Raindrops are falling on my head!

Wednesday, 2 July 2014

Today was a rainy, indoor kind of day.  After breakfast, we knew it was going to start raining soon, so we planned to stay near our apartment, going out if the rain let up.  It wasn't raining yet, so Randy and I went with Joshua to the playground at our complex.  He had fun, creating obstacle courses and swinging.   It was very windy!

Joshua even convinced Randy to try one of his obstacle courses

We heard bagpipe music, so while Joshua was perfecting his next obstacle course, Randy and I went to check it out.  As we approached the edge of the complex's property, we saw that the bridge had turned to let several boats through.  Many of the lochs are in a long line and have been connected to each other (eventually to the North Sea) through a series of canals and locks (with a K).  Ness is one of those, and the bridge that connects the two sides of the town (and has a highly traveled road going across it), is located near two of the locks.  It needs to swing sideways to open the way for boats to go through.  We watched this, then watched the bridge close while hearing the bagpipe music from across the canal.

The bridge fully open

One of the boats going through

The bridge beginning to close

getting closer. . .

and closer.

Very cool.  Then we went to the courtyard of our cloister (grabbing Anneliese on the way) to play chess with the giant chess set.  It was windy and we had to reset the pieces several times.  Anneliese and Joshua began a game, verging into near Wizard Chess (Harry Potter reference) several times--hitting the other player's piece off the board.

Details of the courtyard

The courtyard

Then it began to sprinkle, so they replaced the pieces just as it began to rain and we retreated to the ping pong table in the cloister.  Randy and Joshua played, then Anneliese and I.  Anneliese and I continued on to foosball in the club room when we tired of running after our ping pong balls.  We continued to look out the window all afternoon to attempt a walk into town or to the local cultural center to see what was there, but it continued to be windy and rainy all day.   We took naps and read, then eventually had dinner--Anneliese and Joshua made quesadillas.  One of them, unfortunately burned and set off the fire alarms--for the entire complex!!  Randy went to the office and they sent someone with a key to turn them off.  Aaack!  Very awkward!  Tonight we will watch a movie or play cards after the children and Randy get back from the pool.  Family day together.  We eventually tried Joshua's iPod and camera this evening and they are both fine.  His shoes, however, are still wet!  We're hoping tomorrow to go see a different area nearby and play it by ear with the weather.

A model of our complex.  Our apartment is on the first floor,
to the right of the tower in front.  (Sorry about the glare, the
model is under glass).

Joshua sharing the details of his Minecraft project with Randy on his
now-working iPod.