I have been coming to the DE beaches my entire life. As a kid, we went to my grandparents' beach house in Lewes...and now with a 2 and 4 year old, myself, we return nearly every weekend to my in-law's beach house. We take daily bike rides (have you tried the Breakwater Trail or the bike path around the Villages of Five Points?), hit up the pool, and of course truck a cartful of stuff to the beach.
Despite returning every one of my 32 years, I still manage to find new kids activities at the Delaware beaches each time I return. When we come down for week long stretches, it's nice to find beach and boardwalk-alternatives, especially for the really hot, rainy, or really crowded weekend days.
Funland at the Rehoboth Boardwalk, Jungle Jim's and the other water parks, outlet shopping, and the beach are the obvious kid-friendly activities. But aside from the biggies, there are some real hidden gems (many of them free). Lucky you - now I'm letting you in on my little secret so you and your kids can get even more out of the DE beaches. Free events are indicated with an "*"
About two weeks ago my husband and I started doing the Paleo Diet. The "caveman diet" as it's often referred, cuts out grains, legumes, dairy products, refined salt, refined sugar, and processed oils and focuses on veggies, fruits, fish, proteins, seeds and nuts.
I'm not a big dieter, but my husband has tried various things before - including being a vegetarian. If there's one thing I've learned from his diet fads, it's that it's a major PIA to cook for a family when one person is on a diet. When the Mr. was doing no meat I felt like I was cooking 4 different meals....something for him, a version for me and something that would look and taste yummy enough for a picky 2 and 4 year old to eat.
That's part of the reason why this time I'm also doing the same diet. Obviously, my kids are not on a diet (so don't even go there) - they're eating plenty of bread and dairy (and fruit snacks) - but I don't consider it a bad thing for me to limit their carbs and processed foods during the one meal where we all sit down to eat - dinner.
I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with all of us that we've actually managed to eat the same thing for more than one night...gasp it's been like three! Even before the diet, it was a rarity that we'd all eat the same thing - usually there was a hotdog, a chicken nugget or a grilled cheese somewhere on the menu. To my pleasant surprise, it didn't take too much any convincing to get my kids to eat coconut chicken and sweet potatoes. They also enjoyed the spiced chicken with pineapple and peach puree, and couldn't get enough chicken with rosemary and shallots. BFD (Breakfast for Dinner) is big in my house so there's an easy one because my whole gang is big fans of eggs and bacon and a side of fruit or sweet potato hash browns. The kids even ate the paleo banana pancakes with agave nectar(we subbed that out for syrup more than a year ago). Salsa chicken and/or tacos (jar of salsa + taco seasoning + chicken breasts or ground meat + 8 hours in the crockpot)are another big one...we just eat the filling or put it on a lettuce wrap or over a salad instead of putting it on a taco shell or tortilla.
One of the best tricks I've found is getting the kids involved in the cooking process. I have found that they get way more excited to eat something when they've actually had their hands in there cracking the eggs or mixing something.
And I've also found my little guys sneaking my paleo snacks....apple slices with almond butter, grapes, paleo crunch (they really like the apple pie flavor), dried apricots, dates, lara bars, and raisins seem to be popular. Of course, the most popular with the kiddos was the paleo brownies.
If you plan to do Paleo, you will need to sub out some of your staple pantry items including flour and oil. Almond and coconut flour are pretty big, as is unsweetened coconut. If you have a sweet tooth like me, be sure to pick up some cocoa powder, too.
I've put together a Paleo staples shopping list on Amazon to make it easy for you to get started if you're interested in trying out the diet or at least limiting carbs and processed sugars.
Okay it's taken me 5 summers but I have finally found the solution to keeping my almost 5 year old daughter's towel on her. Long gone are the days of her dragging it on the ground of the pool deck or the beach. Gone are the days of her complaining that it won't stay around her because it keeps coming untucked. And gone are the days of me stuffing piles of beach towels in the beach and/or pool bag.
I have discovered there truly is a reason they call necessity the mother of invention....I have come up with a way to make a full size beach towel into a bathing suit cover up - pretty much guaranteeing it won't fall off or drag on the ground. Are you ready for this? Okay, here goes the answer to all your summerly problems...
The 2-in-1 Girls NO Slip Beach Towel/Bathing Suit Cover Up
It can be used as a full size beach towel...
...then when you're ready to head home, or just need to warm up slip it on like a jacket....
then wrap the long end around the front, putting the left arm through the third arm hole...
There's a tie in the back to tie bow to secure it in place (this picture shows the button version which I later changed because the bow is more easily adjustable for different sizes.)
If it's too long in the back, just pull the towel up under the bow and it will keep it off the ground.
These babies have been in the works for months now and I'm happy to say I have finally figured out the ideal design!
Want one for your little girl? No problem, they're currently on sale in my Etsy shop "Cuteness Cubed." Just send me a note through Etsy if you don't see what you're looking for and I'd be happy to take orders.
I was at the point this morning when I was this close to throwing my hands up and giving one - or possibly - both of my kids back. I kid...I kid (well, kinda, sorta, maybe). I should have known something was seriously wrong when my 4 year old daughter was suspiciously quiet in her room for a good 10 minutes. I didn't think much of it until she asked if I wanted my nails painted. We were trying to get out the door so I said "no...but did you paint yours because it smells like nail polish." She innocently said "No, but I spilled a little and I cleaned it up." I turned around to little drips of what was now smeared blue nail polish all over the hardwood floor in her room - oh and a half-used roll of toilet paper with the other half crumbled up in little wads with some blue here and there.
Between my gritted teeth I thanked her for trying to clean up the mess she made and told her this kinda thing was better to just let mommy handle. So as I'm using my blunt finger nails to try to scrape the now-dried nail polish off the hardwood, I turn around to see my 2 year old son basically pouring the entire rest of the bottle all over my daughters comforter and area rug. This is the point when I'm convinced #3 is NO.WHERE.in.my.future. EVER.
My three big reasons to re-prioritize and reduce stress
A few months ago my jaw suddenly started hurting. It remained this way for weeks to the point when I finally called my dentist. By the time I got in there, I could barely open my jaw far enough for one finger to slide between my upper and lower teeth. My dentist diagnosed it as TMJ.
"What is TMJ?" you ask. Web MD describes it like this:
"Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) occur as a result of problems with
the jaw, jaw joint and surrounding facial muscles that control chewing
and moving the jaw. These disorders are often incorrectly called TMJ,
which stands for temporomandibular joint." Possible causes include:
Grinding or clenching the teeth, which puts a lot of pressure on the TMJ
Dislocation of the soft cushion or disc between the ball and socket
Presence of osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis in the TMJ
Stress, which can cause a person to tighten facial and jaw muscles or clench the teeth
Since, I don't grind my teeth, my dentist told me to try to identify points of stress, put on a hot
compress on my jaw, and do a few jaw exercises. I was not given any medication. I knew it had to be stress related because the pressures of motherhood are tremendous. In fact the condition is far more common in women than man and is ususally diagnosed between 20 and 40 years old.
As a 30-something SAHM with two little kids I was drowning under the pressure - much of it self imposed. I had started out freelance writing "for fun" nearly five years ago after my daughter was born and I stopped working in the newsroom. At times I made very good money. Business was going so well for me that I had hired an assistant. But the online writing freelance world isn't steady and shouldn't be relied on for consistent income.
I have been coming to the DE beaches my entire life. As a kid, we went to my grandparents' beach house in Lewes...and now with a 2 and 4 year old, myself, we return nearly every weekend to my in-law's beach house. We take daily bike rides (have you tried the Breakwater Trail or the bike path around the Villages of Five Points?), hit up the pool, and of course truck a cartful of stuff to the beach. 
Despite returning every one of my 32 years, I still manage to find new kids activities at the Delaware beaches each time I return. When we come down for week long stretches, it's nice to find beach and boardwalk-alternatives, especially for the really hot, rainy, or really crowded weekend days.
