Found this link on Flickr!
John from Ayshire Cancer support commented on our blog that they have posted thier pictures from the Santa Dash!
Monday, November 30, 2009
Thanksgiving and St. Andrew's Homecoming Finale
What a weekend. We have done a lot of traveling in the last six months, but this weekend at home in Ayr was one of my all-time favorites. We are certainly lucky to have been here for Ayrshire's St. Andrew's Homecoming Finale.We started the weekend off with a good American Thanksgiving for 2 (plus left-overs that lasted... well, there are still leftovers!). We made a chicken instead of a turkey, but all the right fixings were made! Our starters were bacon-wrapped figs stuffed with cream cheese and an Italian shrimp, mozzarella, sun dried tomato, and basil salad. Delicious. We enjoyed those while the chicken cooked and we started our TDay movie- Monsters vs. Aliens (It's no Incredibles or Monsters, Inc., but entertaining!). We then finished up the fixings and carved the bird.Our table included chicken, gravy, stuffing, good ol' tatties, green bean casserole, glazed carrots, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie (starting from a whole pumpkin, no cans of puree here in Scotland!). It was super delicious.
On Saturday we made a second pumpkin pie with the rest of the pumpkin we had steamed and mashed. On Sunday, we made a chicken pot pie with some of the savoury leftovers. And there are still more leftovers!
We took a quick TDay food coma nap, and then got ready for the first Homecoming Finale event, The Great Tartan Turnoot! Now, for anyone that's been on a good bar crawl, this event topped even the best. The Turnoot began at Wellington's Pub, where Scottish flags were affixed on our cheeks. Anyone wearing a kilt, flag, or tartan of some sort got a prize at each pub along the way. Wellington's gave us Robert Burns t-shirts. Other prizes were giant flags (that the crowd wore as capes), flag pins, and balloons.
Mike- ready to go in his Kilt and Sox jersey!Sunday was race day! We had raised 100 pounds (well, Mike had at work) for Ayrshire Cancer Care. At 2:30, over one hundred Santas gathered by the Citadel to run/walk 5K. We ran down the beach and then back into town. The last 200 yards were straight up high street through the Christmas festivities! Everyone cheered on the Santas as we ran passed. Mike waved at EVERYONE he passed, and we stopped to take pictures of the amazing scenery (it was a perfect day- Arran was clear and snow-capped across the water!). I even had my picture taken with a kilted Scot driving a tuk-tuk! Check out our pictures and movies online:
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| Santa Dash |
We checked out a bit more live music at the Folk Festival Sunday night. All in all, an amazing weekend!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Madrid!
Mike and I have made the command decision to do some jumping around chronologically, so... we went to Madrid last weekend! We flew out on Friday and landed around 10:15. The amazingly fast, clean subway whisked us to the Tribunal stop where Cay and Gary met us right outside our hotel (actually, our pension, like a hostel with private bedrooms and shared bathrooms. Totally all we needed!) We went out and had some delicious food, sangria, and caught up with our buds the Walshes!
In the morning, we found out that Madrid was hosting the country's farmer's strike, or manifestacion. There were thousands of people from all over the country who had bussed in, carrying banners, flags, cowbells, drums, and we even saw a giant cow balloon. It was a very organized strike. It was amazing to see.
We walked through the beautiful park and enjoyed the architecture. We walked back into the city and stopped for a snack at the Jamon Museum, or ham museum! It was covered with giant hams hanging everywhere. People stood up against the counters and ordered all sorts of plates of food, wine, and beer. We ordered a round of house red and a plate of ham and a plate of Spanish cheese. It was delicious! We stood in the crowd enjoying the ambiance, food, and the especially delicious Spanish olives that we were served with our food.
We reached our destination, the Plaza Mayor, where there were many street performers and two famous duelling fried calamari sandwich shops. Cay and Gary and Mike divided and conquered both shops, realizing that in their opinion, they tasted pretty much the same (and delicious, so they said!). We walked on toward the Reina Sofia museum. Mike and Gary tried to order dos cervezas at a small cervecaria, but for some reason, they were just not understood. After a bunch of pantomime, we realized the confusion was whether we wanted to sit inside or outside. At least we finally figured it out!
We taxied to Reina Sofia, a modern art museum. It was a long three hours in the museum. If you want to know what we think of modern art museums as a whole, we would be happy to have that conversation with you later. There were a few works that we really enjoyed, but on to dinner!
We ate at a fantastic paella place and found a great wine that we ended up getting more of to take home with us. We finished the evening in a strange bar where the four of us had one more glass of wine before turning in for the night. It had been a great day!
In the morning, we returned to the plaza mayor for a fantastic flea market. It stretched down to another part of the city and was a lovely stroll. A few hours in, it got PACKED, though! We returned to our pension where sadly, Mike and I gathered our bags and set off back to the airport.
It was a whirlwind, but so much fun! Thanks Walshes!
Link to our pictures:
In the morning, we found out that Madrid was hosting the country's farmer's strike, or manifestacion. There were thousands of people from all over the country who had bussed in, carrying banners, flags, cowbells, drums, and we even saw a giant cow balloon. It was a very organized strike. It was amazing to see.
We walked through the beautiful park and enjoyed the architecture. We walked back into the city and stopped for a snack at the Jamon Museum, or ham museum! It was covered with giant hams hanging everywhere. People stood up against the counters and ordered all sorts of plates of food, wine, and beer. We ordered a round of house red and a plate of ham and a plate of Spanish cheese. It was delicious! We stood in the crowd enjoying the ambiance, food, and the especially delicious Spanish olives that we were served with our food.
We reached our destination, the Plaza Mayor, where there were many street performers and two famous duelling fried calamari sandwich shops. Cay and Gary and Mike divided and conquered both shops, realizing that in their opinion, they tasted pretty much the same (and delicious, so they said!). We walked on toward the Reina Sofia museum. Mike and Gary tried to order dos cervezas at a small cervecaria, but for some reason, they were just not understood. After a bunch of pantomime, we realized the confusion was whether we wanted to sit inside or outside. At least we finally figured it out!
We taxied to Reina Sofia, a modern art museum. It was a long three hours in the museum. If you want to know what we think of modern art museums as a whole, we would be happy to have that conversation with you later. There were a few works that we really enjoyed, but on to dinner!
We ate at a fantastic paella place and found a great wine that we ended up getting more of to take home with us. We finished the evening in a strange bar where the four of us had one more glass of wine before turning in for the night. It had been a great day!
In the morning, we returned to the plaza mayor for a fantastic flea market. It stretched down to another part of the city and was a lovely stroll. A few hours in, it got PACKED, though! We returned to our pension where sadly, Mike and I gathered our bags and set off back to the airport.
It was a whirlwind, but so much fun! Thanks Walshes!
Link to our pictures:
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| Madrid with the Walshes |
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Tajimas visit, rendez-vous in London, hometown blast
Here is a quick recap of the past month for all our avid blog readers (I think we have 3).
Just after our excellent weekend with our friend Laura, my parents and sister arrived. During the week Steph showed them around some of the local attractions, Culzean castle, Arran island (my favorite place in Scotland) and Glasgow. Here are mom's pictures from the Rodger wedding and the trip to Scotland:
The next weekend we all went down to the Lake District in England, which is a beautiful area of hills, small villages and... wait for it... LAKES. We also met up with some cousins from my mom's side Anne, Pete, Hilary, Dave, Jackie & Cliff. It was a fantastic weekend fall weekend and we all went for a hike around Lake Buttermere. Picturesque would be an understatement.
Steph, Laura, Mom and I went for a nice walk the next day on some less than well marked trails through a variety of sheep fields, over several fences and past some rather loud and angry sounding dogs. Adventures are fun! It was a great weekend getting to know some relatives and there was plenty of eating, drinking and good times.
The weekend after my family left, we flew down to London to meet our friend Cay. She is in med school and had a conference in London on that Monday. London is an awesome city. I expected NYC, it was more like a vibrant, crowded Paris. Beautiful city, tons to do, it seems like there are awesome restaurants and bars everywhere. We toured the city saw the British Museum with artifacts from around the world. That night we saw Avenue Q which was hilarious. Plus, we learned that when English people try to put on an American accent it often comes out sort of Australian... who knew?
Cay, Steph and Ben
Like Sesame Street.... kind of... not really at all... well, there are puppets.
Had to take this one!
I got really excited about seeing the Rosetta stone. Way cool.
On Sunday we even stumbled upon an apple festival at a somewhat outdoor market. It had loads of stalls selling sweets, wine, raw meat, produce, soups, paella, curry, fish & chips.... My favorite was when saw two teenage girls thoroughly confused by a carved jack-o-lantern at the produce stand. They kept opening the top and looking inside. We enjoyed some mulled wine, food stands, an awesome atmosphere and a weird Native American/Olde English/Tree People caroling group.
Just after our excellent weekend with our friend Laura, my parents and sister arrived. During the week Steph showed them around some of the local attractions, Culzean castle, Arran island (my favorite place in Scotland) and Glasgow. Here are mom's pictures from the Rodger wedding and the trip to Scotland:
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| Mary's Pictures |
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| Tajima Visit to Ayr - Moms Camera |
The next weekend we all went down to the Lake District in England, which is a beautiful area of hills, small villages and... wait for it... LAKES. We also met up with some cousins from my mom's side Anne, Pete, Hilary, Dave, Jackie & Cliff. It was a fantastic weekend fall weekend and we all went for a hike around Lake Buttermere. Picturesque would be an understatement.
Steph, Laura, Mom and I went for a nice walk the next day on some less than well marked trails through a variety of sheep fields, over several fences and past some rather loud and angry sounding dogs. Adventures are fun! It was a great weekend getting to know some relatives and there was plenty of eating, drinking and good times.
The weekend after my family left, we flew down to London to meet our friend Cay. She is in med school and had a conference in London on that Monday. London is an awesome city. I expected NYC, it was more like a vibrant, crowded Paris. Beautiful city, tons to do, it seems like there are awesome restaurants and bars everywhere. We toured the city saw the British Museum with artifacts from around the world. That night we saw Avenue Q which was hilarious. Plus, we learned that when English people try to put on an American accent it often comes out sort of Australian... who knew?
Cay, Steph and Ben
Like Sesame Street.... kind of... not really at all... well, there are puppets.
Had to take this one!
I got really excited about seeing the Rosetta stone. Way cool.On Sunday we even stumbled upon an apple festival at a somewhat outdoor market. It had loads of stalls selling sweets, wine, raw meat, produce, soups, paella, curry, fish & chips.... My favorite was when saw two teenage girls thoroughly confused by a carved jack-o-lantern at the produce stand. They kept opening the top and looking inside. We enjoyed some mulled wine, food stands, an awesome atmosphere and a weird Native American/Olde English/Tree People caroling group.
The next week we returned home for a whirlwind tour! Amy's birthday at Oceanaire, Andrea's birthday at the Dow's and pumpkin carving contest (Steph had a contested win), Tajima family 5k/10k race day at the Lexington Battlegreen Race (Grant is getting HUGE), visits with friends, a Team 7 reunion, and finished with a massive fever (I think I had swine flu, Steph just thinks I am a wuss). Oh and there was some recruiting in there too.
Next up... Colin and Ashley arrive!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Andrea, Robyn, and Stephanie's Orkney Adventure
I am very behind in my posts. I am going back to where I left off, to cover the first half of the fantastic trip Andrea, Robyn, and I took to Orkney! I've made a slide show with captions. Hopefully Andrea and Robyn will post some comments to add to what I've said!
Some favorite moments:
*Driving the single track roads! I had the best time driving!
*Getting SOAKED walking to Varrich Castle in Tongue
*I loved the Brough of Birsay, definitely a favorite spot
*Accordion and Fiddle Club at the Albert Hotel
*Dinner at Foveran was AMAZING (lemon curd and honey comb sorbet...yum!)
*Good wine at Foveran: 2008 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, Alan McCorkindale, New Zealand
*the sad dying snail (that wasn't really a snail, but a pepper)
*Shopping and Tea in Dornoch
*Jacket Potatoes and Clootie Dumplings in the Speyside Heather Center
THE SECOND HALF OF THE TRIP WILL POST SOON,
featuring THE BRAEMAR GATHERING and EDINBURGH!
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| Andrea and Robyn |
Some favorite moments:
*Driving the single track roads! I had the best time driving!
*Getting SOAKED walking to Varrich Castle in Tongue
*I loved the Brough of Birsay, definitely a favorite spot
*Accordion and Fiddle Club at the Albert Hotel
*Dinner at Foveran was AMAZING (lemon curd and honey comb sorbet...yum!)
*Good wine at Foveran: 2008 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, Alan McCorkindale, New Zealand
*the sad dying snail (that wasn't really a snail, but a pepper)
*Shopping and Tea in Dornoch
*Jacket Potatoes and Clootie Dumplings in the Speyside Heather Center
THE SECOND HALF OF THE TRIP WILL POST SOON,
featuring THE BRAEMAR GATHERING and EDINBURGH!
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