Day 1.247: Planes, trains and analgesics

My parents left this afternoon after what I think has been a very good visit, to drive to Boston for their flight back to the UK. Before they left we managed a short walk at Five Rivers - amazingly our only trip there with them during this visit. We saw several turtles and a large garter snake as well as several bird species. We also saw some footprints in the wet mud at the side of the pond that look like they may have been the tracks of a fox or coyote.

This afternoon, Exile #3 and I built a train layout and Exile #4 joined us in playing with it for some time. it was based around a fictionalised version of the Twin Bridges that we cross from time to time when we go north of here and have captured Exile #3's imagination.

After we'd built the track, we re-staged the famous race of Thomas and Bertie, although Percy stood in for Thomas on this occasion (because our Thomas isn't motorised).


The track was cunningly designed so that the two of them would travel on the same track in opposite directions, crossing the bridges in parallel in both directions. Bertie had more than an edge in speed though and so, was forced to stop and pay a toll on each lap. The girls invented a house in the forest and a family for the toll attendant. Eventually he decided that he needed to spend time with his family and as a result Bertie failed to stop and the unthinkable occurred (point to where you think contact will occur).


At church Exile #3's slight cold turned into a fairly nasty fever, so we returned home to medicine, vomiting and straight-to-bed. Ready for another week...you bet!