Awe-some shoes

Tonight we were staying in the fancy-pants Ardanaiseig Hotel on Loch Awe. Before we knew the kids were coming with us, Mr B's plan was that we would park on the eastern side of the loch and arrive here by boat. It's a very very beautiful setting and I will probably get around to putting some photos up on flickr, but I thought you'd be more interested in Katherine checking out my shoes for the night. (Yes, my feet are big aren't they.)

Busy day dodging the showers. We wandered around Dunstaffnage Castle, near Oban and the kids finally won the battle we fight in every Historic Scotland property we visit: "Please can we have bows and arrows?" "Please please please please". We finally gave way, and they turned out to be a great bargain, keeping the kids entertained all day. They weren't allowed to take them to the Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary just up the road for fear of otters being caught in the crossfire. The otters were pretty cool - despite being North American otters rather than our native kind. We were there at feeding time and I was slightly alarmed to see that they were being fed dead chicks and mice. Conor now refuses to believe that they eat fish.

We made sure to get to our hotel nice and early so we had plenty of time to explore the "extensive gardens", which were pretty cool. Then there was just time to introduce the kids to Monopoly before their High Tea. Conor was a bit of a star and managed to win easily: we had to cut the game short due to crippling boredom but when we cashed up he had four times more cash than anyone else (must have been my expert guidance.... though I was last....)

Once the kids were settled with a babysitter we were able to enjoy our truly amazing meal. Highlights: the roquefort trifle (a pre-starter) and the pistachio coated ice cream, with space dust! We retired to the bar and made our leisurely way through the dessert wine (me) and whisky (MrB) menus before tottering back to our sleeping children. Though truth be told, I did quite a lot of tottering on the way down to dinner too - well, you've seen the heels!