Vacation Tradition - Mallorca Spain

As tradition would have it, we took our third 4th of July trip in a row to Mallorca, Spain (here are trips 1 and 2 if you are interested). And as tradition goes, we didn't plan ahead for this trip. It was super hard to decide this year between going somewhere new to climb (Magic Woods, Switzerland), or Mallorca. But Frank left it up to me to decide, and the thought of warm beaches and ocean beat out the mountains. Magic Woods, you'll have to wait.

Once again, I tried to book our agriturismo from 2013 or our awesome chalet apartment from 2014, but both were booked solid for July and August. I think I shouldn't leave such good reviews on tripadvisor and booking.com anymore! So, we were left the night before our flight to find a place. We'd had luck with Airbnb in the past, so we tried our luck again. The location of the apartment we booked was awesome, right in Mondrago National park on the southeast coast, the part we like with all the deep water soloing and awesome calas (bays) for swimming. The apartment wasn't my favorite or one I'd book again, but it was just fine and had everything we needed.

While looking back at photos from 2013 I noticed how incredibly calm the water was the whole trip. Skip forward to 2015 and we had MASSIVE waves the first two days. So massive, deep water soloing was not a possibility, but Cooper had a grand ol time jumping waves with Frank for hours. On Sunday, the wind died down and we decided to go all out and rent a boat to ourselves for the WHOLE day. Best.decision.ever.  We took that boat all over the calas and saw so much of the island coastline! We'd anchor in, swim to the beach, grab some ice cream and picnic, then head back to go repeat at another cala. And the best part is, Cooper learned to snorkel! Once he got the hang of it, he wouldn't stop and loved it. We figured out that apparently fish LOVE olives. Really, they do. We'd drop an olive in and 30 fish would attach and nibble. Lily learned that she actually does really love the ocean and pretended to dive in the water like a mermaid a hundred times saying "want to see me do it again" each and every time. Plus, she'd pour water in her bucket, add sand, and wash my feet over and over as well.

As for me? Well, I thoroughly enjoyed watching my kids happy and playing in the sun every day from dawn til dusk and lazed about on the beach and in the water catching hermit crabs, fish and sea snails. Something so calming and therapeutic about the sea. Three days was not enough. Frank and I have decided we need a good week at least next time :) So goodbye until then Mallorca. We already miss you!