Journey Back to the USA

Trying to get some sleep at the airport

OK so we all knew the flight back to Louisiana was never going to be easy.  With 8 people, 10 pieces of checked baggage and enough hand luggage to bring across huge amounts of possessions.  Added to that I (Martin) had to go through an immigration check in as I was travelling on my newly acquired K1 visa,  it was always going to be a challenge.  However little did we know of how much of a challenge it would turn out to be.

So the initial getting to Heathrow wasn't too bad although the check in was a bit complicated as a lot of our stuff was cross packed in all the suitcases, (when you move abroad its cheaper to bring an extra suitcase and pay than to ship anything by about £100).

The airplane (American Airlines) was hardly modern and only had one screen per every 30 or so passengers so unlike other times we've flown you have no control over what to watch or when. For a ten hour flight this was pretty poor but somehow we managed it.  So we eventually get off the plane in Dallas and head for the dreaded immigration.

As previously mentioned Martin was travelling on a K1 (fiance) visa basically meaning that I was intending to marry and stay in the USA.  Although i had been a little nervous about the whole thing it actually wasn't too bad.  I handed over the unopened envelope and was escorted to another waiting room with approx 15 other people.  We all sat looking nervously at the window and after a few minutes my name was called.  After a quick chat with the immigration officer and a few forms being signed I was sent on my way to catch up with the rest of the family (Nan, Grandad, Kelly, Dawn and the children).  Checking my watch as I left the room I saw we had about an hour and a half to get across the airport to catch our next flight to Baton Rouge.

Unfortunately the weather had other ideas and a huge storm caused many flights to be cancelled (including ours).  Now we had to queue to get a place another plane, nothing was flying to Baton Rogue so we opted for a flight to New Orleans (after arranging for Dawns dad to meet us there).

With 20 minutes to go before the New Orleans flight we were informed that this flight and every other flight had been cancelled till the next day.   More queuing and trying to get confirmed flights ended with Dawn and 2 of the children confirmed for the 7.30am and the rest of us on standby.

So now we attempted to settle down to sleep in the airport, the staff did supply camp beds and thin blankets but needless to say there was not a lot of sleep for anyone.

We managed to get Tyler onto the 7.30 flight with Dawn and the girls which left Nan, Grandad, Kelly and Martin now needing flights.  Kelly managed to get on a flight at about 10 (she had to fly on her own).  Nan, Grandad and Martin finally managed to board a flight at about 12.30.

All in all a nightmare of a journey, we had attempted to fly on no less than 7 flights which were either cancelled or full, we were so happy to get home.

A trip up the Cairngorm Mountain

A trip up the mountain

One of the final things we did on our trip to Scotland was a trip up the Cairngorn Mountain on the mountain railway or to give it its proper name the funicular.  The funicular takes passengers from the car park to near the top of the mountain, where we all had a good look at the views and gift shop (not more shopping).

family snap shot on top of the mountain

 

A day in The Highlands and the Leault Working Dogs Display

The Girls running free in the Scottish Highlands

Yesterday we took a drive into the Scottish highlands up a very quiet B road that looked like it was hardly used.  We drove along looking at the breath taking scenery and then we where lucky enough to spot a huge heard of wild deer on the very top of the mountain.

Nan, Grandad, Hannah, Rayna and Tyler cuddled up in the mountains

We stopped and had a little snack and the kids ran around enjoying the freedom that a quiet area offers.  We all had a great time playing and then on the drive back down the road a deer actually ran across the road in front of the car.  I doubt we'll get this close to a wild deer again.

Neil working his incredible sheep dogs

In the afternoon we went along to the Leault Working Sheepdogs display and what a fantastic display it was!  I think this was a firm favourite with the whole family, the dogs were incredible as they worked the sheep and at the same time mingling with the crowd.

Tyler mixes with the stars of the show

The whole display was incredible and Tyler, Hannah and Rayna all helped sheer a sheep and were given a piece of wool as a souvenir.  But that wasn't all, next the baby lambs needed feeding and they were released to the bottle weilding public, a truly memorable experience.  We can't recommend this experience highly enough the details can be found here Leault Sheep Dogs .(watch the above video). 

Hannah and Rayna feed the lambs

Tyler Grandad and Nan feed the lambs

 Neil Ross, who runs the display is and extremely freindly man and spent along time with the children teaching them how to blow their sheep dog whistles.

Neil Ross teaches Tyler how to use his whistle

Some of the stars of the show

A Day Shopping in Pitlochry

The girls get sized up for their kilts

We spent a fun day looking in the shops at Pitlochry, there were many traditional shops selling all sorts of things.  The girls decided to spend their birthday money on a kilt each and a set of bagpipes (Nan and Grandad helped out with the cost).

The girls treat us to their bagpipe playing

 When we got home we wentonline and watched some videos of Scottish dancing and the girls showed us their version, they're really get into the whole Scottish thing.

Dawn also spent far too much money so we're not going shopping again for a long time. :0)

Kincraig Village Fete

Scottish pipe band at the fete

We happily stumbled across the Kincraig Village fete yesterday and all of its local traditions.  We saw pipe bands, a stunt horse display, a mini highland games, some owls and the highlight of the day the childrens races.

Rayna and Tyler both took part in the races (Hannah didn't feel like it).  Rayna wasn't ready in the first race and they started while she was still getting ready.  Luckily enough she was allowed to run in the next race and she did really well.  Tyler on the other hand was ready and got himself into his starting position straight away.  As you can see from the video he had a little tumble after the start but he didn't let that get in his way.  He picked himself up and still managed to come first.  For the rest of the day he proudly showed off his medal to anyone he could, telling them the full story of his victory .

The real Hedwig from the first Harry Potter movie

 The next thing we saw was super cool, the real owl that played the part of Hedwig in the first Harry Potter movie.  This whole trip is starting to have a bit of a Harry Potter theme!

A Trip on the Hogwarts Express

Tyler on the hot plate before departure

We had a special treat the other day.  The Jacobite train, the one used in the Harry Potter movies that travels to Hogwarts was scheduled to travel from Fort William to Malaig and it was too much of an opportunity to miss out on.

Dawn, Tyler, Hannah, Rayna , Nan and Grandad on the train

 The train journey took about an hour and a half and covered some beautiful countryside.  We were lucky enough to see some deer in the mountains, and some fantastic waterfalls.  We also travelled over the fantastic bridge that was seen in the Harry Potter movies.

When we stopped at Malaig we had about two hours to look around and went down to the port and watched the fisherman unloading their boats.  We didn't realise until Nan spotted him that there was someone else also very keen watching what the fisherman were doing.

Tyler even tried to show him where there was a fish on the port but it didn't apear that the seal could understand him (watch the video).  We did throw him a fish that we found on the side but he looked at it in disgust when we threw it in.  We guessed he was a fussy eater, to be fair the fish wasn't in the best condition.

The seal we saw in the harbour

Emma Comes to Visit

Emma entertains the children

By a wild fluke, our friend Emma Duggan had a wedding to photograph in Scotland this week.  As soon as we realised we invited her to come visit and whilst she was here to take a few pics for us as a reminder.

As a special treat the kids performed their version of "lean on me" a family favourite.  We all had a really fun time and at the same time had some terrific pictures taken.

One of the many great pics taken by Emma

 A big thank you goes out to Emma for spending a fun day with us all and for taking some fantastic pics.