December 2017 Christmas letter

So, December once again.  Our usual practice is to enter late-autumn with the intention of starting our newsletter in October or November, to avoid the busy period as Christmas approaches.  It never works out like that of course, but the intent has been there.  Not this year though; it’s been a very busy autumn – much like the rest of the year, in fact!

We saw in the New Year up at Sallachy with Judy and Russell.  The girls enjoyed staying up late (9-ish!) and both they and Shiel enjoyed bouncing around at a wee mini-ceilidh!  Craig attended his annual Brass Monkey camp with the Scouts, but they were left disappointed as the weather stayed uncharacteristically above freezing.  Meantime, Eilidh entered her usual birthday party season, which comes from having lots of friends with similar birthdays to hers.  This year, she had a seventh joint party with Harry (with whom she shares a birthday) at Jump Station, the local trampoline park.  She was literally bouncing that day.

Also, in January, Iona announced to us one afternoon that she wanted to ride her bike without stabilisers, having witnessed Eilidh master the challenge the previous summer.  Not wanting to lose the moment despite the setting winter sun, we set off on a short walk with the girls on their bikes, and Iona, despite being a bit shoogly and zigzagging all over the path, did indeed manage to stay upright and keep pedaling her bike!

Gwen's wee birthday cake!

February saw birthday party season continue for the girls, along with Gwen’s first concert of the year.  We also found time to enjoy a family trip to go swimming and ice-skating.  The girls are slowly building their confidence on the ice; Eilidh is now able to skate (after a fashion) without a penguin balancing aid, and Iona was complimented by one of the coaches for her desire to copy her sister and leave the penguin at the side of the rink.

Eilidh giving Iona a birthday hug!

Eilidh sat her first dance exam (for jazz) in March, and passed with distinction.  Her dance school were very good at making sure that all the girls were ready before they entered them for the exam, and told them that it was “just another dance”, so minimising any pressure.  Craig also took the older Scouts on a survival camp, where they had to build shelters and sleep outside in them in the (very) cold.  Whilst the Scouts bedded down in moss, Craig slept off the ground, trying out sleeping in a hammock and finding it a very comfortable experience.  Something odd happened during the course of the following week, with the weather temperature increasing by an uncharacteristic 18 degrees or so, meaning that Iona’s fourth birthday / party was bathed in lovely sunshine, and the kids spent the afternoon bouncing on the trampoline and bouncy castle while miraculously not injuring themselves or bringing up the birthday lunch!

Putting on an Easter show with the cousins

The Queen was nowhere to be seen

April was a significant point in Gwen’s life, being the month in which she has now lived more than half her life in Scotland.  To celebrate, we had haggis and whisky, and then flew down south to spend the week leading up to Easter staying with Brenda and Roger in the first half of the week, and then with Eleanor and James in London for Easter itself.  We had a lovely week, one of the highlights of which was going for a cycle in the New Forest with the girls.  We were very proud of Eilidh, who despite having only learned to fully ride her bike less than a year before, managed to cycle the 10km or so, which included both road and off-road portions.  Iona thoroughly enjoyed the experience of being on a “tag-along” on the back of Craig’s bike!  A quick Scout church parade later, and Eilidh was off on her first school camp – a single night away at Lowport Centre in Linlithgow, where she got to do canoeing and “Jungle Bash” (which we’re led to believe is an adventurous walk).

Have we been here before?  If only we'd kept a log...

The start of May saw a fine weekend for Craig to go camping with the Cubs and Scouts, while Eilidh and the Beavers joined in on the Saturday for a mini-camp experience.  May also saw Craig join a veterans’ football team – an acknowledgement of age catching up on him!  (It’s an over 35s team).  The games are only sporadic, and his debut ended with a heavy defeat and an own-goal to boot.  However, two subsequent games later in the year saw him score at the right end, firstly in a 9-8 defeat (!) and then in a 5-1 victory against a Hibs team (a good scoreline for any Hearts fan to be part of, even if it was as part of a notionally Livingston team).  May also stood out as the month in which Gwen and Craig deemed themselves ready to get their own bikes, following the successful Easter trial-run in the New Forest.

The end of the road

Eilidh in Tarzan-trail mode

Into June, and Eilidh took part in her first violin concert; she did very well, and we all went out for a celebratory dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.  A couple of practice cycles later, and we were ready to take our bikes on holiday with us.  It’s fair to say that our choice of holiday venue this was heavily influenced by a very generous Christmas 2016 gift: family membership of Historic Scotland.  With that in mind, we decided to stay in the country to make use of the gift, picking Orkney as our focal point (which had been on our “hit-list” for years), and driving (most of) the North Coast 500 tourist route.  We spent the first few days of the holiday in a rented cottage in Forres, and explored some of the North East, including a lovely day spent at the Landmark activity centre, which the kids loved (red squirrels, butterflies, roller coasters, water slides and tree-top trails).  From there, we spent the morning at Fort George and then drove up to John O’Groats, where we stayed in a nearby hotel, ready to catch the morning ferry across the Pentland Firth to Orkney.

Iona making sure this big standing stone stays standing

We really loved Orkney.  We camped in a quiet municipal-owned campsite in Birsay, but it was without a doubt the windiest place we’d ever camped.  We were a bit concerned that our tent might not last the week, and in fact one other couple on the campsite literally had their tent blown to bits!  We managed to escape with only one broken pole although we did suffer some water leakage due to some torrential rain which literally battered its way through the canvas!  Weather aside, Orkney was a fantastic place.  The archaeological sites captivated the imagination of all of us, and we had great fun exploring the tombs, standing stones and prehistoric villages.  The quiet roads were perfect for the girls to cycle on.  We were made to work hard though; whichever way we were cycling, the wind appeared to be against us!  We even had to pedal whilst going downhill at points as the wind was otherwise blowing us uphill!  Eilidh in particular did very well, and put in a massive amount of effort to make sure that we caught the last ferry back on our 17km island-cycle (which was by no means a given)!

Eilidh loves the beach!

Back on the mainland, (Scottish mainland, not Orcadian mainland), we continued on the North Coast 500, which we would recommend to anybody as a stunning drive.  It’s really interesting to see our beautiful country transpose from the forested east coast to the rugged north coast.  We stayed overnight in a “Hobbit house”-style wigwam part of the way down; the kids loved bunking down in the same place and at the same time as us!  The final few days of the summer holiday were spent at Sallachy, where we managed to explore further up the glen than had previously been possible thanks to our two-wheeled transport.  It should be noted that whilst we had a great time in the northernmost reaches of the country, the bikes didn’t appreciate being outside in the salty sea-air for the best part of two weeks, and required a good service / oiling on our return!

In fact, all the girls in our family love the beach!

August brought a hen weekend down south for Gwen, and the fun of the Edinburgh Festival.  Many shows were visited, from story-telling to children’s theatre, magic to comedy, and street performers watched and admired.  One show of special note was “At the Illusionist’s Table”, in which Craig and Gwen dined at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society in the company of around 10 other people and a very good mind-reader, who did some amazing pieces.  One of his tricks involved accurately reading Craig’s mind, and it was therefore reassuring to get confirmation that Craig does actually have a mind to read!

Stopping to take in the view on the Isle of Rousay

August also saw Craig put to use his newly-acquired council minibus licence to take the Scouts away for the weekend at Lochgoilhead Activity Centre on the west coast for some water sports and other adventurous activities, before helping at the Beaver sleepover, which Eilidh attended and very much enjoyed.  It also gave Craig the chance to try out the hammock that Gwen gave him for his birthday.  It’s proving a popular gift, and the girls love getting in and having a wee swing in it!

Stirling Castle with London cousins

We welcomed the Peplers to Bankton Terrace in September, and took them to the very enjoyable Siege on the Forth day at our “local” castle (Blackness Castle), and to the more dominating Stirling Castle.  September brought the first of our “big” family celebrations, with a weekend down in the Lake District to visit Russell’s 70^th birthday.  It was lovely to have the Rouses over from Australia, and to see the antipodean cousins play with each other.  That was more than enough to fill the month, but we still found time for Gwen to go down south for a school friend’s wedding at the start of the month, and Craig to go  to Prague at the end of the month to celebrate a friend’s 40^th birthday.

October brought with it another Scout camp for Craig, before what we considered a very well-deserved October break in Sallachy, and weekend in Perthshire with two other families.

A walk in the Gruffalo wood with Australian cousins

Can't beat a wee conga on an autumn walk!

Then the year started to get busy.  Craig was asked by the Scout District to take over the running of an Explorer Scout Unit (for 14-18 year olds), which he started following the October week.  In the transition period between then and the year-end, he has remained as Scout leader, although he will drop down to one week a month following the Christmas holidays.

November was one of those months that seemed to pass really quickly, though there were no weekend events, which was certainly a blessing.  Scout activities, church activities, musical activities, birthday parties and football conspired to consume Saturdays and Sundays, and some weekday evenings in between, and ensured that December was upon us before we knew it.

And now we know it.  December is here, more than half going, and Christmas is rapidly approaching.  Gwen has had a weekend in London to celebrate Eleanor’s 40^th birthday.

Eilidh's had two years in Beavers

Eilidh has now finished Beavers, and will “swim up” to Cubs after Christmas.  Eilidh completed Beavers with an armful of badges, being appointed Lodge Leader, and achieving the Chief Scout’s Bronze Award, the highest award a Beaver can obtain.  During her two years, she has gained in confidence and we are very proud of the girl she is turning in to.  Her swimming has continued to progress, as has her violin playing, and she continues to enjoy dancing.

Iona, having been swimming every week with Craig whilst Eilidh was having her lessons and developing into a bit of a water-baby, started lessons herself in October.  She seems to be acquitting herself well, having been moved up a level already.  She still goes to gymnastics on Fridays, building on her climbing and balancing skills, and also enjoys dancing.  She's developing all the time and is now in her final year of nursery, and has a very cheeky sense of humour!

Gwen is still managing to fill her time with her work, and is still enjoying playing the violin (primarily with Meadows Chamber Orchestra, but also with various other ensembles from time to time).  She has also been dedicated in her development of gin tasting!

Craig is being kept from twiddling his thumbs by the Scouts / Explorers, and manages to find time to be exuberant / despondent as results dictate at Hearts’ home games, and taking part in the odd game of football where circumstances permit.

Merry Christmas! 

The whole of the Browning Family would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, with every best wish for 2018.  If you are in our vicinity, please get in touch and look us up – we’d love to see you.