Bethany Beach

Yesterday was on the calendar as a normal, summery Friday. Nothing planned, nothing scheduled. Then our plans changed, all because this lovely sister of mine wanted to go to the beach. And so we have Heather to thank for what turned out to be one of the most glorious days ever!

Heather is home from college for the summer, and she has this week off from her job as a most amazing nanny to four kiddos (newborn twins included in the mix). She and the Cummings fam had a beach trip planned last weekend, but plans were foiled when La Derecha brought crazy winds and power outages to our area. We were out of town last weekend and would have missed the beach outing, so we benefited from the change of date. It ended up being just Heather and our little family off to Bethany Beach. We left just after 6AM and arrived just before 10AM. With a stop in the middle, that means we made great time. There was NO traffic on the beltway (unbelievable), and we sailed along the Bay Bridge, arriving just in time to roll easily into a parking space and hit the sand and surf. I drove while Adam worked remotely. Parking was a mere $1.50 per hour, and Bethany Beach needs to win some awards for being the most darling beach town ever. There are lots of cute little shops along the boardwalk, and it refrains from being strip mall-ish; the entire area is very family friendly and maintains a small-town feel, which you know I love.

 We spent the day digging...

Jumping the waves...

And this fellow discovered a new passion for boogie boarding. 

The kids started the day building castles, trenches, and a fort in the sand but quickly discovered the water. All three of my offspring wanted to spend as much time as possible in the depths. Good thing we had a 1:1 ratio of adults to children. (Thank you, Heather!) John is an absolute fish, very adamant in his requests to return to the "wawa" when we took the occasional break up by the beach umbrella. Emma was introduced to the "part of your world" game by Adam (think "Little Mermaid") and would joyfully exclaim her line as each wave approached and we helped lift her over the swell. She also came home with 10 treasures (seashell tidbits). I put a limit on the number so other families can find treasures too. That was logical enough to make our take-home haul manageable. 

We were having so much fun that when 4:00 came and our parking was due to run out, we sent Adam to put more money in the meter, and I brought a boogie board out for Spencer, thinking he might like to hold onto it in the deep water since Heather and I were outnumbered in our efforts to keep all 3 kids afloat. John came with me on the boogie board errand and quickly claimed it for his own once we got back in the water. Cute boy pulled his little body up, held on with both hands and set the standard for the rest of our trip. Before we exited the water, all three kids were on boogie boards floating over the swells and having a grand time.

Spencer and Adam stayed in the water playing "motorcycle" where Adam guides the board up and over breaking waves, letting Spencer catch a little air in the process. Spencer even rode his first wave into shore at the end. 

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of our time in the water; can't risk dropping the iPhone in the ocean, I'm afraid. 

Recipe for our perfect beach day: 90 degree weather, perfect water temperature (refreshing, but not freezing), gorgeous water color, lovely sand, a good lunch (sandwiches, chilled watermelon, and Sun Chips), Gatorade, a cooler full of water, loads of snacks (peanut M&M's and string cheese being favorites), an awesome van that plays DVDs as we drive, no traffic coming OR going, a foot wash station that enabled us to leave nearly all of the sand at the beach, and pleasant children willing to take on an adventure. 

p.s. I saw dolphins swimming off the shore. Yep, pure magic. 

The perfect day.