December 2015 Christmas Letter

Wow – it’s that time of year again; it seems to have come round incredibly quickly.  As we look back on another year gone, and look forward to the year ahead, we can appreciate some of the special moments and anticipate what might be in store for us.

Eilidh is now in P2, while Iona is rampaging around and generally just doing what two-and-a-half year olds do (it’s quite similar to what one-and-a-half year olds do, but faster and with more words).

It’s been a busy old year, both in terms of work and leisure.  We brought in the New Year up at Sallachy with Judy and Russell (and Kyle and Shiel); it’s always good to bring in the bells in the Highlands, though work commitments mean it sadly won’t be possible this year.  We’ll have to ensure we drink a dram of whisky to compensate (the grown-ups, anyway – Eilidh and Iona aren’t quite at that stage yet!).

The first “event” of the year was Craig’s annual Brass Monkey camp with the Scouts.  The temperature this year got down to a mild -10˚C – cold enough to convince Craig to put on some socks in his sleeping bag!  On the same weekend, Eilidh filled her social calendar with two birthday parties.

The next weekend saw Eilidh celebrate her own birthday by inviting some of the girls and boys from her class to a Ceilidh Kids birthday party.  Everyone joined in admirably and appeared to have great fun; certainly Eilidh enjoyed herself.  Three parties in the space of a week was sufficient justification for Eilidh to have a rest the next weekend, before taking in another couple of parties the weekend after that!  She currently has the most active social life in the family!

The February holidays provided a last chance for Iona to fly on an infant fare before she turned two, so a trip to see Grandma and Grandad in the New Forrest was in order.  One of the highlights of the weekend was a trip to the zoo, meeting up with the Peplers; our Christmas present from Judy and Russell had been family membership of Edinburgh, which also gained us entry to most other zoos around the UK.  We also had a trip to the beach, which was significantly colder in February than it was the previous July!

Iona’s & Gwen’s birthdays passed in a fairly low-key fashion mid-week, but were followed up with a weekend trip to the zoo.  Craig, who never gets sick, missed all of these due to being ill.  A couple of weeks later at Easter-time, the family made an escape for a week up to Sallachy.  A relaxing week was just what the doctor ordered, and it was duly delivered.  Gwen also had a weekend away with some of her friends to Lindisfarne in May, while the following weekend, the weather was less kind to Craig when he went camping in Ayrshire with the Scouts.

The first week in June proved to be an anxious one for Craig; all the arrangements for that weekend’s Scout trip to Alton Towers were going swimmingly, until the theme park hit the press for all the wrong reasons in the middle of the week.  Fortunately, Drayton Manor Theme Park was able to accommodate us at short notice and everyone was able to have a good time.  (More on that venue later.)

As has become usual for us, we took our summer holiday during the first two weeks of the school holidays.  After a weekend with Auntie Lynne in Bath, we moved onto Pembrokeshire in south-west Wales, where we camped for the best part of a week.  Despite the poor summer weather that we’ve had in general, we got quite lucky for the camping part of our holiday, which enabled us to enjoy a couple of trips to the beach, a couple of castles, an iron age village, a tidal mill and a monastery based on an island (Caldey Island, if you’re interested).  That’s not to say that we had it all blazing sunshine; the sunscreen and waterproofs were required in broadly equal measure, but we managed to plan our trips so that the weather didn’t interrupt our fun.

After striking a wet tent on the middle weekend of our holiday, we spent a fab couple of hours at the National Showcaves of Wales, which included a dinosaur valley; all tastes were truly catered for.  Some of the caves were quite difficult to manoeuvre round, so it was perhaps just as well that Craig had guidance from Iona in the back-carrier with repeated warnings of "watch my head!" After leaving the caves, we carried on to Welshpool, just on the Welsh side of the English border, where we checked into a semi-detached self-catering cottage on a farm; our next door neighbours happened to be the Peplers.  In a second astonishing coincidence, Brenda and Roger were staying B&B in the farmhouse.  This week had been organised as a belated celebration of Brenda and Roger’s Ruby Wedding anniversary, which had occurred in December 2014.  One suspects that arranging a celebration for two daughters who’d flown the nest with attaching sons-in-law and four grandchildren between them was quite far from their mind when wedding preparations were being made back in 1974.

The week involved a lovely celebration lunch at their wedding venue all those years ago, more castles (more of the stately home variety than ruins), many picnics, some walking and nature and a steam train.  Craig and Gwen also managed a meal at the Lake Vyrnwy hotel, where they had had a romantic weekend back in the year 4 BC (before children), and we all got to catch up with the wider Beamond family on the farm, with plenty of fun to keep the youngsters (and young-at-heart grown-ups!) amused.  However, one of the stand out day trips, certainly from the girls’ point of view, was a trip to Thomas Land at Drayton Manor.  Eilidh is gradually stepping up her adrenaline rush enjoyment levels, and after exhausting the rides in Thomas Land in the morning, we moved into the more grown-up section of the Park in the afternoon.  We thought Thomas Land itself was great – a good combination of tranquil rides a la our visit to Peppa Pig World last year – and more exciting ones to get the heart beating that little bit faster.  In the grown-up park, Eilidh went on every ride that height-restrictions allowed; it’s great to see her adventurous spirit developing.  Our final day out of the holiday was a trip to Chester Zoo on the way home; what a great zoo that is.

Later on in July, we were delighted to spend some time with the Rouse clan as they visited Bonnie Scotland.  Both girls loved spending time with their cousins, and, since his birth in November (sorry for the time-jump), we’re all really looking forward to meeting Kieran and Gemma’s new little brother, Logan.

We didn’t have time to get the tent dry after Wales before going away camping with Uncle Mark and Auntie Wendy to Newtonmore in early August.  (Technically, we did have the time, just not the weather to do it!).  The weekend itself was one of very mixed weather.  The Highland Wildlife Park was great, especially getting a guided tour round in a Landrover, and the (outdoor) Museum of Highland Life was also well worth a visit.

Craig, who never gets sick, spent the following weekend in bed ill; bad enough on its own, but compounded by it being his birthday / our anniversary weekend.  Still, Gwen was able to have a good night out with her friend Debbie standing in to make use of the Fringe tickets.  Fortunately, we managed to get a weekend at the end of August to catch some other shows (an Irish comedian called Chris Kent was very funny), and Craig also managed to catch the especially geeky (but also very funny) science / maths show with Colin (Gwen had very much enjoyed it on the original weekend).  In between times, Craig had a Scout camp with a very unusual feature: not so much the group of Austrian Scouts touring Scotland and staying in Paisley, but the fact that we were able to put the tents away dry.

The September weekend saw a fun trip down to London to spend a long weekend with the Peplers, during which we were able to feed Iona's ever-growing dinosaur interest with a visit to the Natural History Museum, and please Eilidh with a trip to the Science Museum.

September also saw us inject a bit of culture into the family with a visit to the Scottish Museum of Modern Art to see an exhibition by Craig’s favourite artist, MC Escher.

The October week saw us head up to Sallachy, where we were delighted to welcome the Peplers to the Highlands, and show them some of the sights that the Skye and Lochalsh area has to offer (as well as some obligatory Nessie hunting along Loch Ness).  Not content with a busy week up north, we then drove straight down to the Dunbar area to spend the weekend with the Jenkins and Andrews families.

It’s probably fair to say that 2014 and 2015 up until late summer has been one of the most challenging times that we have had, in terms of the workload that Gwen has carried professionally.  However, the practice has successfully appointed some new partners to share the burden, and Gwen’s 50-hour (officially 3-day) week is now a more-manageable-but-still-quite-a-lot 40-hour (officially 3-day) week.

When we're not away on holiday, life goes on.  Iona goes to various play groups with the childminder, and Craig takes her to gymnastics on Fridays; she's turning into a great wee climber / monkey, though she seems more interested in getting straight to business in the class rather than bothering with warm-ups!

Eilidh has been learning a little bit of French, but has just finished her last class in order to make way for starting Beavers after the Christmas holidays.  She still loves her dancing, and is now in practice for her next show in May 16, and she is carrying on with her Saturday morning music classes.

As for the grown-ups, Gwen has been able to squeeze in a few concerts with the Meadows Chamber Orchestra around her work, while Craig has had a fairly satisfactory year going to the Hearts games at Tynecastle (and the odd away game), and from time-to-time takes the girls along.

As a family, we've been able to indulge in a bit of geocaching, or treasure hunting as the kids know it, which is a great way to make a short walk a bit more exciting.

Heading into Christmas, everyone is getting quite excited.  The girls have written their Santa letters, and it’s fair to say that this time around, Iona knows what’s going on (to an extent at least).  Gwen is looking forward to a week off in the run up to Christmas, while Craig has some time off in between Christmas and New Year.

As time ticks down towards Christmas Day, the Browning Family would like to wish all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year.