Today we returned from our second Bethany Beach Vacation. The players were a little different this year, as we went with my mom and dad, Shane and Jeri and Gram and Pap.
We had a good trip down, leaving at 5am in hopes that the kids would sleep most of the trip. Big fail on that part. No one got any shut eye, with the exception of Kinley. Good thing too, because she had me up all night prior to our leaving. It rained all the way to Delaware but was bright and sunny by the time we pulled into the beach house.
We can't say that our trip was without incident as there were more than a couple bumps along the way...more on that later.
Kinley and Pappy enjoying some time on the beach together. I should point out that this is just hours before Pappy, ahem, lost his glasses in the ocean! Thanks to Uncle Kyle, a spare pair were on their way. The next afternoon he was back in business.
We thought the bad news was behind us but in truth it just kept getting worse. Later in the week McKenna suffered a Boogie boarding accident that left her with a cut above her lip and caused a little anxiety about going back in the water. On Wednesday Pap Landis took a trip to the emergency room after the stomach bug struck. Add to that our failing canopy and my mom's swimmer's ear and you can say we had a "memorable" vacation.
BUT, it wasn't all bad! We were blessed in that Kinley slept ALL NIGHT, EVERY SINGLE NIGHT! I don't know if it was the ocean air or what - quite frankly, I don't care. It was the.best.sleep I've had in well over a year.
Kinley loved the beach too - sand and all. She only ate it once but played in it the entire time. She refused to crawl in it but instead scooted her way to where she wanted to be. When she got tired she slept under the shade of the canopy and looked like she didn't have a care in the world.
One of our favorite nights was tie dye t-shirt night! Pappy was such a good sport about it!
Cooper eventually was persuaded back into the water and decided to take his chances with the Boogie board. He didn't quite get the timing right but he and Earl sure had fun trying.
Julie and Hayden joined us later in the week and we enjoyed visiting with them.
We only got dressed up and went out two nights. And that was just to dinner and part of the boardwalk. Earl and I agreed that Disney with three kids is much, much easier than the beach with three kids. By the time we got back from the beach and got everyone showered each day I was BEAT. Even still, we managed to cross everything off of our 2012 Beach To Do List, including Cold Stone Ice Cream, Fun Land, Go Karts, Outlets, Big Fish Grill...and a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting. We did not ever make it to sunrise on the beach but as I said the sleep was just too good to pass up!
Dinner at our favorite place - The Big Fish Grill.
Fun Land! The kids never get tired of that place. Even when it's 100+ degrees in that building and there are a million people pushing their way through. We did enjoy playing the games on the boardwalk and came home with an array of stuffed toys.
After taking care of Pap for a few days, Gram finally got to spend some time on the beach.
Friday was a rainy day so we spent time at the outlets. I don't have any pictures of that because it's hard to hold the camera and the credit card at the same time! We had a nice afternoon shopping with mom and dad and then enjoyed steaks on the grill and some time watching the waves on the beach as a storm approached.
It would be great to say our trip ended on a positive note but it's worth mentioning that by Friday night Kinley had a high fever and was working on a raging sore throat to go with it. The good news is that she slept almost the whole way home. Thankfully by Monday morning she was on the mend.
And so, perhaps the title of this post should be "I Survived Bethany Beach 2012". No matter what we had some good times and were thankful that everyone got home in one piece.
