Beach Vacation
Our family loves the beach. Myself? Well, I grew up on the coast, so I’m definitely partial to the sandy shores. My childhood years were spent crabbing and swimming in the lowcountry waters. When I close my eyes and think about summer, I can conjure up all of my senses— the sting of a sunburn, the smell of the pluff mud, the sticky salty air on my skin, the beautiful sunsets… and so much more. The vivid colors of the lowcountry are often what inspire my fabric choices here at Gracefully Made. I want my daughters to grow up with a love (and a healthy respect) of the ocean. My husband has a love of the water as well. So when it comes to family vacations, we often favor ocean front properties. This past week we spent our time on the Emerald Coast with our 4 kiddos, brother & sister-in-laws, cousins, and nieces & nephews. Destin has become a favorite destination of ours, having been there several times over the years. The calm waters and beautiful shore line draw us back again and again. Now that we’re a family of 6, we had to do a little extra pre-vacation planning for our travels, but here’s a few items we packed to make the trip a bit more enjoyable for us all (including some perfect swim and shorts options for mom)!
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Skip Hop Baby Formula Container - This snack container was so helpful on the airplane. It fit perfectly in the water bottle holder of our daughter’s carryon backpack and allowed for three different small snacks. The description describes using this for formula, and I imagine it’s pretty helpful for that as well. We used it solely as a snack carrier. Since our trip we’ve used it in the car, running errands, etc. It’s the perfect size and can be taken apart at each section to make one, two, or three compartments. All of the pieces interlock with a simple twist. Highly recommend.
Scissor Skills Activities - Our little one is obsessed with learning how to use her scissors. We did not take this in our carryon, but we did bring it with us in our suitcase. Charlee didn’t end up playing with it while we were there (so much beach time instead), but has been playing with it since we’ve been home. She loves dressing up the dolls. Here’s some additional scissor activity books we’ve enjoyed:
Paint By Stickers- This was perfect for those early wakeup mornings when everyone else slept in. Since Charlee is only 4, I helped her match the large numbers— but once she understood how the sticker painting worked, she didn’t need my help anymore. She sat at the coffee table and worked on a few of these pictures while she waited for her brothers and cousins to wake up. This would also make a perfect option for rainy beach days or airplane activities.
Mesh Beach Bag - I’d seen this shared by a social media influencer and wasn’t sure if it would be big enough for our family of six. Then, I saw another mom at Charlee’s swim lessons with the same bag and asked her about it. She was able to fit all of her kids swim items in one giant bag. Y’all— this bag is awesome. It’s well made (not the super flimsy mesh), is perfect for sand (sand falls right out), and large enough to carry everything we needed for our whole family (5 beach towels, baby blanket. sunscreen bag, diapers, wipes, cell phones, water bottles, swim diapers, snacks, etc.). I’m so glad I purchased this. We plan to use it all summer long.
Mesh Seashell Bag- This three pack is absolutely perfect when you have multiple kiddos. I kept two for my daughters and gave one for my niece so that each of their girls would have their own seashell bag. Unfortunately, during this trip we didn’t find many seashells but they were still perfect for beach wearing. The girls enjoyed trying to find shells and adding them to their bags. Our big goal was to find lots of shells and then watercolor paint them over and over on the beach. I’ve linked the watercolor paints here: Watercolor Paints. This size set fit perfectly within the bag for easy carrying and access.
It was our two month old’s first trip to the beach and this hat fit perfectly. It covered not only her cute little face but the brim covered her upper back as well. I also invested in a mesh baby wrap from Beachfront baby as well. I ordered the fuchsia one which is sold out now; however, I’ve linked the same brand in a different color. I baby wore my first born for almost three years, and it’s been such a blessing to do the same with our newest addition. When I found these mesh swim wraps I knew I would need to have one. Having this wrap was such a game changer for me. It allowed me to have hands free for toddler chasing while beach (and pool) front and to also wade into the water a little bit without dropping her (we all know how slippery babies can be when they are wet).
Noise Cancelling Headphones- Our oldest is pretty afraid of fireworks and loud noises so from an early age I always carried noise cancelling headphones onto the plane with us. The plane doesn’t seem to bother her any more; however, fireworks still do. I’m so glad I had them with us on our trip. We spent an evening at the Destin Harbor Walk and were surprised with fireworks (apparently they do this every Thursday in the summer). We popped these headphones on our four year old and we all enjoyed the waterfront show. Here is a link to the infant ones we like as well.
My husband is a photographer, and our 4 year old has shared an interest recently in taking pictures as well. We found this simple waterproof camera and purchased it prior to our trip. She had a blast taking photos in the airport (we forgot to take it with us on our beach days) and it was so fun to see her perspective of our adventure. This camera is easy to use with decent quality photos. Perfect for little hands to navigate independently.
Swimsuit- As a newly postpartum momma, I wanted a swimsuit that was comfortable, easy to nurse in, and made me feel good in my new curves. I LOVE this swimsuit. As an added bonus, it was extremely nursing friendly. There was actually a perfect nursing access spot just under the cup where the fabric crosses underneath. Fits very true to size with great bum coverage as well. Thank you, Betsy for sharing!!
Shorts- With each pregnancy, my body has changed in different ways— but it seems as though my legs tend to carry the most weight and are the hardest to recover postpartum. I wanted a pair of shorts that were cute and didn’t cling to my thicker thighs. This fit was absolutely perfect. True to size, fit my waist beautifully and allowed for room in my thighs without clinging to my skin. Love them and highly recommend.