The Catch Up

So we finally arrived in Bonnie Scotland last Sunday after our eventful week in London and the gaithering o' the Clans in Germany.  The journey itself ended up a bit of an adventure after departing FRA late, then waiting in LHR for another twenty minutes to get on the stand, which meant we only had twenty five minutes to maneuver T5 passport control and security and make our connection to EDI.  As it happens, we were met off the plane by BA Global Support who informed us that we (and our bags) were actually getting on the very same plane again, so she whisked us through the Terminal and the connection we did make, despite Toots being pulled up for having kids scissors in her pencil case - the same scissors that she's had in her pencil case the three previous times we went through security.  Except of course our bags received no special support so they had to wait in LHR for the next flight, which we then had to wait for in EDI.  Not sure all the rushing was worth it...

The best bit of the adventure, though, was the kind captain on the LHR-EDI leg who asked if the kids wanted to visit the cockpit.  Having taken about forty flights in the last three years and never once being offered, the kids jumped at the chance.  Toots, being 6 (?!), was even allowed to make an announcement to the rapidly filling plane, and as we were disembarking Tiger was allowed to make one too, though I think giggling was all she managed.  He was such a nice guy, who told us we should always get to see the cockpit every time we fly. If only I'd gotten that in writing....

Anyway, since arriving in this silver city we've spent many hours handing in and chasing up our passports, and rearranging return flight times, as well as trying to cope with our chronically sleep deprived and peopled-out children, who are falling asleep in supermarkets at lunch and on friends' sofas at tea time and still waking up at 6am thanks to that wonderful Scottish summer night sky (which barely gets dark).

But on the up side, my camera has started working again so hopefully I'll manage some shots of old haunts and friends with their new additions over the next few weeks.  Below are the best bits of the time my camera was down, as taken by the rest of the snap-happy family that was there.

The Wedding:

The Lamb Clan

A rare sight, apparently...

Die drei amigos

The Kelling Clan kids

What cuties!

The Kelling Clan

The German siblings

Small Fry, AunTia and Tio Freddow

The Clan Gaithering:

The best thing about Germany: the bretzel

There's always one missing...

What's the word in German again?

Off to the Schlossgarten

Anything she can do...

The newlyweds

The best way to travel.

You can't visit the Schlossgarten and not ride the train...

...unless you have a sleeping child.
Who, of course, wakes up the minute the train leaves.

The 24.5 'Brits' that descended on The Germans.

Always up for a hug!

Like I said, eat, play, sleep (water the plants): repeat.  And after all that, I don't even have a picture of The Germans, or the reason for us all descending on them, which was to celebrate my Tante's 'special' birthday.  Next time, next time... which will apparently be in 4 years since the Don and I have visited during World Cup 2006, 2010 and 2014.