Scotland surf

After waking up at 1 am for good (Dad and I finally went for a walk at 5 am and I fell asleep from 6-8 am), Mom and Dad decided that my first full day in Inverness would be a Lyllie-centric day with the hope of returning me to some form of normalcy. So we took a stroll along the Ness River (no monsters have been sighted in the river according to the locals) ...

... to a park for wee li'l ones! I got my fix of playing in ...

... and then crashed on the way back.

After visiting the city center for lunch we walked past a castle on the way home ...

... and took a drive to visit another out in the country. There are castles everywhere you look in Scotland!

The drive finished with a Scottish tradition - fish 'n chips on the beach for dinner!

After some fun in the sand I bid farewell to the beach and got ready for tomorrow's trip down to the heart of Scotland.

Scotland Skye

A highland "hi"! My flights over to Scotland went great - though I was full of energy and smiles when I left Michigan ...

... and in dire need of sleep when we landed in Glasgow. Since I slept for only 2 hours over the Atlantic, I slept just about all day as we drove ...

... over and up to the western island called Skye.

It was wet and dreary just about all day but it stopped raining - and I was awake - long enough for a picture.

As we drove up through the entire island, the whole place seemed pretty desolate. Then we turned on to the bike path road leading to where we'd spend our night.

It was almost wide enough for a car ... but not when the local residents blocked the way.

After 10 miles of single-lane path we made it to our b&b on the northwest tip of the island and this was the front yard:

Having slept most of the day yesterday, I wasn't in much of a mood to sleep last night ... but I eventually got a few hours in and then headed out on a walk to join in on a staring contest with a new friend.

We then packed up and drove around the rest of the island and ran across some of the cows that call this region their home.

Our travels continued back over the bridge that leads to Skye ...

... and a lunch break at a castle ...

... a drive along the lake with a monster (I was sleeping during that part) ...

... until we reached our destination of Inverness and I expended some energy by running around the city square. So far Scotland, so good!

Land of trolls: pre-Scotland edition

We said "'Yah' to da UP, eh" and then crossed over the Straits on our way to Grammy and Grampa's house today before we venture off to the land of golf, kilts, and haggis tomorrow.

Recent recap

Whew ... since our big trip out west, I've been keeping busy visiting old friends at the zoo with my boy cousins ...

... and hanging out at a family reunion with my girl cousins ...

... and, since the reunion was by our old house, stopping by neighbor Tom's house to make a secret dash over the fence to steal some of my favorite backyard snacks from our former yard.

With traveling and reunioning done but with no house to call home, Mom and I headed up to GDO's and GMO's Northwoods Hideaway while Dad stayed in the big city to work. Our time has been spent in, on, or around the water the whole time ...

With a definite lack of routines in our lives this summer, it's been good to have ol' trusty Baby Belle by my side to keep my company until our next big adventure.

Going to the ...

... moon? Our Idaho biking completed, we packed up the Subaru and headed up and over -FYI: Mom and Dad bought a house along the way (so we're only sort of homeless now) - to our next cell phone and WiFi-deficient destination ...

Before heading into the park, we met up with cousins Zoe and Alea and took a few pics as I practiced holding a real-life baby for the first time ...

Once inside the park, we stopped for some fun in the cold Lake McDonald ...

... before we wound our way up the super curvey Going to the Sun road where we saw lots of mountains, a few mountain friends, and played in a bit of snow.

After winding our way down the super curvey GthS road, we finally reached our home for the next few days, Many Glacier hotel.

A few ZZZ's later, Zoe and I were up and ready to add a few stones to the lake's bottom before heading out on a dangerous hike to see some waterfalls and toss a few more stones.

After cramming a year's worth of huckleberry ice cream into a couple of beautiful days, we bid the glaciers goodbye yesterday and began to venture back towards the midwest.

We drove nearly all night through Montana in order to make it in time for a pajama-clad breakfast at the base of Mt. Rushmore ...

We hopped back into the car for a few hours before a quick break at another interesting place ...

... and then drove for what seemed like forever to arrive in Minnesota late tonight for my next family adventure.