We had a very busy week. The weekend was cold and rainy, but we had a nice cozy fire and it was good to relax for everything we had planned. Sunday morning, it stopped raining long enough for me to take my walk and I went around Duns castle. It's not open to the public, but a portion of the grounds are. It was cloudy and gloomy, very gothic looking, which I enjoyed.

This is as close as you can get, but it's still a fun walk.

Monday we went to East Links family park, which the kids said was "Scottish Young's," which will give my Ohio readers a good idea of what it was like. For everyone else, it was just a fun family spot with animals, go-karts, a big castle-themed climber, etc. The kids loved it, and I liked that, similar to Guðlaug pool in Iceland, it was mostly a local attraction.

One thing I've enjoyed about Europe so far is that my parenting doesn't stand out the way it does in the States. My kids aren't perfect, I don't hover and mostly let them figure things out, the exception being when they are disrespectful and then I don't hesitate to correct them. That's pretty on par with what I see here, less trying to negotiate, pacify, and solve all problems, more loving limits and expectations. This makes me feel much more comfortable when we're out and about because I'm not getting strange looks from other parents for not being right there with my kids or for laying down the law when needed.

Tuesday was probably everyone's favorite day. It was warm and sunny for one thing, and we had lots of fun. We started with a boat ride to the Farne Islands bird sanctuary. We got to walk around one of the islands and see puffin nests. We missed the actual puffins by a couple weeks, but saw lots of other birds, a chapel, and a lighthouse.

On the way back we saw lots of seals playing on rocks, which was fun. Afterwards we went to Bamburgh castle, which is still occupied, but part is open for visiting and has lots to see. The boys loved the suits of armor, weapons, secret staircase and dungeon so it pretty much ticks all the boxes for a castle as far as they were concerned.

Our only regret about Tuesday was that we didn't stop at the beach near Bamburgh, but we didn't realize it was going to be the only sunny day all week and our host family had invited us to join them for a bonfire that evening so we didn't want to get back too late. We did have a great time at the bonfire, they're a nice family with kids starting just a bit younger than Chris and ending just a bit older than Collin. I'm glad we had the opportunity to get to know them.

Wednesday we went to Lindisfarne priory on Holy Island. It took a little to get the boys into this one. We aren't religious and I hadn't done a very good job explaining how history and religion are entwined. They did have fun with the remains of the bakehouse and brewery though.

After Lindisfarne we went to Dunstanburgh castle, another ruin, which requires walking about a mile along the coast through sheep and cow pastures. For me, that added to the adventure but the littlest guy got pretty tired on the way back. To be fair, he did the most walking at the castle though, going all the way around the wall with me while the others stayed on the beach and J tried to find a sunny spot out of the wind.

Thursday was the day I really bombed out on the planning. The kids had loved horseback riding in Iceland so much they wanted to do it again. I found a place that offered a twenty minute ride through Haggerston Castle Park. Haggerston Castle is in ruins, but I thought it would be a ride through the grounds, since the grounds of these old houses and castles are often called parks. Well, it was a vacation trailer park and the remains of the castle tower has been turned into a video game arcade. I think S enjoyed his horse ride, but the others were not impressed. I should have taken the hint when I tried to Google the directions and got a news article about a body being discovered in one of the trailers the previous day, but I still didn't realize the stable was actually inside the trailer park.