Today was the closest we’ve been to normality. A family we’d met on Salt Spring Island invited us over to their house for lunch. Alix and Brian had three children – Anna (6), Will (3) and Reid (1) – who had lots of toys.

Charlotte and Emily had a fantastic time playing with all of the toys in their garden, and seemed to ignore the food so that they could continue playing. One of the best toys was their climbing wall – Charlotte and Emily loved climbing all over it – it seems that in Emily we’ve got a bit of a natural.

It was really relaxing, and when the waterslide came out, the giggle-factor went through the roof. All in all, we had a great afternoon, and the children really enjoyed playing with other children, and more toys than would fit in any number of rucksacks.