The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

California

On December 30th, we hopped a Southwest flight through Houston and landed in Burbank later that day. We made out way to LA and were happy to check into the Beverly Hilton!

hilton

We got settled and made our way to Santa Monica for dinner at Lobster.

lobster

Let’s just say Maxwell thoroughly enjoyed all of the fancy meals he had over break between Paris and California! He looooves some lobster!

lobster

We then walked down the Santa Monica pier…

santa monica

pier

It was then back to the hotel for needed sleep before a full day in LA on New Year’s Eve! We were ready to explore the next morning!

LA

LA

la

la

LA

LA

We got brunch and then headed to Rodeo Drive to check things out.

rodeo

LA

LA

LA

LA

Samantha’s favorite store was Kitson and she found lots of things to add to her birthday list!

la

kits on

LA

More LA Monday!

Paris day 4 part 2

After touring the Louvre all morning, we ventured out into the drizzly, kinda gross, rainy day and headed up to Montmartre.

paris

It was a great view from on top of the hill – or would have been if it hadn’t been so cloudy – and we got to see the The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris which was beautiful.

paris

paris

paris

paris

paris

These kiddos were good troopers on a yucky day!

montmartre

montmartre

We then ended up walking all the way back down to Paris. Some were more grumbly about that than others! We did pass by the real Moulin Rouge!

moulin rouge

On the way home, we stopped into the big department store Galeries Lafayette. Again, some were more agreeable to this stop than others but I’m so glad we did it. It was pretty spectacular on the inside…

paris

and on the roof!

paris

paris

paris

That night we had another fantastic dinner at Lou Lou right by the Louvre.

paris

lou lou

paris

There are good views in Paris no matter where you are!

paris

paris

Another fantastic day and night in the city of lights!

Paris

When we realized the kids had a full week between getting out of school and Christmas day, we decided it was the perfect opportunity to go on a big adventure so hopped on a plane to Paris! We left on Sunday 12/17 and had a “restful” night on the flight to Paris…

plane

Can’t you see how rested we were when we finally got to Paris after a 3 hour delay and an hour to get through passport control?! ha!

paris

We sure were happy to be there though! We checked into our hotel which turned out to be perfect and perfectly located right by the Louvre – no surprise as it was called Hotel de Louvre!

hotel

We had dinner at Cafe Blanc and walked around a little before calling it a night.

paris

paris

paris

paris

Bonsoir!

Friday in the mountains

Friday was a rough start for Maxwell. He had been fighting some fever and a nasty cough all week and he was not better Friday morning. I took him into town and we found some meds and just let him rest. Robert met up with Patrick while I just sat around with GJ and the others. Maxwell perked up a little after lunch and made it out to play some golf with the boys! Hooray!

highlands

golf

golf

golf

golf

GJ, Samantha, and I decided we couldn’t sit around anymore so we hiked up to Sunset Rock! Great views!

sunset rock

sunset

My sunshine in the sunshine!

sunshine

sunshine

GJ wasn’t quite so sure of all those rocks with her knee so she took in the views from up there!

sunset

That night we had a drink at the club where we had some Shirley Temples…

drinks

and got lots of great pics in front of the tree.

tree

tree

tree

tree

After that we had a nice dinner at On the Verandah. Thanks Lulu and Granddaddy! Unfortunately, Maxwell kept not feeling well at all – and not sleeping – so we packed up and headed home Saturday morning. We made it home just in time for the Iron Bowl. What a game – 4th and 31!! Roll Tide! We also got Maxwell up to the doctor to get some antibiotics for an ear infection and doctor’s orders to rest for a respiratory virus. Poor guy.

Overall it was a great Thanksgiving in the mountains!