Parenting Guru: Eating it Up (and Sweating it Out) as a Family

Our most important family tradition is a cross between everything centering around food and taking grandma on vacation. We are a small, tight knit family with all the quirks and we move together like a little pack of wolves. Mealtime is especially important. We eat, we fight, we make up and then eat some more. Constantly planning our next meal or vacation, while we're still in the middle of one. I'm not embarrassed to tell you, we often exercise together too. It may sound like too much togetherness for some, but my husband, mother-in-law and spirited and cheeky older teenage offspring are some of the funniest people I've ever spent time with and sweating it out with them is a hoot. I'd be lying if I said it didn't get a little competitive in the gym. But it's all good. While this type of togetherness usually comes in small doses, it reaches a crescendo when on vacation. Though there are times I want to pull my hair out from all the craziness, when I'm with my family, I feel like the luckiest woman alive.