We set our alarms this morning and bleary eyed Skyped our niece happy birthday, at four years old she is delightful and very full of energy, although that might have been the chocolate butterfly cake (no pink sprinkles but there were chocolate buttons and smarties).

Andy has been perfecting his pancake making skills recently and has developed a technique for encasing caramelised banana inside a huge pancake which then gets drenched in maple syrup, it would have been rude not to accept his offer to make breakfast. So with very full tummies we set off to the Upper Lynn Valley to visit our friend Fiona who is now minus tonsils and still speaking very softly! We were armed with ingredients to make smoothies. We never did get around to making any smoothies in the end but we did take the patient out the house and for a little jaunt in the countryside before returning home ourselves, completely exhausted!