Helloooooo fledglings! Hope everyone is ok?!
Just dropping by to say - yay!- "guests have left" and I've tidied up not a lot!!
It was genuinely lovely to see them though - and a great time was had by all (phew!). Sort of people you don't mind making an effort for because they are so lovely! 
Just wish I would not get so wound up in advance. I seem to be getting worse not better - you'd think it would be the reverse with constant visitors ... !
Stilliving Sorry to read down thread that you have been feeling a bit low - hope you are feeling a bit better now [places extra soft bean bags and fluffy quilt and comfy cushions in naughty corner with bottle of gin for later]
Arf at wilderbeest/locust/wasp combination! 
If anyone of you know the book 'the Zagazoo^ (as recommended on this thread by the lovely Toffee) dd is currently morphing between wailing bat and fiery dragon
Mercury family fun sounds fab! YY to increasing sense of "golden childhood days" passing all too quickly here too! Brings it back home when younger guests were playing this morning with all of dd's old favourites (model cars, model horses, old dolls etc). Time is passing too fast! Hope you can catch up on a bit of sleep soon!
Celeste lazy day sounds lovely!
Emenenem good luck with your pre-holiday organisation!
FoolandFitz and Celeste and others - can't remember exactly when we first allowed dd to be exposed to technology but I know it was pretty late compared to her friends she has made up for it since. Someone bought her an MP3 player as a present for her 8th birthday and we bought her a DS when she was about 9 or 10 yrs I think. Since then it has all gone down hill!
It's a difficult balance with an only child but looking back I would have been much stricter about it all (even though we operate time restrictions on daily use). The Ipod was bad enough but I regret buying her a lap top for Christmas last year. Dh and I disagreed about it - he thought dd would have the self control to handle it - and I doubted that which proved to be true. It has been helpful with some areas of school work though it has to be said. And I must say, it is much easier that she has a computer exclusively to herself which we can monitor and put the tightest of controls on (terrible grammar sorry!). As previously mentioned, it has been confiscated for the moment though because it is too tempting to "play first" before doing study etc. We are working on reversing that position and I need to set a much better example too.
Great that your ds is able to be a bit more balanced about it Foolandfitz! That is really good going at eight yrs old! DD is heavily in to ballet during term time and her school day is quite long plus we insist on reasonable exercise/getting out regularly during holidays but it's all too easy for one's attention to drift for a moment and to find her "plugged in" yet again!! It's the constant monitoring which gets wearing!
Dogsbum so lovely to see all the photos of Meerkitten she is so gorgeous - as bright as a button - and always seems so contented! Still keeping you on your toes I am sure!
Right, going to do not a lot for the rest of the day, except for trying to track down some equestrian events in the Olympic coverage ... . DD insisted on staying up to watch the opening ceremony but I lost the will to live around the K and L part of the alphabet! Held out though and it was great to see the refugee team marching under the Olympic flag. (Good to see something heart-warming after all the drug scandals etc.)
Enjoy the rest of your weekends everyone!
Waves to all the fledglings I've missed!