Sara drizzled extra maple syrup over her pancake mountain and took a huge bite. The blueberries popped in her mouth like little sweet explosions. Sophia was already halfway through her first pancake, cheeks puffed out like a happy chipmunk.

nom nom nom

Between bites, Sara leaned closer to Sophia and lowered her voice like she was sharing the biggest secret in the world.

“Guess what I did yesterday?” Sara asked, eyes sparkling.

“Tell me tell me tell me!” Sophia said, bouncing in her chair.

Sara wiped a bit of syrup from her chin and began her story.

“Yesterday I went all the way to London with Dad! We took the train and it went super fast—whoosh!—and when we got there, we went straight to his office.”

Sophia’s eyes grew wide. She loved stories about big cities and tall buildings.

“Was it really high up? Like, could you see the whole world?”

“Almost! His office is on the 14th floor and there are giant windows. I drew pictures of the river and the funny red buses while he had a meeting.”

Sara continued, waving her fork for emphasis.

“Then we walked through the busy streets—there were so many people and bright shops everywhere!”

“After that we had lunch at this tiny café with the best cheese toasties ever—gooey and crunchy at the same time!”

Sara made a big cheesy-pulling motion with her hands. Sophia laughed so hard she almost dropped her fork.