Our first trip to Paris! Summer 2016

I wanted to share a beautiful trip my family and I took to Paris, France this past summer 2016. It was such a wonderful experience to get to share the magic of the City of Light with my tribe. For years, I have been watching french cinema, studied some french in school and just plain liked croissants so much. Oh, their sense of fashion of course! There is a reason why so many people love it. It's a gorgeous place with a culture of beauty and quality living. As a family, we were so glad we took the plunge, and decided to visit this amazing city.

We were happy campers just strolling around town, discovering the intricate buildings, restaurants and gardens. I still have flashes of our travels deep ingrained in the bank of my memory. We did a certain amount of research before going but the places and spaces we ended up going to, were all more of a gut instinct for us and I'm happy to report that it worked!!

I remember our tickle fights at the hotel room, the carbonara pastas dishes (too good to pass on!), the sparkling water that became our new drink of preference, the kids meeting Eiffel the Tower for the first time, all those crepes everywhere!!, the astonishing paintings at the Louvre, the jaw dropping architecture, the good taste and fashion of the majority of people and so the list goes on and on. Below some pictures of our trip:

There were so many moments that I will forever treasure. One of my favorite memories happened at The Louvre when the kids told me they wanted to make art just like that. "Can we make that at home?'" Of course! I replied. The fact that they are curious and that they want to make their own art is very encouraging to me. We lasted in the museum a couple of hours so Mark Walter and I really appreciated their stamina.

The weather was quite hot but it didn't feel overbearing at all, probably because of your charm Paris!

Details, details, details and flowers everywhere!

This room at the hotel we stayed at, so pretty.

photo credit: Mark Jacinto Kropf

a kid pondering.

guapísimo!!!

At the Arc De Triomphe.

Paris had the most beautiful little restaurants, mom and pop shops and boutiques. I cannot imagine how much they have had to fight to keep it that way. Their social life of friends and families just hanging our during the workweek reminded me to my country of birth, Ecuador. People place a high value on relationships.

The most delicious carbonara pasta I have ever tried in my life.

a shopping mall in Paris.

a memorable smoked salmon crepe:-)

Hi, Eiffel!

The kiddos and I.

Our family.

Ok, so the last bit of our Eiffel tower family photoshoot took quite a bit of effort because it got extremely hot and we didn't have plenty of time left in Paris. Thankfully the kids were helpful after mentioning the word ice cream.

Mi Mark Walter y yo.

Mi niño.

Mi niña. Thanks to grandma Kropf for a beautiful dress and red shoes that Dominika loved instantly. She wanted to wear it the entire time!!

One of the most rewarding things to experience as a family is growing together. Because of living together and spending a big chunk of our time in each other's company one gets to see the flaws, the gifts, talents, strengths and weaknesses. But recognizing our humanity and condition and still choosing to love, nurture and encourage each other is very much worth the journey. So grateful for what God has done in me through the adventure of raising my family and for what He will do.

Thanks for reading!