Party of Five

It's cold, the days are short and we get precipitation on a regular basis, but that didn't stop us from making our first excursion to see some of the local history.  The girls didn't have school on Friday, so we hightailed it to Windsor for the day.


When I say hightailed it, that involved three train changes in order to avoid driving our own automobile.  We boarded the local commuter train here in Walton-on-Thames, got off one stop later at Weybridge, then changed trains once more to get us to Windsor.  The train spits you out right there adjacent to the castle.  You merely walk out the door and follow the wall up the sidewalk to the entrance.  


We had someone new join our little family outing today - Flat Stanley.  Jason's brother Shane has a son, Chance, that is Callie's age.  Most American parents are familiar with Stanley.  Both of our girls did the Stanley project in first grade.  We sent Stanley #1 off to friends in San Francisco.  Stanley #2 went to New York City with my husband.  So we set off with Stanley in the husband's backpack - that man does like a good traveling bag.  He would definitely be a handbag whore if he had been born a woman.


We trotted around town to see the sights - lots of great shops along cobbled streets that were pedestrian only.  The converted Victorian train station was fabulous.  Don't ask about lunch and why we ended up at McDonald's - long story. Good old Flat Stanley would be taken out and held up at various points along the way for photo opps.  Some folks giggled and seemed to think it quite funny what we were doing, so they obviously weren't Americans.  


Flat Stanley was mailed back to Texas on Monday.  We hope Stanley earns an A for his hop across the pond.