Debriefing Rehoboth

 

 

At the risk of oversharing and in the spirit of recounting what life has looked like in the year of COVID, I've included below a few details from our Rehoboth trip.  Consider this a documentation for my future self, a resource for other families planning vacations, and a data point for leisure travel analysis all in one.

 

 

Daily routine

Alas, our beloved Y was out due to COVID: no out-of-state members, and at any rate no Kid Watch.  Usually we'd do beach in the morning, lunch and nap midday, and a trip to the Y in the afternoon (exercise for the adults, some fun for Asher).  Without this, we had to change things up a bit.  Typically, Asher and I would start the day with a walk to the boardwalk to see the sun rise (and sometimes we'd venture into the ocean too).  Then I'd make breakfast while Asher watched TV.  At some point, Amy would wake up and I'd go for a run or bike ride and then shower and get myself ready for the beach.  Aaron was usually the next person up, and Jada last.  Usually between 9 and 10, we'd be off to the beach until at least noon, after which lunch and naps follow.  In lieu of our afternoon Y run, we went to the arcade or playground, or just stay home and watch TV.  Dinner would then either be bought or made, and every few days we'd head out for ice cream on the boardwalk.  Unlike other years when we were more adventuresome about special activities, there were actually only a few deviations from this set routine, as we only had one real rainout, we only did two leisure things (water park one morning, go karts another morning), and one day we did arcade in the morning and beach in the afternoon.  

House

The biggest expense, as you might imagine, was the beach house.  We've been to Rehoboth four times in the last five summers, and we've stayed at different places each time, all about a block or two from the beach and anywhere between two and four bedrooms.  This year's choice was in a condo, with a pool (which, alas, was closed due to COVID), about a block and a half from the beach and boardwalk.  It had three bedrooms, each with a balcony, and 2 1/2 bathrooms, as well as a kitchen, dining room, and living room.  Because it's Delaware and because it was so late in the summer season, it rented for under $2,000 a week; as a point of comparison, a beach house of similar size and location in say Ocean City NJ in the middle of the summer might rent for almost twice as much per week.

Budget

Besides the beach house, food was the next biggest expense.  Flipping through my receipts, I estimate we spent about $300 on groceries (as well as another maybe $200 extra getting stuff in Philly and bringing it down), $350 on takeout food (which we did maybe slightly more than half the nights), and $75 on ice cream.  Due to bringing Jada back to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia mid-trip to have her wrist examined, vacation entailed two round-trips, which in addition to a few other short car trips works out to about 500 miles driven, so using the IRS mileage reimbursement rate as a proxy for how much cost that imposes on a car owner we'll call that about $300 in transportation costs.  For fun, we passed on Funland (due to COVID, in lieu of tickets they sold two-hour blocks of time, which never really worked for us), and instead spent $125 total at the arcade, plus $60 riding go-karts and $20 at the water park (I'll also throw in the $80 we spent for a temp gym membership for Amy, since the local Y was temporarily not accepting out-of-state members due to COVID).  I gave Aaron and Jada a combined $100 of spending money for all the times they had to go out and explore the town on their own, which they spent at the arcade and on candy and souvenirs.  Speaking of souvenirs, I bought a $25 stuffed animal for Asher, and neither Amy nor I bought any souvenirs.  So all in all of that works out to $1,635, or about $120 a day.

Packing (food)

As noted above, we relied heavily on food we packed or bought at the local grocery store rather than eating out all the time.  Here's as comprehensive a list I could come up with of all we packed for our trip:

• Breakfast - a huge box of pancake mix, 4 packs of bacon, 4 boxes of cereal, 2 packs of cream cheese, 1 jar of nutella
• Lunch - 4 packs of lunch meat, 4 packs of sliced cheese, peanut butter and jelly
• Dinner - 1 box of ramen, 1 box of cup o' noodles, 4 packs of hot dogs, 2 bags of chicken nuggets, 4 boxes of pasta, 1 big jar of pasta sauce
• Condiments - 1 big tub of margarine, mayo, ketchup, mustard, 2 bottles of dressing, 2 bags of croutons, cooking spray
• Smoothie ingredients - 4 small bags of frozen fruit, 1 thing of honey
• Canned - beans, corn, mandarin oranges, pineapples
  
• Drinks - 1 pack of capri sun, 2 tins of coffee (+filters), 1 big bottle of creamer, 10 bottled waters (2 for each of us, labeled so we can refill), brita pitcher, 2 bottles of chocolate syrup
• Snacks - 4 bags of potato chips, ingredients for s'mores, 2 boxes of cheez-its, 2 boxes of fruit snacks, 2 boxes of granola bars, 1 pack of popcorn, 2 bags of tortilla chips, 1 tins of hummus
• Miscellaneous - 1 bag of chocolate chips, 2 bags of c'raisins, 1 package of raisins, 2 jars of peanuts
• Storage - saran wrap, small sandwich bags, gallon bags, kitchen garbage bags

Grocery list 

For all we packed, of course we had to hit the local grocery store for some things.  In all, we made three separate trips and bought the following:

• Fruit - it worked out to about 30 apples, 40 pears, and 15 bananas, as well as (thanks to a sale!) 4 packs of grapes and 8 packs of strawberries
• Veg - 4 bags of spinach, 4 huge cucumbers, 4 bell peppers, a bag of carrots, 6 tomatoes
• Staples - 4 gallons of milk, 4 dozen eggs, 6 loaves of bread
• Prepared food - 3 dinners' worth, plus a birthday cake for Amy

Packing (non-food)

The linen service is clutch, since it means we don't have to worry about packing or washing sheets and towels.  Here's what we did have to pack:

• Clothes - basically wear one and pack two for everyone, as well as two swimsuits (and for me and Amy, workout clothes), and then one sneaker + one slides
  
• Bathroom - 5 toothbrushes, 2 tubes of toothpaste, 2 things of floss, 2 shampoos, 2 conditioners, Asher's bathroom products, 2 body washes, 2 hand soaps, deodorant
  
• Cleaning - 6 rolls of toilet paper, 6 rolls of paper towels, 1 big dish detergent, 2 kitchen sponges, 1 pack of napkins, 6 boxes of tissues, laundry detergent
  
• Beach etc - umbrella, blanket, 5 towels, sand toys, 2 beach chairs, a bunch of bottles of sunscreen, 2 bike helmets, bike lock
• Food storage - cooler for water, small cooler, big cooler, ice packs
• Packing supplies - big storage pouch for above the car (+straps and rope), bike rack for back of car (+bungees)
• Electronics - laptop, chromebook, ipad, kindle, chargers
  

Exercise

As noted above, the Y being unavailable to us was the biggest impact of COVID.  That put swimming and lifting out of reach for me, so I did various runs of 2 to 5 miles around town, and four times went biking (3 longer routes and 2 shorter ones).  I wish I could've been more aggressive but I tweaked my back halfway through and so had to ease up a bit.  Amy got a temp gym membership to have access to a treadmill, which she used daily while Asher napped.

COVID

Masks were required in all places except for the beach.  By and large, that was not much of an imposition: Asher complied without much complaint, while the rest of us only forgot a couple of times.  Generally everyone else was wearing masks, although when out running or biking I saw a combination of fellow exercisers wearing masks, people not wearing masks, and (like me) people who put their masks up when they got near others.  We never ate out but it was allowed, although most restaurants took advantage of outdoor seating.  As noted above, COVID meant no pool at the place we were staying and no Y for us out-of-towners.  It also shifted Funland from tickets to two-hour blocks, so we never went, which was a big bummer.  It did mean Asher and I had a great time at the water park, which was also on a two-hour block and which restricted the number of patrons, meaning we rarely had to wait in line for rides.  

Managing Asher

For a 5-year-old, life is one big vacation.  Which is ironic, because vacation with a 5-year-old is no vacation.  Being a creature of habit, Asher struggled at first with bedtime, and then again when his grandfather left mid-trip and we reshuffled the sleeping arrangements.  For a while, evenings were a constant struggle, mornings started way too early, and I felt at times I was sleeping with one eye open worrying over what trouble Asher would get himself into in the middle of the night.  Things improved over the course of the trip, although I never really did get into a rhythm with sleeping so that put a damper on the restfulness of the trip.  Other than that, Asher was generally as well-behaved as we could have hoped, which is to say he had a blast so was generally in a good mood but was also often prone to being a bratty tyrant.  To his credit, he took the end of the trip well, sad that vacation was over but already looking forward to when we could do it all again.  

Jada's injury

I took Jada on a long bike ride a few days into our trip.  I went slow since she hardly ever bikes, but I made the mistake of taking a turn too fast and when she tried to follow she crashed into a well-camouflaged utility box, fell, and broke her wrist.  Thankfully, it was while my father-in-law was with us, so he was able to pick us up and take us to a nearby walk-in clinic, where they x-rayed her, confirmed there was a small break, and splinted her up.  The next day, Amy scored an appointment at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (since there would be follow-ups, we decided it was easier to do this close to home than in Rehoboth), and Jada and I left immediately and made good time on the road.  The doc decided not to cast the wrist, since it was such a small break, and instead they made a custom splint to stabilize the area, which allowed her to go into the ocean and otherwise have much more freedom than if she was in a cast, so that was nice.  Through it all, she took it like a champ, even though I know it hurt and the aftermath left her without the use of one arm.  

Aaron, beach bum

I have no doubt Aaron will be a lifeguard at some point in his life.  He reveled in the sand and waves, developed a beautiful tan, and took seriously his role in helping keep an eye out for Asher while in the ocean.  If there's anyone who could've outlasted Asher at the beach, it was him, looking like an overgrown kid running in and out of the water.  Hence, the combination of loving the beach and being protective of others makes him ideally suited to lifeguard.  In fact, he told me he's already on his way to certification due to some classes he's taken at sleepaway camp.  I told him that gave me a few years to find an affordable shore house to put up him and Jada for a summer, where they and their friends could earn their keep by working jobs at the beach, boardwalk, or water parks.  (If you know me, it will come as no surprise I've already started running the numbers on this, in terms of how many friends, how many hours a week, and how much in hourly pay it will take to cover rent.)

Unplugging

As noted above, vacation with a 5-year-old is no vacation.  So you make do knowing you're never going to truly unplug since you're constantly worrying and watching.  Nevertheless, it was good to get away.  The trip was a blast, being together so many hours a day was fun, and being away from home was nice.  I was pretty good about not checking work or School Board email more than once a day.  With the exception of my morning runs or bike rides, I didn't really have any time to myself from the time Asher woke up to the time I put him to bed, but when he watched TV and I wasn't doing some chores I got a little of my own TV watching in (I'd estimate about a half-hour a day on average), plus I read about a half-hour each night before going to sleep.  This is what passes for leisure at this stage in my life.