Summer in Scotland & St. Andrew's

It's not summer as you know it!  Sunshine, sand, and surf is the typical Texan summer we were used to or rather had endured for a lifetime until moving to Scotland.  The sun does not go down on Scotland (at least not in the summer).  No joke.  I woke up at 330am for a geriatric bathroom break thinking it was about time to wake the munchkin, only to realize that it wasn't quite morning-no thanks to the bright light shining in through the window.  Yes, there is technically a sun rise and sunset, however the light STILL SHINES ON! 

We were following the World Cup and we were struck by the fact that while we were watching at 11pm in Scotland with sun still shining through our windows, it was dark in Brazil which is 5 hours BEHIND us.  It's such an odd thing to experience, and quite frankly, before moving here, we hadn't even thought about it much.  Sure we'd seen the movie, Insomnia in which Alaska endures daylight for months on end, but we just forgot to apply that to our move to Scotland.

Needless to say James gets to play golf a bit more in the summer purely because there's light to play until midnight.

sporting her England jersey

Stella's swim class-Turtle Tots

Roughly 10pm looking out our back window in town.

Close to 11pm in mid summer

 ST. ANDREW'S LINKS
So apparently it's not as big a deal to play the St. Andrews Course(s) in Scotland as it is back home or as it is at least to James.  Either way, it was a BIG DEAL for James not only to get know a member and get an invite, but to actually get a tee time as well. 

Angulo Clan Visits Scotland

So not on purpose, but we managed to get both my parents and my brother to Aberdeen at the same time this summer! Luckily this gave CasaPope an excuse and means to visit some of the sights we haven't gotten around to quite yet despite being here over a year now. It was a little easier with my mom having been here for over a month last summer when Stella and I came over.  She didn't have the same shock of 24/7 sunlight in the summer as we did the previous summer.

LOCHNESS
So with the parents arriving first, we decided to plan a long weekend in the Inverness area and do the touristy Lochness Cruise and visit Urquhart Castle and then return to pick up my brother at the end of the weekend.
On our drive up we broke up the cramped car ride by stopping at Pluscarden Abbey.  As its website states,"it is the only medieval monastery in Britain still inhabited by monks and being used for its original purpose."  So if you dig back the cobwebs some may remember those [awesome] commercials for PureMoods and Gregorian chants CDs. One aptly named CD, Chant, springs to mind. So we planned our trip to be able to hear one of the regular periods of chanted prayers by the monks.

It's like a Roomba but for grass!  It was awesome. 

DRUMNADROCHIT

Having become quite a fan of B&Bs since moving abroad, we usually try to find one over a chain hotel when we can.  It's an experience, that admittedly James and I never really explore in Texas or the US often. For the Lochness Weekend we found a cute little secluded place about 30 minutes south of Inverness on the "north" side of the lake outside of Drumnadrochit: Glenurquhart House & Lodges

We opted for a lodge so we could have a joint space for the G'parents to spend with Stella rather than 2 separate hotel rooms. While the accommodations were not palatial or luxurious they were a bit quaint and outdoorsy.  The whole experience reminded me of the Kellerman's Catskills resort in the movie, Dirty Dancing.

LOCHNESS CRUISE & URQUHART CASTLE
We pre-booked a loch cruise through Jacobite Cruises that include an hour loch cruise plus entrance to Urquhart Castle which is located on the loch. Could not have been simpler once we figured out where to park. 

STONEHAVEN

Picnic with my monkey at our favorite spot in the world.

Learning to skip rocks with G-Pa. Still not sure why I was never taught as a child.

Still my favorite spot on Earth

Bye Bye bagpiper!

BRAEMAR/HIGHLANDS

EDINBURGH (pronounced Edin-bruh (burru but quickly), with a nice rolled r)

Still amazing every time we see this castle right off the high street perched on the cliff

Castle Chapel

21-gun salute for the Queen's Official birthday in June.  I want to say her actual birthday is in April or thereabouts.

A parade out of the castle carrying the Queen's Baton (prounounced Bat, on in UK) for the Commonwealth Games.

Missed her nap time. No worries, this spot will do fine.  So much for momma eating her lunch meal.

She REALLY loves hills.

G'parents cheering her on from the bench.

G'Pa wiping her mocos.  Thank you so much BTW for teaching her the word, "mocos."  Luckily no one in Scotland knows what she's talking about when she yells it out loud.

Hide-n-seek

G'ma's turn!

More hills!

Just makes me laugh to see that face.