Sunday, April 22, 2012

The Smileys come to Sicily

We were surprised and excited last week when my friend Lindsey e-mailed to ask if we were up for a spontaneous visit from her and the kids for a few days during spring break. Mike is the pediatrician on the Navy base in Rota, Spain and they were hoping to fly on a Space Available military flight to come and see us. They ended up getting to spend a few "bonus" days with us since it turned out to be quite difficult to get back home on a Space A flight. All in all, we had 7 days together with our combined tribe of 6 preschoolers (Lindsey's 4 y.o., 2y.o, and 3 month old + our trio!) - it was crazy, but a lot of fun too and we enjoyed sharing some of our Sicilian favorites with them.




The main piazza and duomo on Ortygia

An outing to Siracusa - a charming Baroque city on the Tyrrhenian Sea.  Siracusa was built on an ancient Greek settlement founded by the Corinthians in 734 B.C.  (For a time it rivaled Athens as the most influential city of the Greek world.)  
Elise and Tatum enjoyed crafts and puzzles galore!

Up, up and away...riding the funivia (cable car) to Taormina!
Ciao Bella!  What a treat to watch the girls have so much fun together! 
A few of the beautiful piazzas in Taormina.
A lovely rocky beach at the base of the cable car...the kids loved looking for sea glass and other nautical treasures!

No comments:

Post a Comment