Smoother sailing ahead for Cruise and Kidman?

Three years after they divorced, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are putting aside their differences to spend the summer with their two children. The statuesque Aussie actress and the diminuitive but blockbuster film star are set to vacation in Sydney with their kids, Isabella, 11, and Conor, 9, reports Hello! magazine.

The famous former couple are said to be taking two months off from their busy filming schedule in order to take the family break down under.

Apparently Tom and Nicole, who have in the past insisted their divorce was amicable, have become even closer since his breakup with Spanish actress Penelope Cruz and her split from rocker Lenny Kravitz.

One insider told the magazine that the kids couldn’t be more thrilled about the family-oriented summer plans.

“Tom and Nicole made it a priority to share the children,” said the source, “and the kids are now on a mission to reunite their parents.”

Watch out for those Internet pirates

Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates annoyed some Italians during his recent vacation.

According to the New York Post, Gates’ helicopter first was forbidden to land on Stromboli, a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Then Gates and his wife, Melinda, moved on to Sardinia, where they tried to have a romantic dinner on the shore of Cala di Luna.

The problem: Gates wanted to schlep tables, chairs and 300 torches from his 200-foot yacht. Angry residents alerted police, who blocked the amphibious assault.

And he’s just mighty … young

Wedding bells have rung for Oscar winner Mira Sorvino and her 22-year-old beau.

Sorvino, 36, married actor Christopher Backus on June 11 in a private ceremony at the Santa Barbara, Calif., courthouse, her publicist announced Monday. It’s the first marriage for both.

Sorvino, daughter of actor Paul Sorvino, won a best supporting-actress Oscar for Woody Allen‘s 1995 film “Mighty Aphrodite.” Backus has appeared on the NBC sitcom “Will & Grace.”

From ‘Soul Food’ to soul mates

Actors Boris Kodjoe and Nicole Parker, stars of the Showtime series “Soul Food,” are engaged, their publicist said. They plan to marry next spring.

The couple met on the set of “Soul Food,” television’s longest-running black drama, which recently ended after five seasons. They both appeared in the film “Brown Sugar” and will next star in the sitcom “Second Time Around,” which will air on UPN this fall.

Bob adds to the fame of ‘Price’

Bob Barker, host of the TV game show “The Price is Right,” has been inducted into the Academy of Television and Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.

“They may in the future induct people who deserve it more than I, but they will never induct anyone who appreciates this honor more than I,” said Barker, 80, who has been hosting the show for more than 30 years.

To some, it’s still a fountain of tears

After many delays, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain flowed for the first time Tuesday, a week ahead of its official opening by Queen Elizabeth II.

Visitors to the $6.4 million fountain will be able to splash in the water. “The princess was a contemporary woman. I wanted very much it to be a place you walked into. A total environment — not an object you walked around,” said designer Kathryn Gustafson.

The birthday bunch

Singer Lena Horne is 87. Actress Nancy Dussault is 68. Actor David Alan Grier is 49. Actor Vincent D’Onofrio is 45. Bassist Tom Drummond (Better Than Ezra) is 35.