Hong Hotel Open for Business

What a busy and wonderful past few weeks it has been.

At the end of March my parents were our first overnight guests.  Matt's brother had visited earlier when he was in town for business, but this was even before all of our stuff had arrived.  Anticipation of my parents visit was a wonderful motivator to get everything unpacked and settled.

They arrived on Friday morning.  As they've both been to London numerous times, their priority was seeing our new routines and area, but we managed to do some more touristy things as well.  Their visit included ice skating at Ally Pally, school drop-offs, many tasty meals at home, wandering along the Thames, brunch at a neighborhood cafe, riding the London Eye, exploring the Imperial War Museum, playing canasta, attending church 2 activities and church, celebrating UK Mother's Day with a delicious picnic lunch at Hampstead Heath and a delicious dinner at home, several DIY projects and visits to various shops, riding the tube and double decker buses, an adult date to Beautiful on the West End, a trip to the National Gallery, hot chocolate at Costa, fish and chips with Matt at Borough Market, playing with the kids, and making plans for the next visit.  

Grandma ice skating even with jet -lag

Atop the London Eye

Napping along the Thames with Big Ben in the background.

Yay for Grandma and Grandpa visiting!

Enjoying a sunny Saturday afternoon park break after exploring the Imperial War Museum

Tube Time 

Picnicking at Hampstead Heath 

Hampstead Heath Statue

Hampstead Heath Statue

Hampstead Heath Statue

A trip to the hardware (DIY) store with Dad & James

Any day that starts with DIY project with Dad and ends with a date night to the West End is a pretty good day.

Hot Cocoa at Costa beside Trafalgar Square

Super Grandpa at National Gallery

Lunch with Matt.  Yum! 

It was SO fantastic having my Mom and Dad in town.  We had all missed them a lot.  They departed on Thursday morning (yes - we did all that in less than a week) and Thursday afternoon Matt's cousins Calie and Isaac arrived.  This was both of their first visit to London, but they had no problems figuring out public transportation to get to our house.  They did a lot of exploring and adventuring on their own, but we also had a lot of fun doing some outings together.  They were also a huge help around the house tidying things up, helping with meals, and playing with the kids.  Two nights they babysat so Matt and I could have date nights.  We REALLY enjoyed having them in our home and hope they loved it so much that they will return.  And babysit again.  ;)

While they were in town we played in the fountains in Leicester Square (translation: Kaylee got soaked), visited the LEGO museum and M&M World, ate dim sum in China Town, visited Madame Tussaud's, wandered through Regents Park, strolled by 221b Baker Street, played Wackee Six, rode the London Eye (again - it's so cool! And we have an annual pass to go again and again), had a scavenger hunt at the National Gallery, visited Tate Modern, had lunch with Matt at Borough Market, visited the London Temple, wandered through Highgate Wood, played football on the close, saw the views from Alexandra Park, and spent an entire day at Hampton Court Palace.  They did many, many more things while they were here (multiple West End shows, Harry Potter tour, British Museum, shopping, Buckingham Palace, and more), but we just couldn't keep up.

Riding the bus to Alexandra Palace for a London sunset

Lego Land

A little too much fun at the fountain in Leicester Square.  She spent the rest of the day with no shirt and only her jacket.

Sherlock was also at Madame Tussaud's

The boys were more excited to meet Emma Watson

The Royal Family took time to pose with us.

Our little Eewok at Madame Tussaud's

Regents Park Fountains

MOD Pizza at Leicester Square

Getting ready for the National Gallery Scavenger Hunt 

Enjoying the London Temple on General Conference Sunday

Riding on the top of the bus is always best. 

A beautiful day at Hampton Court Palace

Fun with cousins at the Palace

It was such a fantastic visit!  Isaac went home after 10 days, but we were lucky enough to have Calie a week longer to join us on our holiday to Spain.  I don't know that we would have survived without her, but more on that later.

As you can tell, a visit to the London Hong Hotel will be full of good food, fun, and adventures along with wonderful hosts (the little Eewok is the cutest, even if he may wake you at night).  Just make your reservations early - we are already booked through July.