Beatrix pottering: Springtime in Mallorca

Another week has flown by. Our Mallorcan Easter holidays have had three main themes: many trips to the beach (mostly ours, but also an afternoon stop off at one of Palmanova's three beaches); Jemima befriending any small child she could find, wherever we were (from a German 18 month old boy on the beach to an 8 year old English girl in Heroes, and everywhere in between); and, continuing our Mallorcan theme, lunch. Sunday lunch in Portals Kitchen (the fourth and final Sunday lunch offering in the area - great veg and sides, appalling beef); delicious prawns and calamari in a very nice beach-side place in Palmanova (with 45 different types of gin! Who needs 45 different types of gin...?); and, of course, lunches on the beach and in the wonderful Chameli's.

We've also had a couple of outings: another trip to the excellent soft play Kids Republik (where I discovered they have a whole extra floor of dressing up, role play and an indoor football pitch - plus very tasty food - avocado and tuna salad, yum); plus a fun afternoon at the Port Adriano Spring Fair (a massive paella for 100 people, a kids' obstacle course, party games, and family Zumba, which Jemima and I enjoyed, and some clowns - all in Spanish - which she wasn't so keen on. Jemima and I also had a fun shopping trip to Porto Pi (the big indoor mall) to get her some more beach stuff (our trips inside actual shops leavened by having a go on the various 1 Euro rides). And we've even been out for dinner, to one of the remaining Portals Nous restaurants we haven't tried yet: Port Blanc, all white as the name suggests, with a very friendly welcome and excellent steak.

It's all been lovely. But the biggest news of the week: on Saturday morning, Kevin and I ran 5k, the culmination of our Couch to 5k training programme! Jemima made us flags to cheer us on - mine had hearts on it, Kevin's was more of an action montage showing Daddy running, then finishing, then sitting down and having an ice-cream. And it was great! We both had a real sense of achievement - and then we did go and have an ice-cream to celebrate. Next challenge: keeping going...

We go home a week today. In my usual way, I've started feeling nostalgic for our trip before it's even finished. We talk about going home, and we are all looking forward to seeing family and friends, and our house; but we are all also very sad to be leaving. As Jemima says, "we love Mallorca!". One week left to enjoy it...

Jemima braving the freezing sea