Sixth Anniversary: Bethany Beach, Delaware

To celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary, Billy and I took Nora to Bethany Beach for a few days.  It was so nice to be back at the beach for the first time since 2010, and Nora loved it!  It's hard to believe our wedding was six years ago, but when I think about how much life has changed since then, it sometimes feels like even longer.  Either way, I feel so fortunate to be married to someone whose company I enjoy so much, who helps me become a better version of myself every year, and who makes every day with our daughter a true delight.

Since Nora was recovering from a double ear infection and she gets very overstimulated by new experiences, we thought being at the beach from Sunday through Wednesday worked out perfectly.  Plus, it rained for several days after we left!  Next year we think she will enjoy going for a whole week.

On our first trip down to the beach, she was understandably scared of the water and mostly watched everything going on around her.  On day two, she grew very interested in playing in the sand and sent Billy down to fill her bucket with water repeatedly.  By day three, Nora had gotten comfortable enough with the water that she would run down toward it but wouldn't really try to get in unless we took her out.  Billy also dug a huge hole that day, so she had a great time climbing around in there.

This was our first trip to Bethany Beach, and we liked it a lot.  Our hotel was only a short walk from the beach, which was busy but not too crowded.  We were also a very short drive from the boardwalk, which had enough shops and restaurants to keep us occupied without being crowded.  Our only complaint was that the waves crashed really close to the shore, and that made it a little difficult for small children to play in the water.  Apparently this is a negative by-product of beach restoration attempts.

But enough with the description: here are a sampling of my favorite pictures from the trip!

It's hard to hear her in this clip because of the sound of the ocean, but she is counting out her toys as she moves them in and out of the bucket. (It's *not* hard to hear me.  Sorry.)


A few other funny/interesting tidbits:

• Nora is a bossy beachgoer.  "Daddy sit!" "Mommy come here!" "Mo waduh pease!" "Nononono!" "No Daddy!" "Nora's turn!"
• She tasted the sand and did not like it-- thank goodness.  But saltine crackers apparently taste good when dipped in a bucket of sandy ocean water???
• She is surprisingly cooperative about having sunscreen applied to her body.
• When her teachers discover a poopy diaper on the changing table, they say "Ooooh Nora!"  She has apparently decided this is the thing you say when you undress.  So when I would take off my beach cover up, or Billy would take off his shirt, she would exclaim "Oooooh Mommy!" or "Oooooh Daddy!"  When we figured out what she was doing, it made us laugh so hard.
• At one point there was a little boy named Everett playing a few blankets away.  Billy and I both noticed it, since this is my nephew's name, but we weren't aware that Nora had taken note of him until we were leaving.  She looked over in their direction, waved, and said "Bye Evitt!"  Otherwise, she liked watching other kids play but apparently was not in the mood for making new friends.
• Taking a child who naps once mid-day on a beach vacation works out nicely.  We were able to spend a few hours at the beach in the morning, come back mid-day for lunch and her nap, and then return to the beach for several more hours before we needed to get back and get to dinner.
• Right before we left on the final day she made sure to give me a chance to change a poopy diaper at the beach.  Thank goodness I didn't miss out on that priceless experience!