Sterling Castle and Linlithgow Palace

Hi guys!
I just realized that this Friday is out LAST Friday in Scotland! That is really crazy to think about. But here are some pictures from Stirling Castle and Linlithgow palace. Both of the places were really crazy because you could go anywhere. You could just walk around and find little nooks to explore. Casey did take some video in Linlithgow but who knows if it will make it here before we come home. Casey also said that he will not be putting any video of Spain on here. :-(

That sucks but I'm sure we will take some video and find a way to show it to everyone who wants to see it. I would like to give a shout out to Ben who has published his own blog, benintyler.blogspot.com check it out it's thrilling. Anyway the job hunt for me is over. It makes me sad and mad that I could not find a job this whole time. I am pretty much mad at this guy who told me I had a job and then never returned any of my millions of phone calls. I am getting anxious to come home, I want to start packing but that would be a little pre mature. I have pretty much finished my souvenir shopping and I have to say I went overboard on buying Olivia clothes...as I always do. But baby clothes are so cute and small I just can't help myself. Plus Casey wasn't there to tell me to stop and choose only a few things. But oh well. We are looking forward to Spain and to finally getting a tan. We are going to look so white when we first get there but that will change. We have to do another one of those crazy sleep in the airport things again. We leave next Thursday late at night and then we go to the airport and sleep until our flight the next morning. Hopefully there won't be as many people as there were last time so we can actually find a place to sleep. After we get into Spain we have to take a bus for like 3 hours and 45 minutes. So I think I can safely say that I will be pretty tired that first day. But Casey is insisting that we stay up super late every night because that is how Spain works. People sleep in really late and then stay up really late. I think I will be ok staying up late if I can sleep in. But I can't wait to get to the beach and swim in the warm ocean. It will be wonderful. I can't think of anything else to say so enjoy the pictures and see you soon!* the pictures go Linlithgow then Sterling when I upload the 1st picture goes to the bottom and the last ends up at the top* *also the picture where you see a little pointy building in the distance, that is the William Wallace monument we didn't get to go see it because it closed before we could get there*

Iona Beach Party!

Ok guys!
This past weekend we went to a beach party on the island of Iona. Iona is about 4 hours away and traveling to get there was a chore to say the least. First we had to take a bus to the train station and then we took a train for about and hour to Glasgow. Then we got on another train for about 3 and a half hours. After that we got on a ferry which took like 40 minutes. Then we caught a bus that was an hour ride and it took us to a ferry. After we got off the ferry we were finally in Iona! But once we got on the island we quickly learned that the campsite was a mile away from where the ferry dropped us off. It was a struggle to say the least to get to the campsite with everything we had packed. We set up the tent and had some dinner and then we went to the beach. The water was so beautiful but soooooo cold. We found some really cool white rocks called Iona marble and we took a few to bring home with us. The beach party wasn't going to start until the next day at 7 pm. So on Saturday morning we slept in and made breakfast. We had bacon and eggs. After that we just walked around the island a little bit. We went into some shops and got some souvenir shopping done which was unexpected because we didn't plan on doing that there. But the things we bought there was so much better than the crappy tourist stores with Scottish things made in China. We walked by the Iona Abby but didn't go in because it cost more money than we were willing to pay. We also saw the Iona nunnery. It was in ruins but it was still so cool. The flowers there are so amazing. At the party we hiked up this little mountain to watch the sunset and it was one of the most awesome things I have ever seen. Looking out over the ocean and seeing a sun set was breath taking. After that we went and sat in the beach and listened to the DJ that they had. When the sun went down a huge bonfire was set. It was perfect because it had started to get cold. We ate sketchy 'burgers' and watched a small fireworks show, it was no 4th of July but it was still neat. We left at about 1 AM with no head lamp and had to walk home in the dark. It was freaky because I felt like I was going to fall off a cliff or step into a bug hole. But we made it back safe. We had to leave early the next morning because there was only 1 bus back to the ferry so we rushed to catch it. We were both pretty wiped out when we got home. It was like non stop traveling yesterday. Ferry,bus,ferry,train,train,bus and the home. 2 weeks and 3 day until we go to Spain. I am getting very excited to come home. I miss everyone A LOT. see you soon!

A little bit of Amsterdam and Ben Lommand

Hi guys!
Amsterdam was....it was everything everyone thought it would be. The red light district was crazy. We kind of did things backwards on that trip. We went on a tour on the last day that we were there so we didn't get to follow up on any of the cool things we were seeing. Also we didn't get to actually finish the tour because we had to catch our train to the airport. The reason that we didn't get to the tour until the last day was because we didn't know what time it started. While we were in Amsterdam we went to the Van Gough museum. It was amazing. The painting were so cool to see up close. The picture of the urinal looking thing, is actually a urinal in the street in Amsterdam. It helps keep men from peeing on the street. I just thought it would be funny to take a picture of it. The cat in the picture was this cat from a little store on the street that we bough fruit from. I LOVE cats so I picked it up and the handed it to Casey and it just crawled up on his back and stayed there while he walked around the store. It was so cute. There were lost of cats in Amsterdam. I don't think they were strays, but they were in tons of shops and stuff. The most recent thing we have done *and most painful* is hike up to the top of this mountain called Ben Lommand. I have been hobbling around for a few days but I am really glad that we did it. The hike was 7 miles round trip and we gained and lost about a mile of elevation along the way. The hiking book said the hike would be 'moderate'. Now I know that it meant moderate for people who regularly hike. Most of the way up and down we were hiking in a stream. I did not bring hiking shoes and my tennis shoes are too small. So what did I wear? Clarks. Regular shoes....First of all they are too big so they kept slipping every time I took a step and second the did not grip very well. It took us about 5 hours to get to the top but we took our time getting there and we stopped to eat lunch on the way. I was complaining at times.....but the views were breath taking. I have never seen anything so beautiful, and apparently neither has Casey since he kept saying things were 'so beautiful' every 2 seconds. As we came closer to the top it started to rain and the wind really picked up. I was pretty miserable at that point. All I wanted to do was get down because my knees were killing me. Once we got to the top we looked around for about 1 minute and then started to go back down. On the way down we saw and AMAZING rainbow after the rain had stopped. We only had 2 hours to get down or else we would miss the last ferry home. So we pretty much ran down as best we could. Casey had to be my human crutch because my knees were pretty much dead and didn't want to keep going. ON the way down I had to go to the bathroom really really bad. So we stopped and found a place. When I was done I felt like my heel was hurting. When I looked down there was blood on the back of my shoe and on my sock. I had apparently got a blister and then it popped. There was another one under it but it hadn't popped. So Casey duck tapped my heel and we were on our way again. Luckily we made it down to the bottom with 1 minute to spare. The trip wore us out and we rewarded ourselves with a very yummy meal at this Italian place I have been wanting to try. Like I said before I complained a little...ok maybe more than a little on the way up but I would do it again if I could. I hope you guys enjoy the pictures!!! * there were A LOT more of Ben Lommand but I didn't want to bore you with a million pictures of the same thing if you wanna see more let me know*