Category: Here and there

On day 9 we spent the day traveling up to the highlands, taking a quick stop in the Cairngorm mountains (where it was snowing much to our delight!) and then just shopping for groceries and settling into our next air bnb and taking a short walk along the River Ness.

The highlands already feels slower and cozier. Our air bnb is fantastic and we are almost right on the River Ness. We went for a walk in the morning after we got in and you wouldn’t believe it, just five hundred feet down the street is the small ruins of a Black Friers (Dominicans) priory build in 1225. I cannot believe it! We didn’t spot it before and it’s all but built over with a modern factory but it’s there. Most of the graves are not legible but a plaque stated that the friers were there caring for the people in the remote highlands, relying on donations to stay alive. They were driven off in the reformation.  The oldest parts of the priory are the knight effigy, and the column you see in these pictures. The graves we could read were mostly families, which was sad because in most of the cases the one or both of parents survived the children- lots of babies and young children were buried before their parents followed. Or the whole family but two of the kids survived till they were in their forties then they both died too. I wonder what happened? 

Our walk led us to Leakeys Book Store an purveyor of old and rare books, along with all the usuals. It is situated in an old church, with an open wood burning stove in the center. While this makes a very cozy place, it seems not the ideal situation for a place full of highly flammable material, haha! 

After the book shop we went to the Victorian and market, just down the street. A popular tourist trap but fun to look around.

After lunch at home we headed out to the Calva Cairns and Culloden Moor. Culloden Moor was a somber, but beautiful place. It is heart breaking to think of the devastation that happened there. One stainless steel plaque stated that a cross they had found on the ground might have been left by a Jacobite who was charging forward or either fleeing the battle field. “Fleeing the battle field” had been scratched out by some metal instrument- the highland folk have not forgotten. 

I saw a highland cow there too so I was pretty excited about that. 

The Clava Cairns are Bronze Age burial grounds, well, one or two of the cairns were. They are guessing as to the for sure use of the third. They were amazing!! Chris and I hypothesized all the possible reasons they had for building them. The opening of the biggest cairns line up so that the midwinter sun on the shortest day of the year,  shines right through the opening, midwinter would have been the hardest time for these people; the stores of summer running out, and the daylight scarce. Chris and I thought it must have been a religious reason they built these in order to line up with the sun that particular way, at that particular time. Pretty amazing. It made me think of how out of touch with nature we are as a society now.  

Deeper under one of the cairns they have found Neolithic flint pieces. Can’t you believe it?! So the think these have been in use for much longer. I encourage you to read about this more, it is so interesting! 

We went home and had dinner- Cullen Skink for Chris and I, and cock-a-leekie soup for the kids. We loved the Cullen skink but were not fans of the cock-a-leekie. We can’t wait to go monster hunting at Lock Ness and Urquhart castle tomorrow! 

We took a day trip to Stirling today, which is about an hour west-ish  of Edinburgh. The trip went just fine, it poured rain and was very windy which actually made for a cozy trip. The kids are loving their audiobooks and Chris said the driving wasn’t as hectic as driving in Edinburgh proper. 

We went to Stirling Castle which was also built on a volcanic craig like Edinburgh castle. The castle was added on and rebuilt several times but James the V is the most well known monarch who influences are still seen. The views were incredible! We loved spying the William Wallace monument from the battery. The sun came out just as we parked, we have had the best weather so far! 

Notice the orange-ish looking building in the castle? That is the palace of James the V only recently (2011) reopened by the queen. It is actually suppose to be that color! James has it like washed to make a statement about his reign (something like property would follow) and that is what is left of the original color. I definitely thought it was a messed up restoration at first haha! Stirling was one of the most kid friendly places yet. They had interactive set up everywhere. 

The wooden portrait carvings were all commissioned by James as well, during his time restoring the castle and building the palace. They were all originally painted bright colors.

They had several staff dressed in period costume and they stayed in character. It was so cool! 

We walked by the ruins of Saint Rude’s but we couldn’t go in. 

After Stirling we went to Doune castle, which was so close by we couldn’t miss it. It is a very popular film location (Monty python anyone?) and was the home of the duke of Albany who was regent for several Scottish monarchs. It was cool to see what a “lesser” castle looked like. Still massive! 

On our way home we stopped by the famous Kelpies! Mythical Scottish water horses- although maybe we will dispel that “mythical” titles if we spot one at Loch Ness! These were as huge as advertised and so cool! It was quite the juxtaposition to see a some modern art after all these medieval castles.

After we rested at home for a bit, we did a quick jaunt out to the Royal Mile. It will be the last time we see it. I was rather sad. But we heard bagpipes and the kids spontaneously started dancing around and we looked at the epic views from the castle courtyard and it was wonderful. Who knows if we will ever be there again?  Chris and I decided we should bring the kids back before we take Caidoc to college, right before our 20 year anniversary. So, it’s a date ❤️. 

We walked six miles and thirty seven flights of stairs. So, I guess we weren’t done walking, oops. You’d never guess it though, as soon as we got back the kids were bouncing off the walls with a game that involved vaulting onto a bed, which had us all laughing. We start the “cozy” part of our trip tomorrow, as we drive up to the highlands. I will probably condense posts for that part as I’d like to be completely unplugged and we will be less busy. 

We drove 1.5 hours out to Fife today, in order to visit the ruins of Saint Andrews cathedral and castle. We walked and drove past Saint Andrews University and the famous Saint Andrews Links. 

To get to the castle and cathedral we walked through the university, which was neat! The Saint Andrews cathedral ruins were massive. To imagine these were built by hand in the medieval ages is just mind boggling. Look at how small we are in these pictures! The cathedral was built in the shape of a cross, and once originally housed the relics of Saint Andrew. Saint Margaret (remember Saint Margaret’s chapel in Edinburgh castle? Same lady!) commissioned a ferry system in order for pilgrims to get to the relics of Saint Andrew. This cathedral was the seat of the Catholic Church in Scotland during that time, before that it was on the isle of Iona. 

In the ruins off to the left is the tower of Saint Rude. It’s folklore that he brought the relics to Scotland but historians agree it was mostly likely Saint Augustine.  So the tower was built before the cathedral. 

The castle of Saint Andrews was not as big as the cathedral but right on the North Sea. It is famous for the murder of cardinal Beaton. Boy, the bottle neck dungeon was something out of a nightmare! We so enjoyed felling the North Sea and throwing rocks in the water. It was a windy but beautiful day. 

St. Andrews also has one of the rare Scottish Dominican friary ruins destroyed during the Reformation, but I didn’t get a picture of it sadly. 

Again, we were charmed by the lovely historical Scotland institution staff. They were very kind and loved the baby. 

On our way out we drove past the uber famous St. Andrews links- the birthplace of golf! Chris was very pleased but probably not as pleased as he was to check out al the cars on the drive up. The kids were champs in the car, listening to audiobooks the whole drive and Cosima slept some of the time. We packed our lunch per usual. We didn’t have to do much walking today- just 3 miles. 

Going to Saint Mary’s Catholic cathedral was big on our list of musts for Edinburgh but we waited till Sunday, two birds, one stone and all. 

The biggest reason for our visit to this church in particular was to see and pray before the relics of Saint Andrew the apostle. Incredible opportunity and a blessing! I sort of felt like a pilgrim because of the walking and packing Pickle and then feeling very light and unburdened while praying even though I was still holding her. It felt like that picture in the illustrated Pilgrims Progress I grew up with, right near the end when the pilgrim’s burden has just stared to slip off in the blinding light of heaven. It’s hard to explain but there it is. 

C and A got to light candles as well for which they were very excited! Here is a link to more information about the relics, but to sum up the high lights; Saint Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland. During the reformation the original relics brought over by (probably) Saint Augustine, were lost due to that pesky John Knox sacking Saint Andrews cathedral (which we will see tomorrow). The Saltire, the flag of Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 is in the shape of the cross upon which Saint Andrew was killed. 

I didn’t get many pictures, we were a tad busy wrangling the littles to be quiet, and it wasn’t really appropriate to take pictures obviously. But what a blessing. Who knows if we will ever get an opportunity like that again!

We also visited the Princes Street gardens. Epic views of Edinburgh castle from there! 

In the evening we went for a walk in the Holyrood park , well, not really a walk, mostly just playing chase and climbing trees and getting Cosima her evening nap. But it was very fun. We got our first sprinkle of Scotland rain! It lasted about 3 minutes and there was an incredible rainbow right after! We can walk to Holyrood park from our flat in about five minutes. This was our last full day in Edinburgh, and it was perfect. 

Chris said it should be noted that we *only* walked 18 flights of stairs, and 6.1 miles. We are done with the bulk of our walking so far I think, according to the itinerary. Personally, I’ve just loved it, and could walk around Edinburgh all day! If you’d have asked me I would have said we’ve walked like six miles total, I haven’t even noticed there is so much to see and do. We have had the best chats and experiences as a family just hanging out together on this trip. 

On a random note- Chris met our neighbors and their little boy wants to be American. He even is working on his American accent, haha! We didn’t mention it to them, but Caidoc keeps saying how much he loves the Scottish accent. He gets very quiet and listens when they talk then later tries to imitate it. It’s so cute! Chris and I cant get over how darling it is so hear little kids with the Scottish accent! 

Today we did our first day trip from Edinburgh. After packing lunch and getting baby’s morning nap in, we started out. We didn’t go far, just about forty minutes outside the city to Linlithgow Palace and Blackness Castle. The weather held for us and was just overcast, had a tiny sprinkle of rain, then just windy.

Linlithgow Palace is famous as the birth place of James the V and Mary Queen of Scots and royal retreat for the monarchs of Scotland. It was incredible, I cannot believe how massive this place was! Again, the kids had a blast running around and exploring. Chris and I were marveling at how much of the architecture is still intact, and the detail of the carvings on the fountain. The views of the loch sure are stunning.

Right next to Linlithgow Palace is St. Michael’s church. A church has been on the site for over 1000 years. As you might have guessed, it used to be Catholic, before John Knox and his followers sacked it, destroying all the images in particular.
We met the sweetest locals here, particularly a lovely elderly couple. They called Caidoc’s hair red, so it’s official. He’s a red head. If a Scot said so it must be true right?

St Michael’s has a graveyard, and we ere looking around for he oldest ones we could. It was windy, but other than that the weather held for us.

We stopped at a little cafe that the elderly man suggested to us just a stones throw from the Palace.

After the Palace we went to Blackness castle, a ship shaped castle mostly for military use through out the centuries, even utilized in World War One and Two. Also probably lived in by my ancestors. Maybe. But probably not. But maybe!

As you see the the castle is located right on the water, and I mean, RIGHT, on the water. In the distance off to the right, you can see the Firth of Forth bridge, which is so odd to see such a new construction as a backdrop to these old castles! I didn’t get a clear picture of it, but it is a very picturesque white bridge.

Chris likes to tell me how much we’ve walked at the end of the day. His watch tells us it was 5.5 miles today, and 20 flights of stairs. This doesn’t included the evening walk around the town I took with Caidoc and Cosima to get some additional wiggles out ( yes, 5.5 miles wasn’t enough…).

The kids barely notice how much we are walking, which is great! The prep for the trip and the strategic visits to kid friendly places is really helping. Also they are just the best kids in the world. I am very impressed with the staff at all these locations so far, they are very kid and baby friendly, always offering explorer packs, or scavenger hunts for them to go on.

We ended the day with dinner and a rousing game of family charades.

How can I even explain the awesomeness that was castle day? Today we started off by walking up the Royal Mile to Edinburgh castle. We have the explorers pass which gives us entrance to many locations all over Scotland, without having to wait in any ticket lines and saves lots of money. We are also traveling off season, and we are heartily reaping the rewards of next to no crowds or waiting.

Edinburgh castle is stunning from the outside, but the views from the battlements, with a bagpipe playing below in Princes Street gardens just smote my heart. I have read quite a bit on the history of the castle, and Chris dutifully listened to all my blathering the past few months so we felt pretty well informed. We got quiz sheets (they had these out for free everywhere so far) for the kids at this castle, but they didn’t really need any extra incentive because they were so excited about the massive cannon, the Crown Jewels ( known as the Honors of Scotland), the incredible views, and weapons. We couldn’t take many pictures of the insides, but my favorite part had to be St. Margaret’s chapel, the oldest building in Edinburgh.

The Crown Jewels of Scotland were just amazing- as I said, no photos allowed but I’m all the more glad for that, since we could just soak it up. If you’re curious about what exactly those are, here is a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honours_of_Scotland

Displayed with the The Honours aka the Crown Jewels, is the Stone of Destiny. Which I strongly encouraged you to read about. It has the best back story!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_of_Scone

After walking three and a half miles around Edinburgh castle and the Royal Mile, and trekking the equivalent of 15 flights of stairs, we headed back to the home base for lunch and rest before we headed out to Craigmiller Castle.

The kids has a blast running around this castle. It is one of the best preserved castles in Scotland, home to the famous Craigmiller Bond, the plot to murder Lord Darnley, (Mary Queen of Scots’ second husband). We practically had the place to ourselves. The receptionist gave us kid’s quizzes but the most fun that C and A had was exploring, which they were encouraged to do by the staff, since it is a safe and pretty indestructible place. I took so many photos since nothing was off limits. I’ve also decided the layout is perfect, and we can move in anytime.

I’m very grateful I “ trained” with the kids, they’ve been just rocking all this walking. Per usual, Cosima took her second nap (two hours!) at Craigmiller. Apparently the Scottish air agrees with her.

The “castle day #1” was an epic adventure! We are definitely seeing more castles on this trip, but this was one of the days where we got to visit two in one day! How lucky are we?

We walked over six miles and climbed thirty flights of stairs! We are having a great time moving so much, and the kids are really enjoying being outdoors so much. Scotland has been a great vacation with smaller kiddos.

Today we went to a palace. Yes, a real live palace, I don’t think Azelie could have been more excited! 

The Palace of Holyrood House is still in use by the queen of England and is full of history of Scotland, well, the English side of things that is. I was so impressed with their audio tour options for kids, C and A could navigate them easily and were enthralled. Caidoc was especially pleased with being able to lead himself around and was astounded at the size of the dining room. Azelie saw a portrait of the queen and was surprised that, “she was so old. But that’s okay, she still does a good job running this place!” Hahah! 

We only have pictures of the outside since photography is not allowed on the inside. But I have to tell you, seeing Mary Queen of Scots room that she lived in for awhile was a TRIP! First of all, I almost died of claustrophobia going up her stairway, these people must have been Caidoc’s size. And her bed was bitty!! How did people this small build castles?! When you tour the palace you only see part of it naturally, the historical portraits, tapestries, carvings, and various special items such as a locket given to Mary by her second husband Darnley and a lock of Mary’s hair (they think). The rest of the palace is still in use by the queen and her family. It was pretty cool to walk up the grand staircase where many popes, presidents, and other officials have walked to have meetings with the queen, not to mention Mary queen of Scots herself!

The kids absolutely loved the tour and it really made it easy for Chris and I take it all in. Cosima slept in the Ergo the whole time.

Attached to the palace is the ruins of Holyrood Abbey. I find it sad it wasn’t kept up like the palace BUT I won’t go into that now. 

It. Was. Beautiful. On the audio tour your little screen does a live reconstruction of it, so you can see how much bigger it really was. It was totally gorgeous, still is actually. 

The palace has a family room, which is a interactive space for kids to play so we went there as well. 

After we finished that tour we went back for rest and lunch before starting off on another hike. 

Below Arther’s Seat is another hike called Salisbury Craig so we did that in the afternoon. It’s a much milder hike than Arther’s Seat but still had amazing views. At the foot of the path was a replica of an original well called St. Margaret’s Well.

We are getting all our mandatory hikes in before the rain starts in a day or two. I’m grateful it’s been this nice for so long! 

After our hike we went back to our Airbnb where I held down the fort while chris exchanged our rental car, the rental company gave us the wrong one. Check in tomorrow for one of our most exciting days yet- CASTLE DAY ! 

Ps. Please excuse all the spelling and grammar errors, as I am attempting to get each day down while it is still fresh in my mind and don’t have much time to edit. Time enough for that later!

We made it! Our epic trip, several years in the making, finally became a reality and we are loving Scotland. We are so proud of Caidoc, Azelie, and Cosima, who all handled the long flights so well. Much to my surprise, Cosima had the least amount of difficulty on the flights, however that might be to due to being in the Ergo, or being nursed the whole time. She also was completely unfazed by pressure of the ears. Azelie was very tired, but remained so positive and cheerful. Caidoc, who refused to sleep, has retained his title of the Lidless Eye. He was a trooper despite the multiple time changes and wake time of about 20 hours.
There were several other kids and babies on our flights which was very reassuring! We even came across a Seattle mom, with a eight month old, on her way to join her husband and two year old in west Africa, where they are in the process of adopting her niece. You can meet the coolest people on airplanes!

Our first five hours on the ground were fairly eventful. Our Airbnb host decided that we couldn’t check in early after all. After a sleepless transatlantic flight with three kids, you can imagine we were not thrilled. I had also started to feel odd on our last flight. After we packed up our car I started to feel worse and I the kids were rapidly falling apart. Chris was a champ navigating the roads as we tried to figure out what to do till we could get into our Airbnb. I had started to throw up and have other terrible sickness symptoms so we checked into a hostel for a few hours. All the kids went to sleep which, while this was a bummer for adjusting to the time zone, it worked out well for me so that I could take care of myself in the bathroom which was about two feet from the bed where the kids slept. I was pretty useless to to poor Chris (who was heroic, running around finding parking and a place to crash) because I was shaking uncontrollably. I had guessed what was going on pretty quickly; my kidney tubes can’t handle any extra pressure on them for long periods, something I discovered with my pregnancy with Azelie. And I guess the Ergo was too tight for too long. Well, after a couple hours I felt right as rain, and we woke up the kids and got to our Airbnb. We left the bags and went to the grocery store, just about a five minute walk away, and loaded up on all the essentials. We cooked dinner and crashed for the night.

The next day was fantastic! The weather has been incredible since we’ve been here, we haven’t seen a drop of rain. It’s been crystal clear and chilly. We walked the Royal Mile, and visited St Giles cathedral, which were just so beautiful! It was a great way to start our trip. We have planned this trip extensively, and have pre planned different locations grouped together by distance so this day was very efficient, using on our of pre planned “ Edinburgh days” that would be best with good weather.

Since it is so close, we also went to the Elephant House, were J.K Rowling wrote part of the second Harry Potter book! Talk about fun! The kids got treats, and the parents got coffee. The bathroom walls are covered in Harry Potter fans graffiti, and you can bet I signed the wall too. 

Of course we also had to walk down to Victoria Street that inspired Rowling to invent Diagon Alley!

After our walk, we headed back to our Airbnb, had lunch and quiet time. We’ve divided most of our days into mornings and afternoons, since we are doing most of our meals here, and we all need some down time in between events. 

Our afternoon brought us our hike to Arthur’s Seat! We loved this hike! It was challenging but gorgeous! We walked from our Airbnb to the hike and inadvertently took the most difficult but shortest way up. Did I mention Cosima has been taking all her naps on our outings? It’s working great so far. 

On our way down from the hike we took a different path in order to see this ruin of St. Anthonys chapel. The kids were SO excited and Chris and I were on cloud nine visiting the first ruins of our Scotland trip!

The we walked back to Airbnb which is about four minutes walk from this hike. We made dinner, and the kids wrote about the day in these awesome journals I found for them to have on this trip!

I have more pictures I hope to attached to these posts eventually, but for neither this is it for day one and two. Check back tomorrow for day three!

Ah, tis’ the season to log onto my poor neglected blog to write our Christmas letter. Perhaps a summary of our year will explain the utter lack of posts for the past two years? It seems I’ve created a tradition of putting the blog onto the back burner, but I feel justified this year, as it was one of our busiest yet.

Let’s start with the biggest news; we welcomed another daughter, Cosima Philomena Eponine on September 5th. She had a turbulent birth and first few days, spending time in the NICU due to lack of oxygen, fluid in her lungs, and an infection. We are blessed with lots of love and support from family and we were able to bring her home where she is thriving. There is much debate whether she takes after her brother or sister, but she seems to have more of her own look, with aspects of them both. I will say, so far she is a very amiable baby, or am I such a seasoned parent that lack of sleep is part of my personality now and hence, I have a warped perspective? Maybe so, but being a seasoned parent also brings the knowledge that this age of babyhood, is so very short and we are enjoying the highs of this stage as well as the understanding that the lows are short lived. Cosima is much loved by her siblings, and she in turn lights up with all sorts of grins for them more than anyone else. Chris has scored her first laugh, as he did with the other kids, but I’m still holding onto “mama” being her first word. Cosima is a joy and we love our little “Pickle”.

Our second largest piece of news is that Chris has finished his MBA with a specialization in finance this winter, coming out with a 4.0 GPA no less! He continues to disregard my suggestion that “C’s get degrees, and B’s mean more time at home” but before I even married him, I knew academia is not something Chris does half way. On that point, getting the degree was also my idea, so I lumped it, and swallowed *most* of my complaints to Chris. Don’t worry, I made up for it by complaining to anyone else who would listen. We are so glad to have Chris at home more, particularly now that we are no longer playing man-to-man defense in the child arena. Securing a 4.0 was not all Chris excelled at this year, he was awarded more responsibility in the job of Quality Control Manager in addition to his job of Research and Development Manager at Belshaw Adamatic. I guess I decided he wasn’t busy enough, so I might have suggested he coach Caidoc’s baseball team through the Auburn Parks and Recreation Department. Naturally, he rocked it, and it wasn’t just the kids singing his praises, since some of the moms asked if he could be hired for events (thank you I think?). I think it’s safe to say Chris is ready for more time doing things that don’t have to do with school or obligations in general. He has also informed me I’m fired as his activities manager. He is looking forward to having weekends again (since they were usually filled with school or work) and has already lined up several hobbies, informing me that this is all part of his over due mid-life crisis. I responded that since his 31st birthday is on the horizon, he has just a few weeks to get in any crisis activities.

Azelie 5 years 7 months

Our sweet princess is a big sister, much to her delight. She is such a generous and kind girl, with very little dethronement issues when it comes to the baby, frequently insisting that Cosima would like another “fashion show” aka being dressed up in numerous outfits. Zelie started Kindergarten this year and is doing so well! Although she will tell you she isn’t a fan of phonics, she can already read short words and her handwriting is superb. She took a short ballet class over the summer and loved her teacher, which led to no issues being away from me at all (I still have issues). Besides schooling at home, Zelie is enjoying two co-op classes, one she takes with her brother and one without, marking another big step in independence for our not-so-little girl. Watching Azelie’s personality morph into less of a toddler and more of a “big kid” is a joy (even if her elaborate dishwasher unloading dance can take up to thirty minutes).

Azelie is looking forward to her birthday in the spring (“because I’ll be SIX mom!), camping in the summer, and starting piano in the fall.

Caidoc 7 years 7 months

You wouldn’t believe how fast this kids has grown! Well, maybe you would but, as parents, we had this vague notion that he would stay little forever (or maybe we only wished that?) Caidoc has been playing piano for two years now, performing at several recitals, and showcasing his own composition this winter with an adjudication in the spring. With dad as his coach, Caidoc played his first season of baseball this past spring and love it. He says his favorite positions were hitting and catcher- although this is not surprising as Caidoc always wants to be where the action is. After a year of preparation, Caidoc also completed his First Confession at St. Anthony’s. In addition to schooling at home, he takes two co-op classes, his favorite being Lego Robotics, since he gets to use computers and legos, two of his favorite things. If he is not in his room making Lego creations, Caidoc is usually reading a Magic Tree House book, taking apart anything electronic he can find, or playing all his piano pieces fortissimo, in the bass cleft. He is so helpful to me each day, his independence and desire for responsibility growing at a rapid rate. If anyone has any ideas on how to slow down time and keep him my little boy forever, I’d appreciate it.

Caidoc is most looking forward to another season of baseball, camping, and is begging to be signed up for tackle football.

While I was reading this letter aloud to Chris, he said, “Okay, but what about you?” I answered with, ” ‘I have no interest in myself. When I think about myself I get bored out of my mind’ ” to which he replied, “You cannot just quote Joe Verses The Volcano, Abby”. *sigh* Okay. Well, I guess I just feel that my life is so embedded and woven into the lives of my wonderful little family that I don’t feel like I need to say anything extra about myself. Summing up their activities and achievements is summing up mine to. They are my life’s work, and by far, these are the best days of my life. Exhausted or no, it is my greatest privilege to be where I am, in the trenches of mother and wifey-hood; homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, baking, driving, blowing noses, reading books, biking, hiking, hosing out muddy boots (muddy on the inside, yes), wiping bums, giving kisses- this is the life that has pushed me to be stronger and tougher than I ever thought possible.

So, what I look forward to this year is more. More of my wonderful life.

May you all have long, healthy, happy, holy lives. Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year.

The Brocks

Greetings friends and family!

 

2017 is coming to a close and we are so thankful for all the blessings we have been showered with this year, and what a year it has been! We had some amazing adventures camping at in Washington at Fort Flagler and Mount Rainier, and in Oregon at Mt Hood. Between camping and various trips to Chelan with extended family, we had a whirlwind of a summer. When we were home we kept busy with house projects, hiking, and homeschooling the kids.

Chris

Chis has had a very full year. He continues his job as a mechanical engineer at Belshaw Adamatic Bakery Group here in Auburn. He is the head of the research and design department. The way I always describe his job to people goes something like this, “You know those big machines at Krispie Kreme that make and ice the donuts? He makes those.” That is quite a layman term for what he does though as he has been busy traveling all over the country (and out of the country!) seeing to the running of a new industrial oven that his company just patented, his name is on the patent and everything!

While tackling these very long works hours Chris has also started his MBA in Business Finance at Washington State University. Is he a glutton for punishment? Yes. Just kidding :). It was actually a joint decision that we made, well aware it was going to be a stressful, exhausting, but advantageous endeavor. It surely has been all of those things so far, but there is no time like the present. He has jumped right in, securing straight A’s no less!

With the extra workload and school , Chris simply didn’t have time to continue Brock Soccer which we were both very sad about. We are in the process of trying to rearrange the program to fit our new demands but as on now we have taken a break. To help reduce stress and keep active, Chris has been biking to work in the summers and swimming the winter which is a solace to losing his soccer outlet. Despite all these challenges Chris doesn’t miss a beat with the kids and I. He is the stellar father and husband he always has been and we are so grateful for him.

Caidoc

5.5 years old

Our little man is not so little any more. He is growing with leaps and strides. At five, he is taller than my waist and is always asking for “more meat please mom!” This December marks one year of his riding a pedal bike- with no training wheels! Caidoc is constantly on the move. Is he’s not biking, he’s climbing his favorite tree with an apple in his pocket to eat at the top- “To to like Johnny Appleseed mom!” , swimming at the pool, playing dress up, or wrestling with Chris. Despite his unending energy, is favorite thing to do is sit and play with his Legos.

Homeschooling Caidoc is such an awesome experience. He is incredibly bright (of course I might be bias… but probably not). He does 1st grade math and can already read, although he’s not very interested in reading as much as math- he is his father’s son! He is also taking a music class and a sign language class with his sister. He has a natural ability for sign language which is so fun! He particularly like these classes because they are held at “the farm” my parents house, which is holds the wonders of Calvin and Hobbs, an epic tree house, and copious uncles and aunts who willingly play tag with him for hours. We are so grateful to have Caidoc in our lives. He is such a blessing and a wonderful son!

Azelie

3.5 years old

How our little Princess has grown! Her vocabulary is huge, with her most recently word being “flabbergasted” which she can use correctly in context, usually referring to how she thinks someone will react when they “see her fancy outfit”. Azelie wore her Maid Marian Halloween costume for about two weeks before I could convince her it need to be cleaned. I’ve come to embrace the fact that she would rather wear dresses than sweatpants, due to her necessity to “twirl”. She is gaining an interest in Caidoc’s Legos, but still prefers Playmobile because she likes to act out stories whereas her brother rather just build vehicles. Zelie certainly is becoming quite her own person which is such a joy to watch. She frequently tells us tales of her “brother she had before Caidoc” a boy named “Clork” who apparently lives with her big sister “Merida” in her house, the location of which seems to change based on weather.

Azelie is in a music class and sign language class with Caidoc, but is also taking ballet, which she likes as long as she can dance with a doll. Her current aspiration in life is to become a “ballerina with a bow”. Her imagination is second to none. We recently had to remove the mirror from her room since we kept finding her perfecting her dramatic fake crying which we were only alerted to by the deafening decibel she had achieved. We love our vibrant, beautiful, hilarious little girl.

 

Me

Well, after summarizing Chris’s and the kid’s year, there isn’t much to say. My days revolve around supporting and raising those three people, something I wouldn’t trade for the world. I am really loving homeschooling the kids, despite how trying it can be sometimes. Our house has gotten some upgrades in the way of a heat pump, repaired deck, new deck roofing, and more- home ownership is quite a challenge and a gift. I don’t find much time to blog these days, I usually want to spend my free time exercising, prepping food, or reading. Last year I joined a Pilates, yoga, and barre studio which I just love. The community of women is just wonderful and I go to classes several times a week. Most of my time is spent planning for trips, holidays, schooling, freezer meals, field trips, hikes, house projects, well, you get the idea! This year has been such a busy and exciting one. With the kids getting older, our scope for adventure has widened. I remember the days when taking both the kids to the library was exhausting but these days Caidoc and Azelie and I can go for a three mile hike and I don’t have to carry anyone! Watching the kids mature is such a bittersweet experience- mostly sweet. I cannot believe how blessed I am with such an amazing family!

 

We wish you all a happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year! Thank you for being in our lives. Cheers!

The Brock Family