Anna’s First Beach Trip

6.5 hour car ride. 5 nights sleeping in the same room. 18 people in one house. 13 adults, 5 kids. Delicious seafood. Lots of playtime in the water and sun.

Thoughts after enjoying our almost 11 month old baby at the beach:

Having the small pool under the tent was a game changer. It really increased the longevity of her time on the beach.
I “hid” a few of her favorite toys a few days before we left, and purchased 2 new ones, and the combination probably bought us an extra 30 minutes of happy time in the car seat.
Anna’s room is super dark, so I tried out a car seat canopy and cover for the pack’n’play and was really pleased with the product quality and how they helped her nap! Of course, we also brought our travel sound machine and the faithful Hatch.
It was super fun to see her enjoy the water. Very thankful. While at the pool, this float was great because her toys stayed within her reach.
I already don’t love applying sunscreen to even myself, and baby sunscreen even more so! It’s so thick (as it should be), and we learned our lesson the first day after putting it in her hair that it wasn’t made to be there. Ha!
As we packed our car, going and coming home, I made sure to leave enough room in the back for this. It made changing her on the go super easy, knowing I had a space to lay her down.
For the car ride, one of us sat back there with her, and I think that made a huge difference — feeding, playing with, reading books.
This Hanna Anderson rash guard was one of the best purchases for the summer.
I can’t lie and say I wasn’t worried about her sleeping away from home in a house full of happy, loud, vacationing family. There were a few hiccups and some tears, but God was a present help when I wanted to be discouraged or stressed. For the most part, she slept really well. Praises.