We've been back from vacation since Wednesday and I'm just now getting to update the old blog here. I always feel like I'm lagging when we come back from anywhere. If we're gone more than 3 days or so, I have a hard time getting back into the swing of things. Maybe I just really don't wanna let that vacation feeling go? Who knows. :)
If you've never been to Mallorca, I can highly recommend Cala d'Or on the east side of the island. It was breathtaking. To top it all off, it was practically deserted. We had the run of everything: restaurants, hotel, beaches. It was heavenly. I got to shake the dust off my Spanish and we just had a great time all around.
So, here we go. Got your bags packed? Ready for a totally chaotic week with 6 kids? Alright, let's go! :)
Just around the corner from our hotel (literally 6 minutes) is a sweet, tiny little beach that we hung out at quite a few times. It was so convenient.
The kids saw the water and immediately started running. They kicked off their shoes and made their way down to the beach. We hadn't brought any of our swim stuff because we were just exploring our little village at the time, so we let them play for a while and then promised them we would spend all morning the next day there.
As promised, we spent most of Friday at the beach. The kiddos made sand castles and creatures and ran around having a blast. My girls had been to the beach a few times a long time ago,but none of them remember it at all, so this was a real treat.
They buried their friend and then she and Lara pretended they were sand monsters.
Mia's sand "castle". It says family in the middle of it. Gotta love her sweet little self.
At night I took the kids to the mini disco. The "entertainers" were essentially a group of teenagers up for anything (as seen in the photo below). I laughed and laughed and the kids had a good time. They had games and activities all throughout the day for the kids, but I kept it to a minimum. Our girls are really the type that need to be entertained all the time. However, they LOVE to dance. So we took in the "disco" about 4 times during the week.
On Saturday we made our way into the heart of Cala d'Or. It is essentially a tourist town, but we didn't get that vibe very much since it was practically deserted. Loved that. We could just wander around and we weren't worried about the crowds or losing the kids. It was so relaxing.
There is a train that comes by every hour and makes a loop around Cala d'Or. We decided to take that since the kids would have a great time and because it was punctual.
Photo via www.apartment-calador.co.uk
Walking around Cala d'Or.
We then went to one of the bigger beaches while we were downtown. This is Cala Gran. It was about 3 times longer than the one by our hotel.
Lara, making a road for her friends' trucks.
Mia's "fish castle". This was taken seconds before the Sea Noodle monster trampled it.
There was a path along the rocks that we all went walking on. Snapped this one of Tiffany and her kiddos.
One last shot before we left Cala Gran for the day.
After the beach we were starving and we were really in the mood for some better food than the hotel had to offer. We stopped at this restaurant, Fernando's Cafe and had a lovely grilled lunch. I had salmon, prawn and pineapple kebabs that were heavenly.
Walking back through Cala d'Or. The kids posing for us like true hams.
Waiting for the train to pick us up, hoping the storm misses us in the meantime.
On Sunday, I went wandering around our village with just my girls. The kids were fighting a lot and it seemed like everyone needed a little down time.
On Monday we spent most of the day at the pool.
On our last day, Tuesday, I took the girls for a long walk around our village. While we were riding the train, we saw some really good views of the ocean on the other side of town, so I decided to take the kids and go exploring.
As we were walking up the hill, we came upon this house and their totally enviable view. Can you imagine living here and swimming in the pool with that fantastic view? So jealous!
Making our way up the road...looking for even better views.
Noodle found a pime corn. Yes, you read that right. :)
She was so proud of that thing.
This totally made us stop and soak it all in. This was also the view that led the girls to become upset because they didn't want to leave Cala d'Or. They want to live here and I don't blame them.
I love the scrubby, sparse vegatation here. It's so pretty to me.
During our walk the girls found an ant hill and were completely engrossed in it. We followed the ants all the way to where they were devouring some kind of plant. We made note of which ants were carrying which part of the plant and the girls marvelled at how they stayed in such a straight line.
Continuing on our walk, we found this sweet little path and decided to make a detour.
We came upon this little townhouse for sale and ridiculously strong visions of living in Cala d'Or danced arounf my head.
Because right where I am standing...if you turn 180 degreesyou see this...
There is even a stone bench you can sit down on to take in the view. I mean, seriously...who wouldn't want to live here!?!?
Noodle, exploring the paths above the water.
And one last spectacular glance at what we were going to leave behind in the morning...very, very early.
In the morning, the girls were so sad, but they managed to give me one last smile befor we caught our ride at 6:40 am.
I seriously can't wait to go back. I would love to make this a yearly tradition for us. :)
Hope you enjoyed your little tour of Cala d'Or. Ciao!
