MT. ETNA

Our first stop was Messina, Sicily.  From here we hired a driver (sicilywithmario.com) who could drive us around to a couple of things.  High on my list was Mt. Etna.  We had been unable to make it to Mt. Vesuvius during our April trip there, and I was eager to at least get to one of Italy's volanoes.

A quick walk around one of the craters, and a bunch of pictures.

And everyone got a rock to take with us, too.  Because Ted LOVES that we have rocks in our moving weight.  At least these are really lightweight.

Ted and Cory continued on another path to a second crater.

peek-a-boo

Lucy and Mary started with them, but turned back before reaching the top--Lucy commented that one of her memories of Mt. Etna was all the rocks in her shoes.

From there they could see the first crater we visited

and the cafe where Riley and I enjoyed refreshments.

And glad for this pretty day to visit!

Lucy's incredible toe knuckle "feat"

Lucy's talent displayed for everyone at the Kids Club Talent Show.

So proud.  Ouch

Ready or Not!

Mary performing with Britt Nicole's song Ready or Not at the Kids Club Talent Show.

FUN IN THE SUN

Here goes some more.  I told you some of the things we did on the ship, well, here are the pictues to go with it.

Lucy's lanyard with her sea pass--we were loving parents and bought them the soda pass for the week--so they all have a Coca-Cola sticker on their passes

On our way to breakfast--and wearing long pants for ice skating afterwards!  I'm not sure why Lucy doesn't have hers on--oh, now I remember.  Before we left she insisted she did NOT want to ice skate.  But sometime during breakfast she changed her mind.  Lucky for her, big sis Riley was willing to take her to the room to change clothes.

Woohoo!

dinner--we loved the breads:  poppyseed rolls, sourdough buns, cheddar cheese rolls.  Keep them coming!

desserts were yummy, too.  At least I never passed one up.  

Breakfast--cereal and donuts for Lucy every morning!

Ahh--kicking back!

at the pool!

9 hole putt-putt

some light reading.  Ted finished one book.  Riley read 2, and Cory read a few pages...there was too much other fun for him!

Argh!  There are pirates on board!

The Kids' Club was one of the favorite places for our kids to be.

They just poured slime all over one of the counselors!  She was such a good sport!

SHIP SHAPE

A 7 Day Mediterranean Cruise out of Rome...  This is the life, I tell ya'.

During the course of the week we took over 2000 pictures and videos if you include the kids' cameras (mine alone was over 1800).  I will do my best not to put every. single. picture. on this blog--I promise.

We'll start by chronicling the ship itself:

The boat from the ports

Turkey

Turkey

Sicily (see the boat behind the church?)

Sicily (Mainland Italia is in the background)

 The beautiful sights inside the ship

Mosaics in the pool area

Art on every floor and down every hallway

A striking resemblance 

Art hanging from the main buffet seating

Hanging down the atrium

Bright colors

Sparkly stairwells

Glittering chandeliers

Life on the busy decks

Safety is always important!

Checking out the port in Turkey

Silliness abounds!

This towel creation was hanging from the ceiling

A cauliflower dog on the buffet line

Reflecting

Mirrors on the ceiling in the hallway

Looking out the windows at breakfast

 A room with a view

Our room faced out the front of the boat--this is as we are preparing to leave Sicily (the window view was awesome...but it needed a cleaning!)

Sunset from our window

Full moon from our window

We putt-putted (is that a word?), ice skated, swam, read, ate, shopped, ran, ate, napped, ate, air hockeyed, hot tubbed, ate, and had an all-in-all great time--and that was just on the ship!  The shore days were filled with their own wow factors...Sicily, Athens, Ephesus, Crete.  But I'm getting ahead of myself here--I'll save some of that for next time!