Scotland..day 6

There were a few castles in the surrounding area of where we stayed and we started our day early and ready to roll. First castle, Craigievar, it was covered in scaffolding. I mean covered!! There was not a lick of that castle except for the very top spire that you could see. We decided not to let that hinder us from having some fun. The grounds were pretty neat to walk through and we found some trees that we have never seen before. Mike especially enjoyed this pine tree looking thing. The sap running off the tree was pretty cool because it was just collecting on the very tip, but would not fall. The tree that I am standing in front of with the kids was HUGE! There were plaques next to many of the trees saying types and such. This particular tree was 100 feet high and 22 ft around in 1975. I completely forgot to pack my measuring tape and so we could only say it is much bigger now. Because I did these days so that you are reading them backyards(thanks Jamie for pointing that out) some of you may not know about Taylor and hills yet. This was another moment where sprinting down a hill did not work out as planned. I guess technically it did because she did get there faster after sliding in mud and grass for about 5 feet. At least there was no blood this time around.

Castle Frazer was a learning castle and I thought the kids did great. They unfortunately didn't have an audio tour with this one, which Carter always enjoys. I really enjoyed myself in this one, they had some gorgeous paintings, interesting artifacts, and I wanted the library for my own. There were some books that I would have given just about anything to get my hands a hold of and thumb through for awhile. Maybe one day I will have that option. :) You don't get pictures of the inside because they weren't allowed. They had a little children's play area and the kids did that while I went into the garden. There are only a few pictures included here, but I got plenty more for you, Christy. :) We loved the super tall castle carving in the play area. When it started to rain there was a group that got up and packed it out. Taylor took her chance to go swing when they left and couldn't have cared less it was raining.

Favorite castle alert!! We just happen to glance on our map and realized how close we were to this castle. We decided to drive over and check it out. It was an incredible detour. There were a million stairs going all the way down to a beach area and then back up to the doors of the castle. So fabulous! I loves the green moss that covered much of the castle stone. There was a large water hole in the middle of the grounds. There were stairs going down into the water. This was gated off and had a big stone wall around it. We assumed it was used as a water source and our more adventurous spirits thought a secret way out of the castle during siege. :) There was one room that was intact completely. They had redone the roof with something that was there over 300 years ago. We left right as they were closing the castle door. They were using one of the biggest skeleton keys I have ever seen. Well, our kids are cute, so we asked if they could hold the key and have a picture. This was to show Aunt Kellie the wonderful key to the castle. She has a love of skeleton keys. :) If you enlarge the pictures you might see the gorgeous aerial view from our helicopter ride.

A small portion of the stairs we had to climb for this castle. The little dark figure is Mike hauling Mason back up the stairs who gave up effort going back up.

We stayed in St. Andrews that night with the intention of Mike golfing the next morning. Mike was like a little boy about seeing The Old Course and just getting the golfing vibe in the air. I know, cheesy. :)