Our Weekend in Pics - Thursday July 14th

Every year, a town close-by has a Scottish Festival. My family *loves* to go, each for different reasons.

For Jared, it has always been about "fighting the giant" or other games; then, as he has gotten older, it has been about the weaponry. Every year for the past several, he has bought himself a new sword - it is his tradition.

This is the one from this year (somehow the smile doesn't seem to go with the dagger, does it? :)


This year, since they are all old enough and wise enough (to know that these are not toys - and even though the edges and tips are mostly blunt, they can still cause harm) and obedient enough (to put them away in a safe place for storage and to not play with them) . . . My whole crew (minus Michael) purchased their own swords & daggers.



Emily and Matt's favorite part seems to be EVERYTHING about the festival: the music, the food, the shops, the games. They drink it all in.

Amber and Tino even showed up for a little while; I'm not sure what their favorite part was, but they seemed to enjoy eating a hard boiled egg covered with sausage and then deep fried, and looking at all of the shops. Too bad I didn't get any pics of them. :(

At the festival this year, Michael's two favorite things to do were
People watch


and sit with Dad.


Steve's favorite part is sitting and listening to the music: the bands, the singers, the bagpipes. Everything. He loves it all.

At first, Aiden loved listening to the music


Then he got distracted


Then he started pulling faces at us (What a cute boy!)


And then... he'd had it.


He was *done* with just sitting - he doesn't love sitting and listening nearly as much as Steve & Michael; he wanted to go where the action was. So everybody took turns pushing him in the stroller.


My favorite part is looking at all of the little shops at the trinkets, the jewelry, the clothing, eating the ethnic food, and watching everyone else enjoying themselves.

I'm always sad when it is done. I could enjoy it for a week! (especially the fish that a lady from Ireland and her husband cook. YUM!)

We also tried to go to Lavender Days, because Young Living Farm is is one of my favorite places on Earth! This year they were charging admission, and since we only had an hour to spend before having to leave for a family get together, we didn't go. I'm going to take the crew down another weekend, and though there won't be all of the excitement of Lavender Days, it will be nice to just sit and smell the herbs, see the animals, and look at the beauty there.

How about you? Anything fun happen this weekend at your place?