Seeing my family never had felt so great.... :)

It was a long two days after spring break and waiting for my mom, Grandma Carlsen, and Grandma Prokop to arrive in Scotland. Monday was long, but Tuesday was even longer. I had to wait until Tuesday night to see them for many reasons. I had cooking class at 6:30 pm and they didn't fly in until late and then had to manage to find their way to Dalkeith and the castle. I was so excited when I opened the door and there in the pouring rain was my mom! It was the weirdest feeling hugging my mom in the centre hallway in my castle in Scotland! But it was a much needed hug, along with the ones from both of my grandmas. Luckily for them that night we were having a fire at the castle, so they could dry off and warm up a bit in the chilly castle. It was so hard to believe that they were really here! That night we skyped with the family and sent some emails. It was weird hearing them talk about London and Scotland because before it just wasn't the same when I was talking to them about things here because they weren't here to see what it was actually like. Then it was getting late so they headed out. On Wednesday I had class until 4:40 pm so we agreed they would pick me up and we'd go out for dinner. I took them to Blacksmith's Forage, a pub that my friends and I love to go to. I had them try cider for the first time. I was excited to show them where I go out in town. Driving around town after supper was crazy, but we survived the whole week and weekend with Grandma Prokop driving. When we made it back to the castle I showed them around some more.

Thursday I was done with classes at noon. They came and had lunch with us at the castle. After lunch we were heading into Edinburgh. I made them take the bus into town so we road on a double-decker. My mom made me laugh because she kept freaking out about us "going to hit something". We did quite a bit of walking in Edinburgh. We walked up the Royal Mile so they could do some souvenir shopping and then we made it to the Edinburgh Castle, where we took some pictures. Then we walked back down and hit up a coffee shop for a wee break and some tea and coffee. We then ended our visit on Princes Street and took the bus back. For dinner we stopped at another local place that I like in Dalkeith, Kebabs. We did some more touring of the castle and showed them the servery, where I do my breakfast duty. This was their first night staying in the castle. Their room was 215, up a lot of stairs.

Friday we were up and ready early in the morning to head to Pitlochry. It is in the highlands. I am sure my grandma does not want to read this, but I thought I was going to die a couple of times. It wasn't because of her driving, it was because of theirs! They drive fast EVERYWHERE, even on the tiny, one lane roads. Pitlochry was an awesome town. One of the best I have been to the whole time I have been here. We first went to Blair Athol Distillery. It was a whiskey distillery. Our tour guide was pretty good looking so of course we had to have a picture taken with him. Then we drove into town some more and ate lunch at a cafe. After lunch we walked around town and did some shopping at the local shops. Grandma Prokop wanted to make sure the bed and breakfast didn't give away our room so then we made our great attempt at getting to the b-n-b. I don't remember the name of it, but it was amazing! It was super cute and the rooms were so clean. Tony and Ilene were very nice hosts. The day was still long so we went and did some more things around town. We even drove into somebody's driveway by accident and the lady chased us down on her four-wheeler with her dog on the back. We just smiled and waved at her and kept driving. Then for dinner we went to a place that had live Scottish music. It was a good time. Later at the b-n-b the grandmas and I played Uno. They were too funny! I slept great that night and woke up to have the best meal yet. Our breakfast was made to order and was simply amazing. So on Saturday morning after breakfast we packed up and headed out. We went to Blair Athol Castle and toured the whole place. It was a very nicely kept castle. They kept everything from hair to beds to deer mounts and whale horns. After spending some time there we got back on the road and drove for a couple of hours. We stopped at Queen's View and took pictures in the rain. I then made them head over to the town of Killin where the Firbush Outdoor Centre was located that I went to. We took pictures of the roaring river that runs through the town and then took the tiny back road to the actual centre. It was nice having them see where I have been before because then it had more meaning to the stories I told them. After a long day of traveling we eventually made our way back to Dalkeith. We went to Tesco for supplies for dinner and their way back. The store and parking lot were crazy! People must have been getting ready for Easter. It was kind of sad knowing we weren't getting together with our families, but at least I had my mom and both grandmas in Scotland with me for it.

On Sunday, we had a very class breakfast in the dining hall consisting of cereal and toast. We all went to church at St. David's Catholic church right in Dalkeith. We were there super early and got nice seats because the church was packed. Afterwards we had lunch at Blacksmith's for our nice Easter meal. On our short drive back to the castle we stopped at the front gate and took pictures together. Then drove around the grounds some more. We relaxed around the castle some more and skyped with the boys. They had went to River Falls the day before and did some pig shopping so we had to hear all about it. I was disappointed I could not be there to see them or even help them pick them out. We packed them up and I even packed some things up for them to take home for me. We went out to dinner at the County Hotel where they had stayed for a few days. It was pretty sad, my time with them was winding down. They were off to bed pretty early because they had to be up at 2:30 am. I was up to see them off. It was really sad!! I did not want them to leave. I just liked having their company, but I watched them drive off and tried to get back to bed because I still had to carry on with everything else going on at the castle.