I It's very nice and relaxing and I also just heard that they have really lowered prices of the home rentals for the summer because they are supposedly hurting from the economy being so bad.
Oooh....I may need to look into this again. We are an OBX family too and usually stay in South Nags Head. We're not going this year mainly because of gas prices, but we may need to change our vacation plans!
I would normally reccomend OBX as it is the ultimate in relaxation, but it seems that is not what you're looking for this summer.
Most of the advice that has been given is spot on. OCMD has lots of hotels, boardwalk, mini golf, etc and you should be able to find a place for a long weekend for not too much money.
If you google "Ocean City Maryland Vacation Rentals" you should get a lot of sites that can help you out. Also if you're planning on a hotel, try hotwire for a deal. If you can't find anything that seems to suit your needs or is too expensive, there's always Delaware. It's just a short drive from OCMD and there are several great towns....Rehobeth, Dewey, and Bethany Beaches are all great.