Are you thinking about going to the beach for this years summer vacation?
We recently returned from an amazing Bahamas vacation in Exuma. I can’t wait to share more about that in another blog but while I wait for the time to get the photos edited, I want to share the products that made our beach vacation a little easier.
For The Beach
Exuma had the most incredible and beautiful beaches but the shelling wasn’t super easy. However, we did find some wonderful treasures with a little effort. Here are some things to make shelling more fun:
These were not something I thought to take but the house we rented had them and they were perfect for kids and adults alike! Much better than trying to hold every little shell fragment my youngest insisted we keep.
This was another item the house had that turned out to be very helpful. Part of the reason the beaches where we stayed are so white is because there just isn’t much on the surface of the sand. Going down into the surf and scooping got a little more. My mom really enjoyed the shelling too and I wished many times that I’d bought this telescopic sand scooper I’d seen while shopping for beach things.
A single deck of cards unlocks so many games and these were the perfect way to take a break from the water and sun. They also make Uno and one of my boys’ favorites, Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza.
Sun Protection
I cannot overstate how much sunscreen we went through. We are all pretty fair-skinned but my two redheads (especially the 3 year old!) are so quick to burn. Here’s what I love:
I anticipated only using this for the toddler but every.single.person in my family used this. It makes such quick and easy work of applying sunscreen. You know you’re getting a much more even coat and my kids complained 90% less about sunscreen. A total win!
A couple of years ago, I went down the rabbit hole of safe sunscreens. As someone with skin cancer in my family history, I take sunburn prevention very seriously but I am also uncomfortable with the ingredients in a lot of popular sunscreens so I prefer to stick with mineral sunscreens. If you’ve ever tried them, you know they can be thick, hard to apply, and have a white cast. But Blue Lizard is wonderful and we’ve been using it for years. I’m not a huge fan of aerosol sunscreens, especially on a windy beach, – my husband once had a zig-zag sunburn because of an aerosol sunscreen lol – but my kids preferred this and it was especially good for quick touch-ups for the whole family. This classic version is what we kept in the sunscreen applicator.
I wish I could tell you we spent leisurely hours on the beach but… nothing is leisurely with three kids, right?! Regardless, we still got good use of these:
I will never go near a beach without this thing again. It’s incredibly easy to setup with pockets for using sand to weigh it down. The sand basically rolls off of it, making cleanup a breeze and it is perfectly packable. 10/10.
For The Water
When we were looking for a house to rent, we were hoping to find beachfront with a pool because I wasn’t sure that our 3 year old would get in the ocean. Fortunately, we found exactly that and it was a good thing because Ruby was not an ocean fan unless the water was very, very still. We did a couple of beach excursions where she was able to enjoy calmer water but the majority of the time we spent at the house, she was in the pool. Here are some things we loved for pool time:
This thing is a lifesaver, both metaphorically and literally. I wasn’t sure if a life jacket or puddle jumper was going to be a better solution for the toddler, so we took both (a packing nightmare, unfortunately). But all we used was this because it kept her perfectly afloat while also giving her more control of her movements. In fact, she quickly learned to copy her big brothers and moved to her stomach so she could kick her feet. We honestly ended up feeling this was safer than the life jacket because it kept her arms afloat as well as her torso. It was so reliably safe that we didn’t even have to be *in* the pool with her; just carefully observing from the side, which was great because I’m happier poolside than in the water.
If you don’t have these, trust me when I say it’s a must-have. We use them all summer long at home but they are also perfect for the pool. They can be used as sinking toys to dive for, or of course, as my boys prefer, launching at your poolmates.
Lastly, something we didn’t end up using but still highly recommended: these door alarms. During our vacation prep, the beachfront house with a pool we rented sounded amazing until my mom worries set in. With three separate sliding doors giving unfettered access to water, I was very concerned about my toddler walking outside without anyone noticing. I took these alarms and a package of command strips to install them without damage to the rental. The doors ended up being very heavy, very tight hurricane doors that even the adults had a hard time opening, so we didn’t have to use the alarms but I was thankful to have them. They would truly be great for any type of travel, with or without kids, to bring extra peace of mind.
