6 & 60

The next day we walked into town and grabbed lunch in a local cafe.  Dr John had his first taste of a 'proper' sausage roll and wasn't too impressed, although did like the softness of the bread in his sandwich.  Its the little things.  We then went to Sainsbury's for things for Dr John's birthday bbq and got lost in it and apparently thats not even a big one!  You can tell we've been in Switzerland a long time!  

By the early evening, excitement had reached fever pitch.  After all, its not every day you turn 6.  Dr John shares a birthday with my mum too and it was going to be her 60th, so extra reason to get excited.  
The big day dawned.  With a not too early start celebrations commenced.  There was the general chaos of present opening during which Dr John received some lego, a James Bond dvd and secret spy stuff to satisfy his current career choices (lego mini figure creator, dvd producer and secret spy, all in one day - he's going to be a busy lad!) amongst other gifts.  Then everyone helped prepare for the party, only stopping for the early arrival of my sister and family and more presents (more lego).  Just about all my maternal aunts and uncles came which was nice to see them all together.  Dr John remembered a couple of them but to be fair he's only seen them a couple of times when he was very young. 

I would say that the party was a success.  Dr John had great fun playing with his cousin Suzanna*, who is 4 and also home educated, and there was a lot of chatting and eating and cooing over the baby.  The cakes, which I'd had to ice due to the original baker going on holiday, were extremely yummy and I think everyone went home happy.  My sister and her family stayed the night which was good fun, although I don't think we should've stayed up until 1am playing Lego Harry Potter on the Wii!  

The next day we pottered about playing and chatting and then we all went to a local pub for dinner which was lovely until an incident spoilt things and we went back to my parents rather abruptly.  A shame as it seemed to take the shine off our visit.  But thats families I guess. 

The next day, Thursday, Chris Evans and I went with Pip to the city to do some shopping (I was really overwhelmed by the size of everything and the number of people) whilst Dr John stayed with my parents and watched dvds and ran them ragged. Thursday evening was spent packing the van in preparation for our trip up to the midlands to visit MIL.