We're home!

It feels like ages since I wrote anything. We've done so much! Our trip back to the Uk was totally excellent. Lloyd had a lovely time with his family and friends, then he headed up to Scotland to spend a bit of time with my lot.

Mum and dad had a brilliant golden wedding celebration. The weather was so hot. The uk was having the best heatwave ever.

I'll just post a whole load of pics! (In no order) they're a sort of overview of everything..

 North East coast of Scotland, near a small fishing village called Gourdon. My school friend and her hubby own an amazing restaurant there, right on the front. Best fish and chips. It's called Hornblowers - so anyone, if you're ever up the east coast you have to go!!

Aberdeen - and the whole of the uk were having the best summer ever. Aberdeen even reached 28 degrees while we were there. very unusual. The beach actually had people on it!! Here's Lloyd and I doing a selfie. Lloyd even went in for a paddle.

 Mum and Dad's Golden wedding anniversary party went very well. This is them cutting their cake. It was lovely to see my brother, cousins and Uncle and aunty. Don't get to see any of them much so it was brilliant.

 There were barley ( I think) fields all up the coast. They looked incredible. I was so glad to get some pics of them before they were all harvested.

 And yes, I did drag my skates over. I had asked the lovely folk at Granite City Rollers if I could go and train with them and they were so incredibly welcoming. The training was so hard. I thought I was going to pass out at one point! I also NSO'd for them (non skating official) and I learned to score which was ace.

I made some vanilla, gold themed cupcakes for mum and dad - not for the party, but there were a lot of people round at the house at various times, so they went down a treat.

 My uncle had this huge banner made! Mum and dad loved it!!

 Clouds - yep I took about 100 photos of clouds when we were flying. We did a LOT of flying. It takes a long, long time to get to the north of Scotland from New Zealand. An awful long time.

 Ah jet lag is a wonderful thing. I took this photo of Aberdeen beach at 4am. It doesn't get completely dark up in Aberdeen in mid summer. I had jet lag for almost the whole trip. I even went to Tesco at 3.30am!! that was interesting and definitely a good time to go shopping if you want to avoid the crowds!

 One of the many lunches! This is my Mum, my Dad and Lloyd!

Aberdeen is right on the coast, there are millions of these...everywhere!

 Lloyd really did go in for a wee dip at the beach. He's very brave!

 lovely North Sea

 More amazing barley fields. It got a bit stormy sometimes in the late afternoon. I think because it was so hot and humid during the day, there were some spectacular thunder and lightning storms at night. 

 

On our last night in Scotland we went to Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant. It was fab. Really great food and a very cool atmosphere. We'd heard mixed reviews, but we really wanted to go. And we weren't disappointed at all. It was so, so good.

  Next stop - Langkawi. We had 2 nights and sort of three days here. We had hoped to get a bit of sun, but in actual fact it rained and thunder and lightninged the whole time we were there. But we didn't mind at all. We slept a lot, and used room service! We went for a walk as well. It does mean that we seem to have escaped jet lag on the way home...I think.

 There were 2 of these right outside our window, for ages, eating the berries on the palm. It's a Hornbill of some sort.

Then it was time to fly home. We got home last night. It was so good to see the dogs and get loads of cuddles. As I type this, Lulah is lying on the sofa behind me, resting her head on my back. She's lovely and warm.

So, we had an amazing time away. It's lovely to be home as well, though.