A day staying local today to give the kids a chance to catch up with themselves. They had a sleep in to almost 7am! After a leisurely breakfast we headed up to the common for the equivalent of backyard cricket...it's too boggy to play in the backyard at present, and even the common is muddy, so gumboots (wellies) are the footwear of choice. Must admit it does have a bit of an impact on your bowling technique, and the fielding was rubbish! But we managed an hilarious couple of hours, giving those cricketers amongst us our xmas cricket fix. And, weirdly, we got really hot, and ended up in t shirts! Is this really winter in the uk?! Home for a rest and a lovely bubble and squeak lunch that finished off the last of the xmas feast leftovers, then we took another stroll out to the village to see the cousins' school, and visit the local library. 4 kids would have happily holed up there for hours. Instead, we did a military march home to beat the 4.30pm darkness, then devoured a fish and chip dinner before disappearing for an early night with a good book ( movie first for the grown ups!). Between us we saw a fox, a deer, a squirrel, pigeons, doves, and heard an owl today. Nearly ready to set up our tracking tunnel...