This week's Friday Favorites is all about one of our favorite places: the beach! Summer is upon us. Technically, it feels like it is already here in Florida. Our favorite time of the year is actually summer. All of us would take summer over everything else because it means more visits to the beach. We wanted to share a few of our favorite items to use on the beach as well as a few of our favorite beaches in Florida in case we may have one you haven't tried yet and might like.
Let's start with a few of our favorite things and our most common routine in case we have some tips for anyone that may like them. We have been perfecting our family beach routine for the last five years or so. We used to go a ton BC (Before Children), but once Kenzie came along it was a lot more difficult so we didn't go often. Then we increased our beach trips as she got older... and Will came along. We had more trouble going with babies, but we decided to not let it stop us. We have changed how we do some things but we love our new set-up when we go. We used to just take a couple chairs and a beach bag. Done. Now it requires a small moving truck sometimes. Just kidding! Sort of. What we take depends on what our plans are. When we go all day, we require a lot more than what we need for an hour or two stop at the beach on our way to do something else. We don't like to get too close to the coast without a quick stop, at least. You could say salt water runs in our veins at this point. It certainly heals all ailments.
Shade, Shade, Shade:
Florida is hot. And sunny. And even when cloudy, brings the potential for sunburns. So... we rely heavily on a canopy style tent. Like this one. Honestly, we go through a lot of tents. We use them for a ton of things. We use them if we tailgate, at the beach, at outdoor events, at birthday parties, etc. So much so that this one is getting close to being on its last leg and may require a replacement at the end of this season. Some things we learned (and recommend) is getting one with the easy set up that lets you just pop it up and everything is ready. A prior tent we owned had a separate top attachment which was a pain to set up. We also like having a bag with wheels to put it in. We don't always wheel it, but it helps for sure. We like to stay all day at the beach and there are four of us, if not more when our family comes with us, so having a large tent is a necessity. Ours is actually slightly bigger than 10x10, I think, but 10x10 is a good size.
Carting Around All the Stuff:
We carry a lot when we go to the beach now. With kids, we rely on having some way to carry all of our stuff without needing to make 13 trips back and forth to the car. Sometimes that still happens if there is a not a way to use our beach wagon due to how you access the beach, but most of the time we use a wagon like this one. This thing is a lifesaver. One thing to note though is that on really soft sand (especially the powdery kind more common on the Gulf side of Florida), it does still take two people to move it through the sand. One of us has to pull while the other pushes. Still easier than making so many trips and having to carry our tent.
Toys and Kid Things:
Obviously a shovel and bucket is a kid necessity on the beach. We also like boogie boards (though we don't bring them sometimes depending on the beach we have chosen). One thing we bought a few years ago for the kids though that we absolutely love are shell bags. The ones we bought a few years ago are no longer sold but these are very similar. We love these things. They let the kids find shells and keep them close. We don't have to hold them (though sometimes we forget them as we walk down the beach and the kids find shells then run to Steven yelling "shell pocket!" so he can open his pocket on his swimsuit for the kids to deposit said shells. These bags are mesh so the sand (mostly) falls out of them. We always take the entire bag before we leave the beach and dunk it in the water to clean off some extra sand. Works wonders.
Catching (and Blocking) The Rays:
It's no joke. The sun in Florida is insane. Even on the cloudiest days, you can get burned. So, we rely on sunblock when we do just about everything outside. At least in the heat of the day or when we will be outside more than an hour. We have tried a lot of different sunblocks, but in recent years have found that Babyganics is our absolute favorite. It doesn't smell as strong as typical sunblock so it isn't as overpowering. It goes on really easy and also comes in a convenient "spray" type bottle. You can also buy it in a normal lotion style container, but we like the spray. Our kids are trained. They know sunblock comes before getting into the sun and they don't mind this stuff. Can't recommend it enough. We also rely on hats and rash guards when at the beach. The kids wear more "floppy" style hats. Steven does too but I would rather wear a baseball hat most days. I use a lot of sunblock to make up for my ears being out in the open. When we are at the beach, you will find us and sometimes the kids without rash guards on but we limit the time spent like that. So, usually the kids have rash guards on and we have either our rash guards or these shirts we bought in Marathon last year that are a similar material but not as tight. We also require the kids to wear long sleeve ones. I have found that they have been harder to find this year in long sleeve, but it's worth searching for them. At least for us. As a tip, we usually buy them a bit bigger than necessary. First off, because once they are wet, they are harder to remove. Secondly, because then they often fit for another year. That came into play already this year because we lost Will' rash guard on our first real beach visit and now he is back to wearing ones from last year.
So those are a few of our favorite things aka necessities for beach trips. Now, to highlight a few of our favorite beaches. Let's do it by region... sort of.
East Coast:
One of our favorite "local" beaches is Jungle Hut in Palm Coast. This one is great because it is near Grandma and Grandaddy. That means we can usually visit them too when we are out there. It also has fun rocks that during low tide, let us search tide pools. It is free but has a small parking lot so you have to time your visits just right.
Our other favorite "local" East coast beach is Cocoa Beach. We usually choose Lori Wilson Park. This is also free access but the parking lot fills up fast in the mornings. We get there early. One bonus to this beach is that it is near Ron Jon and Cocoa Beach Surf Company. We love those stores. It is also near the Cocoa Beach Pier. You have to pay to park there, but sometimes we do it and have lunch. Once you eat, you can walk out onto the pier which the kids love. You can eat and watch surfers and volleyball games out the window if you are inside or off the side of the pier if you eat outside. So much fun.
Gulf Coast:
Our initial favorite on the gulf was Honeymoon Island. It still ranks near the top. This is a state park so you pay to get in but it also tends to mean less crowded beaches. This is typical (in low tide) of your Gulf beaches. Sand for days and sandbars to play on out in the water. The kids love when we hit low tide there. It is also warmer water and calmer waves so that ranks high on their list.
Our newest favorite on the Gulf is Siesta Beach. Last year Dr. Beach ranked it as the number one beach and we had to try it. We had heard of it before but never been there. It is a bit of a drive for us at around 2 plus hours, but so worth it. The white powder sand is my favorite kind. The kids enjoyed the calmer waters but it still had enough of a wave farther out that if we went with them, we could "jump" the waves which is a favorite thing of their.
South Florida:
Steven grew up in South Florida and I moved there when I was 13 so we are familiar with South Florida beaches. Steven, definitely more so. If I had to choose one favorite, I think I would choose what we refer to as "Lighthouse Beach" because it has, well, a lighthouse. Actually, it is Bill Baggs State Park. State park again so less people. It is a calm beach and we learned that if you catch it at low tide, you can go so very far out and still be only knee deep. The water is warm in the summer which is one of our favorites.
I'm giving honorable mention to what used to be known as John U Lloyd State Park. We learned last year that it changed names. We haven't been to this beach much in recent years and I've heard it isn't as well kept as it once was BUT if you go at the right time, you can sit and watch the cruise ships go out which THRILLED the kids. We aren't sure if this is a beach for all day visiting any longer as we haven't done it but it gets a mention because of the place is holds in Steven's heart (and to some extent my own but my history with it isn't nearly as lengthy).
The Keys:
So technically the Keys are in South Florida,but if you have ever been... you know that they are definitely a world of their own. So, they get their own spot on this list. Our absolute favorite beach in the Keys is probably Bahia Honda State Park. Bahia Honda is in Big Pine Key about 45 minutes before Key West. This is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. The water is crystal clear, the sand is white, the waves are calm, and if you are there at sunset... wow.
Our other favorite beach in the Keys is John Pennekamp State Park. This beach is in Key Largo. While the beach itself isn't that amazing, the kids love it because it is like a bath tub (with rocks on the floor). You can watch the tarpon play in what we refer to as "the trench" just off the beach. The real draw to this for us is the snorkeling. You can snorkel right at the beach around some canons that were sunk (on purpose). If you are more adventurous (and we finally got to do this last summer), you can take a snorkeling tour and go out to the reefs off the coast and snorkel there. It was amazing. I can't wait to do it again and I definitely can't wait until the kids are old enough to do it with us.
So, those are a few of our favorite beaches. We are going to try out a few new ones this summer, I think so maybe we will add to this list. Honestly, the beach in general is our happy place. I hope that this post sparks an interest in some of these beaches that you may not have tried before or not visited in a while. Enjoy!
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