The boy who lived

The first day of international travel is tough with three young children. Everyone is completely out of their routine, and no one has fully adjusted to the new time zone or gotten enough sleep. Any parent can tell you that a sleep-deprived kid is a crabby kid. Any kid can tell you that a sleep-deprived parent is a crabby parent. Shake those ingredients up with a day full of walking and sightseeing, and you get quite the experience.

In spite of that, we got through the most touristy of Edinburgh attractions, including the eponymous castle on the hill. Right outside Edinburgh Castle is a playground of tourist traps for young and old, including the Scotch Whisky Experience (think Disneyland ride in a whisky barrel) and Camera Obscura and World of Illusions (think house of mirrors on drugs). Through all of that, I'm pretty sure there was at least one person upset about something at all times. Complaints like, “But I didn't get to look through the crazy looking glass as long as she did!” and “I can't believe I actually paid for this!”rang out all day long. It was amazing everyone lived to see the end of the day.

No one should say someone slept like a baby, that implies screaming and pooping through the night. This family slept like the dead, and awoke to the right time zone and a fresh start where we no longer hated each other.

Step one for the new day was to conquer the National Museum of Scotland, a fabulous blend of nature, science and Scottish history. Dolly, the now-dead cloned sheep, is stuffed for everyone to marvel at a highly questionable scientific endeavor. The other animals are in cases mixed with fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals within each case. Case by case, Daniel and I played “which would you like to have as a pet and which would you like in your bathtub.” The rules are pretty self-explanatory. The mammals usually won out as pets.

One of the boys who lived is a huge fan of Harry Potter. There are several other fans in this group as well. J.K. Rowling wrote the first book fueled by coffee at the Elephant House, just down from the street Potterrow (must be a coincidence). Behind the coffee shop is Greyfriars Kirkyard, a peaceful cemetery that's perfect for a quiet walk looking for inspiration where names like Riddle, McGonnagal, and Moodie can be found on gravestones (clearly another coincidence, there was also a John Campbell buried there). From over the cemetery wall sits the prep school George Heriot’s with four houses and four towers looking like a school of wizardry, and Edinburgh Castle is perched on the rock overlooking all of this looking like Hogwarts. Shake those ingredients up with a day full of typing, and you get quite the experience.

We ended with the Museum of Childhood, which you would expect to be full of fun toys. It's actually full of creepy dolls, which probably means that no one will sleep again.

"This is fine, I guess."

"I wonder if I can hit my sister with this cannon?"

One of the largest whisky collections in the world, but there ain't enough whisky in Scotland to make me forget you (or a bad day)

My kind of whisky

An optical illusion, or did his brother finally kill him?

That mischievous grin means trouble

My brother did this to me

People like coming to this place, must have good coffee!

Well, hello Dolly, you're lookin' swell, Dolly. It's really nice to have you back where you belong.

See, Tom Riddle is spelled wrong, no way this has anything to do with Harry Potter!

McGonagall is a common name, you see it everywhere 

A school for gifted kids, like maybe gifted with magic? 

Seriously creepy 

The boy who lived after eating haggis