commando" here and just wearing the AirBear in his jacket.

I'm sorry I said commando on a missionary website.

My kids looking at the graves.

Trying to teach them to be respectable.

Despite what their father and I do when in ancient stone circles....

Pretty view!

Gardenstown along the coast on the right hand side

and in the very far coast is the teensy village of Pennan.

[UPDATE: that is not in fact Pennan, but the village of Crovie. Pennan is just around the tip of the coast. We can add geographic difficulties to my list of attributes.)

Pennan is so cute I'll give it it's own post some other time.

Momma getting fancy with the panoramic views.

Average dates on the gravestones here.

Do you realise the USA had yet to become a country when this stone was placed here?

Yup, the States ain't nothin' but a itty bitty babe compared to the rest of the world.

Hmm, there were some suspicious plurals in that sentence...

Inside the church it's really very interesting.

When the battle was fought here vs. the Vikings the heads of the defeated viking leaders were emancipated from their bodies and placed within the church...

WALLS!!!

RIGHT IN THE CHURCH WALLS.

OH. EM. GOODNESS.

I know nothing brings me into a state of reverence, awe, and worship before the Lord quite like the decapitated head of my adversary staring at me from commencement to benediction.

"Abandoning my views on being a church-hopper, I'm traveling down the road to worship elsewhere."

That was sarcasm and the pretend Jordan from the 16th century speaking there.

The other [headless] end of the church.

Then I noticed the 5 year old girl in the background climbing around the 500 year old crumbly walls and put a stop to that nonsense.

Then one sunny day we ventured to the beach.

Jellyfish!

Hangin' with the jellies....

(name that movie)

 Airdrie Bear had her own private tent to chill in to keep her out of the sun.

The kids made their own "aquarium" on the beach. 

The fish they somehow caught unfortunately did not survive the extreme fondness my children had for them.

Read: we don't pet fish

We don't get very many beach-worthy days here. So we enjoyed them all we could!

Then one weekend we headed a few miles away to a mini farm called, "Thirteen Moons."

I have no idea why it's called that, maybe they're Twilight fans.

Maybe not, don't go sending me hate mail because you are/nt a Twilight person.

I have no opinion on Twilight.

Highlight > HA- kidding. 

and > It's junk.

Not gonna lie, sheep faces kinda creep me out. 

(Apologies to my in-laws who raise sheep.)

Cuteness all around!

Airdrie meets an equestrian friend.

Polite ponies taking grass from the kiddos.

Sometimes I forget my husband is a cowboy. 

For reals.

He was raised on an angus cattle ranch in Wyoming.

I need to remember this the next time I am tripping over the dirty laundry piled on his side of the bed...

"My husband is a cowboy"

*swoon*

Actually I think my swoon is inclined to be more like,

"swoo--COWBOY, get your junk OFF the floor, PAH-LEASE!"

Checking on the fowl.

Airdrie is enamoured!

Windmill!

It reminded me of Topaz, a place we'd go "creekin" in Missouri.

"Creekin'" is our made up word for hanging out and swimming at a creek. 
Also, my husband says, "crick."
No comment.

This guy did not appreciate us.

Wretched fowl.

Wait, no. This one:

Foul fowl!

There are just over 900 Saturdays to spend with your children from birth until they leave home....

We're trying to make the most of ours!