Wow, what an amazing apartment we have!!  We have just spent 3 nights in a small room that had very hard beds and a strange odor… so anything would seem better than that, right?  Well, this place surpasses anything I could've imagined.  Two huge bedrooms, beautiful linens and soft beds, a giant living room that is quite honestly much nicer than home, a spacious kitchen…. I could go on and on.  The weather is also a welcome sigh of relief after 6 very hot and stuffy days; we are currently listening to the pitter-patter of rain out the window and have a beautiful cool breeze blowing in. 

We drove for 8 hours today to get from Salisbury, England to Edinburgh, Scotland.  That included the first hour of confusion (and perhaps not the greatest road choices) and then two pee stops and a half hour stroll along the bay just before the Scottish border.  Kudos to Jeff for keeping us on the right/wrong side of the road the whole time!  It took massive concentration on both of our parts to navigate and stay alive - but here we are!  The car is now safely parked away for the next few days and we'll navigate on foot to recuperate from that massive exertion.

The first half of the trip was fairly boring - just pavement and cars.  I will acknowledge though that the British are much better about their lane usage than North Americans.  Almost everyone pulled out and in to the various passing lanes very efficiently which made the traffic flow much better than we see at home.  Of course, just like at home, you get a few idiots now and then but what can you do.  In general I was very impressed.

The second half of the drive was much more interesting as the geography became hilly and green with lots of sheep and cows.  The kids were amazing on the drive and the 8 hours were not very painful at all.  We haven't had the chance to see much of the scenery here in Edinburgh but it looks super interesting.  After we arrived we settled in and then went for dinner (which was excellent sushi - these Scots know what they're doing as it was packed!) .  We're so happy to be spending the few hours before bed just spread out in this great place doing whatever we want to do.  The kids heard on the radio that there was a Honey Boo Boo marathon on tonight, but thankfully (for Jeff and I) they couldn't find it on TV.  That show is like crack cocaine… you hate to watch it but you can't stop once you start.

My parents arrived into Edinburgh tonight in preparation for the Saturday wedding, but I just got a message from my mom that she has come down with a bad cold.  Yuck!  We were hoping to meet up with them tomorrow but I guess we will wait and see.  Regardless, we're looking forward to seeing all that Edinburgh has to offer!