Archive | Lena

life lately

August 20, 2012 at 12:30 pm

We have been so busy and have been having so much fun around here with Elliott’s sister Jess. She is with us until the end of the week, and we are packing each day full of adventures around Sicily. Her dear friend Sarah joined us last week to stay for the final week and a half of Jess’s trip, and those two girls have been great friends to me as well as such a big help around the house. I don’t want them to leave!

I have some photos to share of our adventures, and you can also check Jess’s blog and Sarah’s blog for fabulous and funny updates, too. In the meantime, here are a few recent iPhone photos from around here.

the last of the spring strawberries with ice cream and a generous dollop of Nutella

& summertime means breaking out the espadrilles!

Jess knocked a stick off butter of the counter after it had been unrefrigerated for a couple hours and it went splat… proof that our un-air conditioned house is just too hot these days

& morning snuggle photo for Daddy when he was in Ghana for work last week

Lena was so excited to board the cable car in Taormina and then said, “Wooow! Woooow!” all the way up the mountain

& Jess and her dear old friend Sarah at the medieval festival in our town (more about that soon!)

favorite stop in Taormina: Bam Bar for delicious granite, the Italian version of sorbet,

where Lena and I their enjoyed raspberry and lemon flavors

Lena wakes up at 7am and I am just too tired to do much before 7:30,

so we lie in bed to read books or snuggle. It’s a precious time.

3 :: in Lena, life lately, visitors

life lately

August 20, 2012 at 11:30 am

the last of the spring strawberries with ice cream and a generous dollop of Nutella

& summertime means breaking out the espadrilles!

Jess knocked a stick off butter of the counter after it had been unrefrigerated for a couple hours and it went splat… proof that our un-air conditioned house is just too hot these days

& morning snuggle photo for Daddy when he was in Ghana for work last week

Lena was so excited to board the cable car in Taormina and then said, “Wooow! Woooow!” all the way up the mountain

& Jess and her dear old friend Sarah at the medieval festival in our town (more about that soon!)

favorite stop in Taormina: Bam Bar for delicious granite, the Italian version of sorbet,

where Lena and I their enjoyed raspberry and lemon flavors

Lena wakes up at 7am and I am just too tired to do much before 7:30,

so we lie in bed to read books or snuggle. It’s a precious time.

4 :: in Lena, life lately, visitors

popsicle baby

August 16, 2012 at 3:00 pm

Someone is super excited about the fabulous new Tovolo popsicle molds that Uncle David sent us from Hill’s Kitchen! I made these first ones with limeade, which is a wonderful way to enjoy my favorite summer drink, if you ask me. Jess has since made them with Nutella, coffee, sherbert, and peaches. Not all at once.

Jess gave Lena this popsicle while I was out running errands and then took these lovely photos of her. I love the more pensive ones on the kitchen table, followed by the colorful ones out on the porch. My little 16-month-old looks so big!

6 :: in Lena, life lately

popsicle baby

August 16, 2012 at 2:00 pm

6 :: in Lena, life lately

buried by Mt. Vesuvius

August 9, 2012 at 2:51 pm

Are you thinking, “They visited Pompeii!” after reading that title? Well, you’d be so close… but no cigar. Indeed, Pompeii was buried by Mt. Vesuvius’ overwhelming eruption in A.D. 79, is right outside of Naples, and is a huge tourist attraction. However, the advice of our guidebook and friends who live around Naples was: “Skip Pompeii–it’s boring, huge, hot, and there isn’t much to see–and go to Herculaneum instead.” Our guidebook said Herculaneum was a smaller town near Pompeii that was also buried by the same eruption of Vesvius, but it was discovered later and better excavated, thus meaning there is much more to see. As “visit Pompeii” was never on our bucket list of life, we swapped one out for the other.

About to descend into the ancient buried city of Herculaneum (and all Lena cares about is her pine cone).

Beautifully preserved in volcanic mud for 2,000 years.

Peering under the glass at more preserved frescoes.

“Umm, guys… I climbed into the pool but where’s the water?”

Do you like my totally funky pants? I bought them in Naples after admiring them last week on a young Italian woman. They’re like harem pants but each leg is made of two pieces of fabric and so they are slightly open on the outside of each leg. They’re super cool and comfortable, and I can definitely see them becoming a pregnancy wardrobe staple. (I also say this because I definitely look preggo in this pic!)

Lena climbed all the stairs (approximately 100) leading out of Herculaneum and up to regular ground, grunting with effort after each one. So cute.

We left the ruins and the shadow of Mt Vesuvius and drove a couple of hours south to the Amalfi Coast. Famed for its winding highway over the water that links beautiful beach towns together, this is one of the top tourist destinations in Italy. We took a break from our drive on one of the beaches and Elliott and Lena collected sea glass.

Later that evening we arrived in Amalfi, one of the most famous little towns on the Amalfi Coast. By then I was carsick from the winding road but so in love with the area! The sun was setting as we moved into our little 2-bedroom apartment and gazed out from our balcony at the peaceful town, quiet beach, and crystal clear blue water. More photos tomorrow….