Summer Fun: 9 Virginia Beach Summer Activities For Families

I will look back at this Virginia Beach summer very fondly. Everyone had a lot of fun. Mom included. Here’s a list of 9 family activities in Virginia Beach we did last summer.

Virginia Beach Summer Perfection

We managed to find the perfect sweet spot. Just the right amount of travel, structure, fun, and relaxation that you need to have a truly amazing Virginia Beach summer with your family. Keeping the kids busy, being outdoors, going on adventures, trying new things, and eating good food.

We began the summer with a “we’ve got this” attitude. And it remained there through until the very end of August. Living a stone’s throw away from the Atlantic Ocean has its perks, especially when you have younger kids like we do. Here are our nine Virginia Beach summer highlights:

1. We Played Hard at Grommet Island

Our Virginia Beach summer life was relatively simple, especially when the kids were up early. We spent a bunch of our Virginia Beach summer mornings at Grommet Island Park. The parking meters didn’t start running until 10:00 a.m., and you have the shade of the sails above the playground equipment. Fun to watch the surfers ride the waves at the Jetty too!

2. We Rode Many Miles on Our Bikes

Our biking route to the beach is an adventure among itself, especially when you hit the heart of the Virginia Fishing Center‘s fish cleaning station as you weave your way under the Rudee Inlet Bridge, passing the people fishing off the rocks and the boats easing their way back into Owl Creek. Sometimes we’ll go to the other end of the boardwalk and back down Atlantic Ave, stopping at Jungle Golf, Pirate Golf, or even at Flipper McCoy’s to escape the humidity of Virginia Beach summer nights.

3. We Learned To Fish

The boys started fishing, armed with rods, bait & tackle, and a good attitude. They sat for hours waiting for a bit. On Owls Creek but once sitting on Croatan Beach. I think one or two tiny fish could’ve been caught, but their spirits weren’t dampened, and they look forward to the next time trying their luck. This is a real Virginia Beach summer classic!

4. We Saw the Dolphins Up Close

The Dolphin Tour with the Virginia Aquarium was a blast. We left the marina and saw the fishermen on the other side of the bike path – with their lines out, waiting. Next, we passed Captain Jack’s Pirate Ship and hit the ocean over big waves.

It was fun to see Croatan at a different angle – the dolphins were jumping around us the entire time. We coasted past the hotels and beachgoers. The morning we went, ECSC was in full swing – with surfers waiting on the beach for their heat. We headed up towards the Cape Henry Lighthouses, seeing the hotels and beachgoers from a new perspective. Experiencing the sea with all its inhabitants was one of our Virginia Beach summer favorites.

5. We Had a Virginia Beach Summer of Water

The kids became more confident in the ocean, which made riding the waves on a boogie board, surfboard, or paddleboard even more fun for them. Even our two-year-old had a new appreciation for the water and quickly became fearless as he took waves head-on while bobbing around in his puddle jumper. Most of our Virginia Beach summer evenings were spent in the backyard pool, with the kids swimming hard until it was time to jump into their jammies and climb into bed.

6. We Spent the Endless Virginia Beach Summer at the Beach

And then there’s the beach during the summer. THIS is why we live here in Virginia Beach.

We spent a lot of time on the sand with my family and friends. And under that umbrella, we had great conversations, delicious food, and all-around good vibes! Too many beach visits to add up, at least 16 different beaches along the Atlantic Ocean up as far as The Hamptons, and even over on the West Coast down in Mexico. We even spent a day on Sandbridge Beach, our first time – if you can believe it.

7. We Toured the Fire Station

By the end of our Virginia Beach summer, we were scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas, and that’s when we had the most fun. We asked the firefighters at Station #11 for a tour of their firetrucks and the station. They were very nice, and let us push a few buttons on the truck, and showed us their entire station – the kids loved the weight room the best! We also hit the Virginia Beach Public Library up a few times, not only to check out books but to play their gigantic chess game.

8. We Enjoyed a Summer of Food

Wherever we went, we had incredible food with us always. These eco-friendly containers were always piled high with delicious food from our garden and Trader Joe’s. It made using less plastic in our daily life much easier. A Virginia Beach summer vacation also means you get to eat a lot of great food, and boy did we eat! Whether we scooped up kid-friendly takeout or hit up Aloha Snack’s, we had a great summer of eating at family-friendly restaurants in Virginia Beach.

9. We Checked Off Those Virginia Beach Summer Must-Do’s

You know those things you like to do every summer? We managed to squeeze them all in! Here’s what we did during our Virginia Beach summer:

Picked up piles of locally-caught crabs covered in Old Bay
Drove down to Pungo to pick peaches at family-run Cullipher Farm Market
Visited the dinosaurs at the Military Aviation Musem. The kids all agreed that they’re glad they were just statues
Slid the slides at Ocean Breeze Water Park, much to the delight of our fearless youngest child, who just couldn’t understand why he wasn’t tall enough to go down the big ones.
Snuck in a few trips to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens and enjoyed the splash pad and the beautiful flowers throughout the gardens
Explored the Virginia Zoo with friends and finally rode the train

And here we are, September! Ready to embrace the school year and the season of autumn. But what a great Virginia Beach summer we had.

Soaking in the sun, enjoying each other’s company, hosting friends and family, sending them photos on FamilyApp – enjoying all of what the greatest city in the world has to offer. Sure, we didn’t get to some of the summer bucket list items, but there’s always next year!