A week in Kishorn

We're just back from a week spent with friends in a large house on the west coast of Scotland. After a showery start (see wellie splashing movie below) we had four days of unbroken sunshine to the extent that my legs were aired on the final day. Sophie started with a stomach bug and felt grotty but was in fine fettle by the end. We didn't really do much but enjoyed:
- seeing Golden Eagles .. or were they buzzards?!
- seeing stags saunter past the window in the dawn mist
- driving over the highest road in Britain to get fish 'n' chips in Applecross
- stunning views of the Cuillins on Skye and Torridon mountains

- hanging around in our spooky country house and going on a bear hunt around the lake

Actually, Not Again...

The surgeon did the investigation of Sophie's hip yesterday and the result was surprisingly positive! She'll need more treatment but not surgery. Hip hip hooray!

On Thursday we are going to get fitted with a special brace similar to this: It's a much gentler treatment that will allow her to walk, sit, do "I'm a Little Teapot", travel, etc. It will take about six months to work.

Sophie's a Little Teapot

Swimming in the bath

We're not writing too much on the blog at the moment. Frankly we haven't done too much because the weather has been so horrible. Last weekend we went to a local theme park and Sophie enjoyed the rides, especially the Big Wheel and the minitrain through a slightly creepy and dusty elfs grotto. She enjoyed the swimming pool most of all. She really likes swimming and likes to get on her tummy and swim in the bath every night. Don't deny it .. you used to do it too. Next Monday Sophie will go into hospital for a procedure to see if she needs more surgery (although we already expect the answer to be yes). This should all be over by the summer when we'll move away from Holland to Norway (if the rumour mill is to be believed). My employer likes to rotate staff to a new location every four years. Next Friday we're off to Scotland for a week.

Eggs

Eggs were painted in this house last weekend. Sophie can do faces now ... check out the fella in the middle.

Not Again

Sophie had another x-ray yesterday and her femur isn't sitting in quite the right place. It is not completely certain yet what will happen but she'll need some extra treatment.

The doctor wants to do a procedure to see what is happening in the joint and then will decide what'll be done. As a minimum she'll be in a cast again, but it's most likely that she'll need some additional surgery too.

On the plus side, it will be a smaller cast and will be only on for 4 weeks.

Center Parcs III

We spent the weekend at Centerparcs in the Netherlands. I wouldn't recommend it. On the plus side we did get some photos.

Of course all parents think their child is a genius...

Hello Mummy

Oinking on the phone

Very little activity on this blog. However, unlike the blogs of friends and family, this one gets entries even when nothing much has happened. I've had a busy week with trips to (aah) Paris and (ooh) Dubai. Check out the Dubai panorama from the hotel window. The building sticking up on the left is the tallest in the world (160 floors). Sophie likes me to do piggy impressions on the phone when I'm away; much to her delight and the bemusement of people who overhear them when I'm ringing from some far-flung office. I got Jo a new camera for her birthday (she didn't like the old one) so, as soon as she works out how to upload pics to the computer, I'm sure the blog entries will once again begin to flow.