Half way through our time in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I can see why people rave about Scotland especially Edinburgh. We are half way through our stay here and everyday has been filled with a sense of adventure with a little exhaustion. The Public Transit here is absolutely amazing. We purchase a family day pass for about $10 and that includes all of our Busses for the day. Our Home is located near buses and it’s a 10 minute strait shot to downtown / Royal a mile! We have had fun checking out the local pubs and coffee shops. Everyone is so kind and all of the pubs have been so kid friendly!

We feel so lucky to have such a large home base and not be confined to a hotel. The boys are sharing a room with two beds and they are loving it. Chad is using a room for his office and our Master overlooks the park and has lots of old charm. Most importantly there is a washer and dryer. 🙌 the sitting room is my favorite part. The high ceilings, fireplace, huge windows and crown molding make it such a cozy spot! I have learned I can live without a microwave and flavored creamer. 🤣

The Royal Mile is just as it looks in pictures. The buildings are oozing history and there is charm around every corner. The travel sites were very correct in how many steps and hills are included in your walk to the Royal Mile!

We went and checked out National Museum of Scotland and it 💯 exceeded my expectations. The way the museum is set up has a great variety for all ages. It was if OMSI and a Smithsonian had a baby! The boys loved the kids area.

Last Sunday we had the first tour of the day for Edinburgh Castle and I am so glad we did. As we were leaving a few hours later the grounds were absolutely PACKED and it was pouring. We we’re lucky in that we made it through most of our tour with no rain and sun. The Castle was so fun and surprisingly the boys did pretty good following along to site to site so Chad and I could read along the way. We definitely didn’t get to read and listen to everything but we saw a lot. The views from the Castle are just breathtaking and the boys loved looking at every Canon. 🤣

Monday we woke up early and took the bus to train station to catch the train to Falkirk Wheel. I have done a majority of the planning for this trip and I knew this was was a must see for Chad.

The Falkirk Wheel is the only fully rotating boat lift in the world. The wheel was built as part of the £85.4m Millennium link project to reunite the Forth and Clyde and Union Canals in Scotland. The canals had previously been linked by a staircase of 11 locks which took nearly a day to pass through.

It was a lot of fun taking the Scotrail the 35 minutes to Falkirk, and we jumped on a 15 minute bus ride through residential streets before arriving at the Wheel and Canals. We booked the first tour of the day.

We got very lucky in that our boat was only 1/3 full so we sat near the back and we could see everything. One of the boat operators took a liking to the boys and half way through our ride he took them back to drive the boat through the tunnel. It was definitely an amazing experience and so glad we did it!

A wonderful surprise about this place is that it had an amazing and huge playground on site. After our ride we went and ate lunches I had packed and the boys could get some wiggles out! Then it was about to head home.

Monday Chad started back at work. He will be working from about 2pm-10pm. The boys and I go out in the afternoons for some adventures. Then we all have dinner together!

The 4th of July felt a bit different this year. We kept it really low key and headed downtown to go back the the National Museum of Scotland. This place is just amazing and there are two dedicated kids area to play and explore to get wiggles out!

Wednesday the 5th we headed out to Princess Gardens (located under Edinburgh Castle. There was farmers market so we hit that up and got some yummy pastries and bread and then headed to the park. The park was beautiful and so well kept. There are roses at every turn and just filled with color. The playground sits right next to the iconic Ross Fountain. There are some fun kids activities as well. We had a great picnic lunch and then the kiddos went and got some wiggles out!