Mothers Day in Scotland!

Today it was mothers day in Scotland.  Amelie and Oliver have gone to bed after a big day, so I (Megan) am writing up the blog tonight.

We had a lovely mothers day, the kids made some wonderful mothers day cards for me at school which I was not allowed to see until today.  They gave me my weetabix in bed for breakfast and a glass of water.  Although the kids weren't that keen on going out today, we managed to talk them into coming for a drive to Falkirk to see the famous Falkirk Wheel.  Ollie thought that the Falkirk Wheel was a boat flinger and so did not want to go on the wheel at first.  But then we explained to him what it really is.

A long time ago, before cars and trains, canals were dug in the land and filled with water so people could transport things across Scotland by boat.  Before steam engines were invented, the boats were pulled by horses, that walked alongside the canals.  Now that there are cars and trains, they don't use them to transport things, they use them just for fun.

The Falkirk Wheel is a big mechanical wheel (that doesn't really look like a wheel) which holds two gondola's (or containers) of water.  It moves boats from one water canal to another canal 35 metres higher up.  You drive your boat into a gondola at the bottom of the wheel, then some gates close to hold the boat and water in, and the wheel lifts the water and boat up to the higher canal, and vice versa.

The wheel moved very slowly, so that the water didn't spill out and the boat did not rock, so it wasn't very exciting, but very safe.

Here are some pictures of the wheel and of us on the boat that went on the wheel:

When we got back down to the start the kids saw something totally cool that they wanted to try!  They saw water walkers!  The kids climb into a plastic bubble, which is pumped up and then pushed into the water, where they try to stand up, walk, run, jump etc... apparently it is not as easy as it looks. 

Here is Ollie getting in the bubble:

Amelie and Ollie in their bubbles on the water:

Amelie standing up:

and falling down:

and Ollie getting out, looking very happy:

They had a wonderful time and as usual Ollie said today was "the best day ever" and he had "hundreds of fun".  Only 4 more days of school in Scotland, and I know the kids and their friends over here will be a wee (little) bit sad.  They really love their school in Scotland, although I am told it is not as good as Nillo, because their best friends are at Nillo.

Cheers
Megan