Day 97: Watching the world go by

This morning Exile #4 decided she wanted to go outside and ended up sitting as you see watching the rain fall lightly. It reminded us of UK summer holiday-making (deckchairs in caravan awnings in rainy camp-sites and the like).

My parents left storm-chaser style to follow the bad weather to the coast. OK - actually to get their flight tomorrow. Here things have started to dry out (including a minor flood in the basement), hopefully the rain will not come soon enough or strongly enough for the ground to get waterlogged again.

I hear that Exile #3 is enjoying her new-found celebrity status at school and is telling her classmates all about what her 9 day-old brother does and likes and doesn't like. We ended up going all together to pick her up from school today and due to an administrative problem we found ourselves doing it in Exile #2's normal saloon car. It turns out that it is actually possible (with two people and a crowbar) to get the children's three car seats in the back of it, but it is extremely difficult and then we had to strap them in in the correct order so that we could reach the appropriate buckles. I'm not sure if it's really a viable way to travel.

E5N1 had his first bath today and is smelling as sweet as he looks at last. We bought him a few clothes yesterday, so we don't have to dress him in his sisters' hand-me-downs all the time any more. He might actually be presentable and look like a boy for his next public appearance.

After Exile #4 returned in from this outing, she spotted a squirrel sitting on her chair. "He's a very cheeky squirrel!" was her assessment. Mine was, "Get back out to your post!"