A cottage by the sea

 
Dateline: Fenwick Island, Delaware.  June 25-July 2, 2011

There’s little that is closer to heaven than a vacation on the beach. Spending time with family and friends just soaking in the sun, listening to the waves, and relaxing alongside the water – what a wonderful way to spend a week!

Pat, Lisa, PJ, Emily and I set up housekeeping in a lovely townhouse right on the beach in Fenwick Island (ocean side). Our house had a terrific loft space that was a perfect playroom for the kids and sleeping loft for PJ.  Emily had her own room on the first floor. We had decks off the living room and both upstairs bedrooms, and the two decks facing the ocean got tons of use for resting, reading, game-playing, and staging our treks to the beach.

The beach was just fabulous!  Really, all I need is a long beach to walk every day… I was out morning and evening just strolling along the shoreline (and often getting caught in the waves). The kids loved digging a “gigormous” pit to hold a pool when the tide came in.  They dug for sand crabs and had clam races by putting tiny clams in a bucket and watching to see which one tried to dig into the sand first.  PJ learned to body surf on the boogie board, and Emily loved jumping in the waves with her Daddy.  Hanging out and reading was the favorite adult pastime. We got a kite, and in the summer breezes, it was quite easy to get it flying high.

       

The waves on the Delaware beaches (at least this week) are huge, and occasionally brutal. You have to watch out for the renegade ones that run up the beach and wipe out your carefully set up chairs, blankets, and bags.  One wave caught Pat waist-high sitting on the beach chairs.  I think a cell phone was a casualty of that episode, along with wet towels and blankets. The waves could also knock you over and ground you into the sand if you aren’t watching, so keeping an eagle eye on the kids was mandatory.

     

The weather was gorgeous: bright sunshine, lovely breezes, low humidity… just one night of pouring rain.  All in all, we could not have asked for better. We are blessed in so many ways.

Highlights of the week included:

Saturday: unpacking and game night.  We had a free pizza for dinner because the delivery guy took 40 minutes to find the house!

Sunday: Our first day on the beach.  Ahh….  Feel the tensions just drain away.  Then, game night. I think Pat won every game. LOL  We love Spot It and YamSlam.

Monday: Company for dinner.  Pat and Lisa’s neighborhood friends, Mark and Mary, came with their two daughters (Ashley, 12 and Alexis, 6), and Lisa’s mom joined us as well.  We played games and had a great time. Ashley learned that the object of Jenga is to keep the tower standing, not to knock it down. Ha ha.

Tuesday: After hanging on the beach most of the day, we attempted a trip to Ocean City, but the rain started when we were out to dinner. We had fun at dinner, though – first playing on the playscape at Fish Tales before deciding to go over to Phillips for dinner, and then playing around waiting for our dinner at Phillips.

  
We make dinnertime fun!

Wednesday: While the rest of the gang went to the beach, I took a late-morning trip to Bethany Beach to check out the boardwalk and stores over there.  Wednesday night, we went to the bonfire on Dewey Beach and met up with a friend of mine who lives in Lewis (Kristen and Rick – and their kids Ben and Katie). It was quite nice just hanging out, roasting some marshmallows, and playing with new found friends on the beach.  PJ met and bonded with a kid from Middletown with whom he seemed to have a lot in common… they may get together again closer to home. We hung out until the sun went down… and the bugs came out.

  
Cooking marshmallows on the bonfire at Dewey Beach.

Thursday: I had a lovely outdoor lunch with my friend Kristen and her kids in Rehoboth. Thursday night, we went to the boardwalk in Ocean City.  The kids rode the some rides and we did some people-watching and walking the boards. We were awed and horrified by this ride in OC that was basically a giant vertical human slingshot… two people get strapped tightly to seats inside a round cage, and the cage is launched really fast into the air flying up five or six stories (well, high up, anyway) and bouncing up and down for a few minutes before being brought down to earth. The cage is attached to tethers, of course, but they look like bungies stretching up and then letting you fall, and quickly bouncing you back up again.  The cage rotates wildly as well, so it’s quite insane.  You can hear the people screaming in the ride from the far end of the boardwalk.  Why oh why… I had to stop watching it.

  
On the boards in Ocean City, Maryland.

Friday: Beach day!  Pat, Lisa, PJ, and Emily checked out the Sea Shell Museum, where Lisa’s uncle works.  Pat’s friend took us out on Assawoman Bay on their pontoon boat – great day to be on the water! In the evening, Emily demonstrated her unique ability to touch her nose with her toe.

   
Real estate envy… and the view from my seat on the pontoon boat. That’s Ocean City, Maryland, in the distance.

All week: Beach walks, great food, games, tv-watching, working out (Pat and Lisa are doing Insanity!), laughing, and hanging out together. Some of us were into reading classics: PJ is reading Gulliver’s Travels, and Pat is enjoying Frankenstein. Pat has been making up a rap song the kids practiced now and again… His rapper persona is Stu-Pid-Ditty, and the song has a catchy refrain “Ditty, that ain’t right; Ditty, that ain’t right…” Hopefully, he’ll post a comment with the current lyrics.

    
Mom playing around… Dad cuddling…

Some people have trouble letting go when they go on vacation… no problem here. We  just let the days unfold as the days unfolded… and it was just what we needed.

Now it’s time to pack it up and take our memories and our rejuvenated attitudes home. We may just come back… but next time for two weeks!

  
Sunset on our beach vacation…
ours is the townhouse with the green umbrella (4th from right).

This is, indeed, the life.