The downside of saving your family vacation until the very end of the summer is dragging to the finish line. The upside is looking forward to it all summer long. Well, it finally arrived!
Day 1 - It took quite a bit of time in the morning to get the car loaded up, between a bunch of food and stuff on the top of our car and two bikes on the back. We hit traffic here and there, but after 3 1/2 hours made it to our unit. This year's house is bigger but older and further from the beach. No matter, the elbow room helps, and Asher being older means we can walk a little further without much fuss. We grabbed dinner and groceries and ate in, before hitting the boardwalk for ice cream. This really is a happy place for our family, and it was nice to ease into it for a good long chunk of time (two weeks!).
Day 2 - Asher slept til 6, which I'll live with. Amy and I took him for a walk before returning to the house to eat breakfast and pack food for the beach. After Aaron and Jada woke up, we headed to the beach. Over the course of the morning, the place filled up a bit, but it was never too crowded. We enjoyed the sand and the waves immensely. Amy's dad arrived in the late morning and joined us on the beach. Not long after, I brought Asher back to rinse him off and get him down for an early afternoon nap. Amy came back to the house and I did a quick jaunt to the local Y for a workout. When I got back, Asher was still sleeping and it was Amy's turn to head to the Y. Once Asher woke up, Aaron and Jada headed to the arcade while I took Asher to ride rides. We all got back in the late afternoon and ordered food before heading out to the boardwalk for ice cream and Skee-ball. A nice first full day of vacation!
Day 3 - Our morning routine appears set, governed as always by Asher's sleep schedule, which includes waking up at 6am and napping at 1pm. In between, we went for a walk, had breakfast at the house, and then had a good long time at the beach. Asher is warming to the water part of a beach outing, so spent less time digging from the comfort of our chairs and more time in the water. It tired him out good, such that he slept soundly and we actually had to roust him up in the afternoon. We took him to the Y while Aaron and Jada rode bikes on the boardwalk. We got pizza and ate at the house before calling it an early evening, since Jada and I had to wake up early to head back to Philly for her high school orientation.
Day 4 - Up early to shuttle Jada back to Philly for freshman orientation at Central High School, where she'll start next month. I love this place, and the orientation (for parents too) did nothing to dispel the good feelings. We made good time back to Rehoboth Beach, and apparently while we were away Amy ran the boys hard at the beach, so they were both still asleep when we got back. I was able to get my own nap in before we took Asher to the Y while we got workouts in. Then it was takeout Chinese, followed by ice cream on the boardwalk. Not a bad day!
Day 5 - Today is Amy's birthday! She got to sleep in while I took a certain four-year-old for a sunrise walk. After breakfast, we hit the beach, and Asher is getting bolder about the ocean, so we spent a lot of time getting pummeled by the waves, laughing all the way. After lunch and a very long nap, we detoured to the grocery store for dinner, flowers, and a birthday cake. And then after dinner, we hit the amusement park for a couple of evening rides, with Asher surprising us all by wanting to ride a much bigger kids' ride (he barely cleared the height requirement), which terrified him but also thrilled him. We got back to the beach house, and while Amy's dad read Asher bedtime stories, Amy and I went back out for a stroll on the boardwalk (ice cream and shopping sans kids is the best!). She had a good birthday day!
Day 6 - I could get used to this routine. Asher and I had our sunrise walk, and then I made him and the older kids breakfast. We hit the beach by 9. The weather was even nicer, and Asher even bolder in the water, although some waves were angry enough that they sent him scurrying for dry land. We retired to the house for lunch and naps during the hottest hours, and then walked to the Y for a workout before dinner. We had planned to grill but couldn't get the darned briquettes to work, so we ended up boiling the hot dogs and cooking the burgers on the stovetop. Leftover birthday cake was a welcome end to our evening feast, and then Asher and Amy went to bed, I got some work in, and Amy's dad played Uno with Aaron and Jada. Ahhh...
Day 7 - Asher and I started the day like we always do, with a sunrise walk. But Amy was with us this time, so we ended up going much longer. After breakfast and waking up the older kids, we headed to the beach like normal. Ah, but with storm clouds threatening, we headed back to the beach house a little earlier than usual. No matter: after lunch, Asher was ready for his nap, and many of the rest of us also took a snooze. We hit the Y in the afternoon, and slogged through the rain home. I grabbed dinner and brought it home for us to eat while watching TV as the rain continued to come down. No boardwalk, no rides, no problem. Nice to have a bit of a chill day.
Day 8 - The best thing about a two-week beach vacation is getting to the first Saturday and realizing you don't have to pack it all it up and go home. After our sunrise walk, I made breakfast for the kids, and then Amy and I took Asher to the Y and then to a playground before returning to the beach house for lunch. However, no beach in the morning meant Asher's wasn't nearly as tired by nap time, so he popped up well before I was ready to relinquish my own nap. No matter, we headed to Funland for rides before going to a nearby restaurant and then getting ice cream on the boardwalk. We are officially at the halfway point of our vacation, and glad for another week to enjoy in our happy place.
Day 9 - A little bit of a morning hiccup. We had planned a long bike ride, and were ready to head out at 8am, but it was raining. We decided to do a quick grocery run while we waited for the clouds to dissipate, and discovered that our car battery had died. Apparently Asher had fiddled with the ceiling light, and it had been on for 72+ hours (during which time we never used the car). Fortunately, it didn't take too long for AAA to come by for a jump, and then for me to take the car to a nearby auto repair shop to get the battery fully charged (I threw a bike in the back and biked the mile home rather than wait two hours there). Once we got the car back, we then headed to a bike rental place to get me a bike with a child seat (we had brought Aaron's and Amy's bikes, and our beach house came with a free bike rental, which we picked up for Jada at the beginning of our trip so that she and Aaron could bike whenever they wanted). Asher pushed the bounds of what could fit into that child seat: his legs were crammed between the child seat bar, my seat, and my butt, and the harness belt barely fit over his fat head. But despite jockeying with him for space around my rear end, I did fine pedaling and he did fine as a passenger. In fact, at one point he actually fell asleep! I guess the ride resembled a car ride, which often puts him to sleep too. We did a 16-mile loop through a state park to Lewes (where we stopped for lunch), and then back through a very scenic stretch to Rehoboth. I'm especially proud of Jada, who didn't even know how to ride a bike when we started this trip, and was able to hack the ride without a hitch. The ride put me in the mood for a nap, so Asher watched TV while Amy went for a walk and Jada and Aaron hit the boardwalk. In the evening, we got pizza for dinner and then went to Funland for rides. We really love this place!
Day 10 - Pretty blustery so a morning beach run seemed unappealing. I know: let's do another outdoor activity that involves being cold and wet! That's right, I took the kids to Ocean City (MD) to walk the boardwalk there, and then we hit a water park on the way back. Asher was right on the border of paying less but not being able to ride all the rides, or paying full price and being able to ride all the rides. I chose the former but quickly upgraded to the latter, once Asher saw the big kid rides and begged to go on them. And in fact he did ride all of them, multiple times, and loved every second. We stayed less than two hours because it was very cold, but it was a lot of fun. Amy begged off it all and went on a long bike ride with her free time, so everyone was happy. After Asher's afternoon nap, we took him to the Y, and then got take-out food after. We put Asher to bed and then I took Aaron and Jada to ride go-karts, but they weren't selling any multi-ride tickets, which I had a coupon for, so we postponed for another day and hit the grocery store instead. Hoping for warmer weather tomorrow!
Day 11 - After several days of mixing things up, we tried to get back to the routine we had established at the beginning of our trip, and were largely successful. Asher slept in a little so our morning walk was a little shorter before we returned to the house for breakfast. Because it was still pretty blustery, we headed for the beach but brought far less stuff and mostly stayed away from the water. It was still fun to play in the sand, enjoy the calm of crashing waves, and just be together as a family. With the early departure from the beach, we had time in the morning to drop the older kids at the go-kart place and hit the outlet malls. Amy scored a nice purse for an even nicer price, while Asher and I tagged along and tried to stay out of trouble amidst so much expensive stuff. We returned home for lunch and naps before heading to the Y in the afternoon and then coming back to the house for dinner. At this point, I owed everyone ice cream big time, so we headed to the boardwalk for that before coming back to go to bed. Can it be that we just have a few days left? Fortunately, warmer days are ahead.
Day 12 - Slightly warmer today, so after our customary morning walk and breakfast, we headed to the beach for the morning. It was overcast so we didn't bring umbrellas or venture much into the water, but Asher seemed to enjoy playing in one big sandbox, and the rest of us puttered around in the sand and water. I guess there was just enough sunshine and getting pummeled by waves to take the starch out of all of us, because we blew right through nap time. Soon enough, it was time for our usual jaunt to the Y, followed by some take-out food and then a few rides at Funland. More mellow on account of having to head out early tomorrow to take Jada to another high school orientation. Alas, we are running out of vacation!
Day 13 - Had to run Jada back to Philly for a full morning of high school orientation, so we left the house early and were met with little traffic resistance. I got a workout in at a nearby Y while waiting for her, and soon enough we were back to Rehoboth Beach. Jada was exhausted from getting up early and Aaron was spent from a morning at the beach, so they slept while Amy went to the Y. I took Asher to a nearby water park and we had a blast. We rode every ride multiple times, and Asher's smile just kept getting bigger and bigger. He also enjoyed just floating in the water, although I think he enjoyed more the thrill of careening down a slide a breakneck speed. After such a day, we were real mellow that evening. That and the fact that we only have one more full day here, boo!
Day 14 - Our last full day of vacation was a good one. The weather was fantastic so we headed to the beach like we normally do in the morning. Alas, in his zealousness to apply sunscreen to his own face, Asher got some in his eye and was howling. Between that and running himself ragged at the water park the day before, he was very clingy and very spent. In fact, he spent most of our beach time face first in my chest, either snuggling or outright sleeping. It prevented me from being anything more than furniture, but it was very sweet too so I didn't mind. We went in for lunch and naps, and then headed to the Y for one more workout before coming back to the house for dinner. We used up all our ride tickets and then put Asher to bed and started packing up. It was a good vacation and we are already looking forward to coming back!
Day 15 - One last morning walk, and sunrise never looked better. Then it was time to feed the kids breakfast and get the car packed up. We hit a snag an hour into our drive home when the bikes started falling off the rack, but luckily we were able to pull into a gas station and get them secured better. The rest of the ride was uneventful - Asher even took a nap, which helped! - and soon enough we were home and unpacking all our stuff. It was a great trip, and we can't wait to do it all again!
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