Month 27

The highlight of June was Finlay's first trip to the theatre; he went to see Peppa Pig with his friend Holly. Finlay was so excited for weeks in advance and had a fabulous time singing and dancing away.

We also went to Storybook Glen, a local attrachtion with lots of figures from nursery rhymes and kid's programmes, which Finlay loved - especially the Teletubbies!

Finlay also had his first trip to see the banger car racing. He liked the bird's eye view, sitting perched on the top of the campervan. Along with Holly and Ellen, Finlay has been going to "Mud Pies", which involves walks in the woods looking for bugs and creepy crawlies and reading stories such as The Gruffalo all sat in the woods. Annie, with three other Mums, got together and put on another kiddies' concert. It was great because lots of the wee ones turned up with instruments to play and join in with. They love the mix of nursery rhymes, light classical and Scottish folk tunes, and all lit up when the Mums played In The Night Garden.

We had a trip to Petersfield for Nik's Nanna's 90th birthday party, where 4 generations came together to celebrate. Finlay was very good on the sleeper train on the way down and back, and loved being pulled along on his trunkie on the station concourse.

At the end of the month we headed up to Portsoy on the North coast for the Folk & Boat festival. We loved the music, boats and camped in the 'van on the beach by the old outdoor swimming pool. Finlay also went sailing in a little dinghy with Nik.

And finally this month, Finlay (and the rest of his nursery chums) went down with Chicken Pox. They lasted about a week and some got infected so he had to be on antibiotics. He was obviously quite uncomfortable, and didn't sleep very well, continually waking, and wanting his nappy changed and more cream putting on to soothe all his itchy spots. .

Finlay was very excited to meet LaLa the Teletubby

Finlay also had a ride in one of Noddy's cars

Sitting on the roof of the campervan watching the banger racing

Finlay and Holly at the theatre to see Peppa Pig

Finlay likes helping in the garden: collecting weeds in his wheel barrow

But anyone would need a lie down after all that heavy work

Nik and Finlay sailing on the Lochan at the Portsoy Boat Festival

Finlay and Mummy at out Portsoy
wild-camping spot

Month 26

Finlay decided to give us some more grey hairs this month, with a trip to A&E with breathing problems. A few days on oxygen and some R&R and he was getting better so we got to go home, having got over the worst of a viral chest infection.

While this was going on Nik was working in Derby which, conveniently, was where we had seen a campervan for sale that we really liked. So after some negotiations and a long drive north we are now proud owners of a 1998 VW campervan, with an Autosleeper conversion. It is in great condition and only has 32k on the clock so we can double the mileage in the next couple of years. Finlay loves it as he can see so much more out of it than in the car. We took it out on our first weekend away to Grantown-on-Spey. The first night was spent by the Spey in Aberlour and Finlay loved seeing the horses that we were camped next to and waking up by the play park. On the Saturday Annie was working up at a biodiversity event in Kingussie and Nik and Finlay went to a simultaneous event in Grantown. Finlay had a lovely time getting a ladybird painted on his face, making a hat and holding a giant snail and a stick insect.

We also took part in a "Flash Mob" event to help publicise the launch of the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention. One minute we were milling around in the shopping centre, the next 60 folk were doing an impromptu Strip the Willow ceilidh dance. You should be able to see a short bit off video of the event here: YouTube Link (we both have red t-shirts on and are in the middle bottom-right of the screen, with Nik holding Finlay on his arm). We even got a night out that night as Carolyn came and babysat for Finlay.

Other events for the month were Kirsty's christening, a trip to the play park with Charley and seeing Duncan and Callum who kindly gave Finlay lots of their clothes they had grown out of. Oh and Annie's birthday!!

Apart from that we have been busy in the garden and have strawberries, potatoes, peas, runner beans, leeks, onions, beetroot, radishes, tomatoes, courgettes, butternut squash and parsnips planted.

Finlay with a tiger face at the Lemon Tree

Finlay "helps" Annie making chocolate crispy cakes

A bit blurry (he never sits still for long), but putting his feet up

Finlay and the wee ones doing
"heads, shoulders, knees and toes"

Our new campervan, all ready for adventures

Finaly loved waking up with ducks & horses outside the van

At the biobuzz day Finlay was very taken by the big inflatable dolphin

Finlay helps Mummy blow her birthday cake candles out

Month 25

Easter weekend was a very enjoyable affair; on Good Friday we went to Crathes Castle with Christina, Lorna and Ian. Finlay and Christina had a lovely time following the Easter bunny trail looking for bunny rabbits and were rewarded with an egg at the end followed by lunch, then a play at the play park. Afterwards we went to see Ruth and her parents and Finlay enjoyed playing with bricks and climbing in boxes with Ruth. Easter Sunday saw us heading to Matthew's party. Finlay was very impressed with Matthew's Bob the Builder hat and they all had great fun looking for Easter Eggs around the garden.

The following weekend we headed off on a campervan adventure. We hired a Toyota Granvia from Inverness. The first night was spent on the shores of Loch Ness and Finlay loved sharing his breakfast with the ducks that greeted us when we woke up. After stopping at the Falls of Foyers, we headed to Eilean Donan Castle (used in the film Highlander) and spent the night nearby. As the weather was so sunny we drove across to Skye and had lovely views of the Cullins before going to Tallisker distillery. Ullapool was the next stop, where we met up with Imogen and Ken and baby Harvey who had also hired a campervan, and we all camped on the shores of Loch Broom. A very chill couple of days was had playing on the beach, listening to an open air gig and enjoying lots of nice food and a sneaky lunchtime glass of wine. Before returning the van we headed north to Inchnadamph, and set of on a bear hunt (polar bear skulls have been found in a cave there).

Nik's folks arrived on our return and Finlay had lots of fun with Nanny and Gramps especially on his new tractor that he got for his birthday from them. Finlay enjoyed his trip to the Highland Wildlife park and especially liked seeing the polar bear.

Unfortunately our planned holiday to California to see Diesel, Tara, Grace and Patrick was cancelled because of the volcanic ash. So having packed we decided to still head away for a week and hired another campervan instead. Our first night was spent at a forest park near Tillicoultry, Stirling, where Finlay had his own private play park next to a field of bouncy baby lambs. We then headed to Peterborough for a motorcaravan show where we joined back up with Nik's folks and had a fact finding mission about campervans. We also caught up with lots of friends on our whistle stop top, Louise and James near Doncaster, Helen and Gary in Kendal and Rehema, Winks and the twins Ronan and Atholl near St. Andrews. It was great fun catching up with everyone and Finlay loved his adventure, covering 900 miles in the week.

Finlay and the Falls of Foyers

Finlay and Annie camped by a Loch

Eilean Donan Castle

Finlay splashing in puddles

The Cullin Mountains, Skye

The two campervans at Ullapool with a CalMac ferry in the background

On a bear hunt - in the caves

Finlay finds an egg at Matthew's egg hunt

Finlay and Nik on a super fast slide in St. Andrews

Finlay evermore confident on a bouncy pillow (like a bouncy castle without walls)

Finlay on his tractor

Finlay (with bunny ears) on the bunny hunt at Crathes with Christina