My good friend, and the founder of Our Whole Village, Patricia Monahan, wrote a blog post for Our Whole Village last year titled “Parent Like A Traveler.” The post, with its focus on mindful parenting, inspired me and motivated me. But, if I’m being completely honest, I also felt a twinge of, “oh man, I […]

Although my husband and I love to explore other cultures with our kids, we don’t have the time, the energy or the finances to jet off every weekend. Luckily, we live in San Francisco where several ethnic neighborhoods offer the perfect fix for our cultural wanderlust. On a recent weekend we decided to “travel” to […]

Are you hitting the road with the kids in tow this summer? If so, here are 10 tips to make the trip more pleasant. We’ve based these ideas on prior mistakes we’ve made … er, I mean, adventures we’ve had along the way. Not surprisingly, most are about keeping the backseat occupants entertained. “By failing […]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Do you tend to overpack your carry-on in shear terror of running out of ways to entertain your kids midway through the flight? I do. Do you find yourself schleping car seats and strollers through the airport while balancing bags tossed over your shoulder and hanging off both arms? Yep, same here. I just stepped […]

It seemed like a great idea to take advantage of living in Europe and visit one of Germany’s famed Christmas markets. Our Whole Village’s Patricia Monahan had been to the Christmas market in Cologne and loved it. We settled on Dusseldorf’s Christmas market because we could get inexpensive, direct flights; a good price on a nice, […]

It’s that time of year and we all could use a little inspiration for our gift buying lists. There are plenty of good ideas beginning to circulate. We’ve pinned several and have come up with just a few more that our kids (and we) wouldn’t want to be without. 1. Colored Pencils & Pencil Roll […]

Where in the world… Fun Facts 1.  The Ethiopian calendar has a 13th month consisting of only five to six days. 2.  Ethiopians have a reputation as being some of the fastest runners in the world. In 1960, Ethiopian Abebe Bikila won the Olympic marathon running barefoot! Ethiopians have held the world marathon record five […]

Everyone knows that Washington, D.C. is a great place to go with kids. With museums, monuments and lots of green space, there’s plenty to keep the whole family entertained. What few out-of-towners know, however, is that there are loads of great things to do just across the river, in Northern Virginia, as well. Last weekend […]

In 2010, my husband and I stepped off the proverbial career-tracked train and traveled with our then one-year-old for six months. We spent two of those months in South America, specifically, in Peru (visiting family), Argentina (drinking wine and checking out some great cities and towns) and Chile (cruising through Patagonia and drinking more wine). […]

Do you remember how much fun fall was when you were a kid? You got to jump in the leaves, go to the pumpkin patch, dress up for Halloween and bake fall-themed treats. Or, at least, that’s what I did and I loved it. Little did I know that it actually meant quite a bit […]