Happy Easter

A wonderful Easter brunch shared with wonderful friends at Beijing's newest restaurant, Feast at East Hotel at Indigo Mall.  After eating all the chocolate eggs, runny eggs, hard boiled eggs and fried eggs we could stand, we tucked into a bag of popcorn while watching Jack the Giant Slayer in 3D - with Chinese subtitles of course.  

Zou 'n' Go in a Hutong

Our second day with dad and Erica in Beijing and we met up with a few of our very good friends to see how good our Chinese history is and to put our navigational skills to the test.  I think it's fair to say we should stick to our own history books and our own neighborhoods!  Still - a grand time was had by all.  Here's a little poem written by our friend Berry summing up our adventures -

We went on a scavenger hunt

Our first dance was quite a dud

Marco Polo was lost so we had to help him at all costs

Then we met up with Tricky Dicky

We threw the balls, even though they were quite sticky

When we found Edward Snow we gave his kicking game a go

Finally we found Comrade Lee Fang where a song of praise we sang

Alex sipping Chinese yogurt - a favorite street drink now that the weather is warming up.  

Marco Polo testing our memory skills 

Our friends Jolanda and Maida taking off in a tuk tuk - 

shame they cheated!!

Albrecht and Alex with a traditional Chinese tiger guarding the entrance to a restaurant  

Back in Beijing With the Boys

They're here.  Alex and Connor and grandma Flett.  After several days of stressful back and forth with the Chinese Embasy in the UK we were still sweating their arrival until the moment they boarded the plane.  Jet lag aside, we've made it to the popular pizza joint, Kro's Nest, for lunch where we ordered a famously large pizza to share.  A nap on the Thai cushions and then a brisk walk in the greying polluted evening to the grocery store.  Connor's memory of our mountainous hikes in France cautioned him to trust that our walk to the grocery store would only take 20 minutes - alas, we made it there in under 30.  The boys got a real taste for the madness of a Beijing neighborhood.  It's not just cars and taxis coming at you, it's dogs and kids and street vendors and bikes and kite flyers and delivery
motorcycles.  Honking and spitting and shouting and shoving.  The boys will sleep well tonight.  

Flett Family Christmas in Dubai

This is grandma getting a calendar of West Highland White Terriers.  We gave her this calendar because she loves this kind of dog so much - she even has one named Pebbles.  

Here is Uncle Michael getting a Chinese bracelet from the market in Beijing.  We got dad a bracelet like it when we visited China.  He also got a carving of monkeys.  

These are roller skates that Erica got from a market in Shanghai.  They fit onto any kind of shoe.  But dad told us that we'll fall and break our legs so we haven't even bothered to try them yet.  

Puffins and Goodbyes

The sun was shinning in North Berwick, Scotland for our last day together.  From Edinburgh we drove to the Scottish Seabird Center for a run on the beach and a trawl through the lovely little seaside village.  

When it's time to say goodbye to the boys we feel like we've left a piece of 

ourselves somewhere or other.  For days after we wander about wondering 

where the car keys are, where our phones are, where our wallets are and 

eat nothing but fish and chips.  It's maddening being with them.  

There's boy smells and boy sounds.  There's wrestling and shouting.  

A banana is a lethal weapon.  It's constant packing and unpacking.  

It's up a mountain and back down again.  It's lost swimsuits and goggles.  

It's action movies and fart jokes.  And yet.  It's what makes us Clan Flett.  

Until next time then...  we can't wait!  

On The Fringe

A Clan Flett summer wouldn't be complete without a trip to Edinburgh's Fringe Festival and Royal Military Tattoo.  Rain or shine, we pounded The Royal Mile, taking in the best of those living on the fringe.  Street performers, musicians, actors, singers, magicians, acrobats and all around weirdos.  

Can you find the boys in the picture below?  They crawled in front of the crowd to take in a fire-breathing, mono-cycling, strip-tease doing the cha-cha.  

The Massed Pipes and Drums at Edinburgh's Military Tattoo 

- the light show on the castle is highlight of the show.  

Successful geocache trip at Greyfriars Bobby's Kirk - Bobby was the 

faithful Skye Terrier who spent 14 years at his master's grave.

Robin Hood and His Merry Men

An 8 hour drive down from the north of Scotland with 7 stops for a pee 

(thank goodness for hedgerows).  Not soon enough, we entered Nottinghamshire 

where we were warmly welcomed by Robin Hood.  

An action packed week of archery, tree climbing and geocaching.  

2 noteworthy bike crashes - Eddie's bum took 3 weeks to recover and 

Connor's ego even longer - though really, 

it was the telephone pole we should have been worried about.  

Uncle Robert of Newark, Nottingham, presented Master Alex and Master Connor 

with their very own geocoin from Help for Heroes.  

This coin will travel the world with Alex and Connor, charting their journeys.