Aviemore Weekends + Round up

Three weekends ago (It's been a bit hectic) was the Harriers' weekend away. After running around like a nutter all morning while Murray was in nursery it was time for my mum and dad to come for lunch as a wee celebration for dad's 75th birthday (we are doing a proper thing next weekend) and then by 3pm we  were  ready to hit the road. We had hoped to make it to Aviemore before Murray needed his dinner but the wee dude woke up hungry so a wee pit stop was required.

Groovy portable canvas high chair came in handy!

Actually it worked out well as it meant that he wasn't starving when we arrived. This meant I could wander around in the glorious sun while Al unloaded the car. Murray was having a ball crawling all over the grassy area, and as he wasn't in bed by 8pm he was cream crackered at bath time.














The lodge we had booked in to was brill. The others kindly left us with the biggest room which was great as we weren't trying to squeeze the cot into the remaining available space.

That evening was gorgeous so we sat out for a while, but once the midges descended, everyone including the happy campers made a bee line for the lodge.

A late night of midnight meant I was really glad Murray slept well and actually I wasn't too disturbed by his snuffles! 6am came round a bit quickly though!

On Saturday morning Murray had a ball roaming around the huge kitchen / livingroom and playing with each new person who came in!

The Floor was rather good fun:

It did make for getting him to eat a decent breaky a bit tricky though. Unfortunately the first run was setting off just as Murray was napping so all the hustle and bustle woke him after about 20 mins and he was not for going back to sleep when there were folk to be played with! Al headed out with the second group to leave for a good run up in the mountains and I was rather glad of all the extra set of hands. After another unsuccesful meal time I put Murray in the buggy and went for a walk with Judith (thanks Judith) to get him to have a sleep.

We waved to Daddy up on the mountains!

When we got back Al had returned and I could get out on my bike with my mate Ali. We had a cracking 30 mile ride (Av pace 14mph) and as the roads were in far better condition and there wasn't much wind I got my confidence up a bit.

Murray was totally exhausted that night and took quite a while to settle so we stayed in the lodge for longer to make sure he was completely asleep. It meant we missed the ceilidh - boo, but we also missed being bitten alive by midges while everyone stood outside while the fire alarm that was set off by our kareoke/smoke machine loving figher fighter was switched off! LOL. We eventually got to go over to the party when some folk returned to monitor watch for us. Rather fun to laugh at those enjoying the kareoke! Off to bed at 11.15 thinking we'd get a longer sleep - WRONG! Curteousy of being too distracted to eat Murray needed to bed fed during the night and then decided it was time to play!!! 2.5 hours later he finally dropped off while I lay there for a further 30mins desperate to go to the loo but not daring to move case I woke him!!!! The only plus was that atleast he slept to 8am.

If you think he looks sleepy - you should have seens us!

On Sunday morning we had a Hares, Tortoises and Juniors race. Murray and I were set to work as Marshalls which was fun as we had a great view of everyone running and could cheer them all on. The only down side was Murray only slept for 15 mins so by mid pm we had to head out in the car for a drive to let him get a sleep. He was soooo tired he slept for an hour while we toured the countryside. We really wanted cake and strong coffee at the Mountain cafe courtesy of our rather disturbed night, so stopped after an hour but it took some effort to get him to come around!!! Thankfully as it was all quiet back at the lodge (everyone else had left but as it was booked for 3 nights Al took a day off work for us to have a long weekend) we were able to get him to have a good dinner and so he slept through until 6am!!!! It helped that we could put him in the room next door of course!

After breaky we got the lodge all packed up and then I went out for another fab bike ride - 18 miles this time. I headed out along the route we had driven the day before and it was lovely. I really felt like I was getting a shift on in parts. I really need to get my Garmin set up for biking but I think my av pace was 15mph

Happy Mummy!

While I was out biking, Al took Murray for a good hike around the race route from the day before so he could nap. Al's legs were killing him from his hill run and then race, but the walk really helped to ease them out. We were all starving by then so we hotfooted it down the road to the mountain cafe for lunch before a steady drive back down the road. We stopped off in Dunkeld to give him his mid pm bottle and found a lovely deli which I could see being on a bike ride sometime soon!

We had a really lovely time and on Friday we were to head back up to Aviemore to celebrate my Dad's 75th! Despite the inherent packing up, I was really looking forward to it as I was really looking forward to spending time with my sis, her partner and my folks. The scenery is pretty darn stunning too!

Murray and I were meant to head up to Aviemore with my folks on the Friday afternoon and Al was to zoom up after work, but about 30 mins after I got home from work on Thursday, Murray woke crying which turned into throwing up, high temp, floppy limbs and moaning cry - all a bit scary. Phone NHS 24 and they sent us up to hospital to get him checked out. Doc diagnosed vomit bug as she'd seen another baby with same symptoms about an hour earlier and told us to just keep him calpolled up! We finally got back home and into bed about 2am. Thankfully he slept until 6 when he woke with same wailing and high temp all over again. It took us an hour to get his temp down but thankfully once it did it didn't go as high again. It was the maoning cry and floppyness that just killed me - so upsetting - oh and the v shallow breathing! Anyway he then proceeded to sit cuddled up on my lap for the rest of the day apart from a sleep in his cot. He didn't move at all - maybe held a toy in his hand for a bit but even that was too much effort! Needless to say we stayed home on Friday night and waited to see how he was on Sat before deciding whether to go or not.

He seemed a lot better on Sat so we headed up the road as early as poss and met my family at The Highland Animal park which was really good but as Murray was not for going in his backpack had to be carried in arms around the whole thing! Fortunately he would go to others for short spells by then!
We had a lovely family meal on the Sat night and it was really nice to go to church together in the morning. My sis and her partner left about 2pm so I headed out for a 40 mile (av pace 14.5mph) ride a short while after they left. All I can say is 40 miles is a lot further than 30! I was tired at the end and I arrived home just in time to do bath for Murray as Al had to leave - no flop on the sofa with a cold drink and a bag of nuts for me any more - boy, how life has changed! That said once he was asleep, I had a lovely evening playing boggle (a word game) with a couple of glasses of wine with my mum that night so I was really glad to stay the extra night.

While I was riding, mum, dad, Al and Murray went for a lovely walk together.

After all the craziness of the weekend, a play date on Tues and friends who have returned from Oz staying over Tues night (meaning house cleaning had to be done - LOL), exercise has simply not happened. I don't even care as a) it was so lovely to see my friends and meet their 5.5 month old who is a gorgeous wee/big thing (he's 1 kg heavier than Murray already!!!) and b) tired doesn't even come close to describing how I feel!  Poor Al has been sick again which has added to the inability to get out for exercise. If I could run I may have got out with the buggy, but tbh I think my body / stress levels have needed a rest. 2 weeks until the summer hols and it could honestly not come soon enough as I'm hanging out for some thing to come out of the weekly equation! Being a business owning/running mummy is really tough, especially as my working hours do not let me get enough sleep. Any way, enough moaning, here's to a better week next week.

Just to finish - Murray got his 2nd certificate and made his first Daddy's Day card at nursery this week:

What a wee dude!