On Thursday evening my cousin Lisa posted that she was off to spend the weekend with her sister Lorraine. Have a great time I responded, knowing that she would be looking forward to the break. I then saw an update from Lorraine to say they had to change plans after their father had fallen and broken his hip and was having an operation on Saturday morning. In my mind I thought this is of course a straightforward operation… but not as it turns out as he passed away. Dreadful news. He had challenges with Parkinsons and Alzheimers, but it still came as something of a shock.

Nikki hasn’t had the best of weeks. She was in St Moritz. It was now pretty certain that she wouldn’t be getting to the Olympics, the bobs she competed in didn’t have enough qualifying points. So she was a little down from that. However, she had a training run for a Europa Cup competition and crashed on the way down. Thankfully the crash helmet saved her from what would have been serious injury. She said she felt ok after the crash, but the following day when warming up felt dizzy and sick, so there was clearly some concussion. So she had to miss the race and sit out the week. She is travelling to Winterberg later today, for the Junior World Champs, but it isn’t clear if she will be competing. She will then be home next weekend.

Yesterday I took Ellie to the gym… she has been keen to go for a while. She did well on the treadmill, struggled on the cross trainer, and enjoyed the bike. She certainly worked up a sweat! We did some core exercises and then went into the pool for a few lengths. She really enjoyed it. Then later on she went to a friends ‘makeover’ party, having make up done and then going out for a meal…

Here she is, all done up…

This coming week Tricia’s Mum is in hospital for a gall bladder op. Ellie and I stopped in on the way home from the gym to see her and wish her the best for the op.