Blair Drummond Safari Park

A couple of weeks back we packed up the car and headed towards Stirling for a wee day on safari. We've been twice before with John (see here & here) but this was David's first experience of getting up close & personal with the animals. Things didn't get off to a good start with David falling in the car & busting his lip open (cue lots of tears & lots of blood!) but once he'd calmed down, we set to exploring Blair Drummond Safari Park and all it has to offer, with one fat lipped little boy & his over-excited big brother.

The actual drive through part is currently a bit boring but with them opening a new monkey drive through soon, I think it'll be much more fun next time around. That being said there's still plenty to do, from the Sea Lion show which both boys loved, to all the various fairground rides which John spent the entire day wanting to go back to. John loved seeing the Marmosets & Lemars running around freely & David was amazed by the Penguins & Monkeys, pressing his face right up against their windows to get a closer look! Me though? Well as always, I loved the donkeys!

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"John Had Nice Day, Mummy."

It's been a tough wee week in our house. I got a text from my Mum last Thursday to say that my Papa had pneumonia and it didn't look good. A few days later on Saturday morning, he passed away. Due to his advanced Alzheimer's we knew it could well happen but having only visited him days before, it was still pretty hard to news to hear.

After that it felt like Easter kind of passed in a blur. Both Iain & I were working over the weekend so aside from a little bit of chocolate on Sunday morning before I headed to work, it was as if it was any other weekend. So by the time Tuesday rolled around & I finally had a day off with my boys, I was desperate to get out and just enjoy the day. And as always, John & David were happy to oblige!

John's been asking to feed the ducks since last summer but it's always been too cold or wet, so when the sun started to shine on Tuesday we took advantage of the weather and headed to our favourite local park, complete with a massive pond filled with ducks, geese, swans & plenty of seagulls. John was in his element feeding the ducks & geese, as well as watching the swans bickering & splashing about (although he did call them "big seagulls"). David was fascinated too, watching the birds from his buggy and insisting John gave him some bread to throw too. Both boys were on perfect behaviour (y'know, apart from the fact David now has a bite-shaped bruise on his arm from John that he gave before we headed out...) which made for a perfect afternoon after a few days of feeling stressed & overwhelmed.

Best of all, John turned to me on the way home, just as we approached out house and said, "John had nice day, Mummy." Talk about wee boys melting their Mummy's heart!

If you enjoy reading Diddle Diddle Dumpling, there's still a few days left to nominate us in this years Brilliance in Blogging Awards. It's super easy & just takes a minute and we'll love you forever if you do!

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Monski Mouse at the Edinburgh Fringe

There's a few words that we use in Edinburgh that have different meaning to anywhere else in the world. Possibly my favourite is, "festival". According to Buzzfeed, a word that is usually used to describe a weekend filled with music & mud, is in fact, "an entire month spent fighting your way through crowds of people who just won’t leave," in Edinburgh. For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, it's the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; the world's largest arts festival, hosted in Edinburgh for the entire month of August.

For many years I've been a typical local, cursing the Fringe & all the slow-walking tourists it attracts. This year however, we took the opportunity to embrace the Fringe & take the boys to their first ever show. There are some shows aimed just for kids but few that cater to a pre-school audience. This year though, Edinburgh has welcomed Monski Mouse to the party!

On Friday, with Granny in tow, we headed up to George Square Gardens where the Palazzo Spiegeltent was pitched. Monski Mouse is the retro-fabulous-vintage DJ/Producer/Hostess of the Monski Mouse Baby Disco Dance Hall. Not only that, she is also a Mum of one with no.2 on the way. But her growing bump certainly didn't get in the way of the show. The Monski Mouse disco we attended was at 11am on Friday - a great time for the wee ones but the show we attended was a little bit quieter than the usual Monski Mouse shows. In retrospect, I think it may be due to the Edinburgh School's now being back after the summer holidays & many parents not being able to bring their wee ones due to Friday school run, being a half day in Edinburgh.

The small crowd didn't hold back Monski Mouse & her two lovely assistances though. They were still ready to rock & roll, impressing the group of wee ones who'd come to dance. John reminds me of myself at his age - quite apprehensive & unsure in big groups of people; this meant it took him a little while to come around to the idea of getting on the dance floor, instead hanging around our table asking for cuddles & his dummy (he usually naps around 11am-12pm too so he was a bit tired as well). David on the other hand was ready to rock!

The music of the disco was a nice combination of disco-classics & kid orientated songs, including one of John's favourite nursery rhymes, Sleeping Bunnies, which he was more than happy to cuddle into the cushions for & have Mummy bounce him extra high for. Throughout each song, Monski Mouse's assistants were running about, dancing their feet off, encouraging both adults & wee ones to boogy on the dance floor. The also conducted a rather impressive Conga Line, which John was more than happy to join in with.

The Monski Mouse disco is 50 minutes long, so perfect for the wee ones it's aimed for. Both John & David were exhausted by the end and a little grumpy as a result but they seemed really enjoy themselves. I too was absolutely knackered! One person that seemed to have endless energy though, was Monski Mouse herself, even jumping & shaking on the dance floor at the end of the disco, despite her obvious baby bump. One thing's for sure, you wouldn't have caught me dancing like that at that stage of my pregnancies! (Thank you, SPD  hips...).

Despite the small crowd at the disco we attended, Monski Mouse was a great, energetic morning out. Both boys enjoyed & exhausted themselves and seemed to be more than happy with their first Fringe show experience. And any event that ends in balloons & stickers is a winner in John's books!

For more info on Monski Mouse & her up-coming shows, you can follow her on Facebook & Twitter or check out her official website.

**We were provided with tickets for the Monski Mouse disco for the purposes of this review. All thoughts & opinions are our own.**

Keep dancing,

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Siblings #8.

I love this photo. It's from a series of similar photos of David smiling at the camera & John scowling or looking in a obscure direction. This one however, despite John's face being covered, is the best of the bunch. Why? Well because it looks like David is casually sitting beside the Cookie Monster!

But really, this photo is pretty relevant to these two boys. One smiling, contented, always-chilled-out baby, who'll happily sit in front of his snap-happy Mummy for as long as she wants. One bored, distracted, not-at-all-interested toddler, who'd much rather be chasing birds or picking flowers for his little brother to eat.

Of course, I'd rather have two little boys that enthusiastically embrace their mamarazzi Mum, but I don't. And this photo captures the reality of that perfectly. (Plus there's the fact John's hat covers his pasta covered face that I didn't wipe beforehand, knowing there'd be no chance of any photos if I did! Again, reality...).

See our Siblings in...
January. // February. // March. // April. // May. // June. // July.

Until next month,

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Photography Workshop in Glasgow.

"Some Edinburgh people think they'll be stabbed in Glasgow." And everyone laughed. That was me. I'm one of those Edinburgh folk that thinks they'll be stabbed in Glasgow. I don't even know why I think that - I've spent plenty time there over the years, working & occasionally shopping, but I still have this irrational fear that Glasgow is a scary place! That being said, when I received an email from Joe Blogs Network asking if I'd like to attend a Photography Workshop with Millennium Hotel a few weeks ago, right on Glasgow's George Square, I left my Weegie-land fear at home in Edinburgh.

At the beginning of 2014, I vowed to improve my photography and as part of that, I became obsessed with learning how to use my DSLR. I can proudly say since then, I've not reverted back to the Auto Settings. Do I know what I'm actually doing? Not even slightly! I treat my camera a lot like I did Tekken - press various buttons, in various sequences & hope for the best! Sometimes it works, often it doesn't... So a day with the knowledgeable Stuart Dreghorn (& his lovely assistant, Hamish) couldn't have come at a better time.

So on the Saturday morning, once we finally convinced John to put trousers on(...), Iain dropped me at Waverley Station & I headed west to Glasgow Queen Street. After a Grande Strawberries & Cream Frappucino (that I didn't need to share!) and a quick pumping session in the train station loos (#mumlife), I went in search of the Millennium Hotel, only to find it was right on the Queen Street Station door step; so for the first time in two years I was not only on time, but early!

The workshop itself was fantastic. We went spent the morning going over the basics of moving away from using Auto and I actually surprised myself with how much I already knew - great reassurance that my self-teaching ways aren't heading in the completely wrong direction, even if it does involve a lot of button pressing. The entire workshop was really hands on, taking time to explore the Millennium Hotel & practise some portraiture photography on other bloggers, as well as seeing the affects of different shutter speeds thanks to a remote controlled helicopter. At lunchtime we had a break in the Millennium Hotel brassiere with a lovely Scottish inspired lunch and I got to talk about blogging with real human people! (Y'know, because I've actually wondered if other bloggers are real people or something else...). Then in the afternoon we headed out, cameras in hand.

We started in George Square, where the Commonwealth Games sculpture is currently stood, then headed around to Royal Exchange Square to get some photos of The Duke of Wellington statue, complete with his cone on-head. Finally we wandered around to jam-packed shopping central that is Buchanan Street. And thankfully, despite taking umbrellas as a precaution, the rain held off. I'm really quite pleased with the photos I got and I now realise Glasgow is actually quite a nice city, filled with great people - although I do still think I'm going to be stabbed...

And of course, the obligatory group bloggers photo. Courtesy of Joe Blogs Network.

You can also see what the hosts, Millennium Hotels have to say about the day by clicking here.

Happy snapping,

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My Son May Give You a Stone.

If my son gives you a stone, please don't laugh. It may just seem like a stone to you but to him, it's so much more.

He is 2. He has no money to give, no words of wisdom to share & his arms can only give small hugs. But this stone; something that seems so small, insignificant & of no worth; that stone he chose just for you.

Something magical about that very stone in particular caught his eye, enough that it stopped him in his tracks, taking time out his day to pick it up, investigate it & assess whether it really was up to standard. That stone, he proudly showed his Mummy, announcing exactly who he had in mind to give it to. That stone, he gently put into his pocket & carried home with intent. That stone, he never forgot exactly who it was for.

It may seem a little strange. It may be something that makes you think, "what am I meant to do with this?". But that stone? That stone is all he has to give in the world. That stone, he carefully chose out of all the others. So please don't laugh when my son gives you a stone. Because that stone is all he has to give.

And he's chosen to give it to you.

Sending you some stone love,