Archive | travel

a few hours in Chicago!

July 12, 2013 at 8:28 pm

This past week I went to a family reunion in Michigan for Elliott’s family… which was a little intimidating without him but ultimately so much fun. I have married into the most wonderful family! They love me and our kids so well, and they all have so much fun together. I’m already looking forward to the next reunion… 3 years from now!

The reunion was in Michigan, which is about a 10-hour drive from Virginia. I’ve driven with baby Lena from Virginia to Michigan before and did not want to repeat that miserable ordeal, so I opted to fly. My sister-in-law Jess and to-be brother-in-law Charlie (marrying Eden in September!) decided to fly along. Thank you, Jess and Charlie, for making the trip so much more manageable… and fun!

After landing in Chicago, we had time to kill and all wanted to see downtown Chicago. I’ve flown through the O’Hare airport so many times but had never seen the city itself. So off we went in our rental car with the two babies, found street parking not far from Millennium Park, and took off to explore.

^ These two are so wonderful with their little niece and nephew.

^ Finally finally saw the Bean!

^ There were fountains in Millennium Park. She was soaked and soooo happy.

^ We walked down to the Chicago Yacht Club and Lake Michigan.

^ Charlie is a rocking it as an uncle-to-be.

^ My new favorite photo of Lena. Jess snapped it while waiting for the crosswalk signal in the middle of crazy-busy Michigan Ave. Goes to show you never know what your eye and your camera can capture in the busiest moments.

^ Watching the L train rattle by.

^ Beautiful window display.

I’ve got a crush on you, beautiful Chicago. Can’t wait to come back with Elliott to do some more exploring someday soon!

5 :: in family, travel

a little update from Virginia

June 11, 2013 at 9:53 pm

Friends, I’m sorry. We’ve been in the States for almost a week now and I haven’t managed a single post. Here’s a quick attempt at an update, and then later in the week I’ll hopefully have more news, photos, and… the most amazing giveaway this blog has ever seen. (I’m especially excited about that one!) In the meantime, here are some fun photos from this past weekend and a little update on life.

Anyway… we’re in Virginia! We left Sicily on Thursday after a whirlwind, last-minute decision to fly commercial instead of taking our chances with free military flights. After Elliott spent hours on the phone calling military terminals, he could tell that it would be unlikely that we would be able to fly all the way home on Space A/military flights. With the chance of being stranded in Spain or Maine with two lusty-lunged, jet lagged children, we opted for the last-minute bargain on Delta flights. This mama is so glad we did! It’s good to be “home.”

We were especially keen to get home because of Reunions this past weekend at the University of Virginia. Elliott graduated in 2003 and I graduated in 2008, meaning that this year is his 10-year and my 5-year reunion. How could we not go back for that?!

We had a fabulous weekend visiting with so many old friends, some of whom we haven’t seen since we “walked the Lawn” at our own graduations years ago. More wonderful friends of ours — Will and Johanna — offered their house as our home away from home, and that’s just what we needed with two little children and jet lag. We spent the weekend visiting our favorite old haunts in Charlottesville, reuniting with some of our favorite people, and dreaming about moving back there one day….

If you were there this past weekend, it was wonderful to see you… and let’s not let too much time go by before we meet again!

Waving at the pilot as we boarded in Sicily &
he slept on my lap like this all the way from Rome to Paris

Charlottesville City Market early on a Saturday morning!

A photo that I stole (hi, Kim!) from a lunch with some dear friends. Kelly (far left), Tara (next to her), and I were all in nursing school together at UVA… and now we’re all grown up, married, and have kids!

Lena and Gil met and loved our friends’ children: Sasha on the left and Cornelius on the right.

Hanging out in the Center for Christian Study with Cornelius… which we all hope they will be doing again as students in about 18 years!

My dear friend/roommate Abi and her new baby Lucie (Gil was born on Lucie’s due date!) &
Auntie Jess (now a nurse in Charlottesville) snuggling with her nephew for the first time

13 :: in DC, family, friends, Instagram, life lately, travel, University of Virginia, Virginia, weekend

visiting Casa delle Farfalle {the Butterfly House}

April 29, 2013 at 12:45 pm

My grandparents left on Friday morning and I strongly dislike the day after friends or relatives leave. The house is quieter, the children are needier, the dishes are dirtier (and more plentiful). You know what I mean?

To avoid sitting around an “empty” house all day with my two kiddos, I joined my friends Becca and Bethany on a trip to the Casa delle Farfalle. With two minivans, three moms, seven kids, and 10 packed lunches… we were ready to discover somewhere new in Sicily!

The Casa delle Farfalle is located in the Parco Monteserra. Right outside the butterfly house is a great play area that the kids loved.

Inside are a couple of rooms with educational displays, including two whole rooms dedicated to an explanation of the Silk Road. The children were fascinated with the live silk worms and their beautiful cocoons.

Finally we went into the room to see the butterflies themselves. I have to say, I was amazed. There were sooo many butterflies and they were in such a lovely setting. Many things helped us to feel like we were in the butterflies’ natural habitat, such as a little stream full of goldfish, birds chirping and nesting just a few feet away from visitors, and beautifully maintained flowers and plants.

^^^ A butterfly boldly landing on you is magical every time.

^^^ Lena was fascinated by the fish. Can you spot her on the bridge? Thankfully she never fell in!

^^^ Lena and Daniel were fascinated by this little monarch butterfly drinking sugar water… right at their height!

^^^ An Italian visitor gently coaxes a butterfly step onto Elise’s fingers.

^^^ And there’s the whole loveable, motley crew.

If you’d like to visit, the park is located just outside the town of Viagrande. That makes it an easy 30-minute drive from Catania (or, if you’re military and coming from base, about 30 minutes from NAS 1). Directions are included on the website here; the GPS coordinates are 37.616088 and 15.090467. Admission is 5 euro for everyone over 5 years old (which made this an inexpensive excursion for our group!).

Parco Monteserra — where the Casa delle Farfalle is located — has a lot to explore in addition to the butterfly house. We enjoyed the playground with young kids, and for older children or families there are hiking trails leading to a lake and a volcanic crater. Surrounding the play area are dozens of covered picnic benches; there is even a BBQ pit if you’d like to grill your lunch. I’m going to take my whole family back soon!

9 :: in animals, friends, Sicily, travel

traveling in Italy :: Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples

April 15, 2013 at 2:11 pm

According to our guidebook, Agrigento and the nearby Valley of the Temples is the top tourist destination in Sicily. The Valley of the Temples archeological park (Parco Valle dei Templi) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and boasts several beautifully-preserved temples strung along a ridge overlooking the ocean. The temples themselves include the best examples of Doric columns outside of Greece. We visited Agrigento last year with our friends the Arthurs and were excited to take Elliott’s parents this year.

^^^ We’re off! We brought our double stroller for this adventure and were so glad for the sturdy tires when we did some off-roading to get a close look at the temple ruins. Gil obliged by sleeping in his car seat most of the time…

The redbuds were in bloom, as well as many other gorgeous spring flowers. Such beauty.

^^^ I turned around and saw Lena and Elliott chilling on a wall. NBD.

^^^ Baby figs! And a very doting Grandpa.

^^^ Doting Grandpa take 2. I couldn’t resist.

And the obligatory Elliott/Lena/bug picture. I wonder how much longer she’ll be fascinated before them before a sense of fear or dislike sets in? Hopefully it never will….

A little info if you’d like to visit: the Valley of the Temples archeological park costs 10 euro per person for the main (Eastern) side and 15 euro for the entire park. (The other half includes some less-impressive remains of more temples.) If you throw in a visit to the Scala dei Turchi as well, it’s well worth the drive from other tourist locations (for us, ~2 hours from near Catania). We stayed at an agriturismo callled Villa Diana one night and would recommend it to others. For our one evening in Agrigento, we ate dinner at Kokalos, a popular restaurant that overlooks the night-lit temples. If you are planning a visit and have more questions, I’d be happy to answer them!

5 :: in family, Sicily, travel, visitors

traveling in Italy :: staying at an agriturismo

April 9, 2013 at 3:33 pm

As I mentioned before, we took a little trip down to southern Sicily while Elliott’s parents were visiting. We spent our one night away in an agriturismo, or a “farm stay.” Agritourism is popular in Italy, especially with families: the kids love the animals and the space to run around, the parents love the prices and the experience! We’ve stayed in a couple of other agriturismi which you can read about here and here.

We stayed in Villa Diana, an agriturismo just a few minutes outside of Agrigento. The owner and host, Dario, was kind and accommodating (and quirky). The rooms were spacious and each one was one vibrant color; we stayed in “Il Pistachio” which was verdantly green and my parents-in-law stayed in “Il Mandarino” which was vibrantly orange. Although there were many things that made us raise our eyebrows (the miniscule elevator, the plaster falling off the walls on the outside of the building, the trinkets enclosed in glass display cases throughout the house), we all had a wonderful time and would definitely go back. Here are a few photos from our stay.

There were chickens (with eggs!), donkeys, goats, sheep, and a couple of dogs on the property. Lena loved all of them. And who are we kidding? So did we!

^^^ Ahh, a sleeping babe… and a sweet grandmother! The agriturismo itself is in the background.

^^^ Loved this daddy goat’s horns!

^^^ My veterinarian husband.

^^^ The donkey was just a month old.

The agriturismo itself was surprisingly decorated inside with gilded, antique furniture that I assume are family heirlooms. This is the breakfast room, where we were served fresh pastries, eggs cooked to order, hot coffee and tea, and freshly squeezed blood orange juice.

^^^ Check out that glass of blood orange juice in front of Lena! So red.

Lena finished off our visit with a very serious game of chess. Just kidding…. The chess set was missing two pawns, and we laughed later when we learned from our friends (who had stayed there three weeks before us) admitted their kids had broken them. Lena almost broke or lost a couple of pieces herself. Leaving our marks on the world everywhere with our children….

Do you know if there are places like this elsewhere in the world? I haven’t heard of the farm/B&B combo in the States but I’m sure they must exist. Have you ever stayed at a place like this?