My relatives offered to let us use their beach house in Delaware (probably not thinking we would ever take them up on it)...but we did! And it was absolutely wonderful! It was one of the first vacations that I did not want to come home from, yet. Still, our time there as a family was fabulous!
The kids were absolutely wonderful on the plane rides, the first for all of them except Cb's (who was only 7 months old when she was last on a plane). Thank you Ipads! Our flight out there was delayed 4 hours, getting us in to Delaware at 1am their time. Then, we drove another hour and a half to the beach house. The kids didn't fall asleep until we got in the rental car, which was very nice as well. My uncle was incredibly kind and greeted us at his door at 3am. Wow! Then, he stayed the night and showed us around Bethany Beach before he left to be with his own family.
It was a short 3 block walk from the beach house to the beach and we had a cart, thanks to my aunt and uncle, to haul all our stuff to and from the beach easily. The kids loved playing in the sand and water everyday and I loved being able to actually sit and relax while they entertained themselves!
We also saw dolphins everyday not far from the shore. Since it was the end of the busy summer season, the beach was not crowded at all, the boardwalk still had some shops open and the weather was nice and mild. There was some wind, but not much and the water wasn't too cold, either.
To have a relaxing vacation with kids is rare, but this hit the mark! I could do this EVERY year and have my vacation itch satisfied.
