Now that our house is a mostly vegan one1, we have been getting takeaway much less than before. There are a few takeaway places that do have vegan options but not covering all cuisines. One that we have been missing on is the Chinese takeaway.
We have now gotten …
For tonight's dessert, the kids had some frozen berries (thawed out in the microwave) with some yogurt. As far as the kids were concerned, their parents were eating the same thing.
Of course we had managed to communicate with each other and organised that we actually had ice-cream with our …
Today we spent the day at the Royal Highland Show. I remember going with my dad when I was a kid, but couldn't remember too much.
We timed things well, arriving just after 07:30 and leaving at 17:00, we missed the worst of the traffic. We also managed …
For father's day, my wife and her friend decided that it would be a good idea to organise something something to do together leaving the kids with their respective fathers all day. How thoughtful of them.
I have just gotten in after attending a friend's wedding. The groom pointed something out during his speech that I will paraphrase1 here:
Weddings are a weird occasion. They are essentially a very expensive and public way to say to the bride's family, "hey, I am getting it on …
Today I was taking care of the two boys on my own. Rather than keeping ourselves in the house, we went on an adventure to Deep Sea World1. It was a very tiring day, I now have a headache and my legs are screaming at me.
The one good …
Last year, some friends came to visit and we went out to a local park, then stopped in a cafe for some food. While we were waiting for our food to arrive, our friends got out their adventure book. This is a notebook which they write in when they go …
We spent a lot of time today building some flat pack furniture. This was some shelves that we bought quite a while ago, but never got around to building because it required time, effort and patience. Three things that we rarely had on their own, let alone at the same …
Our kids have an amazing ability to wake up before the alarm every day EXCEPT the days that they go to nursery. On nursery days, we can sleep in for up to 30 minutes before we really need to get up, at which point the rest of the morning routine …
This morning, the weather was brilliant. I took a quick trip into Edinburgh to pick up my bike from the bike shop after its service. This involved a nice walk on my own through the woods, a quiet train ride into Edinburgh, a leisurely stroll through the streets of edinburgh …
After finishing their dinner, the two boys went back outside to play in the garden. I was asked if I could get their bikes out. As I was still finishing my own food, and it was nearly time for bed, I told them that I wasn’t getting them out …
Rocking in this chair
Close your eyes and cuddle in
Sleep tight little one
So one of our kids decided that leaving the supermarket be the main entrance was a silly idea. This double door with big bars on it would let us get to the car much faster. If course he managed to set of an alarm. A very loud alarm. Painfully loud …
This weekend has been a party weekend. We have now reached the stage of family life that the social calendar is booked up with events that our kids are invited to rather ourselves. It was nice to see the boys having lots of fun, even if it does make them …
To celebrate our 7 year anniversary, we went to a car show, then went and picked up my new bike. While on the surface this may sound like the sort of thing that would get me into trouble and may result in a divorce, I think I should be OK …
I have heard that prior to having kids, silence is golden, but after you have kids, silence is suspicious.
That was certainly true tonight while cooking dinner. Denise and myself were in the kitchen, while the kids were playing together. After a while Denise had noticed that the kids had …
Today, my wife was at work and the kids at nursery while I slept1. I woke up with just over an hour before I needed to collect the kids, so spend that time cooking dinner for the family while I had the house to myself.
It has been great …
We are currently making contingency plans for the shutdown next week. Not the work related ones, but family related contingencies. Who picks up the kids from nursery, when do we pass them over to the other parent? What happens if all the trains are cancelled?!?
This is the first shutdown …
Aftery yesterday's fun, we decided to have a more relaxed day today. The morning involved tidying and resting as much as possible with two small kids running around. In the hope of getting more tidying and resting done, we put on some kid's yoga on the TV for the four …
We decided to go on a family outing to Dynamic Earth today. I was expecting the kids to be frightened at times but it didn't quite work out as I expected.
The youngest was completely fine with the whole thing and happy to run about and poke the model scorpion …
We decided last minute to take a trip to IKEA this morning to collect a few items. When wandering around the store some strange woman crouched down to give my youngest son a cuddle.
Then I noticed that it was my mum.
Completely unplanned but it was nice to meet …
Today I discovered an unexpected practical benefit from playing computer games as a child.
In many platform games, you had to get to a location that was being guarded by a bad guy. In some games it was not possible to kill or remove the bad guy, therefore the only …
Today has been a tiring but productive day of rearranging the bedrooms in our house. Both boys seem to be excited about their new room and I am also looking forward to the new arrangement.
The biggest advantage has however been that we have found lots of things that had …
My son woke the other night night crying and very unhappy. When asked if he had a bad dream, he said no, he had had a good dream.
What was the problem then?
Now he was awake, the good dream was gone.
I can understand why he was upset.
The rest of my family are dairy free and so we usually don’t have any cheese in the house. We have been experimenting with various vegan cheeses however I have found that the texture is just not right, particularly when they have been melted. Rather than putting up with …
Today was the first day back at nursery for the boys. The last few trips to nursery we used the car. As a result it was my first time cycling the boy home in several weeks.
Perhaps it was overindulgence over the holidays. Perhaps I didn't do enough other exercise …
As a Christmas gift to each other, we have gotten ourselves an ooni3 pizza oven.
This afternoon we fired it up and gave it a test run. This involved assembling the oven, seasoning it (giving it a half hour blast at full heat), before letting …
Watching the kids play
Excited and shouting 'yay'
On this Christmas day
Each year, since moving back to Scotland, we have made a bunch of snickerdoodle cookies at Christmas time and given them to family and coworkers. One of the fun parts of handing them out is seeing people's reactions. While snickerdoodles are popular in the states, they are virtually unheard of …
Today, I was attempting to tidy the house and my older son was doing what small children tend to do. At one point I thought that the room looked worse than when I had started.
Denise walked into the room when he said:
Look mummy, we made the place nearly …
One of the kids was ill over the weekend and needed to be kept away from nursery. So rather than completely writing the day off, I setup my laptop as a remote workstation in the dining room. The child was kept entertained by the TV and the occasional interaction from …
After yesterday's solitary walk, I got to spend some more time with myself today. The rest of the family went for a cycle into town to collect a parcel and do some shopping.
This gave me a chance to do some DIY projects I had wanted to get on with …
Considering everyone else in my house has an American passport, we haven't really done anything for Thanksgiving. But I would still like to take the opportunity to state what I am thankful for.
I am thankful for life, the universe and everything.
This was the answer that I gave many …
In the past week my youngest son has learned to walk. He has been standing unaided for a few months now but last week he first managed to shift his weight from side to side enough to let himself take a few steps. Over the week he has become more …
Now that the shops have started to put up their Christmas decorations, my nearly 4 year old son is getting very excited.
Unfortunately he is getting excited over the Great Christmas Lie that is peddled by society at large. It doesn't matter how many times I tell him, the influence …
To celebrate a family member's significant birthday, we have just enjoyed a lovely weekend away. I have been trying to work out exactly what makes going on holiday such a nice experience. I mean objectively, why do we look forward to spending lots of money to stay in someone else's …
We often joke that toddlers have endless amounts of energy and if only we could go on like them.
Today was a busy day, full of activities. It was a strange experience to see that energy run out. When the toddler is asking to go to bed, you know that …
On Friday, I was handed a "science kit" as I collected my 3 year old from nursery. It looks like all the kids get handed it at some point and asked to do some of the experiments and write something in the book about the experience.
So we decided it …
It was interesting to see today's raspberry pi blog post, mostly because it describes exactly how our family are feeling.
Hopefully normal service can resume soon.
With the clocks changing this weekend, it has just exasperated a problem we have most weekends: what do you do with a kid on a Sunday morning?
Unlike most folk, small people seem to like getting up early and don't see any need to change their routine on a Sunday …
Firefox has just recommend an article from The Cut for me to read titled:
It’s Astounding How Many Problems Can Be Solved Just by Waking Up Early
I haven't actually read the article, so I have no idea if it is any good. But when I have just slept …
I just want to say
To my young bundle of joy
Happy first birthday
At 5pm UK time we made it home. After 49 hours of traveling and 54 hours since I last lay in a bed.
I am ridiculously tried and in need of my bed.
For the last week I have been unable to find my sunglasses. I was annoyed at myself but had accepted that they were gone.
Today my eldest son came running through the house shouting"I found Daddy's glasses”. And sure enough he had my glasses and their case in his …
Today we visited the Essex Steam Railway beside the Connecticut River. It was interesting to see the difference between the railway here and comparing it with the trains back home.
I think that the rails are the same distance apart but the trains and carriages seem so much larger. They …
Today we took a trip to the Mystic Aquarium because it was featured in a book we have been reading at bedtime and we thought it would be good to actually visit the place.
We decided to go today because we thought it would be raining all day and that …
We went to a wedding yesterday and I wore a kilt along with both my sons.
This seemed to get us a lot of attention, almost as if the folks around here are not used to seeing folk in kilts at formal occasions.
It turns out that our youngest child will probably be a rollercoaster junky. During both take offs, he had a giant grin on his face. Leaving Edinburgh he had both feet and both arms stretched out in the air. Both kids also enjoyed the strong turbulence as we were coming …
Today was the second and last day of our quick turnaround between holidays. We have put all the camping stuff from EMF away and are getting ready for our transatlantic adventure.
The biggest pain had been trying to get our heads around transporting the extra car seats. The requirements of …
Today we did rest
Spent time as a family
It was for the best
