Admittedly, this was the portion of the trip I planned for the least. I knew Sarah Parker would have a blast no matter what we did, and wanted to play each moment by ear to see what suited her best. I did, however, make a few preparations before leaving.
When we took Sarah Parker on vacation when she was only a few weeks old, we brought her baby bath tub with us to the beach. If you have a tiny baby, I highly recommend this, because she LOVED it! We didn't end up putting any water in her tub, but it served more as a very easy to clean bassinet. Had she have been older and able to splash, I totally would have filled it with water and let her have her own swimming pool. Since that was such a hit last year, I decided to use the same method this year. Wes and I went back and forth trying to decide if we should take the bath tub again, which she is almost too big for, or a bigger, kiddie paddling pool. We ended up deciding the latter. In hindsight, I wish we had gone for the tub route again. The paddling pool was the perfect place for Spark to splash around when we wanted a break from swimming in the ocean, but it was very heavy for Wes to drag on the sand after filling it with water from the ocean. Also, it gave Sarah Parker a lot more room and freedom, and I was paranoid that she would fall in if I wasn't holding on to her the whole time. I think if I had taken the tub where she could still splash but not move around, I would have been able to relax a little more. Finally, after our week's worth of dragging, splashing, and transporting, the pool got completely dented and ruined. So, with that said, for our newly one-year-old, I would have stuck to the baby tub; however, next year when she is bigger, I think the kiddie pool will be perfect!
For the past three months or so, Sarah Parker has been a pretty regular 10 o'clock napper. I was worried how this would work at the beach since after eating breakfast and getting ready, that ended up being about the time the rest of my family would be ready to head to the ocean. Early in the week, I decided I would try to get Sarah Parker to fall asleep on the way to the beach, and then just hold her on the sand until she woke up. I really, really ended up liking this strategy. We stayed in a campground that allows golf carts, so Wes and I would get ready and then ride around on the cart with Spark around her nap time until she fell asleep. Then, we would drive to the beach and I would hold her while relaxing under the umbrella until she woke up. Of course she would always wake up happy because, hey, she was at the beach! It worked ev.er.y time. And on that note, whenever we wanted to get her to sleep, we would just go for a ride on the golf cart. Seriously, every nap or bed time we would go for a ride and she would very quickly fall asleep. I suggest staying somewhere where you can ride or rent a golf cart because they are baby nap magic and helped to keep her sleeping schedule normal. We contemplated buying one for back home :)
Sarah Parker had an absolute blast! She loved every part of the beach- especially the ocean waves. Wes and I also had so, so much fun. One day near the end of our trip, as Spark was splashing in the water, I gushed to him that people only think they are having fun at the beach unless they are their with their child. It was such a pleasure to see all of the familiar sights through her innocent eyes. And, with our planning, we had almost no hang ups! Family time is such a blessing, and we can't wait for our next adventure.
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