Hello :)

Well you know that I had a break away in a cottage. That was really nice because we were allowed to take Mabel with us and that made it perfect. We didn't do loads of things, just a few trips out and lots and lots of crafts. The cottage had an arga in it which would have been really nice but it was making really bad fumes, so they had to turn it off and we all had headaches for ages.  When we got back from the cottage, we went to a place close to us called Eden Lodge cos it was my Gran's birthday and we had a lovely lunch, it's my favourite place to go at the moment and they're always really nice to us.

Last week was busy doing things for the charity and I'm really happy to tell you all that Alice's Escapes is now a proper charity, all registered and everything. I was so excited when my mum told me - I really did wonder if it would happen cos everything seems to take ages. So now I'm made up that I'm here to actually plan things for the charity and I'm so looking forward to getting our first family on a holiday.

We now have some proper events booked in and the first thing will be the Coniston race which our friend Lesley is organising. There is a lovely group of Team Alice runners and they meet up for training runs and on 31st March, they are going to be running around Coniston Waters for Alice's Escapes. They even have proper Alice's Escapes running vests so you should see them if you're there.  Lots of them are also running the Coniston to Barrow in May, which is 23 miles.

Team Alice On Tour - LEJOG

Then, on 20th April, Mabel's Uncle Simon (from the kennels) is leading a team of cyclists on quite a big bike ride from Lands End to John O Groats (LEJOG) which is miles and miles. I'll have to check exactly how many but I think it's nearly 1,000!  Every day, we'll be stopping off somewhere overnight and you can see the route for each day on their blog. So if you're somewhere along the route, you'll have to come and cheer them on - they've got really cool cycling jersey's sponsored by 'Fuse Fashion Network' and I've got to say a huge thank you to Wendy Hallett who was very generous in supporting me.  

In May, we are entering the largest ever team into the Keswick to Barrow.  Luke, who runs the THHN in Torbay is coming up especially, which is really nice of him. It is because of Luke that I started Alice's Escapes and the beach hut mug I originally designed raised money for the THHN.

And the last thing is that my amazing Mum has booked the Kilimanjaro trip and on 27th September she will be flying out to Tanzania to climb the world's tallest freestanding mountain. Mum has been to Africa 3 times and she always said that she'd climb Kili one day.  Dad is doing it too and early in the morning on 4th October, which is also my Granddad's birthday, they'll be standing up there with an enormous smile on their faces :)  Quite a few of our friends are going with Mum and Dad, so it will be special to know that they will all be together out there.  Mum and the rest of Team Alice will have Just Giving pages so if anyone wants to sponsor them, I know they'd be really grateful - it's not easy to climb big hills when you're as old as my mum and dad are lol.  We are hoping to raise enough money to buy a lovely holiday caravan so that our families will always have somewhere to stay, especially in the summer months when our business supporters might be full up.

Is anyone going to see the Olympics this summer? We applied for a few things but didn't get anything and then wished we'd put other things down - but we didn't put everything down cos we didn't want to end up with everything and having to pay thousands. It was a bit impossible and after all that, I watched a program about how some people are still selling packages and guaranteeing really good tickets that we've been told are sold out. It made me really mad cos it's making the Olympics into something that only very rich or famous people can get to and it should be something that everyone can experience.  We were really glad we didn't get tickets in the end, because then we saw the price of hotel rooms and you could go on a nice 5 star holiday for the same price, apart from I can't actually go anywhere abroad but you know what I mean.

Well, it's the 1st of March tomorrow and it's one of my best friend's birthday - so happy sweet 16 to Clarissa, can't wait to see you on Saturday. Next week, I'm going to the Love Barrow awards on Friday which I'm kind of excited and nervous about at the same time.  I got a lovely new dress sent from Emma at the weekend and if I can find something to cover my horrible legs, I'm going to wear it to the awards evening next week cos it's really nice. They came to film me and Milly for them and it took about 5 minutes for Milly's piece to be filmed and about 5 hours for mine! I'm hopeless and kept getting mixed up, I was glad that they had a sense of humour and laughed with me! After the Love Barrow Awards, I'm really excited about Crufts! I can't believe that it's come round and that I'm actually feeling okay still and it looks like I'll be fine to go. I'm getting to go to the Best in Show on Sunday which is really exciting because I haven't been to the final judging before.  I've been saving my Christmas money for ages, well since Christmas doh, and I'm going to enjoy buying a special present for Mabel.

Okay, that's it. I'm going to go and do some tweeting now cos I've been a bit bad lately and not doing it as much. Today Davina McCall has been rowing across the Channel with John Bishop to raise money for sports relief and just before I started this, I saw that they had made it back to Dover, so that made me really happy for them.  John has already cycled nearly 200 miles before he rowed across the channel and now he has to do 3 marathons over 3 days! Doesn't it show what you can do when you put your mind to it? I think that's part of the reason I am still here now, I don't really think too much about not been here and I always make sure that there's something to look forward to and something to do.  And when I do go, no one will ever be able to say that I didn't do anything with my life.