Scotland day 4 –Trossachs National Park

On our fourth day we headed out in search of some lochs.  And just before we made a pit stop in a beautiful little village called Callander Charlie lost his first tooth!  He was as pleased as punch about this little fact.  We stopped to take some pictures and have a little picnic. We found a funny little school yard to stop to eat our lunch.  We’re not sure what these little structures were, but their school values were etched into the wood which made for a great lunch time conversation.  After lunch we walked through the village and stopped for souvenirs and sweets (two things that my kids are OBSESSED with ever since we touched down in the UK).  I think this is one of my favorite pictures of Emmeline ever.  I need to make a collage of her poses. She’s always so ready to strike one up.This is a view of Callander from a little castle mound in the center of town. I had to stop to take pictures of these flowers nestled into the rock wall….and of this little sassy girl…..don’t let that look fool you, she is really good as gold. Wouldn’t you like to stay there?After our little jaunt through Callander we went to Loch Lubnaig.  It’s one of the smaller Lochs in the Trossachs National Park that a friend recommended and it was beautiful.  We took a little walk through a muddy meadow trying to find a trail around the lake but we got a little lost.  We did find this awesome suspension bridge before we packed back in the car and drove closer to the lake so that we could all get our feet wet.The kids decided that they wanted to get more than their feet wet, and when Hazel asked, with a twinkle in her eye if she could go in I said absolutely.  I was wishing I had gone in, that would have been the sparky parent thing to do.  Instead I was stodgy and sat on the banks and cheered my happy kids on and took loads of pictures.  The light there was spectacular.  That image of Peter came straight out of the camera like that.  That’s what I call magical light. Peter had a great time wielding some power of the world by throwing rocks in and making big splashes.  I think he could have stayed there all day. Hazel worked up her courage to dunk all the way in.  It was COLD, but she insists that she has hot blood. Charlie went most of the way in too…crazy kids.  Oh, I wish I’d have gone in.  Doesn’t that look refreshing?  I can’t stand how much I like looking at Peter’s luscious locks.  Emmeline stripped down and went most of the way in too.   The only appropriate pictures I could post of her experience in the Loch are of her faces….she makes awesome faces, don’t you think? Here’s our attempt at a self-timer family picture.  We need to take lessons from Charity.  The problem is, by the time I think of taking a self-timer picture everyone is melting down, especially Jeff.There we go, that’s the best we’ve got.  Doesn’t Jeff look thrilled?  There were a lot of bugs eating us all alive, Charlie was twirling his underpants—maybe the picture wasn’t worth it.After the Trossachs we loaded up in our mega van and headed down, out of Scotland to Yorkshire where we were spending the night.  Again, it was a beautiful drive.  Though as we got further from Scotland and things got more and more populated it made me start longing for the sparse beauty of Scotland.  It is a place I am vowing to go back to one day.  Hopefully for a summer long stay in a little rock cottage up in the highlands.