Lessons Learned on our First Family Vacay
Well we attempted our first family vacation as a family of three! Going to the beach with a toddler is definitely different than going to the beach before having a child. I now understand why people say that a vacation with children should not be called a “vacation” but rather a “trip.” We used to have a quiet drive down, leisurely enjoy the beach, have uninterrupted dinners, stay up late watching movies, sleep in and start our day on our own time. This trip could not have been more opposite, but it was even better than before. Sweet memories were made with our baby boy and it was a blast watching him discover the world around him in a new place!
I have learned some lessons on this first family trip. Some of which I will be repeating next beach trip; others of which I will definitely not be repeating. I thought I would share these lessons learned in case anyone else might gain some insight when planning for their own family trips!
Family Beach Trip Lessons:
1. Beach Set Up: We have a red headed fair skinned little boy who hates having stuff on his hands and feet. Sounds like the perfect combination for a “beach lover.” So we knew we would have to be prepared to provide shade for his skin, as well as something to keep him off sand as much as possible. We also knew he would need snacks, drinks, and toys. So here are the items we used and ended up loving:
Umbrella and chairs: This Amazon Umbrella is the umbrella that we brought on our trip. You can get a beach umbrella from a lot of places, but this one was good enough! Not high quality but not crappy. It provided shade and that’s what we needed! We also just brought camping chairs and beach chairs with us. We’ve had them for years, and I would say they’ve held up, but one broke on the beach. Guess it’s time for new chairs!
Sand Free Blanket: This Sand Free Beach Blanket is the best invention! It truly kept sand off of it as much as possible. It has four pegs to hammer down each corner and keep it from flying away. It is also huge and spacious! Our boy who hates sand loved this blanket. It was a life saver.
Cooler: Of course coolers can be bought anywhere, but we got our cooler from Target Drive Up. Easiest thing ever. Also the best thing for all of our drinks, snacks, and baby boy’s milk. He’s not happy without his milk so a cooler was a must.
Toys: Once again, beach and pool toys can be bought anywhere in the summer, but we got our beach toys from Amazon and pool rings and balls from Target Drive Up. Our son loved the toys! It definitely kept him entertained for a long time. Cheap but fun!
2. Swim Attire: Bathing suits are a given when at the beach. But with a fair skinned red head, swim attire looks a little different:
Swim Shirts: We already had short sleeved swim shirts that paired with shorts, but it was hard to find long sleeved that came with shorts to match. So I just found a couple of plain white and blue long sleeved swim shirts to put with the swim trunks he already had.
Swim Shoes: These water shoes allowed our son who hates sand to be able to actually walk on the sand! I regret not having him wear them the whole time. Next beach trip, I’m never taking them off of him!
Hat: This is the swim hat that we tried to use! We used the same hat last summer at the pool so I bought it again in a larger size, knowing we already loved it. Unfortunately, last summer he was unable to pull it off. And this summer, the hat was immediately yanked off no matter how tight we tied it. However, we would still use it on him whenever he fell asleep on us at the beach. It provides a lot of coverage when actually used!
Puddle Jumper / Floats: Our son hates wearing a puddle jumper. I didn’t force him to wear it at the beach, but when at the pool I try to make him wear it (even though it usually ends in a tantrum). However, most all young kids wear them so I’m hopeful he’ll get used to it! Also, we used this baby float in the pool last year and he hated it, but this year he loves it! Another win!
3. Sunscreen: Sunscreen is another given on a beach trip. However, when you’re a family of fair skinned individuals, you pack enough sunscreen for a tribe. Before I was a mama, I was a master at sunscreen application. I had been burnt so many different ways as a teen that I knew how to apply it without ever getting burnt again. Unfortunately, no one told me that having a kid meant that I would no longer be good at applying my own sunscreen. Apparently, holding and managing a toddler all day will rub off your sunscreen and leave you with burns in random places all over your body. On a positive note, I am now a master at keeping my kid from getting burnt, which I guess is better. Here is what I do:
Rub-in Sunscreen: I always start with a rub-in screen. We usually love No-Ad but were unable to find it this year. So I just went with the simple Target brand. Sprays are awesome, but only for reapplication. First, rub that screen in ALL OVER the body. Even in places you’d never imagine getting burnt (because it will for fair skinned peeps).
Spray Sunscreen: Then use spray sunscreen to reapply throughout the day. In our family, we go through spray bottles like addicts. I know spray is expensive so we buy the cheapest we can find. But it is truly a life saver.
Baby Sunscreen: I do the same for our son. I first use baby rub-in sunscreen all over his body then use baby spray sunscreen throughout the day. But I also spray his entire head with spray sunscreen if he doesn’t wear his hat. The spray has surprisingly kept his scalp from getting burnt!
4. Meals and Restaurants: Before having a child, we would just bring a few snacks. This trip, we brought A LOT of groceries for our growing tot.
Breakfast and Lunch: We tried to bring as many snacks or meal items as we could that we knew he would eat for breakfast and lunch. We also brought ingredients for sandwiches that we could easily make for lunch and pack in our cooler to take down to the beach. My family has done that for years, so a turkey sandwich now always reminds me of the beach.
Dinner in Restaurants: Going to dinner is one of our favorite things to do at the beach. However, we were nervous how it would play out now that we have a mobile toddler, so we did our best to prepare. We brought a highchair seat cover with us to protect him from germs. But it also has a place to hook toys onto and even a clear pocket on the front to hold a cell phone in so that he can watch a show, but we did our best to save the “screen-time” for last. Let me explain how eating out on vacay looked for this tot family:
Sat tot down in the highchair and let him explore his surroundings with whatever safe objects are on the table.
Immediately order his meal as soon as the waiter appeared.
Fed him his meal while we waited for our meals to arrive.
When our meals arrived, we gave him his cup of milk. Milk is his favorite and immediately made him still and quiet, so it gave us about 5 to 10 minutes of peace to eat our food.
If he finished his milk before we were finished eating, then we usually pulled out the cell phone and put on his favorite show until we were done.
By the time we were ready for the check, he was ready to get out. So we took turns walking around with him while the other one waited to finish paying.
And that was our “night out" in a nutshell!
5. Sleeping Arrangements: This one was probably the most challenging of all. We stayed in one small hotel room, so there was no way of having any separation or privacy from our child. But we did the best we could with what we had:
Rental Crib: We have a playpen that we have tried to use when traveling for the past year, but our son hates it and is never able to sleep in it. So we googled “Rental Cribs” in the area we stayed in and sure enough there was a place that allowed us to rent a full size crib for our stay! He slept wonderfully in it for the first half of each night, but because we were all in the same room, he would end up in bed with us the second half of the night.
Blackout Curtain: Last year I bought this portable blackout curtain for visiting family. It works great to keep out light! However, we didn’t actually use it on the windows this trip. The hotel room already had great room darkening curtains, so we used our curtain as a privacy curtain. We hung it between our bed and the rental crib in hopes of keeping our little one asleep as we moved about the room at night. Once again, it worked great for the first half of the night! We were definitely able to do more around the room without waking him. However, at some point in the middle of the night he would wake up and want to sleep with us.
Sound Machine: We made sure to bring our sound machine from home. It has a night light that we can easily turn on and off and it provides A LOT of white noise to cover over anything we did around the room while he slept.
Blankets and Sleep-Sacks: We also made sure to bring his blankets and sleep-sacks so that he had some comfort from home with him while he slept. They also just smell really good and are super soft and cozy for him compared to hotel blankets.
6. Car Rides: In all honesty, we do not have a very quiet, still, and docile child who does wonderfully in the car. Our son screams like a banshee if he is not entertained, sleeping, or fed while riding in the car. Therefore, we have to be prepared for anything when it comes to long road trips. This is how we did our beach trip drive:
Toys and Books: We made sure to bring a large bag of toys and books that we could easily hand him in the backseat. These usually keep him entertained until he throws them and gets mad that he can’t pick them back up.
Snacks and Milk: This kid loves snacks and LOVES milk. So I loaded up on all types of snacks that I knew he loved, as well as lots of milk ready to go when he needed it.
Music and Shows: When he started to get very upset, we would play his favorite songs on Spotify (he is obsessed with Little Baby Bum). But my husband cannot stand that music, so after a while I resorted to letting him watch his favorite shows (Little Baby Bum once again, or Go Buster also by LBB). To play shows for him, we use a car cell phone holder that suctions to the car window so that we don’t have to hold it for him. It is the best invention!
Naps: Getting our toddler to take naps in the car might be one of my most frustrating experiences as a parent. He FIGHTS sleep hard. It gets to a point where toys, books, snacks, milk, music, and shows are no longer helpful to him. Instead, he just screams bloody murder. When he was itty bitty, we used to have to shake his car seat while driving to get him to calm down. Now, he wants us to touch his head. It is the strangest thing, but it works! We simply lay a finger on top of his head and he stops crying and eventually falls asleep!
7. Next Beach Trip: Next time we haul our little family back to the beach, there are some things that I would like to do differently:
Stay in a Condo: We loved the hotel that we stayed in before we had a child, but we have definitely outgrown it. It was fun to make a memory being squished in that room together, but I do not want to do that again. I have already started looking at condos that we can rent and I was surprised to see that a lot of places cost the the same as a hotel but for twice or three times the space! The problem is that they book up QUICK, so we need to go ahead and plan next summer’s vacay in order to get a condo.
Remember to Reapply Myself: I used to be obsessed with keeping myself covered in sunscreen, but now that I have a red head I am way more concerned with keeping him covered. Unfortunately, I was so focused on him that I forgot to reapply sunscreen to myself and therefore ended up getting lobster burnt in splotched all over my body the first day. So I had to wear coverups the rest of the beach trip.
Wear a Rash Guard: Next time we are in the sun for a LONG period of time, I think I am just going to be that cool girl who wears a long-sleeved rash guard. I am super fair skinned, as well, and getting burnt HURTS! I am also married with a baby so I shouldn’t care what I look like on the beach.
Remember Aloe: I somehow forgot to bring Aloe on this beach trip and I ended up needed it most of all! Of course I was able to buy some, but not until the next day. That first night sleeping with burns was quite painful.
Share with me!
I am sure that there are many more good lessons and hard lessons that I will learn on family vacations throughout the coming years. But this first trip with our son was definitely the most eye opening! What lessons have you all learned? What has or hasn’t worked on your family vacations? Teach me your ways!