Skipping Town

(I'm posting this blog over a week after the trip. I've done my best to include all the details in roughly the right order!)  Saturday 7/29 Beach week! The week we all look forward to all year long. Andrew found us an amazing house this year right by the beach--a short pathway led right to the sand. We arrived on Saturday and unpacked, then went right to the beach. Beautiful as always. The kids all boogie boarded. We ordered Blue Moon pizza for dinner (which took forever to arrive), then walked into town for Kohr’s. Lucia and Greta each bought five Safari Minis, a tradition for them. They have significant collections at this point. We began a new puzzle. Sunday 7/30 Sunday began with a trip to Acme for Molly and me, where we were faced upon entry by a gauntlet of seltzers on sale in different ways. Different prices, different quantity requirements, different ways to achieve the deal. An app download was required, as was scanning a digital coupon. It’s STEM In Action.  Then we ...

Wednesday, August 3 I'd promised the girls a shopping morning, so after breakfast they and I and Mom and Dad drove into town to go into some shops. I bought a hat and a sweatshirt; the girls bought a handful of Good Luck Minis (an annual tradition) and sweatshirts; Lucia bought a keychain; Greta bought a hat; Mom bought a hat and a sweatshirt; and even Dad bought a hat. Successful.  After that it was more beach for most of us, though Luca and Molly weren't feeling well so it was a smaller beach group. For dinner we went to the Rusty Nail, where we sat at an outdoor picnic table. Greta and I rode our bikes there--we both had a real biking obsession this trip. After dinner, we walked down to Cove Beach to watch the sunset. Then Greta and I biked home. Thursday, August 4 Cove Beach again, and more pool. Andrew was feeling his best yet so he went to the farmer's market for fruit and corn and then grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for dinner. Afterward, we went to Sunset Beach to ...

Saturday, July 30 Our drive to Cape May wasn't easy. Andrew was still exhausted from covid, so I drove, and we all masked for the whole drive. We chose an isolation room for him in the beach house and spent as much time as we could outside. This was easy, since our rental has a pool and is walking distance from the beach. We ordered pizzas from Blue Moon, walked down to look at the beach, and swam.  Sunday, July 31 First full beach day. Andrew tested positive in the morning, and tried to rest as much as he could during the day; he was still very fatigued. The rest of us spent most of the day at the beach and then came home and swam in the pool. We walked into town for Kohr's custard in the evening. Monday, August 1 Molly and I and the kids went for a bike ride around the neighborhood in the morning, then played Telestrations with Mom and Dad. We went to the beach after lunch. Andrew texted good news while we were there: he tested negative! He came to the beach for a little whil...

Last week was beach week! First--it wasn't the same at all this year because Mom and Dad couldn't go with us. Logistically and healthfully impossible thanks to Dad's super-convenient and mobile picc line. But we couldn't be too sad since all of that is getting Dad back to full normalcy--worth it 100% to miss the beach. So this year it was me, Andrew, the girls, Molly, Luca--and JEREMY, our newly minted brother-in-law. This was his first full-week immersion in an Orlando vacation, and he came out the other side without any kind of running, fleeing, screaming, etc. His only true protest came when all of us, to a person, were sitting around the breakfast table reading books in complete silence. Welcome, Jeremy.  We stayed in the same rented house as last year, a cottage on Cape May Point. It's a perfect place, close to the beach, great layout, lots of space. This year we added a bike element to the week, which turned out to be a highlight. We saw a million dolphins, ve...

Our last beach day, and it was a great one. We did our usual routine to get our stuff to Cove Beach in the morning, and we spent the entire day there until 5pm. For lunch we bought sandwiches at the Cove Restaurant and ate under our canopy. The kids played paddle ball, played with their surfer people, boogie boarded, read Berenstain Bears books, and looked for shells. Greta's main focus today was shells, and she collected an enormous bag of them to bring home. We all went on a long shell and pebble hunt at the end of the afternoon, when the tide was very low. Andrew and I beat our paddle ball record of the week today and got 72. We rode bikes home, and then Molly and Jeremy rode with the three kids around the neighborhood while the rest of us pulled all the leftovers out of the fridge and heated everything up. We had a ton of food left, but this dinner used up all or most of everything. Then we walked for ice cream one last time at Kohr Brothers, and Molly bought the kids some ...

Another lovely beach day. I got up early to bike ride. Andrew drove the car down to the beach and went for a run. The kids, Molly, and I biked there and started setting up. Jeremy and Andrew set up the canopy. Mom and Dad walked down to meet us. Logistics complete, we settled in for the day. There was a rainstorm last night so the water was colder than it has been. But by later in the afternoon it had warmed up a little, and it was very very calm for swimming. Greta dug a spa, Molly and Luca dug a big hole, Lucia and Greta painted shells, Gra read some Berenstain Bears to the kids under the canopy. Molly and I played dramatic, yoga-based paddle ball (we did not excel). Andrew and I tried to beat our record of 63, but we only got into the fifties. Dad got into the water for the first time. The kids all boogie boarded. We left the beach at 4pm. Andrew and Jeremy drove back, and Molly and the kids and I took our treacherous, sandy bike ride home. (I say 'treacherous' because t...

A great beach day. We have the logistics down now. I got up at 6:30am, but instead of setting off on my regular morning bike ride, I rode to our parked car, attached the bike to the bike rack, drove to an ideal parking spot close to Cove Beach, and then set out on my bike ride from there. We never even unloaded the beach stuff from the car last night, so we were all set. Around 9am, Andrew walked to the car, unloaded the canopy and chairs, set them up, and then went on his run. Then Molly, the kids, and I biked to the beach to meet him around 10am. Mom and Dad walked. Seamless. The beach weather was perfect, the water was beautiful, the tide was low. We all swam. The kids were very focused on sand today: Greta worked for a long time on her "spa," a large hole she dug near the waterline that filled pleasingly with water; Luca and Lucia worked on a very deep hole farther back. We had lunch from our cooler. The kids snacked a lot. Andrew and I played paddle ball and got up t...

Sunday, 7/28 First full beach day. I started the day with an early-morning (6:30 am) bike ride on the promenade, and around the neighborhood. When everyone woke up (I had to wake Lucia up, at 9am), we lugged our stuff to the beach at the end of our block and set up camp. Andrew and I made two improvements to our beach life this year. First, we got a beach wagon, so we could wheel our many chairs, towels, and bags. Second, we got a beach canopy, a 10 ft x 10 ft cover that gives enough shade for all eight of us. Setting it up the first time was a pain. It's not complicated, but it also doesn't just pop open, so it took some doing to figure it out. Worth it, though, once it was set up. The Decatur St. beach was lovely. We got there at low tide, and there was a big sandy area by some rocks that was perfect for exploring and digging. The kids' main focus was boogie boarding, which they were able to do, but the waves here were very strong. In the afternoon, when the tide came...

Cape May! Our beach week began today, with our journey to Cape May. First we had to pack the car, never easy with a trip like this, and it was more complex this time because we were also trying to fit in three bikes. Andrew neary divorced me, seeing only the substantial volume of bags and not appreciating the effort and planning it took to CREATE such a volume of bags, but isn't that just like a man? We reach this crisis point twice a year, during our beach week and at Christmas. One year we tried to tie a turkey roaster for Mom on the top of the car and had to pull off the highway when it started sliding around, and then go back home to leave it behind. That was another near-divorce moment. Anyway, we made it! Everything fit in eventually and it's all fine. It was a traffic-y drive, but okay. We unpacked, and after a little while Mom, Dad, Molly, and Luca arrived. The girls were chomping at the bit to get to the beach, so once we were all settled in we set out to explore. Th...

Another dire weather forecast that was completely and totally wrong. We had another beautiful beach day today. I went to beach yoga early in the morning. We were supposed to go out on a boat today for a "Sandbar Exploration" excursion, but it ended up being cancelled because of high winds. So we headed to the beach again and set up camp for the day. The waves were even more wild and powerful than yesterday, so there wasn't really a chance to swim, but everyone had fun regardless: walking on the beach, jumping waves (ankle deep only, maybe knee deep after the biggest waves), digging holes in the sand, etc. We ate lunch on the beach and headed back to the house around two. We didn't lose any kids today, thank goodness. (Greta made Andrew walk with her all the way down to Sand 1 because she wanted to see how far Lucia had walked.) We spent a relaxing hour or so at the house. The kids worked on a puzzle and watched something on the iPad. I read a book. Andrew went for a...

Thursday 4/12 Another excellent day. The kids and Andrew slept in and I read on the balcony. We went to the breakfast buffet for the last time (sob). The pastries are so delicious I've been condoning a "pastry breakfast" for the girls, and for myself. Then off to the pool, another gorgeous sunny day with a light breeze but no crazy wind. We had perfect poolside chairs. We drank pina coladas, played Bingo, ate lunch, played in the pool, jumped in the ocean, searched for treasures washing up when the tide started changing. We stayed out all day, until 5pm. We had dinner at the Mexican restaurant again, our favorite of the resort's restaurants, and it did not disappoint. Andrew and I had margaritas, lobster, a cheese platter, ceviche, and pinto bean soup. Delicious, all of it. We ate so much. L&G were nearly comatose with exhaustion, but they insisted they still wanted to go swimming at night one last time, so we did. They love this nighttime dip. Turndown se...

Fri., 8/11 Our last day at Bethany Beach. I went to yoga at 7:00 a.m. again--three times in one week. So lovely. Molly gave all the kids a set of Squinkies Do's when they got up, which they all loved. Then we put in another full beach day--lovely weather, despite the prediction of rain from earlier in the week. In the morning, the kids mostly played in the sand. "Remember when we were being chased by that baby?" Greta said to Luca. "Yeah," Luca laughed. And Greta said, "That was so fun."  One notable part of our week--Andrew twice found a horseshoe / helmet crab in the sand. Huge and monstrous. Once he picked it up and threw it into the ocean, tail thrashing. The next time it was already in the water. Everyone hoped to see it on our last day, but it didn't appear. After lunch, when the tide was further out, we all swam. Lucia, like in previous days, was in a new kind of watery, wave-jumping heaven. Molly carried Luca out a few times, and...

Beach week! I’ve neglected to blog. I’ll try to capture the highlights of our week at Bethany Beach. Sat., 8/5 Long traffic-y drive. But the beach house we rented for the week is beautiful--it’s two separate apartments on two floors, and we rented both, so there’s lots of space and bedrooms for everyone. One block from the beach and boardwalk. It couldn’t be better. The four of us headed to the beach after we unpacked, and Mom and Dad met us there after they arrived. We got dinner from DB Fries and ate it on the picnic table in the backyard of our house. Then we went out for ice cream. A perfect first day. Sun., 8/6 Beach morning. I went to yoga on the beach at 7:00 a.m., and then we all went out around 9. Molly arrived around lunchtime. The waves are really big here so we didn’t do too much swimming. Lots of digging, sandcastle-making, and collecting stones and shells. Obsessively collecting stones and shells. It was a beautiful day and we made the most of it, kno...