We all are looking for a village to help us raise our kids. For some of us lucky ones, we have a built in safety net of extended family that fill this role nicely. Unfortunately, they don’t always live around the corner like they did in generation’s past. But nurturing these relationships and unique family bonds is not just a worthy goal, but one that will make the parenting gig so much easier. Here are some great ways to help your kids build good friendships with their cousins.
1. Reunite.
Erin is blessed to have married into a family nearly as boisterous and fun as her own. Every summer Dymowskis harken from hills and dales far and wide to meet and eat and reconnect. The date on the calendar is sacred and everybody tries to make it. Yes, these gatherings are effort, but they are so worth it.
2. Play Games.
When cousins are far away, it’s nice to have a shared experience and language to speak. Enter the humble board game. Whether cousin bonding means week-long Monopoly games, endless card games (especially Sleeping Queens Card Game and Munchkin Deluxe), or board game extravaganzas, games help break the ice and bring the fun easily with cousins who may not have seen each other in over a year.
There may not be training for these events, but that doesn’t mean it’s not intense competition.
3. Create Traditions.
For both of our Maryland families, sharing a bushel of the crabs is a precious summer memory worthy of a trip to our ancestral home every summer. We get practically giddy with the happy, family vibes we are all imbibing . . . or that could be the beer that goes so well with the crabs. But Steve’s family takes it a step further: they give everyone an engraved mallet for Christmas the year they learn to pick their own crabs. Little gestures like these go a long way to cementing bonds.
4. Let them share pieces of your everyday life.
Cousins, even the ones that live 300 miles away, appreciate little peeks behind-the-scenes. Try to plan at least one visit where the places to visit are the ones you go to every day.
5. Share the big moments.
Baptisms, graduations, or even a real honest-to-goodness Pinterest wedding are the perfect time to celebrate the ties that bind you.
6. Try something new together.
Nothing brings cousins close like a shared new experience. Even silly activities will reign supreme and be remembered long after you have taken off that crazy hat.
A family that walks in a parade together stays together.
7. Use technology to bridge the miles.
We are so lucky to live in this age of technology. Whether talking through Skype, following each other on Instagram, Snapchat or other social media, or simply creating fun lasting memories of time spent together, leverage all that data for family fun at its finest. Growing up, Erin’s friend Mary taught her the delightful term “frousins” to describe the beautiful gift of cousins who are more than just family, but true friends as well. Here’s hoping we should all be so lucky!
Hey! Want to buy our new book? I Just Want to Be Perfect brings together 37 hilarious and relatable essays that showcase the foibles of ordinary women trying to be perfect.
We have reached the point of summer where we are ready to fly a white flag and surrender. Visions of summer fun are fermenting under a stack of musty pool towels, those dreams of beautiful family memories are fading, and the natives are more than restless. Hang in there, though. There is still much to love about the season. So pull yourself together, here are 10 reasons to be grateful summer isn’t over yet.
1. You can just add water.
One of summer’s finest points. From cranky toddlers to truculent teens, nothing will cure what ails them like a little H20. So feel free to toss those puppies into the nearest watering hole. Just make sure you keep them safe .
2. You can appreciate nature.
Summer is when Nature is all dressed up and ready to party. Hungry for a gorgeous view? Got a hankering for some sparkling blue water? Just get thee and thine out into the Great Outdoors and drink it all in. Bonus: nature is the perfect buffer for your herd of traveling monkeys. Besides when you are hitting a trail, you can always hang back and pretend all that noise is coming from somebody else’s kid.
3. You can appreciate science.
Big shout-out to chemistry for protecting our kids from summer’s dangers with a marinade of DEET, chlorine, and SPF. Brussel Sprouts should totally counteract this.
4. You can toss your calendar.
Hitting snooze to our heart’s content, pushing back bedtimes in favor of chasing lightning bugs, and generally ignoring our to-do lists, we barely recognize ourselves in the summer. We love the easy, breezy nature of schedules with a little more wiggle room. Of course, this also gives our kids the freedom to constantly bug us for sleepovers. Nothing says easy like a house full of other people’s kids.
5. You can hit the road.
Erin jokes that her Native American name would be Have Minivan, Will Travel, while Ellen fills our Instagram feed with her travel exploits. But whether you are traveling internationally with a a big brood or just down the street with a more travel-sized crew, there are still days left to make great family memories.
6. You can keep cool and carry on.
God bless air conditioning for preventing fratricide and swamp butt. Our kids appreciate living to see the light of a new day and, well, crack sweat is not attractive on anybody.
7. You can channel your inner Olympian.
Nothing like a little international sports competition to kick your crew off Netflix for awhile. You can use the month-long celebration of athletic excellence to align everybody’s TV viewing habits or even inspire a little Olympic spirit among your own people.
8. You can have the Good Eats.
With fresh fruits and veggies available all season long, this is the time to really get excited about food. These recipes are some of our favorites!
9. You can actually read Good Books.
Summer’s more relaxed pace means that you might actually make it to the bottom of that pile of books on your bedside table. Here are some sizzling reads we are loving this summer.
10. You can admire the sunsets.
Nothing tames the beasts or quiets the soul quite like a setting sun, especially over the water.
So take a deep breath and remember that summer’s time is fleeting. Make the most of its last few moments: you’ll be packing backpacks before you know it!
Hey! Want to buy our new book? I Just Want to Be Perfect brings together 37 hilarious and relatable essays that showcase the foibles of ordinary women trying to be perfect.
This time last year, my family was altogether for a pretty big moment: my brother Jonathan asked his girlfriend Kelly to marry him. Almost immediately after all the hugs, high-fives, and champagne toasts, Steve pulled out his calculator and started crunching numbers. With my brother and Kelly living in San Diego, a cool 3,000 miles from us on the East Coast, we would be booking airfares and lodging times seven in our near future. Then things got interesting: they were doing a destination wedding in Cancun, Mexico. Yay! And, gulp! Now we weren’t just googling great fares, but how to get a crew our size to another country. The sad truth is that there is not that much help to be found on the internet if your group is more super-sized than travel-sized. Here are some of the things we learned about how to travel internationally with a large family.
1. Plan Ahead
Though this one has been drilled into us from a lifetime of trying to go, well, anywhere, getting a brood the size of a basketball team to a tropical destination meant we had to take our planning game to the next level.
Pace yourself. Free-wheeling, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants travel is for young adults and moms on the lam. We were making lists and checking them twice from about 10 minutes after we got the first text about the wheres and whens and we didn’t stop double-checking them until we landed safely back home.
One important part of this phase was thinking through the travel process itself. We made sure to download movies and podcasts and create playlists for everybody’s tech. Then we picked out books, magazines, snacks, and gum. We loaded backpacks with all of this and then threw in a deck of cards and some plain sketchbooks. Keeping the campers happy during the not-so-fun parts of travel was key to peace in our moveable kingdom.
Give yourself loads of time any time you try to go anywhere. Remember the “20-per-kid” rule. For every child you are trying to get out the door, you need to add at least 20 minutes to your “out the door” time. Somebody is sure to be faster, but that just gives you back precious minutes for your “slower than molasses but we love him anyway” child. Nothing destroys the memories you are trying to make faster than a screaming mother trying to get everyone out the door in time to meet a flight or dinner reservation.
Pay attention to the details. Like. . .
Passports Everybody needs one obviously BUT what if some of you already have one. We almost got punked with this one. Steve’s passport was set to expire about a month after our trip. While you can use your passport up to the date inside the cover, many countries will deny travelers entry if the passport expires in less than six months. Avoid unfortunate, uncomfortable, and expensive consequences and make sure you renew your passport at least nine months prior to the expiration date.
ALSO, and this is HUGE, find a small regional passport office (often a post office) that will let you schedule your appointment. Even though many passport offices will let you just walk in, these are not for you. Also, have all paperwork filled out, all necessary documents (birth certificates and social security cards), and bring the passport photos with you. We did ours at the local Walgreens. Yes, you can get them at the passport office but this slows the already slow process down to a stultifying crawl. Don’t break your people before you have even left native soil.
Fraud alerts. Steve works for a large bank and he has worked in fraud divisions before, so he clued us into the importance of this one. Let your credit card company’s fraud department know what countries you will be visiting and when including any countries you might be changing planes in. This way, they won’t flag your card as stolen and cut you off from funds just when you need them the most.
Flight restrictions We scoured the website to make sure we understood everything we needed to know about who could bring what, luggage sizes, etc.
No restrictions on taking pictures during flight. The ones my kids took during take-off and landing are among my favorites of the whole trip.
Be the early bird. For dinner, flights, tours, and just about anything, be ready to get that worm. Understand that your group is large, unwieldy, and largely unwelcome in the world of travel packages built for 4. Google and read travel reviews about what time to arrive and then plan on getting there at least thirty minutes beforethat. For flights, we were there an hour earlier than the recommended time (usually three hours, but at least two for international flights).
Be flexible. We met twenty of our relatives in Mexico for the wedding, so meal planning was complicated. We used What’s App to coordinate meals, beach time, and wedding to-dos. Our resort also had a great a la carte restaurant on site which was perfect for trying to get everyone together for meals that accommodated picky 7-year-olds and particular retirees alike.
Decide what you are doing about data. While checking out our cellphone plan to solve our “insane international data charges but Instagram-loving teens” dilemma, we discovered that our resort had a special app that could be downloaded to use social media without incurring international roaming charges.
BEST NEWS EVER!
2. Travel Light and SMART
Consolidate where you can. Despite the fancy clothes we would be bringing for the wedding, the rest of our clothing would be bathing suits, cover-ups, and clothes to go to dinner. This meant that we could pack the two youngest boys together in one suitcase, a worthy goal. Make “less is more” your vacation motto.
Plan on checking at least one bag. The idea of trying to fit all of our liquid needs to TSA standards was stressful. Because we were able to get us all into 2 rooms, we decided that we would bite the fees and check 2 bags, one for each room. This meant that each room would have all the big bottles of sunscreen, medications, and toiletries needed without having to worry about fluid ounces or special baggies.
Fly fancy. It’s just good travel advice in general to pay attention to the local customs about what is appropriate attire for dinner, visiting churches, holy places, etc. Our resort did not allow flip-flops or t-shirts at dinner which meant everyone needed at least one nice, closed toe shoe and a collared shirt. We made the decision to fly “dressed-up” so that our bags wouldn’t be as heavy.
We usually save the collared shirts and fancy hats for family parties.
Get the good luggage. Ellen knows the sad state of our luggage. As an intrepid traveler, she has many pieces of good luggage perfect for travel and she lent them to us. Good, rolling luggage and carry-ons make a huge difference when herding your cats through an airport or hotel lobby. We loved especially the underseat carry-on which was perfect for our 12-year-old. Roomy enough to fit all the clothes for him and his brother, it also meant I didn’t need to worry about him hitting any seatmates in the head as he tried to stow it overhead, or worse yet, worry about snagging overhead storage at all.
Pack smart. We had everybody pack and then take three things out of their bag. Except for the 8 year old who took out three pieces of underwear, this system was solid gold. Ellen also has a great tip that really saved space. We had a goal to only take 6 bags total. By checking 2 of them, we were down to only 4 bags going through the TSA line which was a huge help, especially considering that the college-aged kid forgot he had a water bottle in his backpack and was detained for a bit.
Protect travel documents. We made copies of all travel documents, then we gave all the actual passports to my husband Steve to distribute to each person right before they were needed. He immediately collected everything again after they were no longer immediately needed.
On the way to Mexico, the flight attendants didn’t give us our country entrance documents until we were disembarking, and the scene below ensued. On our way back, we got smart and asked for them while we were on the plane.
No, we aren’t a spectacle at all filling out our country entrance documents.
3. Honor your travelers.
Preserve bedtimes, routines, rituals. As much as you can obviously. All will benefit from happy, well-fed, well-rested kids. This even applies to older kids. Don’t plan a 9am museum visit knowing that punchy teens buck at the mere suggestion of being out the door that early.
When they are done, let them be. A lot of travel is overwhelming. Give them space and time to decompress.
Flower girl-ing and vacationing is a lot for a 7-year-old. This baby needs some pool time.
Let them do vacation their way.
We have teens and young adults, in addition to younger kids. We took the pretty pictures with my fancy DSLR, but I think I might love some of the ones my kids took of the trip even more. Let them show you the trip through their eyes.
Snapchat filters aren’t just for stateside fun anymore!
Make the experience of traveling part of the overall fun. Travel is great . . . and boring and confounding and frustrating too sometimes. We tried to make the parts that weren’t as much fun still interesting especially when we saw the troops fading.
Long lines getting into the country just meant there was time for cool photo opps.
AND one more piece of advice,
JUST DO IT!
We are ever so grateful not just that we were able to see my brother and his beautiful bride get married, but that we had the chance to create such a wonderful family memory. The truth is that despite all jokes to the contrary, all families are travel-sized. Don’t let your sheer volume deter you. Slow, steady, and steely-eyed will get you and your plentiful peeps over that finish line known as a great international family vacation.
Hey! Want to buy our new book? I Just Want to Be Perfect brings together 37 hilarious and relatable essays that
showcase the foibles of ordinary women trying to be perfect.
This is the part of spring where you start dreaming up what you are going to do with your summer. If you are looking for a town with lots to offer families of all ages, we think that you should consider pointing that minivan towards the mountains and Frederick County, Maryland. Full disclosure: I grew up there but with the veritable wealth of great state parks there, the wonderful and walkable downtown area, and so much history everywhere, why haven’t you visited yet? Then you two could have family memories like these . . . and these. . . and even this . . .
We call this one “Erin, put down the darn camera!” Precious, precious memories all around.
As you can see, Frederick has many splendors on display for all visitors, but sometimes the very best things are right off the beaten path and that’s what I’m sharing today. While you are visiting the lovely Frederick, you should most definitely hit up our new favorite place to run children til they drop, the Catoctin Creek Park and Nature Center. This hidden gem has quickly established itself as a favorite with kids, teens, and adults alike. Tucked in Middletown Valley, the park is an easy drive up alternate route 40. Once you are there, prepare to stay for awhile because nobody is going to want to leave and there is a ton to do. From one awesome climbing structure . . . to the next . . . And with miles of trails surrounding the whole area, including a sensory trail that you actually have to hear, see, taste, and smell to believe, your family will be busy and engaged the whole day. Make sure that even if you have gorgeous weather like we did that you plan on spending a good amount of time at the top notch nature center there. Beautiful inside and out, this nature center has a ton of animals like this one in the newly expanded turtle pond, and your kids can even dress up like their favorite creatures in the excellent learning resource area full of costumes, games, and science enrichment activities. Through Maryland’s Parkquest program, we have visited a lot of state park nature centers. This county park challenges the best of them with its diverse and varied collection of live creatures available for the kids to see, excellent learning resource area, and knowledgable and available staff. We are hard to impress on this front, and we all were wowed! Some other special reasons to love this place:
The roof of the Catoctin Creek Nature Center is covered in plants. From producing oxygen to providing additional wildlife habitat and collecting rainfall, this thoughtful “green” feature emphasizes environmental stewardship in action. We love it!
The playground equipment is 100% recycled.
They write their own blog to keep their visitors informed and engaged. Check it out!
They partnered with the Potomac Valley Fly Fishers to offer fishing opportunities at the park too! Yay! Even more outdoor fun!
The bottom line is that you should definitely add this hidden park gem in Frederick, Maryland to your to do list this year. Excellent family fun for everyone!
For family fun, movie night is a sure bet. We love them all–the good, the bad, and the guilty pleasures. You can’t quote movies like we do and be lukewarm about the silver screen. Sometimes even the best ideas can wear a little thin though and you are left looking for a little inspiration. Well, seek and ye shall find, friends. A good old-fashioned family game night is what all the cool families do to get their fun back on.
Lest you think we don’t practice what we preach, this is the proof that Erin has board games in no less than five places in her house.
And lest you be intimidated by the thought of being trapped around the table for too long with your fun hostages, er, family, the following games are not just entertaining, but they mostly clock in around an hour.
This one is Erin’s mom’s favorite and there’s a great reason why: this is a board game for people who don’t love board games. If you haven’t played one in awhile, it can be hard to get back in the habit but this game will bring you back to the fold. With almost no reading, appealing train pieces, and simple but interesting moves, Ticket to Ride can literally be anybody’s game. Just about any age player can learn and even enjoy this game after playing just a few rounds, not an easy feat. Another plus: younger kids can play with older kids, a huge bonus with sprawling families like ours.
This version of the modern classic is more of the great fun above but with some important improvements that give this version it’s own devoted following. Building train stations, tunnels, and ferry routes up the fun factor and make this game lightning fast but also more cutthroat. This is a board game enthusiast’s game engineered for newbies and the combination is undeniably engaging. Enough strategy for hardcore fans yet simple and enjoyable for new ones, this game wins on all fronts. The bigger cards are a plus too.
Games are front and center of all of our extended family fun as well. Uncle Dan played this one when he was a kid. He was super excited when they rereleased this one and we are too. Sharks, whales, whirlpools, and a shrinking island are just some of the hazards that ratchet up the entertainment meter in this game. No reading in this one either, just all the joy that comes with chomping up your brother’s pieces and escaping your doom. Good times.
Erin’s kids wore this one out from all the play this got in rotation. Gold doubloons, a flag to capture, and actual treasure to loot are just some of the key features of this game for pirate-loving pre-teens. We have to point out just how swoon-worthy the pieces are. Kids will drool over the “gems” and “gold” and the pirate ships are beauties in and of themselves. So much fun all the way around.
This is one of our favorite games to lure sulky teens back to the family fold. Such a great combination of luck and strategy in the play, but what we really love is the great player interaction in this game. Reconnecting with one another is why we are doing this after all and this game has it as part of the overall game experience. Winner winner chicken dinner.
Kids love watching the disease hot spots pop up and assuming the different roles as disease-fighting specialists. Parents love that we are all working together to put out the hot spots. If the disease spreads, we all lose. If we contain the outbreak, we all win. Family fun and peace in one box. Fa-la-la-la-la.
Tween boys lose their ever-loving minds over this game. At a price point under $30, it’s a great gift choice and with a gazillion add-on card packs, it’s a gift idea that you can recycle for his birthday as well. Keep this in mind for the younger set. It’s a winner.
All of the teens and tweens love this classic game, and, in the interest of full disclosure, this is THE game to settle all sibling scores in Erin’s family. But you have to get the version with the animals. Nothing like having the camels and the water buffalo duke it out in the end. Trust us on this one.
With a price point below $10, this one could be a great stocking stuffer or perfect for a gift exchange. We play this all summer long and during snow days. Super-fast and fun.
Even more strapped for time? Can’t pull together a foursome? The next few games only need two willing players and 20 minutes.
Like Tic-Tac-Toe? Great. This game starts with that concept and blows it up and makes it about a hundred times more fun. We have yet to meet a kid that can say no to this one.
Erin’s family learned this one on vacation with our friends from Maine. We give this as a gift to every 5 year old kid we know. Invented by a little girl and created by her parents, it speaks to a kid’s heart and has some great early math skills. But the real genius is in the details. The rule that you can’t have both the cat queen and the dog queen in your pile at the same time? Genius. It’s this charm and wit that keeps us still playing this game as often as we do. Winner with boys and girls alike and tweens and teens and little kids and adults, so basically everyone! A fantastic vacation game!
Simple in design but complex enough to keep everybody happy and interested. Every move is a “shove” that changes the maze making finding the treasure you seek an ever changing challenge.
In a land of a thousand games, this is the master. Kids love it. Adults love it. The idea of setting up bombs and armies is heady stuff and part of the long appeal of this classic. It’s fast, smart fun with only 2 players. A rainy beach day or boring Sunday afternoon staple.
Strategy games are always a favorite and this one is such a simple design and concept. The allure of trying to make all the pieces your color is hard to beat.
A party classic for a reason, it also brings the family fun like none other. Some of our favorite family memories have started with this game.
Would You Rather? Board Game – Classic Version
This game is a favorite of all ages, but teens love it too because it is also a big hit at slumber parties. Maybe if you pull out this game at the beginning of the evening, you can avoid your own sleepover disasters. We’re rooting for you!
And if you have A LOT of time . . .
Clue
When we have a little more time, and some quiet, Clue is always a favorite. The intrigue gets us every time.
Risk Game
Because who doesn’t want to rule the world?
As you may have guessed, we are huge fans of board games here at The Sisterhood. So give your Netflix cue a rest for a night or two. You know we love the movies too, but it’s fun to mix it up once in awhile. We really do wish that your family catches some of the particular magic that only comes when you find some time to reconnect over a good old fashioned game.
Erin is blessed to have married into a family nearly as boisterous and fun as her own. Every summer Dymowskis harken from hills and dales far and wide to meet and eat and reconnect. The date on the calendar is sacred and everybody tries to make it. Yes, these gatherings are effort, but they are so worth it.
5. Share the big moments.
6. Try something new together.
Growing up, Erin’s friend Mary taught her the delightful term “frousins” to describe the beautiful gift of cousins who are more than just family, but true friends as well. Here’s hoping we should all be so lucky!
and these. . . 
and even this . . .
Tucked in Middletown Valley, the park is an 
to the next . . . 
And with miles of trails surrounding the whole area, including a sensory trail that you actually have to hear, see, taste, and smell to believe, 
your family will be busy and engaged the whole day. 
Make sure that even if you have gorgeous weather like we did that you plan on spending a good amount of time at the top notch nature center there. 
Beautiful inside and out, this nature center has a ton of animals like this one in the newly expanded turtle pond, 
and your kids can even dress up like their favorite creatures in the excellent learning resource area full of costumes, games, and science enrichment activities. 
Through Maryland’s 
