July 2011

Legend has it that a Spanish galleon went down near Assateague Island over three centuries ago, leaving its horses to swim to Virginia’s shore. While maps of the mid-Atlantic coastline show a remarkable number of shipwrecks, there are no records to confirm this tale. Still, over 1.5 million people visit…

Believe it or not, there’s even more to Disney World than the fantastic fun at theme parks. Our series wrap-up includes resort options and accommodations during your stay. Any parent or grandparent who has tried to please children of different ages knows it rarely can be done with finesse when…

Enthusiastic? Yes. Optimistic? Definitely. But naïve, they weren’t. Even after Robert and Page Bethke completed the six-week intensive course they jokingly referred to as “the scared straight for adoptive parents,” the couple was still convinced they wanted to adopt. The course, presented by the Children’s Home Society of Virginia, is…

Almost two hours into our road trip, the girls were quiet in the backseat. From behind the wheel, I marveled at how smoothly this journey was going as we made our way north to visit family and give away graduation gift cards. I snickered just thinking about the first time…

My older daughter was toiling over an English assignment last year. It was an essay titled “Precious Moments.” Why, I wonder, is she having trouble coming up with a few hundred words on precious moments? Haven’t we, as parents, provided her with all the love, comfort, and material goods she…

The jutting chin. The inscrutable eyes. The shock of unkempt hair. It’s all there in the alabaster bust of Ludwig von Beethoven sitting just outside the door to the violin shop. We’d caught his brooding gaze many times before as we passed by with our daughter, who fell in love…

It’s officially the dog days of summer, whatever that means. It’s lemonade drinkin’, divin’ in the pool HOT! That’s why July is a great time to kick back and enjoy our latest installment of RFM, filled with everything from Disney to horses to violins. So far this summer, we’re having…

For children of all ages, staying active is part of a healthy lifestyle while developing social, emotional, and physical skills, but there are risks. Each year, about 135,000 children ages 5 to 18 are seen in emergency rooms for sports and recreation-related traumatic brain injuries such as concussions. Concussions in…

 Q: Several days ago. my son, 11, stayed home from school because of illness and I had to take a day off from work to stay with him. I found out that he was actually faking his illness to get out of taking a test. I was so angry that…

When my husband was seventeen, he spent a summer working construction with a bunch of men twice his age. Making much more than minimum wage, he kept his mouth shut when he was charged with tasks far beyond his strength and skills. He didn’t even tell his parents when a…

When Phyllis Bradley began marking babies’ Friday diapers before they went home for the weekend at the childcare center where she worked, she was shocked and saddened by what she discovered come Monday morning. “To our horror, many babies returned after the weekend with the same diaper,” says Bradley, director…

1. Chocolate Chip Pinwheels Bake easy chocolate chip cookies according to package directions and let cool completely. You may want to place in the freezer for 20 minutes. Arrange 10 cookies, top side down, on tray. Scoop about 1/3 cup softened ice cream on each cookie. Place another cookie on…