A view from the top

Today was the perfect, a just-getting-over-jet-lag kind of day. Except that we're just starting to get over it, but never mind.

We slept 15 hours last night. For those of you who know us, let me say that again: We slept FIFTEEN HOURS last night. Whew, it was good. And even though I got up last (at 2pm!!), I earned it with a few false starts during the night and one round of "midnight" snacking at 3am. Adam sawed his way straight through, as did Dad, and Caleb needed some help now and again but overall did well too.

Then we used our energy to go and hike, all the way to the top, the largest mountain in Aberdeenshire called Mither Tap, or Bennachie. Adam did a stellar job, walking with one or two exceptions the whole of the 4 km route, and did the best up a long section of stone and rock steps toward the top. Caleb never needed an ounce of help, and stopped my heart a few times bounding from rock to rock at the peak. It was an amazing day, and we enjoyed the view and a small snack at the top where we also found, to my great surprise, that one of the other hikers is dad to a little girl in Adam's school. One of the others pointed to a great big black blob on the horizon that ended up to be a rainstorm. Luckily we were back down in the trees by the time it hit. We drove around for a while and then had dinner at a local pub where the boys wrestled on the floor for a while to amuse the tired parents.

I have to say I find it amazing and more than a little ironic that that rain turned into one of the biggest storms I've ever seen in Britain tonight, complete with lightning, thunder, torrential rain and hail. I waited three weeks in the states to see this and saw nothing--my faith in Aberdeen to shock and delight on occasion has now been restored!