A weekend trip

Technically it wasn't really a weekend trip as we were only away for about 30 hours.

My husband had a speaking engagement in Banchory, Aberdeenshire on Sunday morning and so we all went up as a family on Saturday afternoon.

The journey only takes about 2.5 hours but the people we were staying with were not due to be in until about 7pm and so we had a leisurely drive up the East Coast, stopping a few times along the way.

First stop was for tea and scones, just beyond Perth.

Second stop was for...um....well it was another tea room, in Arbroath now, although this time we went for the hot chocolate.

Yes, it was as good as it looks!

After our refreshments, we braved the elements and went to the harbour. There was a strong wind blowing and the waves were crashing over the harbour wall.

The boys started off watching from a safe distance.

Which wasn't really safe enough, as the wind blew the remaining spray pretty far.

So we retreated to the car, and got a bit closer to the waves.

Then we meandered our way up the coast a bit more until we reached Stonehaven, where we stopped for dinner from the fish and chip shop. No-one actually had fish though. We had haggis, steak pie and sausages with chips. Well, not all of them, but different people had different things.

We had our little picnic in the car as it was dark by now and the weather was as above!

We were nice and cosy though.

In Banchory we were staying with a lovely couple who my husband has known since his days studying in Aberdeen.

Sunday was a beautiful day, quite unlike the one before, and Alasdair found this little car in the garden.

Calum and David had a sneaky wee shot on the trampoline before church...

'Let me see mum!'

...and James sat inside, trying out his new sketch pad and pencils.

My husband was speaking at a church about the work the charity he works for does in Aberdeenshire for the homeless. The church had designated yesterday, Compassion Sunday.

They were a really lovely, welcoming congregation.

We spent the afternoon at the house of my husband's best man before heading back down the road again. Of course it would have made a bit more sense for daddy to stay up in Aberdeen as he was heading back up there this morning to work, but he wanted to spend what was left of the weekend with us as he normally does. After dropping the older boys at school this morning, he was on his usual train north again.

On our way home yesterday evening, Calum was very excited when we drove through Dundee and passed the ship that Scott of the Antarctic sailed on.

It's a dreadful photo, as we were only driving past and this was the closest we could get to it. It's on our to-do list for days out to go back and see it properly.

A busy 30 hours, but fun ones.

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