“The greatest thing in family life is to take a hint when a hint is intended… and not take a hint when a hint isn’t intended.” Robert Frost

Just when it seems like our family vacations can’t get any better, we’re granted the gift of another one. Maybe the secret here is that it’s not the planning, but the doing? From the far ends of the world we manage to gather, and somehow the memories fall into place. Hiking, baseball games, s’mores, slime, ferry rides, cannons, kites, marshmallows, basset hounds, slurpees, roller coasters, pizza, grocery bags, sleeping bags, cats, and an extra dose of patience every time anyone opens their mouth. I guess over the years, we’ve gotten good at this.

“After a good dinner you can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.” Oscar Wilde

Some smart person once said, “In the end, kids won’t remember the fancy toy you bought them, they’ll remember the time you spent with them.” After two weeks trying to convince our kids to go on hikes and get off their iPhones, I think that person’s kids weren’t teenagers yet! But we did manage to spend time together and even have fun, with all these pictures to prove it.

Our Suncadia lodge was a dreamy place for a week of swimming, cooking, riding bikes, going for walks, roasting marshmallows, and trying to decide which Costco wine was the best. The kids demolished boxes of Eggos while we adults sipped New York sours and taught them to play Killer Uno. We painted our toenails and tumbled through the lazy river, and wandered through the Roslyn Farmer’s market eating ice cream. You don’t really have to go too far outside of cities to see the true diversity of people and politics, but we all seem to find agreement over blown glass, fuzzy socks, and corn on the cob. Oh, and peanut butter cups. And baseball. And cute pictures of cats sleeping. And probably a lot of other things that are more important than politics.

As families go, we do our best to help, listen, and cuddle the people who need it most. I think we probably miss the mark sometimes, but with any luck, we’ll remember the times we got it right more often than the times we didn’t.

Our peas are in the same pods, different but close, and learning together what it means to be family, no matter what.

Fortunately there are some bigger peas around to show us how it’s done.