The Open tournament started today! We packed up the kids and we headed over to spend the day watching golf. We walked most of the course today and bundled the kids up because it was a little chillier than we expected. We ended up buying winter hats for both boys while at the course to keep you warm! We had lunch at the course, visited the pro shop and the HSBC Future Golfers tents with Will.

We were not able to take pictures of any pf the tournament play on the course today, per course and tournament rules. We did take a picture of Grandpa Joe in his physical therapy golf shirt that he got for free! 

Erik and I put the kids to bed at their normal time the night before, thinking they would adapt no problem. After all, it had been a really long travel day for everyone and we got them up at what would have been 2:00 AM back home. However, the kids thought they were only napping when we put them to bed Monday night so we were up in the middle of the night having crackers on the floor at midnight local time. Needless to say, Erik & I were pretty tired in the morning! But it was a fun adventure and something I will always remember about our trip and sharing a room with 2 little boys in Scotland.

After breakfast that morning, we ventured back out to do more exploring in St. Andrews and stopped for lunch at Blackhorn for burgers and wraps. It's the restaurant that we stopped at the day before when we were exploring where we took pictures with Will next to the bull statues. The food was really good and the people in Scotland were so nice and very accommodating to our family with such small kids, even bringing a high chair over to us for John and giving Will a complimentary milk with our lunch. 

We stopped at the St. Andrews Visitors Center and picked up some maps and brochures of things to do and on our way back to the house saw the LocalMotion Land Train (the local tram). After a quick stop at the house and some diaper changes we headed to the “choo choo” so that Will & John could take a ride. I know you can't tell based on the pictures, but Will was really excited about this! And John enjoyed being all snuggled and warm next to me in his carrier.

We went to The Open to watch some of the practice rounds at The Old Course and ran into most of the family while we were there. We stopped at the shops and bought baseball hats for Will and John, a big rubber golf ball and some gifts to send to Uncle Scott. 

We all slept in and had a late breakfast today. We got ready and Erik's friend and old coworker Richard (who lives in Glasgow, Scotland) drove over for the afternoon to explore St. Andrews with us and have lunch. Together we all visited:

St. Andrews Cathedral Ruins

Beach by the North Sea (Will said it was dirty)

Walked past St. Andrews University

St. Andrews Castle ruins

It started to rain pretty hard while we were out exploring so I stopped to buy some rain boots (with John) and Erik, Richard & Will made a quick stop at the house. The rain let up and we went for a late lunch to Josper Bar & Grill. Will & John shared mac & cheese, I had a burger with pulled pork and Erik had a venison burger with Haggis; lunch was delicious! We said our goodbyes to Richard around 4:00 and thanked him for buying us all lunch. 

We got back to the house late, after a very long and busy day, had dinner and then it was bedtime for the kids. Will was so tired that he fell asleep after dinner while watching “Fast Cars” with Bear on the couch!