Scotland 2013

***Picture alert****

Scotland was another beautiful adventure! Most people say that Ireland and Scotland are similar...which they are but yet totally different. I feel like the architecture is very different and the Highlands obviously are more hilly.

We took a train from London up to Edinburgh. A beautiful city! We stayed at the Balmoral Hotel. We went to the military tattoo in front of the Edinburgh Castle...a truly amazing and chilling experience. It's where military bands from different countries come together and perform. It was highly recommended by Grandma so I knew it would be good!!

From Edinburgh we headed north to Inverness to stay at the Aldourie Castle...yes we stayed at a castle. Pretty crazy but so cool to experience. Our daily looked something like this:

-Breakfast buffet style
-Activity
-Lunch
-Activity
-Get ready
-Tea in the drawing room....I later learned they call it the drawing room because that is where people withDRAW to.
-Dinner

It was amazing for so many reasons but it was so nice to have a chef prepare all of our meals. It was a good break from cooking all the meals for the family. Here are some of the crazy fun/different activities we were able to do while we were there:

- Canoe ride on Loch Ness
-Falconry
-Water Balls
- Boat ride on Loch Ness to visit Urquart Castle
- Croquet
-Archery
-Tour of Cawdor Castle
-Tour of the Culloden Battlefield



I never thought I would hold a bald eagle and especially not in America, kind of ironic. That thing is super heavy too and you hold it with one hand...my hand was starting to sink here as you can see

Loch Ness where we canoed

 

 

 

Boat ride to Urquart Castle

                          Philip and I on the boat (he is the 16 yr. old at Lawrenceville in NJ)

 

Urquart Castle

 

 

Lunch on the boat ride back

 

 

The castle from the boat

 

Another amazing night was when we had some Scottish dancers and pipers perform before dinner

 

This was super cool...she was dancing super fast and all around these swords without touching them.

 

 

 

Then we were piped into dinner by the same piper that did Madonna's wedding, Spud. Ridiculousness

 

 

 

 

Then we had some surprise fireworks for Gail's birthday. They were probably some of the best fireworks I have ever seen!

 

The boys were so cute in their kilts

 

 

 

 

 

Here were the water balls...

 

 

Random tree house on the property...

 

The garden was so pretty

 

 

 

A black retriever and her name was Lizzy pretty cool...

 

 

Archery is awesome!! I love this new found sport!! I felt like Keira Knightley

 

 

Cawdor Castle

 

 

                                                                       Drawbridge

 

The boys...

 

Working our way through the maze...

 

Another fun dinner...

 

 

 

 

 

Piped into dinner by a group of pipers this time..

 

 

 

 

One night we had place settings arranged by our birthday. I thought that was a fun idea.

 

 

                                   The wine cellar was so neat...I think we may need this:)

                                                    Our last dinner in the castle...

 

Truly a once in a lifetime experience and so fun to be able to experience the lifestyles of the rich and famous. However, I'm always thankful for our simple life that the Lord has given us. Life is not in money and in castles but in the Lord. I'm grateful that the family I work for loves the Lord too. Experiences are great but that is not what satisfies. The Lord satisfies and I'm glad that He has revealed that to me and not opened any doors for jealousy or envy.

 

I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
    apart from you I have no good thing.” Psalm 16:2