Fixing the flat, and a walk through Musselburgh

I think Ayden is still a little leery of us. I will try to buy her affections with sweets.

After breakfast, Bella and I walked with Steve and Seren to school. It was sweet, because all over the neighborhood, other parents were walking their kids, converging at the school. One of the community bonuses of bigger city living.

First order of business was to get the tire fixed. Steve and I (and Bella and Ayden) drove to the nearest Kwik-Fit in Portobello, and they guys were very nice and said it would be done very quickly. Bella made a hot chocolate in the waiting lounge. We considered taking a walk while we waited, but they seemed to be getting to it pretty fast. After about 15 minutes, it was done. They never even asked to see my contract.

Outfitted with a new tire, we stopped at a grocery store (Lidl...even cheaper than Aldi!) for some items for lunch and dinner. I got gummy worms for Ayden, even though she was already warming to us.

We returned home, and had a bit of lunch. Steve and I played some music together in the backyard (for the first time live for years) while the kids drew with sidewalk chalk. We had accrued an entire suitcase of dirty clothes, so Cristina washed and hung clothes on the line.

We went for a walk. We checked out the River Esk near Steve and Laura's house, walked down High Street, saw Ayden's nursery, then walked to Musselburgh beach. It was a warm, sunny day for Scotland, but the Floridians were wearing light jackets. A few kids were actually playing in the water. I bought everyone an ice cream from a food truck called Sizzlers.

Laura picked Seren up from school and met us at the beach. Ayden was tired of walking so Steve and I (and Bella and Seren) drove the car back and the rest walked back.

Dinner was nachos with chili. Amazing dinner #2.

After dinner, I set up my laptop and we pow-wowed about what to do with the rest of our visit. I was about to send my Aberdeen couchsurfing host a message as to what time to expect us, but Steve and Laura had told us several times that we could stay another night with them if we wanted to. The thought of not packing up yet again so soon was very appealing, so Cristina and I sent our Aberdeen host a message that we'd had car trouble (which was true) and were not coming.

We didn't plan out every day for the rest of our Scotland time but Steve made a good list as we discussed, and we knew what we were going to do the next day, which was a fine start.