Edinburgh

As we pulled into the center of Edinburgh, the first thing we heard were bagpipes!  It was a wonderful welcome to what would be a great three days of enjoying the beautiful city.

We spent half of our first day at the Castle, enjoying the clear sky, great views, and taking in the history.

Lunch at the Elephant House with a view of the castle, but no JK Rowling sightings this time!

Along the Royal Mile - St. Giles cathedral where John Knox was a minister during the Reformation.

They are both such great little travelers.  Rooke walked (or ran!) just about every step we did the entire week.

At the National Art Gallery - we saw a few paintings and then decided we should take Rooke and pass the time together in the cafe!

The kids spent almost an hour running in this park area with the Scottish Monument in the background

Deep in thought outside the Scottish Parliament Building.

Running through the Princess Garden.  Fitting.

The People's Museum - a small, but interesting display of the history of the working class

The (free!) National Museum of Scotland was one of our favorite things from the trip.  We went back on our last day to take in the view from the terrace.

She lucked out and got her first ice cream cone on this trip.  Don't tell her that the cone is supposed to have ice cream inside. =)

The Museum of Childhood was a favorite stop.  Besides the free admission, we loved all five rooms full of toys, books, dolls, cars and the hands-on tables!

Date night!  Haggis isn't all that bad.

Kevin discovered that if he really wanted grandkid cuddles, he just needed to order dessert!

The last thing we did in Edinburgh was hike up to Arthur's Seat.  I had been looking forward to the hike all week, but wasn't sure how little legs would do after three full days of walking.  It ended up being our family's collective favorite part of the trip!  A beautiful end to a great trip.  We were thankful for our health and the chance to experience Edinburgh together.

A little sibling moment.  Of course, there was no whining or arguing or complaining at all on this trip.

On the way up . . . Gretchen encouraged us to keep going by saying that she was "using my strong legs!"

We made it!  Actually, Kevin was the only one who made it all the way to the top.  But we had set our sights on a peak that was kid-friendly and we made it.