Jeez Louise....BEES!

Cosmas, our gardener, told me the other day that we had bees outside our gate. I told him I would get to it, and then today he said the bees are still there. So I had him go and show me, this is what I found:

The bees didn't have a big enough hole, hence the reason they are all bunched up on each other. CRAZY!

Umm...yep, I'll be calling people today about that Cosmas!!!

Urquhart Castle & Loch Ness

Our final destination for our trip in Inverness and for our vacation was to Urquhart Castle and the Loch Ness. Which the castle is right next to the lake. See if you can find Nessie in any of our pics! :)

Looking out over the Loch Ness on our way to Urquhart.

Urquhart Castle

Tyler and Spencer

Spencer and I trying to go up and down the VERY SMALL staircase.

Looking out one of the windows in the castle.

A rainbow...for good luck?

I saw this kid sitting there looking out over the Loch Ness, and I thought it would be a good picture, hope he didn't mind.

More of the Loch and beautiful Scotland.

Oh look!!!! Nessie!!! She was up on land this whole time! :)

Hope you enjoyed your blogger trip with us to London and Scotland. We had a fabulous time, and know we will be going back to these places. Some of our favorites.

Culloden & Jamie Fraser

On our one whole day of being in Inverness, we had to stop by and see Culloden Battlefield, and to see if I could spot where the Clan Frasers were, or Clan McKenzies. This is all from the historical fiction I've read about. Some of you will know what this all means, most of you won't, but it's for those few that love this book series. :) Enjoy girls!

Spencer all decked out and ready to spend some time outside. It was quite windy and cold. Thinking of Jamie and Claire riding horseback and walking around this weather made it so much colder for me. :)

Battle lines. The blue line is where the clans who were Jacobites lined up, the red line is where the England soldiers were.

No pictures were really allowed in the museum, but I snuck one in. They had this room where a movie was playing on all walls so 360 view of what was happening. So many lives were lost in such a short battle. Some of the name of the dead are on the wall.

Spencer dressing to "the full nines", which this phrase came from. Because the clans would have 9 yards of fabric to make their skirts and piece of fabric to go over their shoulders. Can you believe that NINE YARDS of fabric for one person, no wonder they didn't get chilly at night while sleeping outside.

The battlefield. Red flags are for the English the Blue flags are for the Jacobites.

Scotland landscape....BEAUTIFUL!

Some of the clans names and how many were there from that clan. Most of them had only 200 men.

John Roy Stewarts- 200

Me standing where the Clan Frasers were.

Some info. It was a very reverent place to be.

More battlefield, and the sun coming out too.

The carin, a memorial for this battle.

Overall, a very informative and beautiful day out on a battlefield. We got little audio guides also to help with our story. If you have a chance to go there, you should.

SCOTLAND, BABY!!

Our last few days over in the UK were spent in Scotland. I have been reading a historical fiction novel about Scotland, and so I wanted to go see the sights. Even though it was still cold up there with snow, it was still beautiful! Here are some sights we saw while driving from Edinburgh to Inverness.

Castles everywhere!

These waterfalls were all over the place right next to the road. Some were pretty big too.

There's some green

We got here at the end of their winter, so it wasn't green yet, except in some parts. But it was still beautiful. :)

Tower of London

After our day of going everywhere, we still had one more stop and that was the Tower of London.

Here it is in all it's glory.

You could barely see these little guys in the window, but I zoomed in to see what they were. Funny, huh?

The Ravens! They say if the ravens fly and leave the Tower than London would fall. So, what do they do to make sure they don't leave?? Clipped their wings. :)

Spencer on the wall with the Tower Bridge behind him.

The clock, and also right below that is where the crown jewels are! OF COURSE I went in there, but no pictures are allowed. But they were gorgeous!

Some of the crown jewels, I got this off the internet. But there were a TON more and so pretty.

Guard in front of the area where the crown jewels were. Which was really quite protected.

Everything Pictures

Being in London for only 4 days we used all the time we had to see everything! So on this day we just went and went and went to see all we could. This post is really an everything post, with everything pictures.

St. Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge.

View outside our hotel window, it's the Royal Mews, where the horses are kept.

Outside Buckingham Palace.

While waiting for the changing of the guard we met this policeman who kept the crowd from going into the street. But notice the flag on top of the Palace, the Queen wasn't in...

...but earlier that day she was there!!!

The old guard coming to walk in for the changing of the guard. We were WAY outside of the gate so didn't get to see any of the change, just them marching in.

The new guard coming down the street.

Part of the crowd.

Serious faces boys!

Westminster Abbey

Statue of Martin Luther King on the Abbey.

Spencer and Tyler outside the other side of the Abbey.

The London Eye.

Spencer and I riding on the London Eye.

Picture from the top. Houses of Parliament and Big Ben clock tower.

See that black cab down there, that's what we rode in from the airport. I love those cabs!

These red double-decker buses were EVERYWHERE!

Tower of London next...then Scotland!!!