Since London: jousting, highland games, standing and eating

Well a lot has happened since London.  Mark has been very diligently staying late and studying (so I have had no computer to update the blog).  Alianna turned 6 months old, we went to a jousting tournament in Linlithgow (at a castle), went to the highland games, Alianna has learned to stand holding onto things and loves to walk around the house holding my hands, and Alianna has started eating solid foods.  She will try everything!  And she loves sitting at the table and eating with mom and dad.

Here are some photos:

Alianna has really missed her daddy as he has been at school so much.  One day we found her trying to sneak to school with him in his backpack!  I told her there is no milk at school and she decided to stay home with me.

This is the jousting tournament in Linlithgow.  They had a little village set up on a beautiful lake on the lawn of the castle.
We took the train there with some friends.  There was a lot for kids to do, so a little slow at times for us, but the jousting was pretty cool.
We were able to tour the castle too!  This is the inner courtyard.
Last weekend we went to the Highland games here in Edinburgh.  It was really cool.  They started off with a parade of bagpipers and drummers.  Prince Charles was there and spoke.  Then we saw the games.  They did tug-of-wars, threw the hammer and weight, carried heavy things, lifted huge stones, and of course tossed the caber.  At the event there was also highland dancing, a bagpipe competition, a lot of tents representing every clan, and of course tastes of foods.  It was a lot of fun, and a nice sunny day too!

Alianna had a great time listening to the music and watching.  We got there early and got seats right in the front.

Tossing the caber.  It looked hard just to pick up the caber let alone throw it.  We learned they are not throwing for distance, but for straitness.  They want the caber to land at 12:00 (so it does a flip and lands strait).  First they started with lighter smaller cabers like this one.  Then they got heavier.  Most people couldn't get the heavier ones to flip at all.

Alianna has a little walker.  She seems so small next to it.  She doesn't walk with it yet (but she does walk holding my hands).  She likes to stand and hold onto it though.

Her favorite way to stand however is holding onto this chair.

She can even hold on one handed.  The other hand likes to hit the chair (it makes a nice squeaky sound).

Here she is all ready for church.  Isn't she so cute!

Alianna's first food was carrot.  I steamed a carrot and gave it to her.  I don't think she expected it to have a taste.

After the carrot we decided to go gung-ho and set up the highchair.  The tray is huge!  Alianna is eating a banana here.  She got the banana all over her face!

Since the tray was so big, we decided to push the highchair up to the table instead.  This was much nicer for Alianna.  I think she liked being at the table with us too.  Here she is trying broccoli, carrot, and red pepper (all well steamed).  So far Alianna has tried lots of foods.  She loves feeding herself and trying new things.  She has even attempted to drink out of a cup.  She was very wet after that try, but now when she plays in the bath, if I give her cups to play with, she tries to drink.  She is learning how cups work!

Of course she needs lots of baths with the new food exploration.  Isn't she so cute all cleaned up!  You can see how big she is getting.