Sailing for Adventure

It's been an exciting week with lots of adventure. From sailing ships to beaches, pottery painting and scrapbooking, there's been something for everyone. We did some serious crafting, my sister and I, but I'll let her fill you all in on that in her blog! 

Last year on our Wales trip, we had so much fun we decided that we really had to do it all again. Hubby floated the idea of his childhood home of Broughty Ferry, Dundee, as a great place to visit and so we booked it pretty much on the spot. 

How quickly a year rolls round! After the excitement of the Jubilee weekend we headed up north and over the Tay for our trip to Dundee, home of Jute, Jam and Journalism. 

After the initial day of running about the beach and getting to grips with the area, Tuesday was the first big adventure. Hubby went with my sister and her family to the Discovery, and Missy and I had a girls adventure at the HMS Unicorn.

One of the oldest sail ships in Scotland, the Unicorn had plenty for Missy and I to see and do. After a dubious moment looking at the very steep steps, which Missy proved to be able to manage far more gracefully than I, the whole ship was pretty much available to look about.

I was glad we had decided to split the party. Whilst I was quite happy to read the columns of text and imagine life aboard the ship with 300 fellow sailors, I don't think my niece and nephew would have enjoyed it. Both are too young to feel rewarded reading panels of text, and I later learned that my nephew also struggled with the stairs on the Discovery.

Missy had a great time befriending the ships cat and stalking mice in the hold. The staff fawned over her as well, so I was pleased that no one probably noticed my awkward shambling up and down the steps. 

I don't think I'd have made a particularly good sailor! 

There was lunch in the local brewdog, a dog swap and a quick caper to the Mcmanus art gallery to see the whale skeleton afterwards. An excellent first day. 

Wednesday was the "quiet" day. My sister always insists on these, but they never really end up all that quiet! There was kite flying in the morning before my sister and her family checked out Broughty Castle. Lunch was in a cafe and then off we went pottery painting. Missy slept through most of it. She's been slowly building up again, but isn't quite there.

And yes. Of course I had to make her something.

Then Thursday was a trip out to St Andrews. After a solid morning walk, Missy and Hubby sat out whilst we all did the St Andrews aquarium.

Then it was the beach. I honestly forgot how much children love the beach. We took turns watching the shoes as the kids played on the the surf and in the sand. Missy played for a bit with her lure and settled down to watch the kids play and soak up the sun.

Our last day was a stop at the Dundee Transport Museum. This was the only thing we managed to all do together as it was the only proper dog friendly attraction that the kids would enjoy.

And enjoy they did. Sitting in driverless cars and old old fire engines, they had a great time. We learned about the Tay Bridge Disaster and also found out that dogs used to have to sit upstairs with the smokers on buses!

Believe it or not, but that isn't the end of the weekend. Saturday we pulled a fly one and, after getting my sister to the zoo, convinced we'd let the cat out the bag, we presented her with an early birthday present: a sponsorship for the ring tailed Lemurs. 

I've mentioned before how important the lemurs are to my sister, or more specifically, a very old, arthritic, half tailed lemur called Stumpy.

We had genuine tears of happiness, and I really can't think of a better way to end a holiday!