[Sam914]

As some of you may have noticed from my ticker Mr. Michael will be making his first trek to the beach in March (assuming nothing comes up, obviously )... now, i know i asked for travel tips in the past when we were going to my sisters wedding, at that experience turned out excellent, but i'm wondering if anyone has any specific tips for taking baby to the beach? Any cool products you discovered whether it be a beach toy, sunshade, wagon for taking baby to the beach, your favorite cooler... whatever! Also, we'll be in a different situation this time since we're flying not driving we wont be able to take any and everything i can shove in the car (and we'll also be in our own residence, not a hotel)... so, any suggestions for plane travel would be great also. I am about 99% sure we'll be taking his carseat and getting his own seat. I'm not sure about his stroller, we probably wouldnt use it while we're there so i'm not sure if it would be worth the hassle of taking it through the airport? Then again i know i wont want to carry him all that way so idk, maybe i should get a cheap umbrella stroller? Any awesome quiet toys that will keep him entertained for about a 3 hour flight (or two shorter flights if we end up with layovers)... And how does it work with taking baby food and formula on the plane? (i'm not sure if he'll be on formula or milk)

Oh and just for reference he'll be 14 months actual age, 11 months adjusted age.

The reason i'm asking now is we'll probably add suggestions to his Christmas/Birthday list TIA!

[MommaLee]

Can I ask what the beach setting is like?

For instance...are your accomodations on the beach (walking distance), are there vendors at the beach or close by that you could walk to, will there be a community area with open showers to wash the sand off, etc?

[Sam914]

Oh sure, were going to a quiet little island in Florida called Sanibel Its basically a lot of older folks, very quiet and laid back... theres only one stoplight on the island. The beach is a short walk across a street and through a parking lot, and we basically have a private pool (its shared by the 6 condos but hardly any of the other residents use it unless they have guests visiting). We're thinking of buying some kind of wagon when we get there to leave there (the condo is owned by my mom and aunt so its our own personal place we can leave things) for walking to the beach but i'm not sure how well typical wagons do on sand so i'm not sure if thats the best option. The walk only taks about 5 minutes but not close enough to run back and forth a million times if that makes sense.. we'de probably go for an hour or two at a time. There are no vendors or stores within walking distance but theres a big supermarket and touristy stores for stuff we'll need like diapers (i'de buy when we got there rather then pack them) etc. in the "city" part

We're also thinking of buying a cheap pack and play rather then taking our since we dont want ours to get ruined on the plane and paying to check one would cost almost as much buying a cheap one anyway...

[SassyMama]

We took Siera to the beach for the first time over the summer - she was almost 18 months. Umm.. we had lots of sunblock (SPF 35 and SPF 100 - yes, I know, I went overboard ), hats, extra clothing, swimmies, etc. We bought her an inflatable boat, filled it up with water, let the sun heat it for a bit and just sat her in there with beach toys (bucket, shovel, etc.). Hmm what else was a hit... I also kept her under an umbrella most of the time since I was so paranoid of her getting sunburnt.

For the plane ride, we ended up flying around her bedtime so I changed her into her PJs right before we boarded and she hung out for an hour before going to sleep. We had an international flight and they had those baby bassinets in the front row. She slept in there. I recommend taking a cheap umbrella stroller - ours came in handy in the airport.

Oh, and a cool trick I learned for the beach - if you want to take sand off of your baby (ex. legs, butt), rub baby powder over the spot and you can just rub the sand right off.

[MommaLee]

I'm assuming there is no golf cart available....that would be the way to go. If you are walking distance...I would just do an umbrella, sunscreen, buckets/shovels, lots of towels cause they get all wet and sandy, and I'd get a life jacket if you plan to take Mikey out into the deep. That may sound stupid but two children and their dad drowned last weekend close to where I grew up after being swept out by a current. I would suggest a tent if you will be there all day w/o leaving.

You could put a shirt on Mikey to help keep the sun off his back/shoulders. That's really all I can think of.

[Sam914]

Thanks! Keep em coming if anyone else has suggestions ladies!