A lot has been happening these past few weeks, mostly good but mixed with some sadness, that has left me about a month behind in posting! So I will try to get back up to date as soon as I can. Meanwhile to week 43….

This week is mainly taken up with the marriage of my middle big sister, Camilla, and Neil, and so we were all lucky enough to come up to Edinburgh for the wedding. I HAD to get Willow some shoes/boots that she could wear with her pretty dress and to ward off the cold, as at the moment she is taking everything off!! SO back to the shop to swap the fitted brown boots for these gorgeous burgandy/purply (is there a word for that – claret perhaps?) number. I had had my eye on these first off, but they were a too wide fit apparently, but after half an hour of screaming and shouting when trying on shoes and boots in another shop, when we tried these again they just slipped on like, well, slippers. So, I think the slight extra material in the width is worth the fact that they can get over her chubby calfs easily, rather than having to fight to get them on. She actually had these on for a full hour before deciding enough was enough, but I hope that as her walking improves, so will her desire to keep them on, especially when she realises they are the ticket to being allowed to jump in muddy puddles!

We took advantage of the school inset day to leave for Scotland on Friday, and jumped onto a plane and flew up to be settled in our apartment a mere 5 hours later door to door. Very civilised.

After an evening catching up with the rest of the immediate family, Saturday morning saw the start of the preparations and the boys very excited to be wearing smart clothes – I will remind them of this in their teenage years. To get the shots I had to bump the ISO right up and so I converted to black and white as it just seems more forgiving of noise. One day, I will perhaps get all four children in the shot together!!

And then off to the wedding, here is Alexei with his godmother and Auntie Fiona!

Camilla and Neil impressed us all by getting wed in the chapel at Edinburgh Castle! It was a relatively mild day, but soon felt cold with the nippy wind. The kids didn’t seem to notice though.I was actually really disappointed with my picture taking during the day – I just couldn’t cope with Willow and my camera and so often the settings were wrong and the subjects blurred, but at least I have some momento’s of the day for myself and the happy couple, I am sure, will get lovely photos from the two photographers that were there, as they looked like they were doing a fantastic job.

So after a lovely wedding, we then got a chance to explore the rest of the City, and I found my very first golden postbox after the Olympics last summer: Chris Hoy’s gold post box in Edinburgh and Willow on her wheels – perhaps she will swap them for a two wheeler in the future.

The day after the day after the wedding, we got to spend a bit of time with Anna and Hamish before they joined their mum and Neil on honeymoon further into Scotland. So we all went on a walk to Arthur’s seat and had a marvellous time in the fresh air enjoying the views of the Forth of Forth and Edinburgh itself.

I practised back button focussing and zone exposure, and am pretty pleased with the results.

Charlie Dog:

We then found a cafe for a warming lunch and the kids enjoyed being kings (and Queen)