I know I didn’t capture everything in my recap of the trip so here are some random memories of our time in Scotland:

The house we stayed at was 6 Queens Garden. Will called it New Home or Number 6. He also remembered that the door to the house was green. The house had 3 levels. Tim & Tricia & their family had the bedroom on the main level and there was also a small living area with a dining area, kitchen & patio. My parents had the 2^nd level which also had a larger family room space where we spent most of the time hanging out. We shared the 3^rd level with Pat, Amy, Riley & Mara (all in 1 bedroom) and we had our own bedroom. We rented a pack n play for John and an air mattress for Will from a local company. Unfortunately, the air mattress deflated on night 1 so Will basically slept in a sleeping bag on the floor. Luckily it didn’t bother him at all and he slept like a rock each night because he was so tired from all the activities!

Will and Erik spent a lot of time in the HSBC future golfers tents while we are at the tournament. He learned how to hold the club properly, hit golf balls, received golf balls and tees for participating. He had such a great time and it was really neat to see how much they focused on introducing the next generation to the sport.

The tournament was incredibly family friendly. There were people with small children & strollers all over while we were in St. Andrews and at the tournament. In fact, it was friendly for people of all ages.

There were a number of bleachers setup all around the course so that if you wanted to stop and take a seat or have a bite to eat you could do so and watch a number of golfers come through the same hole. Some people walked the course (like my dad), some followed specific golfers and some liked to set up camp in one spot and see as many of the big names come through as possible.

The Old Course at St. Andrews is very flat. It was so interesting to see in person because it was very different than what I expected. And it is amazing how within one golf course there is such a change in weather from one place to the next. Granted, it was a little chilly the entire time we were there and had to buy winter hats and use jackets and blankets on the boys to stay warm some days. I remember specifically the day we walked the whole course that the weather was a little chilly, maybe 5o degrees, and damp but when we got out to the holes directly adjacent to The North Sea there was a course volunteer in a snow suit because it was in the 40s and raining over there!

We didn’t eat in many restaurants while we were there, except for a couple of lunches and one night when Erik and I went out to get dessert from a local café after having dinner at the house. We either grocery shopped for the night’s meals on our way home from the course at the local grocery store, Tesco, or my mom had arranged a couple of catered meals. Also, don’t plan on making pancakes unless you have all the ingredients to make them from scratch because Tesco does not carry pancake mix and traditional syrup! Lol!

One day when walking home from the tournament we stopped with the boys, my parents & Amy to grab a beer at Dunvegans. While we were there, Erik off loaded the diaper bag that he had been carrying around all day so that he could enjoy his beer. We finished up and all of us walked home. When we got there I asked him for a diaper and wipes because John needed a change and since our room was on the 3^rd level grabbing it from the diaper bag was much easier. Except there was one problem. He didn’t have the diaper bag. He realized he never put it back on and left it at Dunvegans. Now normally I wouldn’t freak out about a lost diaper bag but we had our passports in it (don’t ask me why!) and so it was sort of important that we get it back. He pretty much ran back to the pub while I stayed back with the kids and my family, freaking out. Luckily, it was exactly where he left it with everything still exactly where it should be. It’s a really funny story, looking back, but I assure you that in the moment it was not funny at all.

Will was obsessed with the little “train” that carted you around St. Andrews. It was a little trolley called the Local Motion (haha, get it!) and once he saw it we had to ride on it.

The people in Scotland, and St. Andrews specifically since we spent most of our time there, were very friendly and helpful, not to mention accommodating to a family with very small children.

We explored St. Andrews as much as possible in the time that we were there because it was small, therefore very walkable. It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. The architecture, the streets, the flower gardens, castles, everything is just beautiful. I hope that we can get back there someday with our family but if we don’t at least we have a ton of pictures of our experience there and can share these memories with our kids once they are older.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Our last full day in Scotland so we made the most of it by heading back over to the course to take in the 3^rd round of The Open. The final round wouldn’t be played until Monday, thanks to the weather delays the day before. It would have been really fun to stay and see it but our tickets were already set in stone so home we will go!

We wandered the course, took in all the views and, of course, the golf! By the end of the day, the boys were both asleep and we think the pictures of our last day at The Open are a perfect testament to just how much fun we all had. So much fun that it was truly exhausting, but in only the best of ways.

Monday, July 20

Back home we go! We got caught up on as much laundry as we could in the rental house and packed everything (at least I hope we packed everything!) to get ready to head to the airport bright and early. Our flight left at 10:45 am local time and it was just over an hour drive from the house to the airport. It was sad saying goodbye to “New home” as Will called it (also “Number 6” because that was the number on the door of 6 Queens Street).

The kids did really well on the flight thanks to snacks and movie watching and we arrived home safe and sound at 12:45 pm CST (which was almost bed time for the boys on Scotland time). We kept the boys up until as close to their normal bedtimes as possible (which was after 11 pm Scotland time!) and then I crashed shortly thereafter, followed by Erik after a quick phone call with his boss. I didn’t realize just how much I missed our bed in our room in our house until we were home snuggled back under our blankets. I slept great, as did Erik and the kids. We woke up the next morning with our memories from a fantastic trip and a ton of pictures to look back on from our once in a lifetime trip to St. Andrews, The Open and Edinburgh.

As luck would have it when the Brandstaetters traveled to Scotland to see The Open, there was a major wind delay and golf did not start until into the late afternoon/early evening hours. Luckily, we had a backup plan in place before we even knew there would be a delay. Edinburgh!

We got up early and had a quick breakfast before packing up everything we needed to head to the bus station, which was a short walk from the rental house. Amy, Riley & Mara joined us for our little excursion! We had to take a bus to the train station and had a problem printing our tickets at the bus station. Then, we were almost late getting to the train because it was such a long walk from the bus stop to the train. But we made it!

We arrived in Edinburgh and stopped for Amy & the kids to grab some coffees and breakfast and then started exploring. 

We made our way up the hills (and boy were there a lot of hills!) and over to Edinburgh castle. Thank goodness we bought our tickets ahead of time because it seemed everyone had the same idea to visit the castle on that windy Saturday. The castle ruins were really cool and we spent a lot of time exploring & taking pictures.

When we were done, it was time to go get some lunch. We got a recommendation for a restaurant from some of the locals but when we got to the area that the restaurant was in, after a very long walk, there was some sort of street festival going on and the restaurant we wanted to eat in as well as all of the surrounding restaurants were packed. So, we walked a little further and settled on a Mexican restaurant which turned out to be pretty good.

We visited the National Museum of Scotland with the boys while Amy & the kids decided to head back to the train station. It was a really cool museum with exhibits ranging from Scottish history to Dinosaurs to Art.

Walking back down the hills was much more enjoyable than walking up them!

We wandered our way back toward the train station and ended up in Princes Street Gardens at the Sir Walter Scott Monument. The boys played in the grass and had a little time to roam around after being strapped into the stroller and Beco carrier for a good portion of the day. This was one of my favorite parts of the day and of the whole trip because we had time as a family of four and the boys had so much fun just playing in the grass while we were there.

We headed back to the train station, grabbed a snack and waited for the train. By the time we got on the train we were all exhausted and ready to get back to the house. Luckily, the boys were troopers and we all had a great, albeit very long, day.