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The Beach

Although I have been able to share this news for two weeks, I got a little hesitant. Not entirely sure why, maybe because it seems like by sharing my dream come true it would make it less real.  But, alas, I did promise so I am going to share it.

I have been visiting Rehoboth Beach, Delaware my entire life. My Father has been going for almost sixty years. When Hubby and I started dating, he had to pass the Delaware test, did he like it, would he go again, would he fall in love with it as much as I did? Well, as you are well aware, Hubby passed the test. Although I dreamed of owning a beach house since I was a child, the dream was now shared. Before Hubby and I were even married we talked about ‘One Day’. We made attempts over the years, then the market went crazy and everything we ever hoped for was well out of our reach. We continued to rent our little beach house each summer, one week stretching to two and then almost three.

Then this past February my beloved Aunt passed away. Although she is not the reason we go to The Beach, she is certainly the one who kept it in our hearts all these years. Aunt Joyce lived inland a little, but we would stop at her place for a night or two before we started our annual vacation. Even as children we would arrive the Friday night before and camp out on the living room floor all jitters and excitement with our cousins ready for our week at the beach. Aunt Joyce always dreamed of owning a house at the beach, they even owned some property in a neighboring beach of Lewes for many years, but never had the chance to build on it.

Before heading down for Easter Weekend with my Cousins and their family, we I started talking about ‘what ifs’. What if we could get a beach house and rent it out? What if we moved inland a little? What if, what if, what if? Hubby laughed at me and told me to forget the ‘what if’s’ it just wasn’t possible, we just couldn’t do it.  That didn’t stop me though, I kept on my search. For the first time, I stopped concentrating on the beach town section of Rehoboth, where we rent, but out a bit further on the highway. This would change our vacations and how we did it, but we would then have a little place to call our own. That was when I stumbled on this cute little place, at least in my heart it was cute, when I was able to look past all the junk and stuff that was cluttering it up.

We stayed at a hotel on the boardwalk the night before we were to see it, I was up with the sunrise, eager and anxious. Hubby kept telling me he was just humoring me, we would not be buying it, but he knows me well and knows that I would not rest until I saw it for myself and knew we couldn’t do it.

BeachHouse-1

Our drive out to the neighbourhood was lovely, we passed some gated communities, mansions a public golf course, then we got to the end, before you get to the Bay. We drove around the little neighborhood before the agent met us. It is a trailer park, I am not going to lie, we were a tad bit nervous. A trailer park?!? Surrounding the trailer park was an amazing community. We drove past the property, sitting there looking so sad and tired. We weren’t sure. Then we got to the end of the street, where there is a crabbing pier, a pool, a park and sand for the kids to play! You can’t swim in the bay for the rocks but you can wade out with your crabbing pot and catch some dinner. If you don’t feel like driving up to the beach you can swim at the pool. It was more than we imagined and I think, Hubby started to fall in love with it before we even got inside.

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And here she is!! As we first saw it. She is a little old and a little tired and I can say with all honesty, she doesn’t look like that anymore… but you will have to wait to hear about that, first you need to see inside.

You walk into a three season porch, and then into the living room, where you can see Hubby and our amazing Agent Paula Castiglione from Jack Lingo Realators in Rehoboth. Paula was amazing, we know she could be out showing a $2.5 Million home, but she made the time to take us to our little home by the Bay. Paula made sure to show us a few others in different communities that were in much better shape, but really we fell in love with this one. Somehow, we were able to see past all the clutter and stuff and see how we could make it our own.

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Our tiny kitchen and the front bedroom with ensuite.
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The smaller middle bedroom (perfect for a bunkbed and children to sleep) and the larger back bedroom that has a full ensuite attached.
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And a view of the bathroom, just to show you how it once looked.
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This was our initial meeting with the place. The bright sunlight coming in and the fact that there was enough room for all of us made Hubby change his mind very quickly. He went from ‘no way’ to “YES!!!” in a matter of minutes. His mind started racing on how to fix it up and mine started racing on how to decorate it.

We have since been back many times, the inspection, the keys and the clean out! 21 Bags of garbage folks, 21!!! Nothing that could be passed on or recycled, just garbage. The owner was already taking the living room set so we told her to take the beds (I am not sleeping on those) and whatever else she wanted. Sadly she left us her old toothbrushes and quite a bit of disgusting stuff. but we got past it. We cleaned and scrubbed and cleaned and scrubbed and spent our first weekend, just doing that. Hubby has since been back, to make some flooring repairs and start laying down the new stuff. He will be making a return again to finish up as flooring is the one thing that can’t really be done with children running around. Then we will slowly start changing other stuff, like bathroom sinks and kitchen cabinets, but they can wait a little while longer, we need solid footing under our feet.

As I write this, tears are in my eyes yet again, this is my dream come true. We have a little place at the beach!  BeachMama now has her Beach House!!!  Follow our travels, renovations and #BeachHouse finds this summer.

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Categories: The Beach

Sorry to have left you all hanging there with my Night Out with Ford. Things have been crazy around here with lots of exciting things happening. The worst part is that I can’t talk about them yet! Oh but when I can, you will be the first to know.

For a wee bit of an update, I will say that we have been hanging in there with the not so stellar weather, our frequent trips to Maryland and Delaware are keeping us happy in all things Beachy. From only getting to the beach usually once, perhaps twice a year, this year has been a Blessing for sure. I have now seem my most loved Beach four times since January, not something I take lightly, I truly know that it is a gift to be able to travel there so much.

The desire to eat better was derailed by Easter chocolate and treats on the road, but I am happy to announce we are back on track and proudly have not eaten out at restaurants in two weeks. Hence, the lovely photo of a bowl of Edamame, something that has become a staple of enjoyment and much better for you than a bowl of chips. I have convinced the children to give it a try and so far we are two out of three in favor, now to win over Hubby and we will all be better off.

We celebrated A’s 20th Birthday this month, hard to believe the little guy I first met when he was three is now 20. I can no longer say he is a good ‘kid’ as now, I think it would be safe to say he is growing up to be a good ‘man’. He lovingly hangs out with his younger siblings on his days off and often asks if I need any help picking them up from school or watching them when I go out for work. I hate to ask him, but try to take him up on his offers when I can.

I can’t wait until I can share everything with you all, it is like a dream coming true.

Edamme-1

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Categories: The Beach

We Love you Aunt Joyce

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August 2011

It has taken me three days to even get to the point that I can try and write something, but I need and must do it.

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As the world celebrated the loss of a music icon, they didn’t know that there was another loss so big to some of us that our hearts can’t even take it. In the small town of Seaford, Delaware Aunt Joyce gave her last performance. No, she was not a rock star or a singer or even on TV. She was Aunt Joyce to some, Sister, Mother, Grandmother and friend to others. She was a strong presence in her community, she won Mother of the Year, several years ago and if you needed to put together a feast for thousands she was the woman to call.

Birthday Girl in Ottawa Birthday Girl at The Beach

I know I will not do her complete justice here, because I just can’t even list all the things that made Aunt Joyce who she was. She was the eldest daughter of seven children, born and raised in Montreal, QC she made her way down to Delaware where she met Uncle Wes. Although he was in the Military and from Texas and they moved around throughout the years they returned to Seaford to raise their family when he retired.  Uncle Wes built the house they lived in mostly by himself and although we all tried to convince her to leave it after he left us, she stood her ground and refused. “Where would you all stay when you visited?” she would ask, and we told her we would make do, we could take a floor or a couch it wouldn’t matter as long as we got in a visit.  She wouldn’t budge. Her older brother even moved all the way from  Colorado to live with her when he couldn’t take care of himself anymore. And this is the most shocking part of all. Aunt Joyce was still taking care of someone even when she should have just been enjoying life. But that was her way.

If I even tried to list off all the memories I have of hanging out with Aunt Joyce, I would have a novel for you. So I will have to pick my brain for a few select tidbits.

Growing up when we headed down to the Beach, we almost always stopped in at Seaford on the Friday night, a tradition that Hubby and I have continued for the past 16 years, this year would have been our 17th. Despite the fact that Aunt Joyce had to get everything ready for the cottage, she would still cook a turkey dinner with ALL the fixings for the Friday night. Sometimes we didnt’ get in until late, but there was still a plate left for you or enough for a sandwich if that was all you needed. All of us kids would pull out sleeping bags and line the floors in the living room, family room and back porch eager to get tot the beach, not even giving a thought to the adults that made it happen for us each year. We were young, we were foolish, but we always had fun.

As I got older and my trips to the beach included Hubby, then the kids, I realized why my Mom and Aunt Joyce (and my other Aunt’s and Uncle’s) always looked a little haggered for the first few days at the beach. It is hard work to set up a cottage and bring what you need for your family, it’s not like we were staying in hotels with maid service. But when Aunt Joyce was running the show, as kids, we just assumed there would be lunch and dinner served no questions asked.

Some of my best memories are of Aunt Joyce in her kitchen. As kids we helped make jam and peach pie. Her homemade pickles are to die for. And I don’t know about my cousins and cousin-in-laws but there may just be a little fighting over her recipe books, just sayin’.

Whenever we called to announce on of our visits, I won’t say asked to stay because it was a given, we would be in big, big trouble if we didn’t stay. In fact, last Thanksgiving we went to the beach for a couple of days and didn’t stay, Aunt Joyce was a little sad that we didn’t and we felt terrible not stopping in Seaford, something we had done for each and every other trip, but this time we really needed to get our family to the beach for some R&R so we didn’t make that stop, thinking of course, that we would be there in June for our annual beach trip. How wrong we were.

I can’t even go on, I am not sure what else I should say except a huge Thank You to Aunt Joyce, for making a difference in our lives, for opening up your house to us, for never saying no, for feeding us until we couldn’t eat another bite and then feeding us some more. For showing my children the same love that you gave to us over the years and being a huge part of their annual beach holiday. For showing me the love of the Beach Aunt Joyce, because honestly and truly, had you not gone down to Delaware and met Uncle Wes and then returned there, I am not so sure that my love of all things Beach would be quite the same. I wouldn’t have grown up thinking that we all went to the ocean for summer holiday or that everyone had an “Aunt Joyce” who made those things just a little bit more fun.  Thank you Aunt Joyce for the memories and the love.

Aunt Joyce

In her Kitchen and a few snippets from her Home (below)

Delaware - Day 1 of Thanksgiving

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Categories: Thanksgiving, The Beach