Scotland July 13 (Day 1)

To get things straight since I did the last post a little out of order, The Heineken Experience was on Friday along with dinner out with Bill and Lauren, Antwerp was on Saturday. Sunday, July 12th Bill and Lauren were leaving for Italy and the next day (Monday) we were leaving for our trip. Everyone was getting ready for the day, showers were being taken, dishwasher and washing machine running, general running around. Well, the power kept going off. We thought it was just because so much was on, but Matt went downstairs to find that the cap of a pipe burst open. Water was pouring all over the electrical socket. Oh wait, it wasn't water, it was sewage. Fantastic. Sewage leaking into our basement on a SUNDAY when everything is closed. Even better! Matt was able to get a hold of the maintenance guy who gave us a number for a plumber who was not too excited to come here for a small problem like ours! We were told not to use the toilet or showers on one half of the house until they came back the next day.
I had to take a picture of what Bud did on his European vacation.
Gross! Thank you so much Bud!!!

The next day, the day we are to to leave for Scotland, we crossed our fingers that they would be back to figure out the problem before we had to leave. Luckily the arrived about 9:30 and lifted up a few of the cement blocks right outside our house and found that the roots from the tree were going into the pipe and blocking it up. So, they cut the roots, filled up the whole and covered it back up. It looked like like the sidewalk was not even dug up. They came in and sucked up the rest of the wetness and off they went.
Bud, Jane, Matt, the kids and I left around 1:30 for our trip. We piled into the car and drove to Imuijen to board the ferry. A ferry is an understatement! It looked more like a cruise ship! We waited in line for about 2 hours before we could get on. Let me tell you, we were packed in like sardines! There was probably 2-3 feet of space on the right side of the car and maybe a foot on the left and JUST enough room to open the trunk. We took all of our bags out and went into the main part of the ship.

We dropped our bags of in our rooms. Kaylin was happy to bunk with mana and papa and we walked around the ship. There were restaurants, bars, a duty free shop and a place for the kids to play. That night we ate dinner and sat on the deck.

We had a great night and were up early the next

morning. We docked in New Castle, England around 10. It took us no time at all to get off the ship. Since it is only about a 2 hour drive from New Castle to Edinburgh we decided to tour Alnwick Castle and stop and just look at Bamburgh Castle. Both are breath taking and will be in the next post! :)

Here the kids are dancing.