Carefully planned summer Cousin Camps help keep family playing together
Visitors to Frank and Lynda Bain’s home can’t help but notice the collages of family photos hanging in the hallway. These photos are special because they were taken during the Bain clan’s annual Cousin Camp, a summertime ritual of field trips, friendly family competition and late-night sleepovers at Mimi and Papa’s house.
“It’s awesome!” said Abby, 7, who traveled from Dallas along with her 4-year-old brother Hunter for three action-packed days at their grandparents’ west Houston home.
Abby and Hunter’s dad is Bo, the Bains’ son.
They joined cousins Anna Jane and Ally Hilbrich and Charlie and Emerson Goodman for this year’s camp, held the weekend of June 20-21.
The camp included a trip to Main Event, a blindfolded three-legged race, backyard battle games pulled from Pinterest and a trip down a local lazy river.
The crew also included the parents, the Bains’ daughters Lacy Hilbrich and Liz Goodman along with their respective husbands Lucas and Chad and Bo’s wife Mandy.
They were divided into “Survivor”-style tribes modeled after the longrunning reality television show. They even sported custom-made T-shirts.
Lynda said she was inspired to begin Cousin Camp in 2009 after she heard of other grandmothers having their grandchildren over to stay for a couple of days.
But a simple sleepover wouldn’t do for Lynda.
During past Cousin Camps the kids have taken trips to local bounce houses and visited the Oil Ranch in Hockley and Old MacDonald’s Farm in Humble. They’ve completed a scavenger hunt in West Oaks Mall.
This is all painstakingly planned by Lynda, who spends months each year in preparation.
She said she scours the Internet for game ideas and day trip outings and then hits the local dollar stores to pick up all the supplies.
Each meal is scheduled ahead of time and included in Lynda’s detailed Cousin Camp binder.
But despite all the meticulous planning and time spent making it come together, Lynda said Cousin Camp isn’t a source of stress.
On the contrary, she called it a joy.
“It’s not overwhelming for me because I’m not a perfectionist,” she said, explaining that if an activity goes awry or the kids have something else in mind she simply rolls with the punches.
“I love doing it. I’m doing it for the children, and I love having them want to come.”
That attitude likely comes in handy after three or four jam-packed days and nonstop cousin company.
“(Cousin Camp) is really fun until about four days when we all get tired of it and start fighting,” said Ally, 9.
To ensure the yearly event has grown along with the children, Lynda incorporates age-appropriate games and even brought in her own children to participate.
“As the kids have gotten older it’s evolved,” said Lacy Hilbrich, the Bains’ oldest child.
She said this year the kids battled it out in lipsynching contests and her teenage daughter Anna Jane hosted the “Not So Newlywed” game for the parents.
“Obviously she couldn’t play the game so we made her the host,” Hilbrich said.
Charlie, who at 8 is the Bains’ oldest grandson, said he likes the uniqueness of Cousin Camp and how the games have gotten harder as the years have passed.
“They’ve become more challenging,” he said. “They’re not so much a kid-friendly version anymore.” Along with the games, challenges and outings, each year’s Cousin Camp is photographed by the family and the pictures are then made into a photo book which Lynda displays at home.
As time passes, she said she realizes there’s a chance not all of the kids will want to participate and Cousin Camp will have to continue evolving to stay exciting .