They came and they went

Well, that was a long gap - almost entirely because of this little person, who only left here to go home - with her mum - yesterday. Her mum, Daughter 2, has been working four days a week and we've been looking after Littlest Granddaughter, who is fairly full-on. And then of course, when she goes to sleep (very late - Daughter 2 stays with her till she does) then we want to chat to Daughter 2. Son-in-Law 2 has been up with his improv company for the entire month of August too, though not staying with us. And our musician nephew has also been with us, though he's no trouble. 

Littlest was always pleased when Big Grandson (now 11) and his sister (9) came round. She thinks they're wonderful. 

Having her here doesn't make for a tidy house. 

We did things during the day, such as going to the Botanics. It took her quite a long time to approach the gates by hand-over-handing herself along the fence, but it didn't matter. 

She enjoyed picking our route through the gardens and playing in the willow tunnels. 

Another day we went to the museum. That's a huge inflatable E Coli bacterium she's looking at through the balustrade. 

These are models of alligator eggs. You have to press buttons to "keep them at the correct temperature". She was keen to do this. 

There are lots of things to play with. 

Our musician nephew wasn't around very much but when he was, he got roped in as one of her assistants. He was very tolerant. 

The art installations in the nearby gallery gardens provide playing opportunities. We call this one "the bus shelter", though it's not. What it is - who knows? 

On Saturday we went to Dundee to meet up with Son, Daughter-in-Law and their two children. There they are in the distance, scooting along the waterfront. Mr L and I followed rather more slowly. 

There were scooshy things to play in - fountains that come up from the paving. The children had such fun. They got very wet, but Daughter, Son and DIL had come prepared with spare clothes. 

But yesterday all the visitors went away. Mr Life and I spent the afternoon mainly sitting in a big, sad (and exhausted) heap. But today we've pulled ourselves together a bit and have been busy changing beds, putting away toys and so on. Normal life will resume shortly.  

 

Visiting and visitors

Well, by some miracle we got away, nobody else developed Covid and we had our holiday by the sea. There were twelve of us: two daughters, one son, one son- and one daughter-in-law, five grandchildren (11, 9, 6, nearly 5, 3), Mr L and me, in two houses a couple of minutes' drive apart. 

Was it good fun? Mostly. Was it restful? Nope. Did the children enjoy it? Yes, almost all the time. The 3-year-old boy thought the 11-year old boy was splendid, the two little girls thought the 9-year-old girl was wonderful and the two bigger ones were pretty patient with the little ones. Nevertheless, rallying twelve people and feeding them is quite challenging! But everything went pretty well and now we're home. 

Son was very good at playing with them in the garden. They loved it. 

He's quite strong! 

And beaches are always popular. 

The little gang. 

Besties. 

Besties again. 

Engineering works. 

Our nephew, a musician performing at the Festival Fringe, arrived the day before we left and looked after the house in peace while we were away. Now it's slightly less peaceful because the day we got back (with Daughter 2 and Littlest Granddaughter), Daughter 2's friend, her partner and four-year-old son arrived for four days - the partner has a film at the Film Festival. And they're all lovely, and the two four-year-olds are having a great time together but it doesn't make for a tidy house. And tonight our nephew's fiancee (please imagine the accent on this) is arriving for a week. Nephew and his young lady are no trouble at all but the house will now be officially FULL.