Scotland 2014 Part 3- Golf, what else?

My husband will tell you it is magical.
Here is photographic evidence.

The Grounds Crew
(Charming, right?)

It would be absurd to do a series about Scotland without dedicating an entire entry on golf, and golf alone since that is the reason we venture to Scotland each summer.  I often get asked if I play golf, and the answer is no, not yet.  I have been to the range, and have had one or two lessons, but I really need to take more lessons to go out and play.  I will admit that golf is not my favorite sport.  I do, however, have a tremendous amount of respect for golfers who play well though, because it is a very hard game.  Just making contact with the ball is a miracle sometimes, and to get it to go where you want it to...that's another story entirely.

I do tag along sometimes to watch, and to take photos of Nicholas playing, but to be able to describe it to you here in any meaningful way?  No.

So, I will pass the mike (so to speak) to our resident golf expert for full analysis and commentary on golfing with a five year old in the birth place of golf.  I did insert shots I took on the camera that (I hope) illustrate some of what is described below for those of you (you know who you are) who are interested in the stance, swing plane, moment of impact, etc. (I sound very knowledgeable) of a certain 5 year old-  ha, ha.

Nicholas on the par 3 course at age 3

Nick enjoys golfing, the gear, the process, the accoutrements.  He is not yet a disciplined, patient golfer.  He swings for the fences, never takes the same stance twice, and forgets to line himself up far too frequently.  But he makes up for these problems with enthusiasm and eagerness to play.

 He willingly goes to the net in Brora to practice his stroke and warm up prior to heading out to the par three course.  He has developed some unconventional habits there.  One of his preferred practice swings involves a real looking swing where he swings over a teed up ball, rather than the traditional behind the ball.  He also has a tendency to hit the ball off the end of the club, squirting shots to the right because he stands too far from the ball or adjusts his stance mid swing.






Practice swing



Enthusiastically hitting at the driving range.
Yep, this is the driving range there.

However, when he does make solid contact with the ball, the results are quite impressive.   During the trip he reached all of the par three greens off the tee on multiple occasions, and most days he played the par three course two or even three times.  The first par three is short and flat, so he can actually reach it with his 6/7 iron.






However, it is more fun to hit it over that green, since a deep bunker secretly lurks behind.  One particularly memorable round Nick hit it into the bunker on one hop.  He went skipping down the fairway but paused on the edge of the bunker.  A cow had sought refuge from the wind in this spot, and we left the ball and the cow alone.  When that bunker was unoccupied, Nick tirelessly practiced bunker shots with his sand wedge, eventually discovering that hitting backwards would at least allow him to escape the trap and finish the hole (after properly raking and dumping excess sand out of his "trainers").  One of the last rounds I caddied for him on the par three course included a beautiful shot off the second par three to within five feet of the pin.  He also crushed a shot off the third par three that bounced on the green and carried all the way to the putting green fence behind (a total distance of at least 90 yards uphill).


Yet the thrill of the trip for both of us involved the rare trip to the big course when I was sure we would not hold anyone up.  He played the first hole on the real course three different times.  The first time he hit a perfect 6/7 iron that attacked the hill in front of the green and climbed far enough onto the green to remain on the putting surface.  Unless you have had the joy of playing the course, it is difficult to explain what an achievement that is for a five year old, but my effusive excitement seemed to get through to Nick at the moment.  The second time, he sank a downhill 11 foot putt to one putt that green (currently, Nick does not gauge distance and force particularly well, so he often four or more putted the greens on the par three course which were longer and easier).  And the last time we wandered onto the big course, the opening was wider, so we also played the second hole.  Nick asked, "Daddy, can I be in a bunker?"  I said that if no one came along, he could throw one in the bunker after he finished the hole.  Skipping down the second fairway, he volunteered, "Daddy, I am so excited to be playing this hole with you."  He eventually finished the hole (with a six putt), dropped one in the bunker to the left of the green, took a tremendous cut at the ball, and hit it so hard that it climbed the face of the pot bunker and scurried out onto the front of the green.  Nick's response: "See, it's easy."  May he always find it so.




Age 3



Age 5

Real Men Wear Skirts

In yet another Scottish tradition, we have dressed Rhys in his brother's kilt and have taken his picture in the same exact place that we did with Nicholas when he was 1 and 2 along Loch Brora.  He's a photogenic little guy.  I just adore the way the photos came out.

This one was marvelous:





But it took a lot of patience, because they started off this way.  The "I'm kind-of-laughing-but-on-the-verge-of-crying" thing that babies often do.  Lack of sleep, teething, and really, really wanting the camera do not help matters.



There was a lot of this:



And this, but Mom was determined:




What saved me though was that I found an interesting tree.  It was right where the grass met the sand alongside of the loch, and it had a root that acted perfectly as a chair.  It also very handily made his buns sink a little lower than his legs, and he could not get up from where he was perched.  Score!  I took advantage of the fact that he couldn't move and hid behind the tree trunk and played peek-a-boo.  He tried his best to remain grumpy, but what 1 year old can resist peek-a-boo?

 

Just stop it already!  Cuteness overload!

*Sigh*

 

I'm free!
(Headed towards the loch)
(Oh and you can see the base of that tree in the background)

 

 

And just for fun I dug up the photos of Nicholas as a 1 and 2 year old wearing his kilt in the same exact place.  He won't humor me and wear a kilt anymore.

Whoa, it is a blustery day!

Plucking buttercups.
Just look at the view.

A good laugh and snuggle for Dada.

More laughter on a typical Scottish day
 (grey, windy, all that's missing is the rain).

And below is Nicholas as a 2 year old with the kilt Rhys was wearing this year.

At Nick's grandparents' before heading out to have his photo taken.
 

A much sunnier day that year.
Beaver stuffed animal in tow.

 

One of my favorites.

Appropriately behind some thistle.

Another favorite, clutching buttercups.

 

 

Yep, that's about right.

 

 

Scotland 2014- Part 2- What we do all day

It turns out when you wake up at 4:40am you're chomping at the bit to go at around 7:00. I can't blame it on Rhys today, he woke up at 5:00, so there was a good 20 minutes of extra sleep that I could have gotten. (I have to just laugh at that now, because otherwise that statement would just be depressing.)

Anyway, one of the most frequently asked questions about traveling to a remote village (yes, village) in the Scottish Highlands for five weeks is:

"Ok, we know what your husband does all day (golf), but what do you do?"

Turns out a lot.

Today Nicholas and I left the house at 7:30am headed south to climb Ben Bhraggie. Ben Bhraggie is a hill one can hike with beautiful vistas on the way up and from the top as it rises 1,302 feet above sea level. Atop Ben Bhraggie also stands the 100 foot statue of the first Duke of Sutherland. There is quite a bit of controversy involving the statue and the Duke. It has been vandalized many times, and people have taken large chunks out of it in attempts, one can only assume, to bring it down. (If you are interested, you can read a succinct explanation of it here.)

We attempted to reach the summit when Nicholas was 3. We made it about 80% up when Nicholas declared he was too tired and hungry to climb another inch. I ended up carrying him down on my hip the entire way (while pregnant with Rhys). I felt pretty confident that he could reach the top this year. It took us about an hour to reach the top (we looked at lots of bugs, flowers, berries, stones, butterflies (of course), and stopped many, many times to rest, stall, and otherwise dawdle. He was so proud when we reached the top. The excitement of having reached the top refueled his energy supply and he quite literally bounded down the hill in a Tigger-esque fashion.

Afterwards, we got lunch at one of our favorite spots, the Coffee Bothy at around 10:30am. Such is the case when you have arisen so early.

We then drove back up north to go straight to horseback riding together. After riding, we momentarily paused long enough to catch our breaths before leaving for the train station. Both boys donned their Thomas the Tank Engine shirts and grabbed a Thomas toy each and we set off to take Rhys on his first train ride, just like we did with Nicholas 3 years ago.

Enter the photos (A word on the photos: I kind of pride myself on my pictures. I don't consider myself a photographer (or writer, for that matter) at all, but I think I have something of an eye when it comes to my kids and the blog. I took wonderful pictures on Ben Bhraggie with my camera, and as I mentioned before forgot the adaptor, so I will post those photos back at home. Sorry, I'm a little self conscious about the picture quality (not that great) with the iPad, but it's certainly better than no pix at all. Ok, done. Thanks for listening- ha, ha.)

Our regular destination when we are here is to an inland village. It is where Nick took his first train ride as a two year old and each year since. It is only about 30 minutes away. Perfect for the preschool set. On the way you travel along the sea, pass the local fairy tale castle, then move inland. There you see countless pastures and farm animals: cows, sheep, horses, etc. Nicholas was particularly excited to have seen some bunnies scampering across a field, but was even more thrilled at spotting Daddy drive past the train on his way to meet us at the train station. True facts.

Mr. Man crossing the bridge

The station is still in disrepair I'm afraid.

But the barrel train was fun for the boys,

and Buh-Buh!

Charlie and Flynn accompanied us as well.

Gazing out at the landscape

His Royal Cuteness, Rhys Anthony.

 

When we arrived we stepped off the train and Daddy arrived within 2 minutes to pick us up! What service! He drove us to a charming restaurant called The Pier where we had an early tea. It had been recommended to me by an acquaintance here who also has children. She said the restaurant was nice, the food was delicious, and that, most importantly, it was kid friendly- hurrah! And it didn't disappoint.

 

The Pier

It is situated right on the water.

This is the view from the back patio.

Nicholas taking it all in.

Buh Buh and Grand D having their tea first

This was mine: Brie and Cranberry toastie...mmm.

Nick's scone

(a buttermilk biscuit, in other words, in other lands.)

They have a lovely indoor seating area and a quaint little shop.

Here in a view from the outdoors in.

They also had chalk strewn about for the wee bairn (usage of the last word should prove we've been coming here a long time- lol.)

After our mid-afternoon snack we took the boys to a playground at the local elementary school. The playgrounds here are a little different than at home. Those awful plastic contraptions that we have haven't caught on here, so there really are some fun things to play on. I would have loved these playgrounds as a child. Who am I kidding? I went around the obstacle course several times myself.

As far as I'm concerned this is genius. Nicholas wants to climb all over everything (couches, chairs, fences, scaffolding at a football match... I have a hard time getting mad at him. I used to do back handsprings over the arms of my mother's sofas...and I was probably 15, not 5). Well, here you go buddy. Something meant to be climbed up and over.

Naturally, more sound effects.

Now, I have no idea what you would call this crazy, springy do-hickey, but Nicholas loved it. It reminded me of a space capsule. And that spring at the base was so flexible in all directions that it bobbled and girated all around.

Below, I stood on the back footrests, and sent my son rocketing forward in a fit of giggles. (And if you look carefully at his lips, you can see the requisite shuttle sound effects being produced).

 

And finally, the aforementioned obstacle course. Just about everything swings, moves, pivots, requiring strength, balance, and coordination. I secretly love doing it. Maybe not so secretly. Why don't we have these at home? They are fun!

The idea is to make it around the entire couse without touching the ground. Some parts were very easy, for both a 5 year old, and a *ahem* adult, but there were 2 parts that were really tricky.

Not too bad to maneuver.

This wasn't so bad either.

But the part that I'm on up there- whew! The bottom gave tons of slack as you walked and the top ones that criss cross wobble side to side. I'm toward the end, but in the middle I doubled over and buckled a bit to keep my balance. Very fun.

This (above) was also very challenging (I know it doesn't look like it either). The bottom chain gives way, they sway side to side, AND those wooden steps Nick is sitting on completely spin around 360 degrees. I stepped on the first one, spun around, and stepped over the rest. Nick had an interesting technique of sitting/straddling them. Harder than avoiding them altogether, I think, but still effective.

Rhys joined me on the last obstacle. The balance beam was pretty easy unless you were wildly off center then it tilted to the side.

We did it Rhysie!

 

We drove back to the apartment pretty tired, made the kids dinner, bathed them, and put them to bed.

Exhausted yet reading about it?

Well, Wif and I somehow managed to catch a second (or third or fourth) wind, hop back into the car (in-laws with the kiddos) to make an 8:30 dinner reservation. I had one glass of wine, and after the meal (around 10pm) I could barely keep my eyes open.

So we are keeping fairly busy for village life, right?

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