To maggie9: London and daytrips or Edinburgh and the Highlands would fit your needs. London is catni

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My husband and I have never been to Europe, and we've decided to take our first trip there - with our two kids (who will be 12 and 9) - in June or July 2016. Of course, I am overwhelmed with the possibilities. I don't know whether we should focus only on England, or only on Scotland, or, perhaps we could fit in England and Scotland in one trip.
Our trip length will be for 9 nights. I would love to see beautiful countryside, explore nature and historical sites (castles, ruins), maybe spend some amount of time in a city (maybe a few days or so), eat great food. We would be flying in from Florida, and I expect that we would rent a car to explore more rural areas. I'm fine with trains and other public transport in cities. My kids are great travelers and easily adaptable, though they've never been overseas.
9 days is not very long -- especially kenny chesney fan fiction andnot tickets tour if that is the entire trip from home UK back home. If that is the case you will only have 6.5 days free to see/do things. (1.5 days is spent getting to the UK and one day is spent flying home) Plus you'll have jet lag to deal with.
London is absolutely fabulous kenny chesney fan fiction andnot tickets tour . . . but it is also enormous and a bit overwhelming and would take your whole trip to even scratch the surface. If it was me, and w/ kids the age of yours, I'd seriously consider sticking to Scotland. Fly into Edinburgh and stay 3 nights (which is only 2.5 days). kenny chesney fan fiction andnot tickets tour Explore the wonderful city, recover from the jet lag and get acclimated. Then collect a car for the other nights (4 days) and plan a short loop tour either kenny chesney fan fiction andnot tickets tour 1) up along the east coast through St Andrews, Glamis, Dunnottar, and the Castle Trail or 2) into the Borders, St Abbs, and very northern England (Alnwick and Hadrian's Wall), or 3) The Trossachs/Stirling/Glencoe
When I took my youngest nephews (11 and 14) to Scotland (a trip they chose) we had a bit more time. they loved the area around Fort Augustus (Lower Loch Ness)--took a boat trip on the Loch, explored the Nessie exhibits, went to the Highland Wildlife Park (where they are breeding endangered species and reintroducing some to Scotland. We had a wonderful foot tour with one of the rangers.), saw some highland games--second week of July if I remember. kenny chesney fan fiction andnot tickets tour there were events for kids who did not have to sign up ahead of time.
We went to Mull and took a trip to Iona and Staffa where we saw puffins on a magical day. Two castles on Mull though I believe one of them is now closed to tourists. Ate supper on the pier at Tobermory.
Then we went down to North England as Janis suggested. Bamburgh Castle was great. We went out to Lindisfarne and hiked out to the ruins. Alnwick kenny chesney fan fiction andnot tickets tour was fun. We drove down to Hadrian's Wall and walked a short way along it and visited the museum, where the boys bought fake swords and were interviewed by BBC who was filming a special there.
It will be such fun! Kids are great traveling companions. kenny chesney fan fiction andnot tickets tour Seeing things through their eyes opens up new worlds for us. You will have great family memories and the stories will get better as the years pass. (My nephews have told their children who are now eagerly awaiting their turn for a trip.)
I think 2 weeks not including travel days is the absolute minimum. Fly into Glasgow or Edinburgh, rent a car and have fun. Return the car near a rail station outside London and finish with some days there.
This is the reality of work in the US. The dad seems to be able to get only a limited amount of days off in one go. This is not uncommon. If so, maggie9 should use the time she has to the best of her abilities, not forego the trip altogether.
To maggie9: London and daytrips or Edinburgh and the Highlands would fit your needs. London is catnip kenny chesney fan fiction andnot tickets tour for the hobbits - there's enough there that they'll be interested in to keep the little monsters busy for months. At 12 and 9, they're computer literate enough to go trawling the internet for things they'd like to do there. (Make sure you use www.daysoutguide.co.uk for discounts).
Edinburgh kenny chesney fan fiction andnot tickets tour is great (even though all hills go UP only - dunno why, different physics there) and has two castles, men in skirts, and history and mystery for everyone's needs. The countryside is excellent on a bad day. Stirling Castle is a short train ride away. Aberdeenshire and its castle and whisky trails is 2+ hours from Edinburgh.
If you are at all tempted by almcd's suggestion -- you could do the Scotland kenny chesney fan fiction andnot tickets tour bit w/ the whole family and then travel down to London, wave goodbye to Dad and enjoy several days on your own w/ the kids. Your kids are old enough kenny chesney fan fiction andnot tickets tour that it would be easy (if they were much younger/toddlers it would be more of a hassle on your own)
I would second Irishface's suggestion. Rent a cottage on Mull for a week, it is beautiful. Visit Iona and Lunga, see the Sea Eagles and enjoy the wild and incredible, beaches. Spend a few nights in Edinburgh then fly home.
Agree with doing one or the other, and for a first trip to Europe, I'd do London for three full days (excluding day of arrival) kenny chesney fan fiction andnot tickets tour and environs for the rest. Hampton Court Palace, Bath, Cotswolds, Oxford, Windsor or Warwick Castle, Glastonbury Abbey, Stonehenge and Avebury, would make a good, fairly compact trip from London.