Diary of an (ex)London mum

Having kids and finding time to do sports may not always be compatible.  I felt guilty about not spending my limited spare time with Baby and so chose to spend all of it with him rather than do sports (which was a big part of my life prior to the pregnancy).  He is older now and is showing interest in all kinds of activities so the opportunities to do sports with him are arising,  One side effect of his increasing interest in sports, is the loss of the weight that I gained since I had him, which can only be described as a win-win situation. We started running a few months ago.  I read about Junior Parkrun on the web while following up a news story about a local council charging Parkrun (an adult 5 km run managed by volunteers to promote healthy living) for their weekly runs in a park near Bristol.  The junior events are suitable for children from 4, and involve a 2 km run in a local park.  The atmosphere at our local event is fantastic and Baby enjoys r...

Portugal is a popular holiday destination and is actually very family friendly.  This summer we gave the Algarve a miss as it is normally very crowded and incredibly hot, and headed north to the fishing town of Peniche.  Beautiful beaches, lovely hotels (we stayed at the MH ), and great food, just an hour's drive from Lisbon.  It is much quieter than almost anywhere in the Algarve, the temperature was hot but not searing, and was perfect for a quiet holiday.  The nearby cliffs at the point of the peninsula were spectacular and, as is common with fishing towns, there was a Summer fair celebrating Our Lady (in this case Nossa Senhora da Boa Viagem/Our Lady of Fair Voyage) which is associated with the sea-faring nature of the place.  There is also the island of Berlengas, a nearby island classified as a protected site of natural beauty.  We didn't make it there ourselves as we couldn't get a ticket on the ferry but I am told it is a good place for a day trip....