My wife, 3 yr old son and I had a nice 5 day stay in the beach house, and it is just that! Very beachy and cozy in every way, with very thoughtful touches like abundant toys, board games, skim and boogie boards, and plenty of table ware / blankets / etc. Location is tough to beat - it's about a 5 minute walk to the beach, with a deli and a couple shops in between if you need anything. Also dog friendly! Hosts were extremely kind and a pleasure to communicate with.
We did have a couple of small issues. They were still doing some cleaning when we arrived so check in was delayed for about an hour, and the carpet looked like it could have used a better clean in a few spots. Water pressure in the shower was also very low, so we wound up mostly taking baths instead (though the bathroom is very nice overall). The space was also a little smaller than we had expected - when dining you pull out a corner table, but that takes up most of the living room space.
Finally, no fault of the host, but it is important to know that Aptos tends to be quite foggy for much of the day, moreso than Santa Cruz. The locals seemed to know this well but it was news to us!