The Journey: London 2016

We had the privilege of taking a second summer vacation to London in July! Jason had to go for work so Lillian and I decided to join him for a long weekend. Because it was a last minute trip, and I was just excited to escape the heat for a bit, I agreed to fly in economy so we could just use Jason's Etihad air miles. We chose a seat at the back of the plane, hoping to spread out but the plane was fully booked. So Lillian sat in my lap in our window seat for the long 7 hour trip. Luckily she took a nap for a little over an hour and shared my meals. I also let her run around the area by the bathrooms to take a stretch and get rid some of that energy. Overall, episodes of bubble guppies on the ipad and Mickey mouse on the seat TV kept her pretty still the rest of the flight.
We stayed at the Hilton on Park Lane and it was the perfect location for sight seeing. We could walk around the restaurants and shops in Mayfair and had some lovely food! We were also right across the street from Hyde Park so we took several walks along the serpentine. We dined at the park restaurants and Lillian liked watching the ducks and general people watching as she rode in her stroller all over the town. Our first full day, we did a bus tour of the city and sat on top to enjoy the sites and get some fresh air. We jumped off at the London Eye where we visited the aquarium. Lillian loved watching the penguins jumping in and out of the water, but was scared to get too close to some of the big fish and turtles. She actually fell asleep in daddy's lap on the bus on the way home and slept in his arms on the walk back to the hotel after an exciting day! We saw Kensington Palace then walked down to Harrods. Lillian loved playing in the giant toy section there and even got daddy tp buy her a talking Elmo and some books. She fell asleep in her stroller on the walk back, so Jason and I enjoyed our bottle of Prosecco from Fortnum & Mason in the park while she napped al fresco. On Sunday we went to watch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Its was super crowded so we didn't get to see much, but Lillian preferred to chase the birds around the park anyways. That afternoon we went to Whole Foods (a must-see for me ;) ) and then walked up through Notting Hill. That night when we were getting Lillian to sleep, she had a high fever and started having full body jerks/spasms. So we took her to St. Mary's Hospital and spent the night in the emergency room. Her fever fell with some tylenol, but they also administered antibiotics through drip just to be safe. The doctor thought she had just a viral infection (her throat was red) but also was worried about some spots on her back that it could be meningitis (her fever had caused a small rash). Therefore we did several blood tests and urine tests to rule out any serious infections. Thankfully everything came back negative. Lillian was super tired but was a superstar watching bubble guppies on the ipad.
After such an exhausting night, we decided to cancel our flight home the next day so that Lillian could sleep in and recover before getting back on the plane. Jason had to go to work, but Lillian and I were able to relax in the hotel and then check out and get all of our bags over to the new hotel. The next two days, Lillian and I spent exploring the new area of the city, seeing Tower Bridge, the London Tower and taking multiple bus rides. We even managed another trip to Whole Foods to stock up for our trip home and lots of yummy dinners with Daddy. We thoroughly enjoyed our week away from the heat and all the time that we got to spend outside. We even got upgraded to Business Class on the flight back, which made Lillian and Mommy very happy to have room to sleep and play.
I loved London and hope that we have another opportunity to get back there very soon!