London, Baby! (Well, eventually.)

Okay, that's it. Hubby and I are dead set on visiting England in 2010. This involves so many logistics with the kids that it's not even funny. But if we don't get the hell out of Dodge for a few day, we're going to go to the looney bin sooner rather than later.

Any tips on what to do on our third trip to London? We've already done the super-touristy stuff--Jack the Ripper walking tour, Windsor Palace, Bath (would love to go back there, though), Stonehenge, Oxford, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwick Castle (ditto Bath comment), Harrod's, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, 10 Downing Street, Hyde Park, etc. Any other gems of places you can think of? We were delighted with Warwick Castle when we visited, and would love to visit more, I think.


What about Wales or Scotland? What are the logistics in getting there from the London area? We haven't seen Canterbury yet. Nor Manchester. Nor the white cliffs at Dover and such. Worth the time? We're contemplating visiting my childhood friend Linda in Paris via a 2-day Chunnel pass (or whatever they call it). (This is your warning, Linda--we may be in your neck of the woods next year--if you're still living there by then, anyway.)

Too bad we don't have the choice to see Michael Jackson at the O2 while we're there. Ok, not that Chris would ever agree to spend money on that kind of thing while we're on vacation (or on Michael Jackson at all), but still. It would have been nice to have the choice.

You think there's a Harry Potter walking tour? Perhaps a soccer (futbol) stadium which not only serves beer but also allows you to drink it at your seat? No? Well then, it's going to be a long trip.

Also, we only stay at Hilton. I'm thinking the one at Covent Garden, again? The Paddington property was super-convenient for the train to Gatwick airport, but the rooms were t-i-n-y. And the Hyde Park Hilton made us sign waivers before they would let us open our window, promising we wouldn't jump (??)--plus, there weren't many places within walking distance to eat, and we would have died before paying eight POUNDS for a burger from the Hard Rock Cafe near there. Any other hotel suggestions?

So, what else? I'm already gathering up my passport, Boddington beer, Harry Potter books, and Clark's walking shoes. Getting super excited for a trip 9-12 months from now which is barely a twinkle in our eyes...

And in celebration of London, one of our favorite places on the planet, I leave you with this:

Our Fabulous July Fourth Weekend

It's taken me too long to get my hands (hard drive) on the photos from last weekend, but I'm finally ready to share. I wish I had more! I thought we took a ton, but I guess not.

We drove two hours south to Tucson, to celebrate July Fourth with my whole family. My sister lives there, but she and her husband stayed at the hotel with us just to feel like they were getting a way a little. In fact, her husband's whole family was in Tucson for a visit, so the whole gaggle of us took over the resort.

We stayed at the JW Marriott Starr Pass--one of our few favorite hotels in Tucson. I also found out that they're on Twitter -- @JWStarrPass. They have a large pool area, several bars in the pool areas (awesome), and a fun water slide and small lazy river to go tubing in. It was a ton of fun for Jenna, who was in the pool practically all weekend, it seemed. The resort was at capacity, and the pools were crazy busy, so the twins didn't get to enjoy their head floats at all (there can't be splashing or many waves when they're in the head floats)

We ravaged the breakfast buffet each morning--that place knows how to make pancakes. We also enjoyed the resort's BBQ buffet both nights that we were there. I got a small Eegee's fix (just a sandwich--but so awesome) for lunch. The twins napped like champs and slept at night like champs, too. Plenty of adult beverages were appreciated by all the adults all day and night on the Fourth. And everyone applied enough sunscreen, so we have no painful burn stories to share--woo hoo!

We didn't get any great pictures of the fireworks, or the kids watching them, so you'll have to use your imagination. But the twins LOVED the fireworks on Saturday night, and kept shouting, "More! More!" long after the show was over.


At the pool:

Right before Fireworks--one tired 5 year old, and a blue-faced little boy who dove into a patriotically frosted (read: blue) cupcake.

Thank the heavens for Bumbo chairs and portable DVD players! This is why we can never fly anywhere--too much random stuff to bring with us, wherever we go!

The JW Marriott there has a Nickolodeon theme nearly every weekend all summer. The kids get to meet Dora and Spongebob in the lobby in the mornings--a big hit with our kids. These pics were taken as we were loading up the van to drive home on Sunday.

Oooh, pretty!

There's a contest I've entered to win a necklace from silverloveletters.com. And I can get an extra entry into this contest by posting about it here, so I interrupt my regularly scheduled programming to pimp out Silver Love Letters and the Fairy Blog Mother! :)

I adore this birthday charms necklace. Each charm has the specified birthdate in 6-digit format. And it's reasonably priced at $29.

This contest ends on July 22, 2009. If you want to compete against me (LOL) for the pretty monogrammed necklace at stake, visit http://www.fairyblogmotherblog.com/2009/07/silver-love-letters-giveaway.html Cheers!