First trip to Edinburgh

We went to Edinburgh for the first time yesterday. We took a bus (a double decker!) which took about 45 minutes each way. Oliver did great on the way, just taking in all of the new sights, and fell asleep on the bus ride back. We decided that our first day of exploring Edinburgh we'd see Edinburgh Castle, Princes Street Gardens, wander along the Royal Mile, and get dinner. We only explored the castle a bit. We decided not to pay to go in, but we may go back and do that another time. There were bleachers set up outside the castle for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo which is happening soon. The Royal Mile was cobblestone, had lots of really cool old buildings, but was also pretty touristy.

riding our first double decker bus to Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle

Chris & Oli at Princes Street Gardens

flower clock in Princes Street Gardens

coffee and a scone at Cafe Musa 

Oli playing at Cafe Musa

goofy phone booth pic

the organ at St Giles Cathedral

For dinner we went to Henderson's, a vegetarian restaurant in Edinburgh. Our favorites were a butternut squash salad and dessert, a slice of cherry pie. We had a good time in the city, but there is certainly much more exploring still to do!

cherry pie with creme fraiche at Henderson's

sleeping on the bus
on the way back to Dalkeith

In and Around Dalkeith House

We went out for a walk around the grounds yesterday. It has been raining a lot (even the locals are complaining about the lack of summer weather), but we are making the best of it. We saw a waterfall, a fox, and lots of lovely green vegetation. With all of the green and rain, it reminds me of Oregon.

Dalkeith House is located on Dalkeith Country Estate, an 850 acre estate which the locals use to take a jog, walk their dogs, or ride horses. We have only seen a very small portion of what there is to see right here! There is a horse livery, an incredible looking playground that Oliver would love if he was a little older, and a tearoom. We have much exploring to do still!

top corner is our room

We don't get wifi in our room, so the faculty is usually gathered in the lounge to get internet connection. We have been watching Wimbledon and I expect we'll be watching the Olympics when they begin too. 

faculty lounge

Welcome to Dalkeith, Scotland

Our travel from Minneapolis to Dalkieth, Scotland was quite eventful. Our flight out of Minneapolis was delayed for about 2 ½ hours because a truck ran into our plane. They repaired it relatively quickly but had to get clearance from Toulouse, France before we could leave. The flight to Paris was long, about 8 hours. We were sitting in the middle of the plane and since it wasn’t a full plane, they were nice enough to give us all 4 seats. This allowed us to spread out which was great. Oliver slept on and off and did well for the most part. Chris and I watched movies and tried to sleep, but couldn’t ever really get comfortable enough to fall asleep for long. There were so many movies and TV shows available for free. We got dinner and breakfast and there was also complimentary wine and beer. These things made the long plane ride a little more bearable.

crawling while waiting for our plane
to be repaired in Mpls

high five in Mpls

We arrived at the Paris airport Wednesday morning and were told we should try to make our connection. Little did we know we had to go through security again and it was on (what seemed like) the other side of the airport. When we arrived at our gate there was just one flight attendant cleaning things up. She just shook her head at us. So we went to Customer Service where we stood in line for a long time. When it was finally our turn they told us the next flight to Edinburgh was not until 3:30 pm. They nicely gave us vouchers to get lunch. We had a hard time finding a place to eat, but ended up in a little cafeteria where we had sandwiches and chocolate mousse.  After eating we went to wait for our flight. We were all so exhausted by this point that we fell asleep. We had to take a very crowded bus to our plane, which Oliver did not enjoy. The flight to Edinburgh was just under 2 hours and went smoothly. The snacks were delicious compared to what we’re used to in the US. We had these little pesto crackers and toffee shortbread. Yum!

We arrived in Edinburgh around 5:00 pm and had no problem going through customs. Our first passport stamps! Unfortunately our bags did not arrive and we were pretty bummed, though somehow not surprised, by this.

We got a taxi and headed for Dalkeith House. Unfortunately it was rush hour and they had had heavy rains earlier in the day so several areas were flooded. This meant a 30-minute cab ride became about an hour ride. Oliver fell asleep on the way and Chris and I tried to take in all of the sights. We arrived at Dalkeith House and no one answered the door. Luckily some students were walking up right behind us and they let us in. We got our room, said hi to the other faculty, ate some snacks, and crashed for the night.

The last few days we’ve mostly been dealing with jet lag. We’ve seen a little of Dalkeith, finally got our bags (two days after we arrived), observed tea time, and had dinner at a local pub with the other faculty here. We're getting adjusted and looking forward to the rest of our time here.

street view of Dalkeith

love the taxi cars here

Our room here is quite nice. In fact the other faculty are envious because we have one of the bigger rooms since we have a baby. It is a corner room with huge windows, lots of storage, and probably about 18' ceilings. Quite lovely!

view from our bedroom window

 

Goodbye Saint Paul, Hello Scotland

We are busy packing, cleaning up, and getting ready to say goodbye to Saint Paul and take a long flight to Europe. The first flight will be 8 hours from Minneapolis to Paris, where we will have a 2 hour layover. Then we have a 2 hour flight to Edinburgh from Paris. We're nervous about taking an international flight with a 9 month old. Here's to hoping we'll all get at least a little sleep!

Griggs St House, our home in St Paul

Dalkeith Palace, our home away from home in Scotland
Photo Credit

The weather has been ridiculously hot the last few weeks so we're looking forward to some cooler weather in Scotland!

This past week has been really busy with preparing for our trip, finishing my online class, and trying to see friends before we leave, but it was also a lot of fun!

trying out our neighborhood frozen yogurt shop
(photo courtesy of our friend Katie)

We're excited and nervous for our first trip to Europe. It's also Chris' birthday today! Because I am so nice I got him a 6-week European vacation as a present. We'll try to update this blog as much as possible with pictures and stories of our trip!

Videos - 9 months, 1 week

Here are a few videos from this past week.

Oliver has progressed from the army crawl to the classic crawl on hands and knees in the past week or so.

Oliver Crawls 9 months, 1 week old from Chris Bock on Vimeo.

He's also started eating solid food. It's cute and messy!
Eating Yoghurt from Chris Bock on Vimeo.

9 months

Oliver turned 9 months on June 20, the first day of summer this year. We had a doctor's visit the next day and he weighed in at 21 lbs 3 oz (in the 73%) and is about 27" (in the 14%). It's hard to believe he was once in the 7th percentile for weight given that he's so chubby now! 

Oliver is crawling a lot now and a little past his 9 month birthday started pulling up to stand. He's still very wobbly at standing, but working on it.

on the go!

He got his top two teeth this month!

Also in the last few days he has started showing more interest and actually begun eating solid food. We've been giving him small pieces of the things that we eat and he tries almost everything. He had cereal and applesauce this morning and tempeh and apples for lunch. He still likes breastfeeding best, but it's been fun (and a big mess) to watch him eat.

sampling a strawberry

Around 9 months he became much more independent with his play. He can sit and play by himself for short periods of time now. He likes to make sure we are nearby and will look over at us or crawl over to us if he hasn't seen us in awhile. His favorite toys are stacking cups, books, balls, cars, bowls and colanders in the kitchen, and anything that he can chew on!

exploring the kitchen

still loves bath time

9 months also marked a milestone for me - I've finally returned to my pre-pregnancy weight!

We are enjoying this age a lot! It's fun to watch him explore his environment more. He was pretty frustrated about wanting to crawl and not being able to, so he seems happier now that he can get where he wants to go (most of the time). He's generally a happy and social guy which made all the traveling we did this month relatively easy. We're enjoying a little more time at home this summer before we leave for Europe in early July!