This has been a very unusual beach trip for us: a completely new place and without grandparents. So I thought I'd share a couple things that I've learned :)
Traveling in the evening does not ensure that my girls will sleep at all on the trip. Regardless of the fact that she is normally sound asleep by 6:15 every night, Karlie will probably not quiet down in the car until at least 10:00pm!
Stickers are my best friend. The only 30 min stretch of peace in our 6 hour trip was when I was feeding Karlie stickers to decorate our van with :)
A van is a wonderful and amazing thing. Never before have we been able to bring so much on a trip. The most important item that we can now bring is our wagon. I cannot begin to describe how useful it is on the beach!
A beach trip is a lot more relaxing when you bring grandparents along :) We have had a blast, but the only relaxing Mark and I get is when the girls take their super-long naps after coming back from playing all morning on the shore.
Food is the only way to keep the fussiness down when the girls are utterly exhausted and are too sandy for their nap yet. A special snack makes a huge difference!
There is no such thing as a perfect family beach picture with my family (Lauren, you are so incredibly blessed to have toddler who loves to pose; your beach pictures make me jealous :) There is simply no way to get both of my girls to even look at the camera at the same time, let alone be smiling at the camera simultaneously!
It doesn't matter how many cute outfits I pack: if they aren't pink sundresses, Karis will not wear them!
Little swimmy diapers are not leak free and my cloth diapers actually do a better job!
Cod liver oil and a healthy diet really does make a difference in not needing sunscreen! I have never used so little sunscreen in my life! I really should be a lobster right now, but I am not!
My girls are so incredibly different. Yes, I already knew this, but this trip has been a constant reminder. Karlie is a dare-devil who fears nothing. She saw the beach and ran into the water as fast as she could and would have kept going if I had let her. It took Karis about 4 days at Karlie's age to even let us put her feet in the water! And Karis was still initially hesitant this trip! Karlie will also try to walk right into the pool at any given moment. I never even had to worry with Karis because she wouldn't go near the water unless we talked her into it! They are just so different!
We really should invest in a GPS. We say this after every trip because we are notorious for taking a wrong turn. It would probably be a worthy investment for us.
The Singing Bible is fun the first time or two, but when your 3-year old is utterly obsessed with it and doesn't want to hear anything else, it is a BAD thing!
You can NEVER have too many beach towels!
I should never hold my squirmy Karlie and my camera at the same time! NEVER! Once again, I have dropped our camera and it is currently out of commission :(
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