The Boatwrights Abroad: Portraits and Final Thoughts

                            

First up, I would like to share our photos from our shoot with L'Amour de Paris!These were the very best souvenir, and we've already started putting them up in our home! The photo shoot was so fun to do together, and the photos turned out better than I'd even hoped. (More about our last day at the end!)

One final update from the trip! On our last day in Europe (March 21), Zach and I woke up at 5 am to learn our flight had been delayed by several hours. I think it was due to Heathrow in London (where we flew in), being shut down that day due to a fire. We went back to bed for an hour, then got up, packed and prepped to leave.

We took an uber ride to the airport and the flight was delayed another hour for maintenance. But we made it! Thankful those were the only hangups.

Excited about the return flight home!

                

We had such a good experience on this trip overall. Wilder and Felicity handled everything so well—no complaints about all the walking or sightseeing. We had really good conversations with them and enjoyed our time together. Of course there were rough moments, but on the whole, we had such a good time traveling together. I look forward to being able to go to other countries with them in the future.

Traveling with the kids at this age is SO different than when they were 6 months and 2.5 years old. It’s even different than our last big trip together to California, when they were 5 and 7. They’re able to entertain themselves when we have downtime, they sleep well, they enjoy our meals, and take in the sights—all while happily walking 5-6 miles a day, and hopping into public transportation. It’s really been a gift to get to do this with them at this age. I feel so grateful for this time with our family.

Tuileries, Paris Fashion Week and Musee L'Orangerie

The next day, we hoped to go back to Pere Lachaise (read my other post about the famous cemetery HERE) to take photos of it in the snow, but we found it closed due to that snow. Makes total sense because the walkways were probably icy. But we stopped at a boulangerie for savory pastries, croissants and sweet pastries.

so yummy

The boulangerie

Stacy and Jason were to look at an apartment in Trocadero with a realtor, so we headed that way and spotted the Eiffel Tower. We took some photos while we waited for their appointment.

After grabbing coffee at the bistro across the street from the apartment because it was so cold. Zach and I went back to the Tuileries to visit Musee l'Orangerie.

My favorite part of the museum was Monet's two-room Water Lilies piece. It was so cool! 

I love the Rodin sculptures, but in the snow some of them seemed humorous. :-)

All the single ladies?

She's really cold!

After we explored the museum, we walked outside to the above views. As we stood there, we noticed a group of people congregating by an area with "Dior" over two doorways.

After looking at it for a while, we realized it was actually a two-story mirror over a pop-up building! With the trees and everything, it was totally hidden.

Do you see the building??

We realized a Dior fashion show was going on right then. We had a good vantage point at the museum balcony to see people walking out, but I didn't see anyone  I recognized. Here are some of the interesting outfits though!

I would totally wear this.

I didn't bring my umbrella to the museum, and it snowed on us the whole time we were outside, so we met back up with Stacy and returned to the Imperial for more coffee! Stacy and Jason actually ended up leasing that apartment, so we had reason to celebrate!

As I'm looking back on these photos, I realized we were cold a *lot* during this trip. So we drank a lot of hot beverages.

That evening, we walked around the fancy shops and I got some lingerie from Chantelle Thomas and THEN! We went to my Mecca, the flagship Christian Louboutin shoe store.

I've been once, on our honeymoon, but didn't buy anything. This time I had a pair of shoes in mind, but they didn't have them in stock. However! They did have the perfect shoe... in my size... and PURPLE... 40% off and with a de-tax at the airport, made them cheaper than any pair of Louboutins you could find in the states. So... I got them.

ooh lala!

Happy campers

We finished the night with delicious pizza!

Of Willy, girlfriends and life

I've been wanting to post for a few days! I have several drafts with the pictures uploaded, but I still have to write the words. I figured I could catch up on what's been going on this week here!

I took this photo last week of Alfred. I thought it was pretty cool! I haven't done any photoshop treatment to it yet. Do any of you have any suggestions?
Last weekend, Zach and I went to a wedding and a baby shower for some of his friends in the midst of Mr. Ike. We only got constant rain, but we did a lot of driving around in it! This photo is from the wedding reception. I thought it was a really neat way to decorate.Later that night we went to the baby shower. I should note that the shower was NOT for the same couple as the wedding! It was at a Mexican restaurant. I don't think I've ever been to a co-ed shower with drinking games... One of the games was a chugging contest between all the guys... chugging margaritas out of baby bottles! Here I am pretending to drink the rest of Zach's bottle. :-)Last Sunday was Zach's dad Dean's birthday. We had a little party for him and I got him a card that made dog sniffing noises when you open it. We showed it to Gideon and he was enthralled, as you can see.This past week has been so great because I've gotten to spend time with some really good friends. I miss being in college because we don't have the luxury of random all-night hangouts and just the free time to build good friendships. So when I get the chance to spend a few hours with someone, it just really makes my day. And this has been a great week for that! 

Sunday I got to meet up with my friend Calle in Tyler. We were on the Equestrian team at A&M and I really haven't seen her since she graduated probably 2.5 years ago. That is just sad! She's a great friend. She lives in Montana and came to Texas for a wedding in College Station. We caught up with some margaritas and guacamole at On the Border. YUM!

Also this week, I got to hang out with my friend Alicia. I met her through Jashley, and it's one of those things where you are just amazed that you have so much in common with someone. It might sound nerdy, but I feel like it's kind of like going on a really good date or something. :-) I'm looking forward to hanging with her a lot more in the future.

Finally, last night I got to meet up with another friend who I just love hanging out with because we have alot in common as well. I met miss Katie through Stephanie--I think I'm done linking to other blogs in this post--I do apologize! But Katie and I go wayy back. We had a great time at this place called the Dream Cafe. Yum yum! You should try it sometime. I had the best Sangria I've ever had there.

The other night Zach and I cooked dinner. You never know what you are going to get when it's been a while since your last trip to the grocery store. We made crepes with tarragon chicken, parmesan cheese and chopped black olives. Zach decided to put Nutella and some peas on his... he insisted that it tasted good...
I took this photo at the barn with my little camera. There are probably about 15 or more peacocks and peahens at Rocky Top, and they roost in these two dead trees at night. It's kind of creepy actually. If any of you are wishing to own a peacock, keep in mind that they like to call out and they kind of sound like a woman shrieking. Not too fun!

So not for an update on Willy. You can skip this if you aren't interested in horse care or founder. I won't tell anyone. :-) Last time I talked about him, I mentioned that he had rubber  "lily pads" on his feet. I couldn't find a photo of them online anywhere. He got them taken off yesterday, so I got to take a photo of them.We wrapped his feet with Elastikon to hold the lily pads in place. The first week Willy was lame, he had nothing special on his feet because I didn't know what was wrong with him and I'd hoped it was a stone bruise or soreness from his new shoes. The vet came out, said he might be foundering but wasn't sure so he didn't take off his shoes. He gave him DMSO by tube to his stomach--which stinks to high heaven, and we gave him 2ccs of Bute every day. After that weekend, the vet came out, saw that he wasn't better and pulled his shoes off and gave him DMSO again. He put those lily pads on with Elastikon and duct tape. I continued to give him Bute and iced his feet for the first few days. It didn't work very well. Willy got into some mud so his bandages disintegrated in less than a week. We took them off, thinking he might be OK last week and he ended up relapsing, becoming very lame again. So another vet from the same practice came out, said he was still foundering and wrapped him up like this--no duct tape--for 3 days to see if his hoof bones and laminae would stabilize. He also gave him DMSO again.

Hurricane Ike came along that weekend, so I had to keep Willy in a stall confined to help his feet stay dry. I gave him Ace every day. His feet didn't stabilize until this week. Yesterday, the vet came out and was very happy with Willy's condition. He said we could take the lily pads off and start the special shoeing treatment. YAY!! He's on the road to recovery!

Sorry for the blurry photos here. The farrier took a netting of fiberglass and laid it in between Willy's hooves and the shoes. 

Next, he attached a foam square to the foot so he can form the special rubberlike pads.He squirted in this mixture that molds to the horse's sole to offer custom support while encouraging the sole to grow thicker and stronger--this is key to helping the horse recover from laminitis(founder). It also has some elements of copper to keep the horse from developing thrush.

This is what the shoe looks like. He'll be wearing this for at least 2-3 more shoeings. Horses get shod every 6 weeks, so we're looking at 12-16 weeks before he's done with this treatment. The good news is I might be able to ride him after the next shoeing in 5 weeks! What do you think of Willy's tennis shoes?