Large Family Living :: At the Beach

I grew up and still live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where we have the bay, the ocean, mountains, foothills, redwoods, and more, all within a short drive from our doorstep. The variety of landscape is delightful. And yet, when it comes to a day trip or vacation, I will choose the coast every time! Foggy or sunny, muggy or cool, I can't get enough of our Northern California dunes and beaches.

We live about 45 minutes inland from the beach. But we are at the coast weekly through the warm months (which is about nine months of the year here!) since my husband works from home and can arrange his schedule accordingly.

I get lots of questions via email about taking littles to the beach. I always answer them personally, but I figured I might as well pull all my answers together into a post! So please excuse my deviating from homeschool-household chat for this ultra-logistical discussion. :)

I have to say right up front: my best tip for going to the beach with littles is to bring another adult! I could easily make our outings work by myself, but I can't tell you how nice it is to have another set of eyes and arms. I just want to put that right up front: my husband is always with us when we go, and with nine children under twelve (including half of them non-swimmers), an infant, and a toddler, that's the way I feel safest. Whether it's a friend, sister, or husband, it's great to have another adult around!

This is not a post about how to have a Instagram-worthy trip to the beach. Just tips and tricks based on our own experience, in no particular order. Nothing fancy!

We go early when the beach is empty, and leave when others are just starting to arrive, shortly after lunch. We miss the worst of the sun this way (my husband and I really don't like the heat), and we get to enjoy a mostly-empty beach.

Our priority is a beach that has a long stretch of sand so my toddlers + preschoolers can roam without getting close to the water and so we can have some privacy. So we skip the more popular beaches and head to the ones know one seems to know about.

We always keep a bag of sweaters in the car. (Hubby and I prefer windbreakers so we can do multiple layers.) Our coast is chilly in the mornings, so we never know how it will be when we get there. And the kids don't have fun if they are too chilly! The marine layer always burns off  by the time we're ready to head into the water.

We have in-the-water and out-of-the-water blocks of time while we're there. We go to beaches that generally have a good amount of surf, so when little kids are in the water, we need to be always on the alert. So we need those times of strictly sand play that allow us to just rest, snack, read, and chat.  We usually do an hour of sand play when we first arrive, an hour in the water, an hour for an early lunch and more sand play, a bit more time in the water, then time to dry off before we head home. This allows babies and toddlers to nap in the car. It also allows me to know where everyone is at all times! I don't have to worry that one of the littles is headed down to the water without my knowing. (I know at some point, we'll be able to make a whole day of an outing. But for us right now, a half day always works best.)

Non-swimmers are always outfitted with a life jacket or floaties. This just adds a little emergency protection.  We have four Puddle Jumpers and love them. They go to the four youngest kids minus the toddler and baby, who stay with me. We usually split up lifeguarding duty: I watch the toddler and walk him so he can splash his feet in the water, my husband watches everyone else, and one of us wears the baby.

 We travel light to the beach: no towels, no chairs for each person, etc. We need to make it in one trip from the car to the beach, with my husband and I potentially carrying littles, so whatever we can't carry we don't bring. Here's a line-up of the gear we love and always have with us...

two camp chairs (for me and my husband + babies on our lap)
a waterproof picnic blanket (for the kids, or for little ones who need a place to lie down)
a pop up tent (for clothing changes and such)
an umbrella with a side panel for extra shade (we HAVE to have shade -- non-negotiable since I'm fair)
a camp high chair (LOVE this)
carriers for me and my husband (I like my ergo on my back or a wrap on my front, and he likes a traditional bjorn-style carrier)
one bag of toys (buckets, balls, shovels)
water bottles in a bag, hats in a bag, and sweaters in a bag

We have trained the kids in setup and take down of all our gear. They also know how to stow it all in the car. And then we just leave it there until the next outing!  So we are pretty much always packed and ready to go.

Besides gear, I pack a trash bag, sunscreen, sunglasses for me and my husband, breakfast (to eat in the car on the way there), a small non-refrigerated lunch, bottles, diapers, etc. I keep a list on my phone of our Beach Packing List, so I can quickly grab it all on beach mornings. I also bring socks for the baby, something so easy to forget and yet so helpful to have: for cold when we get there, sun protection while he's in the carrier, and then a shield from the hot sand as he walks around afterward.

I do a check of swimsuits at the beginning of the season and make sure each child has the following: long-sleeved rash guard, swim shorts, sun hat, and crocs.

I have fair-skinned kids (despite their being Filipino-Italian!), so long-sleeved rash guards keep me from having to reapply and reapply sunscreen. We do a coating before they head in the water, and then as long as they keep their hats on, we don't have to reapply since we're only there for 3-4 hours at a stretch. With nine kids, sunscreen application takes a LONG while, so this saves a good amount of time and energy! :)

Speaking of sun hats, I really love these. My older kids and my husband and I all have them. It keeps its shape, dries quickly, and it's very comfortable. And the adjustable chin strap is a must on breezy California coasts!

Since I'm always on the hunt for modest swimwear and I know many of my friends are too, I thought I'd share where I have been getting suits lately.  For the boys, trunks + tops from Target have been working great. But for the girls, I've had the best luck at Amazon. City Threads is a great brand that sells solid-color and print separates, including long-sleeved tops and fitted shorts for girls. (FYI: They run small. But the quality is good!)

Gianna is now in XS/S adult sizing (she is 11.5 and 5'2''). I ordered this cute top and some long coordinating shorts as separate pieces for her and she really likes the fit. She said they're super comfortable and, as you can see in the picture below, she is very active in the water!

leading the charge!

We LOVE crocs. Love them. So durable -- we have passed down so many pairs from child to child and they still look great. They are comfortable and easy to clean...and when you're in the sand every week, that easy-to-clean quality is really important. We'll often put them out on the backyard patio and hose them all down and let them dry in the sun. They have feminine options too that I think are much cuter than the clog style for little girls!  (And I have had these crocs for years and wear them all the time)

I think that answers all the questions I have gotten about our family's approach to beach days.

I'm looking forward to a lot more days like these in the months ahead!

(Have any questions I didn't cover? Ask them in the comments and I'll add answers below!)

Nature Study at the Beach :: Negative Tide and Other Neat Sights

Last month we made an early morning trip the coast to hit negative tide.  It was a gray day, but low tide always makes up for that.  (Besides, I actually like gray days!)

see the shore crab?

crustacean fossils

the cliffs -- often the water is right up to the cliff line

strata of fossils -- SO neat

these curious furrows in nearly solid rock -- we were thinking of Madam How and Lady Why!

And just to tack on some other interesting beach finds from this summer:

Vincent found this sand dollar split open lengthwise and still in tact.  I've never seen one so neatly parted like this!  The inside is so delicate.

On our last beach trip, the lifeguard alerted us to this dead stingray right next to us on the beach.  It was only about seven inches across, but it was so neat to get a peek at his spine (the underside of him was a bit more mangled and bone was exposed).

This one was fun: we found what the kids called "the most gigantic (dead) mole crab we've ever seen!!"  It did look like a mole crab, but apparently it's called a spiny sand crab, and it eats the usual mole crabs we see.  It was as large as my palm!

drew was enamored with his "cwab"

Another day we found purple waves hitting the shore.

see the purple tinge?

As we got closer, we noticed it was tiny purple dots within the waves casting the tint.

Apparently those tiny dots are zillions of purple salp.  Weird, right?

Okay, that's all my unusual sightings from the past couple months. :) Have you seen anything particularly remarkable lately?

Nature Study Outing :: The Art of Nature

The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History has an annual Art of Nature exhibit that we have visited in the past.  This year's showing fell during our vacation dates, so I was happy to return and see some new work by local scientific illustrators.

Vincent with his favorite bird, the golden eagle

There were two additions this year that particularly drew our interest...

For my own journaling, I focus on dry-brushing, but I love looking at watercolor of all sorts.  This comprehensive tide-scape done in watercolor was a special treat to examine.  It's called "The Great Tide Pool" by Emily Underwood.

The kids spent a few minutes pointing out all the marine life they could identify.  All the usual sights were included, a sort of compendium of our local coastline.

I especially liked how she captured the cormorants that cover the white-washed rocks just off shore in that last shot.  It's so similar to what we see on our drive down to Asilomar but I have never been able to express it in ink or paint.

We all were also drawn to this exhibit by Megan Gnekow.  They look as if they are pinned butterflies, and certainly the museum has more than its share of preserved creatures to observe.  But these were actually of paper!  The artist-naturalist described her process of creation, and I took careful photos so that we could attempt to duplicate the activity at home.

It involves careful observation and brushwork of both under- and over-wings, then mounting for view.  The artist used tabs so that the wings could be moved up and down to make both sides visible. 

I'm looking forward to trying this out alongside my butterfly-and-and-craft-loving children.

And I can't leave out this rendition of one of my favorite birds, the kingfisher, along with his stuffed brother nearby:

It reminded me of this lovely mention from Elizabeth Goudge's Pilgrim's Inn:

"One sees the oddest things in the woods," agreed David.
"What were you seeing?" asked Sally.
"Nothing out of the ordinary.  Just a kingfisher.  Though actually a kingfisher is a bit out of the ordinary, isn't he?  A heavenly bird."

Each year they have out a table of treasures, along with microscopes and magnifying glasses and lots of drawing paper and pencils.  It's great for keeping the littles occupied while my big kids and I make our rounds of the place!

They have signs posted near the table describing what nature journaling is, as well as docents nearby to guide children in how to go about it--but my kids all just hunker down and get to work!  Love those Charlotte Mason habits. :)