UK August-October 2013- Cream Tea at Dolly's

I love to shop and prior to visiting London, I was really excited to visit Harrods. Sure, Harrods is spectacular. It's over-the-top with theming and glittering gold decor. However, the superior department store is one that I had not previously heard of, Selfridges. Selfridges is elegant and stylish. It has a fabulous home goods section that I spent hours getting lost in. It's hands-down the best department store that I've ever visited. Naturally, now that it's on my radar, I see the name "Selfridges" popping up everywhere. There is even a television series starring Jeremy Piven as the store founder, Harry Gordon Selfridge.

Located in the middle of the department store, is Dolly's, an art-deco themed cafe that serves cream teas.

We arrived without reservations and waited in a queue for nearly an hour. Dolly's is very popular! The cafe is named for a pair of twins that were vaudeville performers and lovers of Mr. Selfridge.

We order the Mr. Selfridge's Afternoon Tea for Two.

The lobster and crab roll was a particular favorite, but the entire cream tea experience was delicious.

The only slight negative is the location of Dolly's. Being in the middle of the store, it's loud and not very relaxing or private. However, it afforded excellent people watching, which is a big plus in my book. It's a great place to take a break from shopping!

UK August-October 2013- Legoland Windsor Resort Hotel

As a special treat, we surprised the kids with a two night stay in a pirate themed room at the Legoland Windsor Resort Hotel. I think that us adults may have been more excited than the kids to see our themed room.

Just like the theme park, no detail is spared at the Legoland Windsor Resort Hotel.

The lobby is full of Lego characters and it has an enormous pool filled with Lego bricks waiting to be turned into unique creations.

On the second night of our trip, we spent some time playing in the Lego pool. Zoe showed pride in her country and created a Swedish flag. Dan made a Lego man to hold my blog business card. We put the creations on the display shelf for everyone to see and they were judged in a daily contest. We didn't win, but a lot of people saw my blog advertisement! We were given participant stickers for entering.

Our Pirate room was extremely cool.

At check-in, the kids were given a clue map that led them on a treasure hunt around our room that ended with a secret code that they used to unlock a treasure chest that was guarded by a monkey. Inside of the chest, they were rewarded with a treasure of Lego toys to keep.

In addition to the treasure chest toys, there was a giant tub filled with Lego bricks for the kids to play with in the room.

Our room had two bedrooms with a shared bathroom in the middle. My favorite design touch was the Lego butterfly and dragonfly on the ceiling. The room was spacious and comfortable. The kids really liked their bunk beds.

Overall, the room was brilliant, except for one problem. We decided to stay here, because four- year old Felix was in a pirate-phase, but he was frightened by the monkey on the treasure chest. He didn't say anything until we were leaving the hotel, but at night, with the monkey near the kid's bunk beds, he had been scared. If we stay at the resort in the future, we will pick a different themed room!

We ate in the hotel's Bricks Family Restaurant three times, twice for breakfast and once for dinner. Here's the low-down about Bricks. The food is served buffet style, including the drinks and the buffet area is fairly small, although the restaurant seats a large number of people. We had breakfast included in our stay and so did everyone else, so breakfast is a chaotic, crowded mess. Everyone is grumpy and in a rush, trying to eat fast before the park opens. In the future, we would probably just pay to eat elsewhere.

Dinner at Bricks is to be avoided at all costs. The food was nearly inedible. It was so bad, that I filled up on Spaghetti-O's from the kid's section of the buffet. Zoe, who loves ice cream, picked at her dessert as it melted. The food is just disgusting. Disgusting and incredibly overpriced. My adult dinner (Spaghetti-O's) was 18.95 ( pounds, which you can practically double to get the exchange rate). Gulp.

You shouldn't eat there, but in its defense, Bricks had two things going for it.

The staff were saints. They were quick, efficient and ran the mad-house with a smile. During our dinner, I was alone with Zoe, as Dan had to take Felix to the emergency room. I didn't have any cash and they will not accept tips on credit cards. Our server was awesome and completely understanding that I would have to come back with her tip the next day. They even kept the restaurant open a little late for us, as this emergency had us arriving to eat as they were closing. If they had not stayed open, we wouldn't have had another option for dinner. I was very grateful. Excellent, above and beyond customer service. This customer service extends to the entire hotel, as the staff was exceedingly friendly and helpful.

Also, like the rest of the hotel and theme park, Bricks has a cute and creative Lego design, characters sprinkled throughout the restaurant. Don't eat there, but go take a peek at it!

A stay at the Legoland Windsor Resort Hotel is a special experience and well-worth the extra expense. As a bonus, you can go on all of the water rides, get soaked and go back to your hotel room to change into dry clothes! The kids have already asked if we are going back this summer, which we may need to our vacation plans.

UK August-October 2013- Noah's Ark Zoo Farm

On our way from Cornwall to Windsor, we took a mid-stop driving break in Wraxall, at Noah's Ark Zoo Farm, a Christian-based animal park.

Noah's Ark Zoo Farm was very different from the other animal parks that we visited in England. First, the emphasis is on Zoo. Although they have plenty of typical farm animals, they also have a large variety of exotic animals, most of whom are roaming in enormous enclosures that are electrified and reminiscent of Jurassic Park. That said, the animals all seemed to be very well-cared for and the staff was wonderful.

It was also different from the other parks because of it's Christian slant. We're not religious, but this wasn't an issue. Everyone we encountered couldn't have been more friendly and helpful. The staff at the cafe even went out of their way to make Felix a special meal. We may have had a different experience if the kids had been older, as there was a lot of pro-creationism signage and even a few creationism stage shows. The kids were too little to read the signs and we just avoided all of the shows. I can respect religious beliefs and differences, but I was happy to avoid that aspect of the park. At Noah's Ark, "Have a Blessed Day" is the equivalent to Disney's "Have a Magical Day." Every employee says it with every transaction. I was glad to accept all of the wishes for us to have "a blessed day", because that's just a nice sentiment. This is a nice place to bring the family.

At first, it would appear that they are keeping T-Rex's at Noah's Ark.

Nope, just keeping the crafty lemurs in check.

We saw loads of animals, including getting very close to an enormous tiger!

If you go to Noah's Ark, you must see the bird show. The handler gets the birds to fly and sit right next to the audience and seeing these beautiful birds up-close is a special experience.

Noah's Ark is home to the Mega Monster Maze, which holds the distinction of being The World's Longest Hedge Maze. We tried it, but we didn't get very far. The maze has multiple-choice trivia questions sprinkled throughout and if you guess correctly, you are sent down the correct path. I'm an animal person, I've worked at a zoo and I think that I know my animal trivia. WRONG! These questions were impossibly difficult. The Maze is set up so that unless you have a smart phone and are able to access the internet, you're not going to fly through the maze. It was fun though and if we visit in the future, we will give it another try!

The park had some great signs that should be included in every zoo!

Noah's Ark Zoo Farm is a unique animal attraction Wraxell, England and a good half-day outing for families. The kids loved the animals and the play areas.