Top Ten Reasons I Love Bethany Beach, Delaware

Top Ten {Tuesday} My family is just wrapping up our annual summer vacation, which always includes a few days at my mom’s beach house in Bethany Beach, DE.  I been to a great many beaches on the east coast, west coast and gulf coast, and I really think Bethany is ideal for younger families. Here’s why.
1. Dolphins. It is commonplace to be sitting on the beach and see huge schools of dolphins swim by.  I remember this happening in Virginia Beach as well, but I’ve never seen this at the Jersey shore. 
2. No smoking on the beach. This may be specific to Sea Colony, which is the huge community in Bethany where my mom’s beach house resides.  But I have often had my beach experience neary ruined by smokers at other beaches.
3. Tax-Free shopping.  Delaware, baby.  No sales tax on anything, including the massive outlet center in nearby Rehobeth Beach.
4. Few junky souvenir stores. The boardwalk in Bethany is smallish and upscale, unlike neighboring Ocean City, MD.  It has plenty of adorable boutiques to keep me occupied and only one or two junk shops hawking hermit crabs and henna tattoos. 
5. Not many seagulls. I remember it being kind of annoying to eat on the beach in Jersey because of all the birds waiting to swipe your food.  Not the case at all on our beach. 

6. Free concerts on the boardwalk.  They have talented bands of all sorts scheduled for multiple nights a week all summer long.  Any free entertainment is great in my book.  Check out the family calender over at Surviving the Sandcastles for details!

7. Shuttle from beach house to beach. This is also specific to Sea Colony, but we don’t have to worry about parking or even getting sand in our car.  If we didn’t have the kids we could ride our bikes to the beach but since they require extra toys and stuff we walk out our beach house door and hop on a tram that carts us directly to the beach…and back 

8. Multiple pools, tennis courts and a fitness center.  Again, this is a Sea Colony thing, but we can choose from one of a dozen outdoor or indoor pools to use of various shapes and sizes.  Some of them are even sitting right above the beach.  When we have stayed for week or more I do use the gym as well, including taking their group classes. 

9. Great food! There’s always the famous Maryland blue crabs, which are pricey but delicious. This trip we tried a new BBQ rib place called Bethany Blues and it was outstanding.  I don’t even like ribs that much, but the chipotle pineapple BBQ sauce I chose was mouth-watering.  Their corn bread is the best I’ve ever had.  And I tried a new local beer called Evolution Exile ESB that was delicious.

10. Sunrise yoga on the beach. On the boardwalk actually. This is my happy place

Flying with Kids on Continental Airlines is Great

So we flew Continental airline into Philly on Friday to begin our big summer adventure.  I would like to mention here that I’m very sad that United will be taking over Continental.  I’m familiar with United and their level of service and timeliness is not good.  Even though I still prefer to fly Southwest when I can, sometimes I have to take Continental and on this flight they were fabulous.  Our flight attendant, Darius, had possibly the best personality of any flight attendant I’ve met, and I’ve met  A LOT.   He welcomed my children, asking their names and ages, and then addressed them by name many more times during the three and a half hour trip.  He addressed me (and every woman) as “young lady”, which at my current age wins bonus points with me.  At one point he said to a girl about my age behind me, loud enough for everyone to hear, “I don’t know which is more beautiful, this day we are  having or the way the sunlight is coming through that window and hitting your eyes.”  In a completely charming, non-sleazy way. 

Also on the flight everyone had screens at their seats and the option to purchase Direct TV.  This is like pure gold for kids on a 3.5 hour flight.  I paid $6 for the screen in front of Alex, and I had a two sets of headphones with a splitter so both kids could watch and listen the same screen.  Also they fed us a tasty hot pocket type thing with Doritos, carrots and M&Ms.  We loved that. We took off on time and arrived a few minutes early, despite the plane being overbooked. 

The difference in my overall stress level between last year’s flight north and this year’s is night and day, all because Alex is now three.  We no longer need a stroller or carseat, and he can verbalize his needs.  He didn’t cry, yell, whine or even kick the seat in front once during the whole flight. He managed just fine without his usual three hour nap.  If flying weren’t so expensive, I would now feel brave enough to take my kids on airplanes more often.