Priority #1: Drink coffee.

Feed the kids, slather them with sunscreen and send them into the wading pool to splash around.

Try to sew something.

Gather fort-building supplies. Engineer a blanket fort in the backyard. Make a picnic lunch.

Apply more sunscreen. Send them back into the pool.

Use seam ripper to undo earlier mistakes. Luckily, this can be done while sitting in a lawn chair sipping lemonade.

Apply sunscreen.

Read instructions for sewing project and make second attempt, with a little more success. I head back to the lawn chair with lemonade and the seam ripper to fix the little mistakes.

The kids pretend they’re camping in their fort, which looks an awful lot like taking a nap. I’m pleased with this development.

More sunscreen, more splashing, more sewing…then, before I know it, it’s dinner time…and then it’s time to slather the kids with aloe vera gel, badger them into pyjamas, read them stories and then badger them into bed, despite the sunlight still streaking through the bedroom curtains.