The Last Few weeks

Alright, so we have had some fun times over the last few weeks. When I say fun times I mean FUN times and "fun" times. Here are the "fun" times.

Our fridge broke:
This happened about a week after our washer broke. However, unlike the washer Mike was unable to fix the fridge. We tried everything but it soon became apparent that it had bit the dust. Thankfully we have the most fantastic landlords ever and they quickly ordered a new one and we got it a little less than a week later. Perhaps that sounds like a long time? Not for Scotland. It was actually pretty quick, and although living off of canned veg and tuna got old, we were back to business in no time. (Oh..and thank heaven--literally--for food non-perishable food storage)

The other "fun" thing was that our car broke. Sigh...just a few days ago actually. We had been driving it normally all day, then we parked it for about 15 minutes, went out to use it again and then the key suddenly wouldn't turn in the ignition. I called like 15 different people to see if they could came take a look (Mike and I tried EVERYTHING you can possible imagine to get it working)and most people said we would have to pay to have it towed to the dealer where they could fix it. Um....that option is like crazy expensive (almost more than the car is worth) so I continued calling and finally found a lovely local mechanic with experience in this problem who came to our flat for free to see what he could do. I love this man! Anyway, turns out he fixed it for a fraction of the cost and we are back in business! So, although it was annoying, it could have been a lot worse!

On to the FUN things!
Mike's parents were so nice and offered to take us on a little weekend getaway to Edinburgh. We spent about three days there and really enjoyed the experience. We went to the Zoo, walked around Edinburgh castle, saw many of the historical sights (Scottish parliament, etc), went to church (which was a HUGE ward) and visited Rosslyn chapel. Any of you read the DaVinci Code? Well, Dan Brown writes about that chapel in his book. The actual Rosslyn chapel is not the one filmed for the movie. It is so much better! Honestly, by now I have seen countless cathedrals, churches, castles and this one is probably my number one. It is the most intriguing and beautiful and inspiring building I have been to yet. It took over forty years to make and although it is quite small, it's architecture and design is probably some of the most impressive I will ever see. Nearly every inch of that thing has some design, story or meaning. And a lot of it is VERY intriguing. For example, there are carvings of corn maze and aloe vera which at that point in time were only found in the America's. Thing is...this chapel was completed 50 years BEFORE Columbus sailed the ocean blue so it begs the question if he REALLY was the first to discover America. In addition to this, the tour guide explained that one of the native tribes in the Canadian area have accounts in their history of white sailors getting lost and landing on their shore. These white visitors lived with them for a while until they fixed their ship and went home. It's hypothesized that these men were some of the Masons who worked on the chapel or even members of the St. Claire family (who commissioned the building of the it). Oh! And speaking of masons this chapel is clearly tied to free-masonry there being many signs and symbols subtly carved which indicate their involvement. Very, very cool things...

Anyway, I really could go on and on and on about the Rosslyn chapel but suffice it for me to say that it was very fantastic and I am so glad we got to see it (and REALLY thankful Grandma and Grandpa West watched Andrew so Mike and I could go in without worrying about him touching things. THANK YOU!)

Well...here are some photos of the events.

Driving to Edinburgh over a cool bridge.


Some fun ZOO pics
Oh Andrew...he sort of had meltdown or two while at the zoo so unfortunately we didn't get many great photos. However here we at least managed to get one with him eyeing the Zebra. He loved the Zebras and the penguins the most.








Downtown Edinburgh

There was sooo much to see! We tried to get as much in as possible and we got to see a lot. (Unfortunately we didn't get to see a really cool underground city. Yes, that's right apparently during the Black plague times, in an effort to try and control it and save some money, they city built new buildings on top of old ones. The people who lived in these homes didn't really have a say. Anyway this essentially created a whole underground city and we were super bummed we didn't get a chance to see it. Next time!)

These photos are of the Scottish Parliament building. Honestly the whole building was a bit weird! It's new and was designed to look very modern and artsy. I guess I can appreciate it for what it is but is just seems sooo out of place amongst such old, historical buildings!






I guess this could be considered something like the Buckingham Palace of Scotland.


These are just some old city "cottages". The picture doesn't do it justice, looked so rustic and authentic in person!


Outside some lovely gold embossed doors. I think this was at the Queens theater (?)


Outside Edinburgh castle. It was HUGE!!!


So...Andrew loves Dr.Who. It's the weirdest thing, he's only seen it twice but he goes around the house all day pretending to be Dr. Who. For those of you who don't know what I'm referring to...look it up online. It's this fantastically cheesy British Sci-fi show that has been going on for YEARS and YEARS! The main character (Dr. Who) travels through time in a spaceship that looks like a police box. Well, we saw this police box downtown and Andrew starts saying, "Dr. WHO!!!, Dr. WHO!!" So, of course we stopped to do our best Dr. Who impression.



These next photos are of the Rosslyn Chapel. We actually weren't allowed to take photos once inside so I found these off the internet.





These are some of the grounds surrounding Rosslyn. Green and beautiful like most places in Scotland!




Last but not least...
I have had a couple people bug me about putting up a legit pregnancy pic. So...I finally decided to give in and appease these certain complainers. BUT keep in mind, it's my blog so I chose a picture that doesn't make me look like the gargantuan wildabeast that I am. Ahem...so I guess here is my 7 month picture.