Delmarvelous

Now that school is back in session, I realize that it is time for me to get back to blogging, lest I forget everything we did this summer. (Of course it is possible I am blogging because I putting off some folding clothes or changing a diaper, but let's all just pretend that I don't have anything better to do at the moment.) Who knows how many unfinished blog posts will get published, but I definitely wanted to write about our vacation this year.

One of Will's favorite pastimes is daydreaming about what fabulous city/beach/destination we will travel to next. He and I are always talking about it. This year he and I decided it would be fun to go somewhere we had never gone before, so we started talking about driving up the east coast. He wanted to go to Rhode Island and NYC. I was thinking Boston or Maine.

Before I got too deep into my planning, I realized that it is a long stinkin' way to drive to all of those places in a Sienna with three energetic children. So I started throwing around alternatives... Maryland, Delaware, North Carolina (where we have been, but love), Washington, DC. I did a little research and discovered that the funny little peninsula that sticks out over there is called Delmarva. (Get it? Delaware, Maryland, Virginia - DelMarVa? See, you learn something new everyday.) Better yet, none of us had been there.

First stop on our awesome Delmarvian tour (yes, I know I need to stop making up words) was Cape Charles, VA, on the southern tip. The hotel where we stayed had a small, private beach (it wasn't as fancy as it sounds) and a pool, which were the necessities.

Later that afternoon (Monday) we drove up to the public beach in Cape Charles. It is all on the Chesapeake side, so the water was very calm, which Kate loved.

On Tuesday we drove up Delmarva to Assateague Island. It is a national/state park with no development, other than educational buildings and some trails. It is on the Atlantic side, so there were lots of big waves, which the boys loved.

Assateague is also home to wild ponies. We were on the Virginia part of the island, where the ponies are owned by the Chincoteague Island Fire Dept. (Think Misty of Chincoteague.)

We stayed overnight on Chincoteague Island, where we had Build Your Own Cookie sundaes and played mini-golf...two more necessities. Ben especially loved Chincoteague/Assateague and still asks me when we can go back there.

On Wednesday we drove north to Ocean City, MD, where we had lunch and quickly decided it was waaaay to crowded for our taste (we couldn't find anywhere to park if we wanted to), and so we headed into Delaware to visit their state park beaches. Delaware isn't that big of a place, and there are 3 or 4 state parks along the coast. Unfortunately, none of them were allowing swimming because there was a heavy fog, and the lifeguards couldn't see. We finally ended up at a public beach in Lewes, located on the Delaware Bay. Again, smooth waters=happy Kate. The boys opted for sand castles, but at this point in the vacation, I was apparently taking a vacation from my camera.

That night we were able to meet up with some long-lost cousins of Tim's for dinner. They live in Delmarva, and have two kids, including a four-year old daughter. Who cracked. us. up. This is what her mother calls her crazy eyes.

This concludes the Delmarvelous portion of our vacation. Please stay tuned for Part 2: DC (I can't think of any clever ways to change DC, so we will leave it at that).