Category

Wanderlust

Category

Durango, Colorado Family-Friendly Travel Guide

My parents bought a house in Durango, Colorado in 2012, and it quickly became one of our favorite places to visit. After Isla was born, we spent six weeks in Durango to escape Houston’s summer weather, and we’ve tried to keep the tradition up after our other two girls were born. Durango is a beautiful, walkable city that is perfect for traveling with children. In the past two weeks, I’ve had a handful of people reach out to me for recommendations, so I thought it would be helpful to share a post with our favorite kid-friendly activities and restaurants/cafes. I hope you find this guide helpful! Please email me at ailee@snapshotsbyaileepetrovic.com if you have any additional questions. I’m happy to help be a tour guide for this city we adore!

The Eskridge’s Downtown Houston Family Session

A week ago, I met Monica and co. in downtown Houston to capture their family photos. Last year, we did their session in their own fabulous front and back yard – I shared the photos here. Monica said they wanted to try an urban feel this year, so we chose Discovery Green – a big multi-use park right in the middle of our city. I’m telling you: photographing families whose youngest member is almost ten is a DREAM! Ha. No more tickling toes, making silly faces/noises, etc. I wouldn’t trade my young families because I love photographing babies and toddlers, but every once and a while, older kids are a very welcomed change.

I am so pleased with how these photos turned out. It was hot, but they don’t look overheated. It was crowded, but we tried to beat the crowds. The five Eskridges are basically all models (Riley must have grown 8 inches since last year!), and I love photographing their gorgeous family.

Our Trip on the Disney Dream Cruise Ship

We are so grateful that the Disney Cruise Line invited us aboard the Disney Dream for the most magical experience! All text and opinions below are 100% mine. Thank you for reading and for supporting the brands we love!

Two weeks ago, Isla and I flew home from Orlando, Florida after having a dream trip (pun intended!) on our first Disney Cruise Line adventure. We took a friend’s trip with our besties, Destiny and Truman (whom I haven’t seen since he moved last year!). I can’t quite describe how much fun we had at Magic Kingdom and then on the cruise for four incredible days, but I will do my best to share details from our week onboard below. It was impossible to capture the joy and amazement in the kid’s eyes when they met their favorite characters face-to-face, as they ate they third ice cream cone of the day, as they snuggled (both) in the top bunk at night, free to watch Disney movies as they drifted to sleep. I loved every minute of my time with Destiny – she is the most sweet, genuine and thoughtful friend. I’m so grateful for her friendship. I talked her ear off every single night and would only stop when I could tell she was actually borderline asleep, ha! It would be hard to top this friends trip!

Below, you’ll find a recap of each day of our vacation. Also, I asked people to submit questions on Instagram this week, and I got some great ones, which I’ve answered below in the Q&A section! If you have any additional questions, please feel free to comment, and I will definitely get back to you. Finally, I’ve included some tips for those who are going on the Disney Dream in the future (or who want to plan a trip). We were only onboard for four days, and I feel like we learned so much in a short period of time.

In short: It was a trip I will never forget – and I’m fairly convinced that even at age 4, Isla won’t either (thank goodness her paparazzi mom documented everything to help with that, ha!). It was exhausting at times, because there is so much to do, and we wanted to do it all, but we headed to the room early most nights and rested for the next day. Play hard, crash hard! That was our motto.

Celebrating Five Years of Marriage

July 29, 2013 – the day I became Mrs. Petrovic. I cannot believe that was five years ago. It feels like yesterday, yet so much has happened in between now and then – namely Isla and Emi! I feel so lucky to be married to the man I affectionately refer to as, “Stink!” He is truly my best friend, and I am so excited to spend a million more years with him by my side.

My beautiful friend, Lauren of Folk House Creative, was in Paris at the same time as us in February and we were lucky enough to have her take some photos of just the two of us – something that hasn’t happened since our wedding photos. I can’t tell you enough how much I love these pictures. The love of my life in the city I love the most! On a chilly and drizzling winter day – all bundled up next to Sasha. We are going to one of our favorite restaurants tonight to celebrate – Giacomos. I can’t wait. xo

Our Trip to the UK

After a whirlwind 13 days in the UK , we’re back in Texas and only slightly jetlagged (well, I wouldn’t be, if it weren’t for Isla’s 4:30am wake-up hollers across the house for cereal!). We landed in Manchester, then drove north 2.5 hours to Grasmere in the Lake District of England (most gorgeous place ever, seriously). We were there for two days, getting a royal tour from the Eskridges, who vacation there every year, then drove further north for 2.5 hours to Glasgow, where I have aunts/uncle, cousins, my grandmother and some of our very best friends. We were there for three days, then headed to Aberdeen, which was a similar drive, but towards the eastern coast. I was born in Aberdeen and grew up in a village called Catterline, which is about 20-25 minutes away from Aberdeen. We spent time with dear friends and their gorgeous children there, then I got to act as a tour guide and showed Sasha and the girls where the house I first came home to and the one I remember vividly living in as a young girl. We drove by my old school, park, etc. It was such a special day. After our tour, we drove 2.5 hours north-west to Inverness, where my sister, Jill, was getting married. We stayed in houses at Achnagairn Estate, which was nice to be able to see everyone in the communal kitchen, living room, etc. We went to Loch Ness (no Nessie sightings!), Urquhart Castle and the Botanical Gardens while we were in Inverness, but the majority of that portion of the trip was for family time and of course, the wedding! We had the rehearsal on Wednesday and the wedding on Thursday – everything went off without a hitch. It was truly a dream wedding. Jill looked like a princess, and Kevin, a prince (Harry and Meghan!). The food was amazing, the castle was magical and the dancing was unmatched. On Friday, we drove due south for 7.5 hours, which didn’t feel awful, given that we’ve done the 16 hour drive to Colorado multiple times. It was a dream trip. I loved spending time with our family and close friends, most especially my Granny Jill, whom the girls call GG and truly love so much. Isla never wanted to leave her side, and Emi followed her around yelling, “GG! GG! GG!”. I want to go back and do it all over again tomorrow – not just so we can eat Indian food every other meal. As for now, I’ll relive each moment through the hundreds of photos I’m sharing below!

Just missing my dad for this to be my favorite-men-in-the-world photo!