** Finding Nessie – Well sort-of, A-HEM !! **

The “McRocky” Family’s Scottish Highland Holiday 2016.

We were all having a wonderful time during our family vacation in northern Scotland. However, by the middle of our week away, it seems that the girls were somewhat downcast about the fact that, to date, we hadn’t managed a single sighting of the famous Loch Ness Monster …. Awwww, bless !!

At 23 miles (37km) in length, and 755 ft (230m) at it’s deepest point, Loch Ness is the largest volume of freshwater in the British Isles. So if there’s ANY place where a prehistoric sea monster might be hiding on our fair island, it’d be HERE, that’s for sure !

Despite our best efforts though, it’s not as easy as you’d think to catch a glimpse of this infamous Highland beastie. I mean, apart from the fact that the water visibility in the loch is exceptionally low, due to the high peat content in the surrounding soil. Making it very difficult indeed to see anything lurking below those mysterious blackened ripples. If the creature itself was easy to find, then there’d be 100% proof of its existence by now, wouldn’t there. So that realisation alone, left Rocky and I with a couple of rather disappointed wee bairns, I tell ya … Hmmmmm ??

Oh dear, hey !!

BUT … All was not lost after it seems …

Seeing as their father is ever the resourceful chappy, after a quick little sneaky solo trip to one of the local gift ships, my keen fella once again suggested we embark upon yet another Monster-Hunting expedition … Hmmm ?? I was naturally curious what my mischievous man was up-to, but I decided to play along regardless. So in no time as all the four of us were making our way down to the loch’s shoreline. Where low and behold … An adorable green and yellow plush “Nessie” toy was waiting for the girls to find … Awwwww !!

How clever !!

To say that Ruby and Emma were pleased by their discovery would be putting it mildly … In their eyes they’d found Nessie at last, so thankfully that meant there were smiles all round from here on in … Phew !!

We’d found Nessie after all, it seem … Well, sort-of. Ahem !!

But anyway … There’s still more of my bonnie wee Scottish exploits to come. However, I’ll tell you about all of that another day …

Bye for noo then,

Love,

Ella x

P.S. Here’s a piccy of Ruby and Emma looking VERY proud about their “Nessie” find. Awwwww, bless …

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You can check out my blog about my life as a Disney doll, including many many photos of my adventures, on my facebook page here … https://www.facebook.com/EllaDisneyDoll/

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** A Wee Drap o’ Whisky ! – Or should that be 2 or 3 ?! **

The “McRocky” Family’s Scottish Highland Holiday 2016.

It seems that my keen, whisky drinking, husband was preparing for somewhat of a knees up and hootenanny, with his particular choice of holiday souvenir, hey. But then, as the cheeky chappy himself pointed out … How can you possibly visit the Scottish Highlands without enjoying a wee nip or two (or perhaps three in this case … Ahem !!) !

Well … It’s not like I could argue with logic like THAT, is it.

Even MORE surprising however, is that THIS isn’t all of it either !! … There’s still a whole big barrel of single malt scotch as well, which Rocky is planning to take home as a holiday souvenir for all our dolly pals to enjoy … That’s if it lasts that long, hey.

Hmmmm ?? … But anyway …

If you cant beat ’em, then I guess it’s time to just raise a glass and join ’em.

And whilst I do just that, I’m somewhat reminded of a traditional Scottish song, titled ‘Wee Drap o’ Whisky’, which I’ll relay to you now …

♪♪♪ “A wee drap o’ whisky I tak’ when I’m weary, 
My blood for to warm and my spirits to cheer, 
And when I sit doon I intend to be merry,
So fill up a bumper and bring it round here.

I can scarce get a hauf oor when I am weary, 
To tell you the truth I am wrocht very sore, 
My ploo and my lassie are a’ my whole pleasure, 
We’ll baith tak’ a kiss an’ hae a drap mair.

Contented I sit and contented I labour, 
Contented I drink and contented I sing, 
I never dispute nor fa’ oot wi’ my neebors, 
For that is a mean and contentious thing.

Oh few, very few ever hear me compleenin’, 
Though oftimes the load of oppression I bear, 
Oh fat is the use o’ a man aye compleenin,’ 
For aye fan he tastes, he maun hae a drap mair.

Come noble waiter, bring in a large measure, 
I mean hauf a mutchkin, the best o’ the toon, 
An’ when it is drunken, it’s time to be joggin, 
Wi’ the lightest o’ care we’ll gang toddlin’ hame.

So good night to you all, I think it’s nae treason, 
Altho’ that the whisky speaks saft in my ear, 
Good night and safe home, till further occasion,
We’ll a’ meet in friendship and hae a drap mair.” ♪♪♪.

Until my next holiday update then, my lovelies. In the meantime though, drink up and be merry, or as they say up here in the Highlands … Slàinte!

Love from,

Ella x

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You can check out my blog about my life as a Disney doll, including many many photos of my adventures, on my facebook page here … https://www.facebook.com/EllaDisneyDoll/

© www.Hollys-Dollys.co.uk

** A bonnie view from on top ay th’ world – Or as close as we could get !! **

The “McRocky” Family’s Scottish Highland Holiday 2016.

Check out this stunning vista from up at 3,600 feet … You can almost see clear across the Highlands from up here. Wow, what an outlook !

One of our exciting day trips during our week away, was an excursion across to the CairnGorm Mountains, which is the home of Scotland’s only funicular railway. For those of you not in the know, a funicular railway is essentially a cable railway, where two tram-like vehicles move up and down a steep incline using a counterbalance system. Basically when one car goes down, the other is pulled up as a result.

With it’s top station nestled high up the CairnGorm Mountain, at an impressive 3,600 feet (or 1097m above level), how could we possibly miss this amazing opportunity to view the Highlands from such a great height !

How small everything seemed from up here though. Like that loch over in the distance, which looks almost as though it could be a puddle. It is however, Loch Morlich, which is a freshwater body near Aviemore, and is approx 1 mile long (And over 3 miles in circumference). At this great height however, it was a strange sensation indeed to look DOWN on the world in such a manner. Everything appears so wee … This must be what it’s like for you humans looking down on us dolls, hey. No wonder to us you sometimes seem to have a God-like complex, in the way you manoeuvre our little plastic lives.

Looking down on the world like this certainly gives you a sense of feeling ABOVE everything. It was a VERY odd sensation indeed.

The view was stunning, and rather inspiring in all honesty. Even if it was a wee bit blustery, and the temperature only reached 4 degrees at it’s highest … Brrrrrr, somewhat BRISK !! But it was still worth a look none the less. If only to have the opportunity to look down from this great height and admire the wonderful world we all inhabit.

Wow, what an amazing experience it was … To be here on top ay th’ world (Almost !!).

That’s all for the time-being though folks. However there’ll be more to come from our Scottish adventures another day … See ye soon.

Love from,

Ella x

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You can check out my blog about my life as a Disney doll, including many many photos of my adventures, on my facebook page here … https://www.facebook.com/EllaDisneyDoll/

© www.Hollys-Dollys.co.uk

**Let’s begin with a wee bit of Nessie spotting !!**.

The “McRocky” Family’s Scottish Highland Holiday 2016.

Following a good nights sleep, for the most part, we had recovered fairly well from the exhausting, and somewhat embarrassing, events of the previous day. Meaning, when we awoke for our first full day here in the Highlands of Scotland, we’d put our little travel-day mishap to rest for the time being, and were now ready to properly start enjoying our Scottish vacation at last … Thank heavens !!

I was SO excited upon drawing the curtains, because THERE it was … Loch Ness in all its glory, filling our field of vision. The sun was shining, and there was a strange feeling in the air, almost as though these mysterious waters were calling to us … So how could we possibly refuse such an open and enticing invitation, I ask you ?

The answer of course is … We didn’t !! …

Therefore, in no time at all we were up, dressed in our tartan best … And ‘yes’ in case you were wondering, I DID make Rocky’s trews, and my own skirt. With the assistance of my sister in the end of course (due to a somewhat disconcerting oversight during my first attempt, which left my poor fella’s britches not only an inch too short in the legs, but also an inch too long in the crotch too. Whoops !! But thankfully Iris helped me amend the problem and saved my efforts after all. Phew !!). Ahem, but that’s another story. So anyway, where was I ? Oh yes that’s it …. It didn’t take long before we were ready to go and on our way down to the loch once more … Granted we had to walk this time, seeing as Rocky hadn’t yet found a suitable opportunity to look at our poor old ‘Big Red’ Jeep. But none of us were the least bit bothered about enjoying a pleasant stroll on such a lovely autumn morning.

The wind was somewhat brisk as we made our way down to the waters edge, and for a moment or two I did wonder if we’d dressed warm enough as well … It seems the girls had NO such concerns though, because as soon as the water was in sight the wee bairns faces lit up with anticipation, as our search began for the famous Loch Ness Monster !

We scoured the water, and wandered along the shoreline for many a happy hour in pursuit of this seemingly impossible quest. There were MANY incidences of Ruby and Emma pointing and shouting out “Look Mummy/Daddy, its Nessie !”, but in the end most discoveries turned out to be buoys, boats, or even the odd branch poking out of the water … Bless ’em !

Despite the fact that we never actually spotted the famous local inhabitant, it seems the pursuit itself was an adventure just as fun for Rocky and the girls. So even in failure, and the face of the inevitable questioning about the truth of the legends, we all went home wearing smiles regardless. Most especially when my clever fella reminded the little-lassies that we can always try again another day … That cheered the wee bairns up no end an’all !

For myself however, I must admit that I didn’t view the day as such a disappointment or let-down at all, as it happens. There IS something undeniably magical about these waters, you see. And standing here watching the sun glisten on those blackened rippling waves, as they lapped against the shore before us, was something almost otherworldly in it’s serene majesty. In all honesty, it was an experience of reflection and deep contemplation, which left me feeling calm, peaceful, and completely at one with these mystical surroundings as a result.

So monster or no monster, to my mind there’s most definitely something far more mystifying hidden beneath the surface … But for now, it appears that the secrets of Loch Ness will remain shrouded in wonderment by the peaty black ripples of these strange and ancient waters.

As for the rest of our Highland holiday adventures though …They will continue another day.

Until then my lovelies,

Love from,

Ella x

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You can check out my blog about my life as a Disney doll, including many many photos of my adventures, on my facebook page here … https://www.facebook.com/EllaDisneyDoll/

© www.Hollys-Dollys.co.uk

The “McRocky” Family’s Scottish Highland Holiday 2016.

** A long wet journey, a bonnie view, an’ a WEE mishap ! **.

Och, would you look at that view ! We’re here, we’re here, we’re REALLY here !! … I couldn’t quite believe it myself, nor actually take it all in, but despite the slightly surreal sensation of it all buzzing around my daft dolly head, the fact remained that we were finally here on the shores of Loch Ness. Yippeeeee !!

Our journey had been a long and somewhat tiring endeavour to be honest. In fact, the girls were still fast asleep when Rocky and I loaded them into the car whilst getting ready to leave around 4am … Yes that’s correct, I did say 4AM !! What were we thinking starting our holiday adventure at such a silly o’clock in the wee hours of the morning, I ask you ? If the truth be told though, us dolls had little choice in the matter, because it was the human overlord who decided upon the ridiculously early departure time. So if we wanted to tag along, we had to be ready on time or get left behind.

I must admit, the first part of our travels was a bit of a blur. I mean, it’s not like there was much of a view amidst all that darkness … But before I knew it we had already passed the lake district and were heading towards the borders of Scotland at last. I was certainly excited about this first visit to a new country. However, we still had around half of the 500 mile journey ahead of us before we reached Loch Ness though, and sadly the weather we NOT on our side for several hundred miles which followed either.

Rain, rain, and more rain … Almost every sign we passed read ‘Heavy rain forecast’, but it’s not like we couldn’t already see that for ourselves. D-uhhhh !! Moving along now though …

We were about an hour away from Inverness when the clouds started to break, the sun began peeking through, and we were treated to the unexpected sight of a wonderful rainbow framing the scenic setting of the Cairngorms National Park ahead of us. It was a bonnie array of colours indeed, and we all took it as a good omen for the rest of the journey as well.

It was a little before 2:30pm when we finally reached our destination, here at Lochend, which is only a few miles south of Inverness on the western side of Loch Ness.

We made it. We’d finally arrived all safe and sound, and it’d only taken us 10 1/2 hours … Ummmm, yes well … Anyway …

Despite the fact that we were feeling rather worn out, or as the scots would say ‘fair puggled’, and in need of a bit of shut-eye, we couldn’t get over that view before us …. Och aye the noo !!

Now, as much as we were all in awe of this marvellous vista, I suspect that it was in fact sleep deprivation which accounted for the wee INCIDENT which followed … Gulp !!

We were casually driving up from the shoreline, heading to the holiday cottage as planned. But it seems that my usually alert husband had NOT noticed a slightly concealed tree root poking out before us, and well, the next thing we knew was a …. CRASH !!

We were off the track in the undergrowth, amidst mud and some VERY tall weeds it seems … WHOOPS !!

Thankfully the girls and I were fine. In fact, Ruby and Emmy found the whole thing rather funny and exciting to tell the truth. As for our Jeep ‘Big Red’ though … Ummmm, well, she sorta lost a wheel … Ummmm, yes, well … That was AWKWARD.

To say that my poor fella was mortified by the unfortunate incident would be rather an understatement. He subsequently kicked a few rocks, and had a little rant over in the bushes … Sheesh !! After a short while he’d calmed right down again though … Phew !!

But what next ?? … Well …

As luck would have it, our human master rescued us from this problematic situation, taking us (and the somewhat sorry for itself Big Red) back to the holiday cottage, for some MUCH needed rest and recovery time.

It was only later however, when I realised that Rocky had not escaped the accident uninjured like the rest of us though ! Oh dear !! … Don’t worry, it was nothing serious, just a tiny little scratchy dent on his cheek, caused by the impact of the crash. You can hardly see it in truth, and as he was still feeling a touch sensitive about the whole incident in general, I decided not to make a big deal out of it at the time. So I simply gave him a kiss on the cheek and left it at that.

After all, it was only a wee mishap, no-one was really hurt, so there was no point letting it spoil this special vacation of ours now that we were here, hey. After all, this was only the beginning, tomorrow is another day, and after some sleep I was SURE that things would seem MUCH brighter in the morning.

So with that is mind … There will be more to come another day from the bonnie wee exploits of our Highland holiday …

Bye for noo,

Love,

Ella x

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You can check out my blog about my life as a Disney doll, including many many photos of my adventures, on my facebook page here … https://www.facebook.com/EllaDisneyDoll/

© www.Hollys-Dollys.co.uk

‘Step-by-Step Sewing’ – How Hard Could It Possibly Be ? … Ummmm ??

Due to the fact that us play-dolls have had to lay low for a while, since the human overlord has been immersed in her tidying, sorting, and rearranging endeavour. For the most part, I’ve been stuck here in my cosy little doll house home these past couple of months … To say that I’ve been feeling a tad stifled and bored from staring at the same walls, day in day out, would be putting it mildly.

But my own cabin fever issues aside, at least it’s given me plenty of time to catch up on the housework, hey … Mind you, after getting myself organised and on top of everything, even my domestic chores aren’t enough to fill an entire day any more … So ummm, what next ??

Well … Seeing as we have a MOST anticipated adventure coming up in the not so distant future, I decided to pass the time today by attempting to make my lovely husband something new to wear for this impending and incredibly welcome vacation … Yeah, I know, shocking isn’t it. ME attempting to SEW. But it’s not like it’s HARD or anything … Right ?!

Ahem, but anyway …

With my fabric, scissors, needle, and thread at the ready. Not to mention the trusty ‘Step-by-Step Sewing’ book, which I’ve borrowed from my accomplished seamstress sister, Iris, I am now raring to go and ready to begin this daunting task … But I mean, I am a Cinderella doll after all, so I’m supposed to be able to sew rather well, aren’t I ? Granted in my animated movie it’s the mice who actually do most of the needlework etc, but honestly, how hard could it possibly be ?? … Ummmm ??

Famous last word there, hey !

But for now, I had better get down to the business of seeing if I can actually construct something wearable before our departure time arrives … Can you GUESS where we’re going ?? Hint, there is a BIG clue in this picture .

However, I REALLY had better stop jabbering now though, because I have a pattern to draw up first … I wonder how I go about THAT ? …. Hmmmmm ??

I do know what I’m doing here … Honest !!

Until my next update then, my lovelies. Wish me luck, wont you. Not that I need it or anything … Ummmm, y–eah !!

Toodle-oo,

Ella x

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You can check out my blog about my life as a Disney doll, including many many photos of my adventures, on my facebook page here … https://www.facebook.com/EllaDisneyDoll/

© www.Hollys-Dollys.co.uk

ELLA and the PRINCE ! – Celebrating My 4th Birthday In Style.

Celebrating My 4th Birthday In Style – Paying homage to one of my FAVE movie posters from the live-action Cinderella film !

In honour of this mini-milestone in my little plastic life, my wonderful husband, Rocky, surprised me this morning with this absolutely GORGEOUS live action Cinderella gown.  Isn’t it STUNNING ?!

But anyway … Not long after I tried on the lovely gift, I was most taken aback when this sneaky spouse of mine proceeded not only to dress up himself, but also whisk me away for an impromptu photo-shoot with our good friend Elise.

THIS photo is the result ! …. Awwwww.

It’s PERFECT !! … What a wonderful way for me to remember this special day as well.

************************************

It’s amazing to think that 4 years ago this very day, Holly rescued me from the back of a shelf in the Disney Store.  Before taking me home, setting me free from my plastic and cardboard prison, so that I could explore this BIG wide world … What an adventure these last 48 months have been as well, now that I think about it … What an adventure indeed !

So here’s to the next 4 years and beyond.  Let’s hope they’ll be JUST as magical and memorable.

Love from,

Ella x
“The Birthday Girl – 4 Years Old Today !”.

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You can check out my blog about my life as a Disney doll, including many many photos of my adventures, on my facebook page here … https://www.facebook.com/EllaDisneyDoll/

© www.Hollys-Dollys.co.uk