Happy Hogmanay from Edinburgh

We drove 4 hours north from Phil's parent's house to Edinburgh to visit dear friends Kath and Luke.

the drive was beautiful

Kath and Luke used to live in Kampala and work at the international hospital.  Their time in Uganda was cut short because they got pregnant with twins.  They moved back to London and gave birth to a boy, Caleb, and a girl, Miriam.  The family moved to Edinburgh for Luke's new job only a few months ago and the twins are now 18 months old.

Caleb & Miriam love to be read to

It was wonderful to see Luke and Kath again and to finally meet Caleb and Miriam was a joy. They are very energetic, smart, curious, and funny.

Hogmanay is Scottish for New Year and they celebrate it better than most anyone with street festivals and concerts, carnivals and markets.

Kath & Caleb

After doing a little exploring, we went back to the house for an amazing feast of pork crackling, veg, potato and gravy, with tasty cupcakes and chocolate cake for dessert.

Michelle , another old friend from Kampala who currently lives in Glasgow, joined us for Hogmanay with her boyfriend John.

We played hat, one of the funnest games on the planet.  Luke trying to get the boys team to guess one of the famous people.

As expected, the girls beat the boys. 

even with John's awesome Pope action

We were even able to view the fireworks from Luke & Kath's bedroom window.  Their house is in the most amazing location - walking distance of everything  you could ever want or need in Edinburgh including the castle, mountain, a million restaurants and cafes, the university and parks.  It's a great place to be.

The next night, there were was a fire festival on the Royal Mile.  It was really awesome and very, very cold.

Thanks to Luke & Kath for being excellent hosts, as always.

I hope you all had a wonderful New Year and were able to spend it with people you love.  May 2010 be full of peace, joy, love and happiness for you and yours.

xoxoxo