Peyton Kathleen

Last week my wonderful  fiancé bought me a round trip from Houston to  Chicago  to see my sister Allison! She has been in Chicago all summer training for her job at JP Morgan. With how crazy summer was, I didn't think I would have an  opportunity  to get up there and see her so when Erik told me I could I was over the moon excited!  Friday night I got to her downtown apartment around 10. We hung out with her group of friends and experienced the incredibly fun Chicago nightlife.  The next day for brunch we met up with our friends Laurie and Dakota and their precious babies! They have been such a huge part of our lives for ages and it was wonderful to see them and catch up. I wish this picture had turned out better! But I'm glad we at least got one of all of us! Baby Bradley!  We walked around Millennium Park for a few hours, we took pictures at the bean, went to Buckingham Fountain and had great views of downtown and Lake...

Earlier this year, I was overcome with a desire to go backpacking in Colorado. I had been once before when I was 19, but at that time I was out of shape and didn't enjoy the trip as much as I should have. My dad loves hiking so I gave him a call and he was immediately interested! He and my older brother William decided on Mount Elbert in CO. Neither of them had hiked it yet, and because it is the highest point in the Rocky Mountains. We left on Friday, July 31st at 5am. We drove through Texas, New Mexico and into Colorado in about 15 hours. Throughout that whole drive, we never listened to music once! My dad and brother are incredible history buffs and I had the best time listening to them talk about the settlement of Texas, Comanches, other Native American tribes and more. Hard to believe, but the drive really flew by! We got through the mountain passes and drove right up to the trail head and set up camp. I was stunned by how beautiful the aspen trees and scenery were. No...

We were so tired after our Fat Bike Tour, the next morning we slept in until 11:30! Here the sun doesn't set until around 9:45pm which is nice because it extends the amount of time we have to sightsee. What we learned the day before at Versailles was pretty priceless: go into the palace two hours before it closes. Hardly anyone was in there! So we decided to take that approach with the Lourve and not even try to go in until 5:30 or 6. So when we finally got up and moving, we  took a cab to the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed all 284 steps of the spiral staircases to the top- totally worth it! Such a beautiful panoramic view of the city.  When we left, we started to stroll down the Champs Élysées, looking at all the designer stores and famous brands. We stopped at Louis Vuitton, Allison bought a gorgeous Longchamp, and of course we got macaroons from Laduree. We walked all the way down to the obelisk and into the  Musée de l'Orangerie. Monet's Water Lillies were not was I expe...

I think the three of us would agree that our Fat Tire Bike Tour of the Palace Of Versailles was one of the most fun things we have ever done! If you are coming to Paris, book it immediately! We woke up early to go meet up with our group and tour guide, we had a hard time catching a cab and almost missed the strictly enforced arrival time! Thankfully we didn't, but it got scary there for a minute! We took a train out to Versailles, got our bikes and headed to an authentic French open market.  We bought cheese, wine, bread, cherries, apricots and dried meat for our picnic later that day. It was so fun to explore this little area! We biked the grounds with an incredible tour guide named Valentine. We would ride around for awhile, then pause so he could explain the history of the palace. He was a great story teller and made the history come alive!  After riding and seeing all the different "pleasure palaces" we stopped around the gran...

The morning of our second day in Paris we woke up early to go meet Patrick at Notre Dame. I will admit, I hardly had any interest in going inside the cathedral but oh my gosh I am so happy we did! Stunning, awe inspiring and humbling are barely enough to describe it! We spent a lot of time looking at the stain glass windows, art work and relics. I learned so  much about the history of Notre Dame, it was a great experience.  We walked around the Ile de Cite for awhile before saying goodbye to Patrick. We love him so much, goodbyes are never easy!  We then hailed a cab and headed over to the Eiffel Tower! We had reservations at 1:30 to skip the line and head to the top! We got there early and had time to walk around, snap pictures and enjoy the Iron  Lady!  The morning was pretty windy, but getting higher and higher on the tower made us realize just how windy it really was! The line to the top took awhile, but our passes easily cut the time in half! It was an incr...