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Today, a meerkat wearing glasses in the bathroom. 

My first race since I broke my ankle and I completed it in a decent time. Plus I ran all the way - including when drinking water - without stopping to heave! And John's irreverent comments amused me too.

Arrived at start of #littleaston5 after cycling to keep up with @lisibo in her car... Her 1st race since breaking stuff. I'm not running.

@lisibo Funny place to start in the middle of a road

@lisibo it's like a french farmers blockade but less smelly #littleaston5 until the finish that is

A well deserved cup of tea and shortbread biscuit after my race.

Prosecco on the swinging bench in the sunshine. 

Throwing balls at Jude on the trampoline. 

Discussions with Isaac about Game of Thrones which I've just started reading. 

Jude recounting Blackadder sketches. 

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You can tell it's nearly time to go back to school as here's another smile caused by finding something I can use inu lessons. £2.99 from Oxfam - and as you can see, we've been trying it put this afternoon, spelling words for each other. The boys went for long words like antidisestablishmentariamism and floccinaucinihilipilification whilst I went for silly words like bottom and wibble. 

 

Having fitted it together on the floor and given it a wipe, I went to put it away and was discouraged from doing so by the rest of the family as it's comfortable to lie on and walk on! So now I have an alphabet mat in the living room...

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I've been to IKEA. As my FB status said - Happy :)

Lots of 'speech bubble' loveliness for my classes. 

Also smiling as the decorators have gone, and the hall and landing are beautiful and subtle blue. 

 The Last Leg also made me smile. And laugh so much that we disturbed the boys who were trying to go to sleep!

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This made me smile. 

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I love cows. I saw these on my run in the park today. Not quite the same as my Highlands friends but they were as noisy!

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Ice bucket challenge smiles today with my video making me look as if I'm talking to the hedge when I'm in fact talking to my little next door neighbour who was highly amused by the the whole thing!

Also making me smile today, I've finished another book - W is for Wasted. I'm going to be very sad when Kinsey Millhone gets to Z is for Zebra or Zombie or even Zucchini.
And I've sorted out my invoices and things, discovering that I'm owed money. It's good to start the academic year as you mean to go on!
I also had to smile (once my face had 'thawed' of course!) at the dentist; when he asked me to close my mouth to check my bite, he didn't move quickly enough and I bit his finger!

Finally, Jude and I watched Operation Wild on iPlayer - some great stories!

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Escaping the house to allow the decorators to paint without me sneezing took us to The Barn for lunch. Delicious sandwich and cake :)

Bonus was finding an entire outfit in the Seasalt sale shop :)

And watching various friends chucking iced water over their heads was amusing too!

Jude watching this video was hilarious - I thought he might spontaneously combust with excitement!

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Thanks to Dom, we now have this song going around our heads, days after we first heard it.

And now it's been joined by this

We are becoming somewhat monkey obsessed!

More smiles as we managed to finish all the washing and get it dry before impending rain tomorrow. The impromptu crazy stone paving with slate in between is coming on rather well.

And sleeping in my own bed was bliss!

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Leaving Scotland didn't make me smile. Not did poor Jude suffering travel sickness despite taking his tablet that usually works a treat. And arriving home to a film of white dust on everything in the house thanks to the decorators didn't amuse us either.

However, we arrived home safely, in time for Dr Who. The new safety padding for the trampoline has arrived. We're sleeping in our own beds. And I've got a telephone signal again! :)

Photograph taken out of the (heavily tinted) back window of the car. I like the way the viaduct is in focus but the trees at the front aren't!

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My boys do make me smile. When they're not managing up injury themselves mountain biking today they've been making me laugh with their silly voices and comments. 

And then there was the 'need to wee' hitting father and youngest simultaneously on our ride and, as they watered either side of the undergrowth, the eldest stood on a hill pretending to be the Ferrari horse or some such creature in order to distract anyone passing by. 

And of course, any trip would be incomplete without John disappearing off down a gorge to take photographs. Very good ones, but he does like to take them in precarious positions! (he's down there somewhere!)

We had dancing langoustine at dinner time too. 

And a selfie by Loch Leven caused lots if amusement as we tried not to get shadows in the picture but couldn't actually see thanks to the sun in our eyes. 

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A morning of Animal Magic at the Scottish SeaLife Sanctuary, complete with The Terry Nutkins nature walk complete with carved wooden animals. 

We really enjoyed meeting the otters and seals, and even saw a smiling ray!

Lovely lunch above Stalker Castle  and then off to Oban where John climbed over railings to take photos watched by Jude...

 Whilst Isaac lay on the grass in a pose that reminded me of a someone who was sleeping off a heavy night.

Love my family! 

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Segways are great fun. Apart from a close encounter with a tree (which was actually quite funny even at the time!) I did quite well and had stopped holding up the boys by the end of our session. 

Then there was the fish that ate Jude! 

And an impromptu run along the beach. 

And a tramp through the countryside, over the troll bridge to a reservoir in the pouring rain, sustained by Capri Sun, chocolate and energy beans! 

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What a day of beautiful views! Oban to Craignure, Isle of Mull on the ferry, driving to Fionnphort, ferry to Iona and then the reverse. Not even a delayed ferry back dampened our smiles. And our fish supper was delicious - thoroughly recommend The Oban Fish and Chip Takeaway and Restaurant! 

Some pictures of the day:

Attempts at selfies on th boat go awry!

John ducks but fails to escape my camera.

Isaac and Jude on the rocks. 

Jude photobombing. Again!

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Jude meets a 'monkey jigsaw' tree (as he called them when little) up close.

Jude tries to melt into the wall. 

Taking a walk up the hill was curtailed by suspicious Highland cows who starred us down; back down the hill to be precise. Still, we still climbed a hill, just a much bigger one with no cows. 

Jude was "deceived" (he claims) into a final push and a second, final push to the top and was quite indignant that I'd lied that it was all downhill on the way back when we came across a very short steep 8m stretch!

Isaac on the other hand danced up the hill, randomly bursting into Soldier Boy. And then made like a cross between Tony Stark, the Angel of the North and the statue of Christ the Redeemer on reaching the summit. 

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Hello from Scotland and one of our 'neighbours' who pops around the side of the house occasionally. 

Lots of smiles today including:

Coffee in Glencoe.

Walking in the rain/drizzle/sunshine/rain. 

Exploring the beach. 

'Chav' sheep. 

Chatting about nonsense. 

Beautiful views before dinner. 

Delicious dinner. 

Trying not to laugh out loud at the very posh people on the next table who were talking very loudly about ex-boyfriends called Bushy, their houses in London and Dorset, and some bloke called Johnny who was "highly entertaining and first rate." 

And a conversation about seals that had to be heard to be understood. 

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 1030am Large acreage of phallic foliage on the hills near Thornhill just past Junction 13 of A74M. (No picture I'm afraid - wrong side of the car!)

And Jude gets excited at a convoy of FIVE Ben and Jerrys ice cream vans

11am Marvellous road sign - hope the boys are paying attention. 

1145am hurrah! Wifi!  O2 doesn't seem to have very good coverage up North - and on recent evidence that means anywhere past Manchester. Cup of coffee is welcome too! 

130pm - pp. SHilarity as we passed the tea shop where we had 'acquired taste tea' at Christmas,  and then a traffic jam and stop at The Green Welly Stop.

Not much else to report until Tesco in Oban where we saw a man wearing a sherbet yellow shirt, pink trousers and a hat with a pink band - either on a stag do  or an entertainer we figured. 

And then to our home for the week. It's lovely. This is the view across the road. I'll introduce you to the neighbours tomorrow ;)

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Half way to Scotland on our holidays, we're currently in Penrith.

This is the view from the B&B. 

...the restaurant in Penrith called Four and Twenty (no blackbirds on the menu)

... and Penrith by night. 

Funny moments today. 

The look on Isaac and Jude's (aged 15 and 12) faces on entering their room to see a double bed made up; 'You don't mind sharing, do you?' asked the owner of the B&B. (She soon got the message and made up the single too!) 

The look on horror on their faces when I burst into that BeeGees classic 'How deep is your soup?' 

I was very quiet and tuneful but we were in a restaurant.

Jude's frustration as none of us could accurately sing the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer music. 

And then there was the notion put forward that Bed&Breakfast might mean that you got breakfast in bed... Sadly not I pointed out. 

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Packing for holidays tonight so I'll

just share a smiley goat :)

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Jude demonstrates how to hull a strawberry with a straw. He does make me smile!

A long run in my Cloudrunners today was good fun but so was collapsing on the sofa watching GBBO. 

And it's good to have John home. He seems to have been at BHX rather a lot this week! 

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They've arrived! My delightful CloudRunners have made it from Switzerland and are now on my feet. Very comfortable and rather springy if my swift 2 mile road test is correct!

Big smiles! And, I'm reliably informed, they are this season's colour :)

And, in the sad news of the death of Robin Williams, smiles as I re-watched clips from his films and stand up routines including how the Scottish invented golf, and read stories of his kindness and humour when people needed a boost. So sad but his legacy is one of smiles, laughter and hopefully more appreciation that depression is an illness that can affect anyone, even the funniest man on Earth.

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Having survived thus far without injury, I've cracked my toe on the ottoman and have a lovely black-purple bruise forming already. However I can still walk and I can but smile at my clumsiness!

Also amusing me today - the number of small cuddly toys around the house that are wearing Reuben the Robin's knitted vests...

And I'm really enjoying reading Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant books. I was given the first as part of the World Book Day giveaway and am working my way through the others - four so far.

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Lots of smiles today caused by scaring Jude. Actually, not scaring him but his reactions to being surprised. 

Last night he called to me in the kitchen that there was a strange man in the garden. It was his father! 

This morning I went down the trampoline where the boys were playing with my (small) parachute. I tapped under the trampoline with a stick. It took two goes for any reaction and then the boys both jumped out from under the parachute. Jude squealed. Isaac laughed. Then Jude starting muttering about thinking that it was a fox jumping under the trampoline head butting them. 

And then this evening I commented on the beautiful moon to both boys. I then went outside to take a photograph (and put out the bin bags) I took the photo then turned around to lie through the window at the boys. Jude squealed again in shock at seeing me through the window. 

Poor chap! ;) 

And my pictures of the moon didn't work but I was laughing so much at Jude that I didn't notice until now! 

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A trip to the hairdresser - lovely sleek hair with an excellent head massage on the way. 

Jude has a new football kit and he's very pleased.

A work in progress - a rockery for my swinging bench! 

And seen in a magazine. Good idea but when I thought about it, when would I use one? I only use cups like that when I'm driving it  at school...