Queen in town

On the 4th July the Queen and Prince Philip came to town! What a lovely day and a lovely event to happen in Inverclyde. This town could always do with some cheer. She looked lovely in her hot pink outfit and we got a great view of her

haha yeah right, that was not our view! This was my view (see below). I was so busy waving to her and actually watching all that was going on with my eyes rather than through a small screen, that my camera was pointing in the wrong direction. See the car wheels? Thats her ride. So we were really close and a got a good wave, you'll just have to take my word for it!

Calebs favourite bit was all the accompanying police and the royal helicopter. We positioned ourselves in the park where we knew she would be leaving from so we got to see the helicopter land, waited for her car (and all the police escorts) to arrive and then seen her take off in it. We were so close we got the downdraft of the helicopter, both boys were fascinated! The pilot spun around so that the Queen was facing the crowd and we got one final wave. It was great, a historic moment for Inverclyde.

You can see the Queen just behind the helicopter.

So, boys, if you ever look back at Mummys blog when you're older, Caleb (3.5 years) and Aaron (9 months) you "met" HR Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on 4th July 2012, her diamond jubilee year.

One final historic note, boys, tomorrow sees the first British (Scottish) male to get to a Wimbledon Tennis Final in 74 years. Go Andy Murray!

Beautiful days....

So, who watched the Royal Wedding? I have to say, i loved it. What a beautiful couple. What a fab day to be British. I know a lot of anti-monarchists but as a History graduate - i love the monarchy. The century-old traditions, the pomp and circumstance. My highlights were seeing the dress, the balcony scene, the view of all the people down The Mall (i love London) and then when they drove to Clarence House together in the Aston Martin, what a lovely modern twist!

I celebrated by having some friends round for a Royal Wedding tea party. There were also 4 toddlers and a newborn baby so we didn't get much peace to watch, but it was good fun. I even got the Denby teaseat out which i havent used since i got it as a wedding gift over 7 years ago lol I watched the ceremony again at night in peace and quiet when it was just me and a cup of tea!

So, what else has been happening?? We had a lovely Easter weekend last week. We finally bought a bike trailer for Caleb and got to use it last weekend. He loved it. We're hoping to go out again today seeing as another sunny weekend is forecast (yeah!)

On Easter Sunday we had a bbq after church, then we made our hard boiled eggs, decorated them in 30seconds and had good fun rolling them down the hill to see who's would smash up first. Im not sure who/if anyone else does this?? We always did it as kids. I (think) it's to symbolise the rolling away of the tomb? Anyway, the dog got mine lol

Thank-you for all the congrats on my pregnancy. I have good days and bad days. I havent stitched at all, it makes me feel really nauseous but i remember that from last time and it did pass. I havent been sick yet today so maybe things are turning round....it is only 8.20am though lol

Happy Bank Holiday Weekend (boy do i appreciate these now im working fulltime)!!!

Bonfire Night

Remember remember the 5th November

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see no reason why gunpowder, treason

Should ever be forgot

It's bonfire night. I love fireworks. For those of you that don't know, i did a History degree at University....so here's a history lesson.....

On the 5th November 1605 Guy Fawkes was caught in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament with several dozen barrels of gunpowder and was then, along with this co-conspirators, was tried as a traitor for trying to blow up (quite literally) the government. He was sentenced to death by execution by the awful practice of being hung ,drawn and quartered. The following year in 1606 it became an annual custom for the King and Parliament to commission a sermon to commemorate the event. The words " Remember , remember the 5th of November" serves as a warning to each new generation that treason will never be forgotten. The 5th of November is still commemorated each year with fireworks and bonfires culminating with the burning of The Guy. Tradition allows British children to display their 'guys' to passers-by and asking for " A penny for the guy.

I must admit, whilst i love bonfires and fireworks, i find the whole "Guy" burning thing a bit sick.

We had a lovely time at the wedding on Saturday at Stirling Castle. It was the posh-est most Scottish wedding ive ever been too. When we arrived we had to knock on a wooden door to get in, say the names of the bride and groom and then climb through a small trap door. The place was exclusively reserved for the wedding only! Here's some pictures of the castle and the bride and groom.Speaking of wedddings, it was my sisters wedding anniversary yesterday. They've been married for a year already. Here is a picture from their wedding day (i am standing next to the bride).
So it was a busy weekend. We didn't get home until about 3am then we were up early on Sunday coz DH runs the family church at our church and i had kids club to help at. Then i was at work on Sunday afternoon. However, amongst all the busy-ness i did manage to work more on Edgar's RR. Ive got a lot more done than when i last showed a picture on the 21st Oct. I decided just to use lots of LHN charts for this square. Im not going to do it again. It takes me forever to decide what to use and where. For quickness im going to stick to one chart when the next RR comes my way. Here's my progress so far anyway

Big ship comes to (our) town!

Im back from my work conference. It's been a long and tiring week. I was dreading it, especially spending all that time with my boss, but it wasn't too bad. I still hate going away for work though and unfortunately have to go away again next weekend (no boss this time!) We were in a gorgeous hotel in a place called Aviemore. I managed to get to the pool on Monday night for a swim which was great. The rest of the time was too busy unfortunately. One thing i will say is that the Scottish Highlands are amazing! The drive up was long (5hours) but wow, the views were stunning. I forgot my camera but found these pictures of some of the sites we seen on route! I definitely want to go back up there sometime for a holiday.Tonight the QE2 sailed right past our town! It was cool! The QE2 was built and then launched on the River Clyde 40 years ago and hasn't been back since so this was it making its farewell tour before it is becomes a floating hotel in Dubai next year. It was quite a big event; roads were blocked and loads of people were down at the river waiting for it to sail past. It sailed past our town about 7.30pm tonight.
Im way behind on reading all your blogs but hope to catch up over the weekend. Im off now until Tuesday! Woo hoo!!

A History Lesson

I did a History degree, these things interest me..............................

300 years ago today "The Act of Union" came into effect. This Act brought Scotland and England's parliaments together into one parliament at Westminster, London and created the "Kingdom of Great Britain" instead of the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England. This was not a popular Act in Scotland, there were protests, petitions etc and throughout the years there has been a strong opposition to the fact that the traditions of the Westminster parliament continued whereby the Scottish ones were lost. It is felt by some that the UK parliament was more concerned with England than the other nations. In 1997, there was a referendum in Scotland and in 1999 a Scottish parliament came into being once again. Westminster agreed to devolve some of its responsibilities over the domestic policy of Scotland to the Scottish parliament. So the Scottish parliament doesn't have total control but does deal with important issues such as health, education, justice and agriculture. All foreign policy and overall rule is still held at the UK parliament in Westminster.

The reason i wanted to document this on my blog is because in 2 days time Scotland goes to the polls for the Scottish parliament elections. It is highly likely that the Scottish Nationalist Party will gain power in the parliament. If this happens they plan to hold a referendum in 2010 to decide whether or not we should revert back 300 years to make Scotland a completely separate country again. The SNP want a seperated Scotland, hence dissolving "The Act of Union." This is scary - i personally feel that Scotland would not benefit from being split off from England, we are a smaller country, a poorer country...could it really survive on its own? Scotland isn't ready to be its own nation. It's not mature enough. So many people up here are ignorantly anti-English and think that that's a good enough reason to split away from them. What they can't see is that Scotland isn't even a united country...fellow Scots can't even get on with each other, there's a protestant/catholic divide, a east/west divide, a north/south divide. Whilst i was born in Scotland, i grew up in England, i have an English accent....i want the UK to stay the UNITED kingdom, the implications of it not are scary. I guess in 2 days time we'll find how the future may go.....