Long day..

We are back in Virginia this evening and it is warm, muggy and thundery.  Hard to believe that we started the day at Mum and Dads - admittedly quite early.

Our travels were uneventful and we were lucky to have a normal flight as we were told by the Virgin Atlantic staff that yesterday's flight had to land at Washington Baltimore airport, some 30 miles from here, due to very heavy rain around Dulles and it waited there for two hours.

Once we had unpacked we decided to walk down and have a proper look at the stream that runs along at the bottom of the garden.  It was running well but nothing like the torrent we had seen during the heavy rain a couple of weeks ago.

This is the view of the back of the house from the stream, showing the rather high deck area.

Tomorrow is the Women's Club BBQ in the late afternoon and there is a warning of further heavy rain and thunderstorms.  Oh dear..

Sunny afternoon

Today we went to see Andrew and Jan for afternoon tea.  But first a tour of the garden..

And a chat to Misty..

..who was enjoying the sunshine..

Then afternoon tea..

Mum demonstrated the correct (Cornish) way to prepare a cream tea..

Morning visitor

At breakfast time this morning a male roe deer was grazing on the lush grass at the bottom of the garden.

After a while he settled down to chew the cud.

Then he was off again, foraging in the hedge for interesting leaves..

On the road again..

At the end of each visit home I have my photo taken with Theo - it charts his growing up (and my ageing, I suppose!)

We had taken this photo yesterday as it was an early start for all this morning.  Theo was off to nursery, James and Lauren to work, and I was on the road (or rather rail) again, travelling to Bath.

Maggie met me at the station which was lovely and walking  to a coffee shop across the space outside Bath Spa station (apparently now called Brunel Square according to the tag on my photo) I noticed a number of old fashioned red telephone boxes.

If I remember correctly, there used to be a line of these outside the train station or between the station and the bus stops.  Whether these are the same ones, saved when the area was developed, I don't know.

The first one I noticed was like a little library but unlike some village telephone box libraries, this one was just a display and hence locked.

The only one that I photographed was this one..

If I had to write a caption for this particular piece of art work, I guess it would have to be 'Say it with Flowers'!

First Birthday!

Today was Theo's big day and his second 1st birthday party!  Before his guests arrived we nipped outside to take a few photos..

This morning Theo had more lovely presents to open..

This afternoon some of Theo's friends came for tea..

And of course, more birthday cake!

Bank Holiday Monday

Today was a quiet day after the excitement of yesterday's party and in advance of another party tomorrow.

Theo played with some of his new toys this morning and we did some shopping, before heading to a local pub/restaurant for lunch.

After that it was time to say 'goodbye' to David as he headed back to Heathrow to catch an evening flight to Toulouse.

Grandparent Party!

Today we had an early birthday party for Theo with James' parents.

There were balloons galore!

Theo opened some gifts..

Read a few cards (including one in Portugese, with help from Grandma Charmian)

And made a speech ..

(Not really)...... but a cake was cut and Happy Birthday was sung..

He went for a spin in his new 'trike stroller'..

Lots of photos were taken..

Including a few 'selfies'..

Which all added up to a lovely but quite exhausting day..

Goodnight Theo, sweet dreams!

The great thing is, you get to do it all again in two days time on your real birthday!