Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Archives for February 2014

5 on Friday: Board games for families with young children

Board games, it seems, have always been a part of my life. One of my fondest childhood memories is spending weekend nights with my grandparents, playing board games. Monopoly, in particular. My grandfather had a strategy of buying every property he landed on, which diminished his cash flow temporarily but always profited him in the end. And my grandmother would exclaim with glee “Mine!” whenever someone else landed on one of the properties she owned.

It was there, in the family room of their home, that I learned to love board games. Through the years, playing board games together became part of our family holiday gatherings. Games like Outburst and Scattergories and Trivial Pursuit and Guesstures. When I moved into my own apartment, the board games continued as my friends and I would play Trivial Pursuit late into the night (and early morning) until one of us collected all the pieces.

We’re now–finally–to the age of parenting when we can play board games as a family. Our kids are 4 and almost-6, which we’re discovering is a great time for games. They’re close enough in age to be able to mostly play the same games.

kids gamesHere are five we’ve discovered as a family that are tons of fun.

1. Monopoly Junior Party. One denomination of money. You buy every space you land on. A good starter Monopoly. Doesn’t take too long, and even our 4-year-old can play mostly on his own.

2. What’s in the Cat’s Hat? A sort of reverse hide-and-seek/20 questions game. Imaginative.

3. Guess Who? A classic. Simple. Easy to play. And because it’s for two players only, I make the children play together. (Insert evil mom laugh here.)

4. Uno Moo. We’re almost ready to graduate to Uno, I think, but this one is so much fun with the animal shapes that I’ll be sad to let it go. Watch out for the stinky skunks!

5. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. Based on the books by Mo Willems. There’s some strategy involved in this one, if you want. Or you can just move your bus around the board to collect all the items and avoid the pigeon.

What are you favorite family board games?

As good as any rom-com movie: Review of A Marriage in Middlebury by Anita Higman

Small town. Tea. Lost love. What’s not to like?

Anita Higman’s A Marriage in Middlebury is a sweet romance full of all the elements that make me sigh at a good romantic comedy. (Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book from the author in exchange for my review.)a-marriage-in-middlebury

First, there’s the likable, down-to-earth heroine. Charlotte Hill is the owner of Middlebury’s tea room, where she serves her customers with grace, humor and compassion, uniquely blending teas to fit their personalities. She’s a friend to all, including a young boy with a troubled family. She’d love to have a family of her own, but that ship sailed more than a decade earlier, when her high school love Sam asked her to marry him and she turned him down. Charlotte is delightful, the kind of heroine you think would be your friend, like Sandra Bullock in While You Were Sleeping or Julia Roberts in just about anything.

Then there’s Sam Wilder, the gone-but-not-forgotten love who returns to Middlebury with a fiancée in tow. He’s not the hunky hero of some stories, but he, too, is a likable character. Think Bill Pullman. (For some reason I want to compare this book to While You Were Sleeping.) He’s caring and dependable and dedicated. You can almost see the chemistry between these two on the pages of the book. (I’m not always a fan of books-become-movies but I secretly wouldn’t mind seeing this one on the screen.)

The story is full of colorful side characters, too. There’s the old man atheist who winds up at Easter dinner with a room full of Christians. The mysterious homeless man who is good with plants. The single pastor being set up on blind dates by his parishioners. And the antique dealer who acts first and thinks later but with good intentions.

If that’s not enough to sell this book as a must-read, then consider the writing. In the first book I read by Higman, I was blown away by her use of metaphors. It holds true for this book, too. There’s a casual, friendly style to her writing but it’s full of spiritual insight without feeling forced. Higman’s insights about life and faith flow naturally through the story. I love reading what she writes.