The whole reason I stopped blogging is because my family arrived in Scotland! YAY! I was so happy considering we hadn't seen each other in two months. But of course, that didn't last long as the usual bickering and room sharing problems began. Basically, Katie and I (who had been there the longest) got kicked out of the house and spent our last two weeks in Scotland living in a caravan in my Granny's driveway. But it's not as bad as it sounds. Sure I woke up at 5AM with the seagulls and was nearly driven crazy when the rain was pounding in the roof. And, maybe I was slightly terrified of having someone break in to the poorly secured caravan in the middle of the night, but other than that it was enjoyable. I'm sure all of you understand now why I couldn't blog for the rest of our time in Scotland.
But, I had a great time with the family in Scotland. We went on all kinds of walks, fossil hunting, and basically relaxed. I was still working some mornings, but it wasn't too bad. We also went to see Transformers 3, which I really enjoyed, partially because I got to see some of it filmed when I was in DC. And one day Rowan, Dad, and I went four-wheeling. I had never been before and it was a lot of fun. It was very bumpy, so we kept bouncing around. And I don't really weigh enough to keep it down. I almost got tossed off a few times, but it was very exciting. We also visited a lot of family and friends and watched some classic British television.
But, it seemed to end very quickly and on July 15 we all headed down for a week in England. So enjoy, my very artistic final Scottish pictures...
Granny and Katie at Rogie Falls
Fossil hunting at the beach at Ethie
My dad and his incredible fire lighting skills
Luckily, for our England trip, I flew down with Rachel and Granny and did not have to endure the 11 hour drive that the rest of my family had. We spent a week in a cute 17th century Georgian farmhouse that reminded me very much of a house in a Jane Austen story, especially because it had no internet and no cell phone service. It was called Wash Farm. And it was connected to a riding school. So there were horse pastures and stables right next to the house, which was a lot of fun.
We had a lot of fun in England. All of my dad's family was together, all five brothers the three wives and 8 grandchildren. We went to go see the final Harry Potter movie, spent a day in Cambridge walking around and punting on the river (where parts of Harry Potter were filmed), played kickball in the rain, played endless rounds of bananagrams, and read a lot.
The Cutler family all together again
One of the cute houses in the town of Clare.
So, on this vacation I made it to town of the year, and more importantly, loo of the year!
King's College at Cambridge
Granny, Elliott (in the red), Owen, Rachel, and Rowan in Cambridge
Punting on the river in Cambridge
Cambridge's River
But, alas, all good things must come to an end, and our time in Europe certainly did. We all flew home on July 22 with our fair share of delays and fatigue. And although we had such a great time in Scotland and England, I am so glad to be home in my own room and with my own bed. And I am glad we have another month before we have to head out to school.
This week I am in Washington DC with my family, the Hoopers, spending time with their 7 kids. I spent a lot of time with them my first semester so it's great to see them again. Tyler (the second oldest) just had surgery, so I am helping clean and cook and babysit. But it's been a lot of fun.
And the rest of the summer should be equally exciting. My cousin, Thomas, is getting married on August 5, I've got some back to school shopping to do, and back to school parties in a few weeks. So, altogether, you could say it's a wonderful summer!
