The Mister and the Sister: Bethany Beach

We had a great long weekend in Bethany Beach with Mark's whole family. Jack and Donna rented a house for the week and we headed down on Saturday morning. We hit a ton of traffic on the way down but Lyla was a trooper and only fussed when we were at a complete standstill (and, really, who doesn't get cranky when they are sitting in bumper to bumper traffic). We arrived close to dinner time and John, Nikki and Leah were preparing an amazing dinner that could have fed about 30 people. They made halibut ceviche, chicken shish kabobs and tabouli. Leah made an incredible banana bread and blueberry cobbler. We all sat around the table and had a lot of laughs. Lyla was passed around like a hot potato and loved every minute of it. A certain three siblings stayed up way past their bedtimes and had a great time catching up. Yummy food.

Sitting around the table.

In typical Donna fashion, she had sheets sets for everyone tied in twine and labeled with the appropriate bed size.

On Sunday, we all headed to the beach. Everyone bee lined right to the ocean. This is a fish family, I tell you. The waves were big but breaking so close to the shore that you couldn't ride them in without getting pounded with shells, rocks and sand. Mark had some nasty cuts by the end of the day. Back under the umbrella, Lyla made herself quite comfortable. She played and played and played and passed out. She wasn't the only one that passed out -- certain siblings I mentioned earlier all took a little nap to catch up from the night before.

Naps all around.

We were practically the last men standing on our beach.

When we got back, everyone took outdoor showers. An outdoor shower after a day at the beach is just about the best thing in the world. Mark felt the need to show off his Notre Dame towel so Lyla one-upped him with her Indians onesie. As Mark said, the bow has absolutely nothing to do with the onesie, but added to the cuteness factor.

Lyla enjoying all the oohs and aahs.

Kelly was such a natural with Lyla. She was a huge help all weekend. I offered her a job as our nanny :)

Bammie with Lyla and a mojito. Life is good.

All those leftovers came in handy since we got back from the beach so late. After devouring the leftovers, we all headed to Dickey's Custard for ice cream. Well, not Laurie. She was in Lyla heaven.

The line at Dickey's (Kel is not happy about it).

The cones were bigger than anything I had ever seen.

We headed back to the beach on Monday and decided Lyla needed to take a dip in the ocean. It was a little rough, but she was great. We got hit by such big waves!