A Lot to Celebrate

We've had good news. Missys results came back and everything is officially benign so she's out the woods with another scar and none the wiser. That news came on Wednesday, so with my sister arriving Thursday, I was in a great mood to celebrate seeing family and enjoying all the Jubilee activities on offer.

As always when she visits, it's been a busy week. Firstly it was Edinburgh Zoo as we all wanted to take advantage of our passes. 

Then it was a day at the Family Festival in Newhailes. Missy had gotten her stitches out that morning and we kept her walking to a minimum. It was good to watch the live music and enjoy the atmosphere. 

Honestly, covid is starting to feel like a fever dream sometimes, except that I know too many people who are affected long term by it. 

Talking of covid, our friends with the twins joined us (sans husband) and it was great to have both my neices and nephews play together. They're all at that wonderful age where they make friends fast and were soon causing havok.

To finish wrapping up the weekend, we did a family garden party. It felt like a gathering of the clan as each branch of the tree arrived. Our friends mentioned above were also invited, partly because the children were getting on so well, and partly because we're really the only family they have locally, so want to include them as much as possible. 

And it went great. There's always a bit of trepidation when I get everyone together, but it worked well. The kids had a great time running riot (thank goodness it's a big garden) and the adults all got to catch up. 

A success! 

And talking of successes, I managed it. Saturday night the last of the stitches were done, in perfect time for the party. Bit bad for less than a months work, especially as most of that month was worrying about Missy!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend, whatever you got up to! 

A Festive Weekend

This weekend was the annual visit from the in-laws to do all the Christmassy bits unique to the capital. It was a funny one this year, it was the first time Hubby could commit to joining in everything, so when we booked I was super excited for it. Then the omicron strain appeared and I was quite hesitant about crowds again. And then Storm Arwen hit which, whilst it only destroyed one fence for us, meant the In laws had no power for four days, it only coming back on on the Tuesday before they arrived the Thursday. 

Honestly, I was shocked that they didn't cancel. But on Thursday they arrived, the campervan laden down with gifts like Santa's sleigh. The gifts joined the ones in my office, which now looks more like a grotto than any sensible place to work! 

Talking of work, I had Ruby join me on Friday and she was pleasantly well behaved, at least, until her mum and dad came back when she went off like a rocket.

Ruby and Maisie have a lot in common! 

Friday evening was the Castle of Light at Edinburgh Castle. We had previously tried to attend this back in 2019, but it had been cancelled due to bad weather, so we were pleased to actually attend this year.

It was very pretty, and very quiet in terms of people. We mooched about and watched the projections and really took our time with it, which was lovely. 

Our plans of dinner in the market were scrapped as we walked past the heaving cabins and food trucks. Not only was there no limit on numbers, there was no masks or checks for tests/passports. Another time, perhaps. 

We went to the Teasses Estate Christmas Market on the Saturday. This was to be our doggy day and there were plans to enjoy the market and then walk the dogs on the grounds. 

Then the snow came. 

We made an executive decision to bail once it started to lie and, by the time we were home, I noticed on thier Instagram that they had had to close for the snow. 

We finished the evening cuddled on the sofa with the dogs and watched the new Aardman short, "Robin Robin". 

The perfect way to get back into the Christmas spirit. 

Lastly was the Christmas lights at Edinburgh Zoo. I was a bit worried about this one as I adored the lanterns of previous years. Whilst it fell short of the craftsmanship and artestry you can only achieve with physical objects, it was whimsical and quaint enough that I fell in love with it anyway.

I did have a small world moment when my brother in law rang me (normally a sign that there's an emergency) :

BIL: It's not a bad time, is it? 

Me: I'm at the zoo, doing the lights-

BIL: NO WAY!? 

Me: Where are you?! 

BIL: We're at the zoo too! 

Me: NO WAY!

So we did a dash over, said hi, got a selfie and then legged it back to the In Laws. A really fun moment to add icing to the Christmas cake, as such. 

Then it was Monday. Back to work and away went the in laws. Too quick a weekend! Missy is absolutely beat from all the excitement:

On a final Christmas note, the llamageddon is continuing:

I gave my no-prob-llama counterpart a sneak peak and she absolutely fell in love with it. After my initial, no, it's mine, Mwhahaha moment, I decided that actually, yes, it does deserve to be loved all year round in a himalayan themed craft room. 

So after it graces my window this year, it's going to make its way south to my sisters to retire in splendid glory, surrounded by crates of bright wool and fleeces. A fitting place for it! 

A Quick Catch Up

It's been a busy couple of weeks! So, as mentioned in me last post, hubby has fractured his toe so I've ended up taking on all the dog walking chores although this last week he's managed to slowly make their way around the park for the morning walk.

After a long week, we had the in laws through with Ruby Havok last weekend. My hubby's Aunt (MILs sister) also came for a visit with the intention of us all getting in the Christmas mood. 

Ruby is doing very well, she's only 7 months old but is now an equal weight to Missy, so they got along very well now they can actually play on equal ground. As you can see from the photo though, she's still getting the hang of having her picture taken! It took almost a whole day to puppy proof the house and we did OK, the only casualty being some air hardening clay (which she ate, threw up and then ate some more of... Clearly not the sharpest tack in the box!) 

We were supposed to be doing the lights at the castle, but they were cancelled last minute due to high winds. Then the Sunday was a wash out with some pretty horrendous rain. Sunday had always been planned as the dogs day, and Aunt had asked to see the Kelpies. Despite the shock of my sister who lives nearby (and rang me 3 times to say it was terrible weather and I was mad to go out) but as I said, dogs need walking and so we went anyway. 

Yes. It was very wet. But not so bad that it put Ruby off trying to swim in the canal! Both dogs were quickly snuggled up in dressing gowns (MIL has commissioned one for Ruby) and we all had a well deserved cup of tea when we got in. 

Monday was much more successful. We had booked the lanterns at the zoo and woke up to a hard frost and bright blue skies. I'm happy to do the cold, it's the wet that I hate. I made pancakes for us all much to the Aunts amusement - it had been years, she said, since she had pancakes for breakfast! 

The in laws went to visit BIL and the hubby and I had a quiet morning with the dogs. He hobbled around a nice slow dog walk (linhouse loop, it was the flattest I could think of with something resembling a pavement) and we enjoyed some time to ourselves. 

The lanterns were spectacular. My inner six year old nearly died in joy at the life size triceratops and smilodon. I wasn't sure about the theme originally as I feel dinosaurs are a bit over done these days - and as someone who wanted to be a palaeontologist as a kid, that's saying something. However, I absolutely loved it. The lanterns translated really well into the dinosaurs and, with a pause for a hot chocolate and toasted marshmallows, it took us 2 hours to get round them all. 

Tuesday was back to normal and by the time I was home from work the house was empty again. A lovely visit and finally starting to feel a bit christmassy. 

I didn't get a lot of time for craft, but I was very pleased with this quick project. This is Ruby's first Christmas and I felt she needed a stocking. It had to be girly and sparkly and full of fun treats. I just hope she likes it as much as the rest of us do! 

Getting Festive!

It has been a very busy week! I've had the in laws visiting (and going and coming back again as they have used us as a stopover on their York trip) which means that there just isn't enough time to get on with things.

The in laws finished their visit by taking us out to the Chinese lanterns at Edinburgh Zoo. We did this last year which had a traditional Chinese theme, and this year they changed things up a bit by making it a myths and legends theme, including some British legends to go alongside the Chinese ones. Seeing life size unicorns and a duelling Nessie and dragon was a brilliant way to start the weekend, despite the lashing rain and high winds (a given when booking anything in advance!) Below are a few of my favourite photos:

After waving the in laws off, Saturday was a quiet day in with a poorly Missy (someone was greedy and ate too fast and threw up before spending the rest of the day feeling sorry for herself). With a wee ear infection, we decided to keep a cautious eye on her and were pleased when she was back to herself this morning.

After writing all my Christmas cards and boxing up the gifts that need posted, I'm really beginning to feel festive. Today was another (yes, another!) visit to Santa Paws but this time raising funds for the Dogs Trust. It was very different to the Christmas Market the EDCH put on as it was more a photo shoot with a stall selling Dogs Trust bits and bobs and a table with some refreshments, but was still enjoyable as we were surrounded by dogs. Missy as always put in 110% to show up the other dogs and her reindeer antlers were much complimented upon!

On a final note, I did get some crafts done this week, namely a new towel/dressing gown for Missy. As big whovians, I couldn't resist an upcycle of a much loved and overworn dressing gown! It was a well timed project as her poorly episode yesterday was spent snuggled up under it and having cuddles.