We made it to the beach!!! The kids were pretty good on the trip down. Rex didn't sleep at all and Malloy finally caved about 45 minutes outside of bethany.
We unpacked the car and then had some dinner on the boardwalk, then went right to the beach! Malloy loved the ocean!! She ran right in and put her feet in and loved running in and out with the waves. Rex was a little more afraid but he was also beyond exhausted. Instead, he played in the sand. There was another little boy that wandered over to play. They were having fun running around the sand together. At one point Rex told the boy "my name's Rex." I melted and cried a bit. It was just a really sweet moment.
Then it was back to the house to shower, snack, and go to bed! They did fine going to sleep. They were exhausted!