more autumn happenings

At the end of October we experienced our first Halloween here in Scotland.  In years past we've attended or worked at some sort of church sponsored "harvest" festival and so our kids have always seen Halloween from a sanitized view.  This year was different!

We had a pizza dinner with our friends then visited a few of their neighbors for some "guising".  When the kids knocked on the door to trick-or-treat they were invited inside to perform a joke or song before they were given candy.  I thought this was great fun and was really impressed with the kindness of the people we met.

Here the little princesses are examining their loot.

The leaves have nearly all fallen to the ground by now and the city is a slimy, leafy mess!  It was nice to experience true autumn colors and be overwhelmed by the beauty n the midst of the city.

The girls and I have been caught up in the dancing competition, "Strictly Come Dancing".  Its the same idea of the US version, "Dancing with the Stars".  At the start of the series we had no idea who the celebrities were, but as the weeks have gone on we have grown to love Denise & James and Kimberly & Pascha.  

 This weekend we did a little hiking at Loch Lomond.  At first the kids were a bit whiny because we bundled them up and pried the electronic devices out of their hands, but after a few minutes on the trail they were happily exploring.  The girls came home with special rock collections and Jason established himself as our scout, always in the lead on the trail.  It feels like every time we go out for an adventure we discover another need for keeping the kids protected from the elements.  This time it was discovering the holes in the girls' boots.  It seems like things were so much easier when we lived in the land of flip-flops!

We are entering the dark days now, as the time change happened and we are marching toward winter.  On days when we see the sun it only skims across the horizon and never reaches the top of the sky.  When the cloud cover is thick our whole day is gray and 2:30 in the afternoon feels like dinner time.  The days are short!  We drink endless cups of tea, hot chocolate & coffee, sit by our fireplace and play board games.