Concluding our A-Mazing Day

With the sites of Canterbury shutting down, we decided to head for home. But not before we made a quick stop in the park to explore the maze! The girls have been begging us to find them a maze ever since we missed the opportunity to explore the one at Hampton Court when it shut down ahead of the rest of the palace before we had a chance to explore it. The girls loved chasing each other around the dead-ends and corridors and actually became quite proficient at negotiating the thing. They were quite disappointed when we had to leave to explore the ruins of the Norman Castle located near the train station, but not nearly as disappointed as Mom and Dad were to trek to the castle only to find it inexplicably closed a full half hour before the closure time posted on the gate. We reversed course, went to the train station and took the long ride home. With 90 minutes to kill, Olivia used the opportunity to tackle her first ever chess game against Scott and, not surprisingly, proved herself quite adept at thinking several moves ahead. She lost, of course, but she'll likely be able to beat Dad within a few months if she keeps practicing (which wouldn't be hard for anyone of even moderate talent.)