Busy Busy

Hmmm - not sure where to start this blog.

I'll go back to last Thursday night when Ruaridh had the best bedtime in years. He was asleep before 8:10pm. I stupidly tweeted about it, jokingly wondering if he was ill, within two hours he was puking all over the bathroom and running a high fever.

The next day the poor boy continued to puke and had a really spikey fever - which at one point had him hallucinating about destroying his bed! Bless him. By Saturday he was getting better but was still not himself but it was the day of the Gala. We decided it would be best for him to stay at home so Martin took Morgan and Orla up to the meeting point. The school theme was beach:

It was an incredibly hot day and before the procession there was a long, rambling presentation/play/thing - involving tier upon tier of Flower Girl and attendants and things. Martin was not impressed with the length of it and apparently a flower girl collapsed in the heart. In their wisdom the primary school groups were at the *back* of the procession so the wait before the very slow walk was soooo long. One of our neighbours was in the group but her girl was an attendant - so was at the front of the procession - an hour ahead of us. So she bunked off to get to the gala in time to find her daughter. It really has made us think about what we would do if Orla was asked to be one of the flower girls, sorry bower girls as they are called locally. I think Martin and I would be tempted to say no but think Orla would be gutted - hmmm - few years before that is a possibility.

Anyway - back to the procession. So glad Ruaridh wasn't there - with all the waiting around, even if he had been well, he would not have coped at all. So - when he finally got dressed and he and I had our lunch I took him to Livingston and bought him a Lego model as he'd had such a crummy few days. We headed back to Bathgate and avoided the town and parked on the far side of the gala field. By this point it was incredibly hot and Martin had no money with him and two hot children. Fortunately I had some and so got them some food while we watched two lunatics doing stunts on Motorbikes *shudder*. By that point the kids were getting restless so after a go on the Hook-a-Duck stall and a bounce on a slide we took them to the play park at the edge of the field where there was some shade. Rua didn't go into the park (which is completely unlike him - he would normally be the first there and the last to leave) choosing instead to sit in the shade.

See - no bounce:

We headed home pretty soon after that.

Sunday was a lazy, rainy day with a mission in the afternoon which I am sure I will tell you all about soon.

Today there is no school as it is a local holiday. I was going to take them all to Edinburgh Zoo but it seemed a bit too much for me on my own so I opted for our smaller, local zoo instead. I made a packed lunch for us and packed up the waterproofs and off we went.

Well - it cost us £20 to get in!!! Do you know how long we stayed? 90 minutes - and that included going back to the parrots three times, having a snack and choosing tat from the shop. We were all very disappointed.

There was a monkey area that all three kids refused to stay in for any length of time because of the smell. There were so many animals there that looked ill and sad. Most of the animals looked like they had been rescued - which I would be sympathetic towards if that was the case - but there were no signs reflecting that - so not sure if that is what they were or if they were neglected/not happy. I certainly felt very uncomfortable there. The monkeys were not the only animals that stank.

There was a mini funfair in the middle that you had to pay extra for and didn't seem to be open anyway. The whole thing had the feel of an extended petting zoo, run in someone's back garden. Very odd. The cafe was naff - chocolate bars galore and a filthy toilet. The parrots were great and the kids all liked a cockatoo who liked dancing and could say 'hello'.

There was a large selection of animals there and not all of them looked unhappy and while we were there they re-homed the pygmy goats into a great-looking enclosure with lots of grass and space. We didn't want to eat our lunch there so had a quick snack and got back into the car.

After that we headed off to one of the big Country Parks near here - Almondell and Calderwood. By this point it was trying to rain but we plodded on. We walked from the car park down to the visitor centre which was shut for lunch. Next to it there are some benches and a BBQ pit and a playpark. The kids had a great time. We went back to the visitor centre and picked up a leaflet on the walks. We started off on one but Rua was a but whingy by this point. So instead of doing the full walk we cut back along the river. We found a bit under three huge horse chestnut trees where the kids could play by the river. By now it was raining but the trees gave us enough shelter. The kids had a ball - pretending to fish, jumping on the rocks, chucking stones in. Lots of fun. I found a big, dry rock and sat and knitted in the rain - hee.

Once they were wet enough we headed back to the car and home. We are now all sat in the lounge watching Astroboy, looking forward to pancakes for tea. We will definitely be going back to the park - was much, much better than the zoo and was free. If we get some nice days over the summer we could go and paddle in the river - it's a good, safe place to play. Must add it to my list of days out for the summer holidays.