Happy Friday from the Beach! What I Pack in Our Beach Bag :)

 Hello hello friends! It has been a beautiful week around here and I am feeling awfully thankful right about now. 

I am currently at the beach with my little family of 4, my parents, and one of my sisters, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to be here with them. I won't go into too much detail, but we have a family member (distant, not one of the family members I just listed) whose health is starting to slip as they age and while it is breaking my heart for that person, it is also bringing about quite an awakening in me that we have a limited amount of time here on Earth and I want to spend as much time as possible loving on my favorite people. We have spent hours and hours out on the beach, building sandcastles, jumping waves, laughing, talking, and just spending some good quality time together. I am thankful we have our health, and have each other. Do me a favor and call a friend or family member today and tell them you love them, k? 

Anyway, enough of my cheesiness! I originally had all these big plans to post "A Day in the Life of Us at the Beach" today, but then on the day I had planned to take pictures, poor Lily Grace came down with a double ear infection and we spent a good chunk of our day at Urgent Care and the pharmacy. I figured nobody wants to see pictures of that 😉 So at the last minute I pivoted to what we pack in our beach bag. 

My Beach Bag:

It's an oldie but a goodie! This bag was a free gift with purchase I got at Lilly Pulitzer before our honeymoon in 2013. I have tried some other beach bags over the years, but honestly this one is still my tried and true favorite. I love this bag because it's easy to wipe down if something spills inside, it's very lightweight when empty (I don't need any extra added weight-- this thing gets heavy once loaded up!), and you all know the bright Lilly colors just make me happy. Mine is obviously super old, but there is a similar one here. Inside the bag I try to keep everything organized into gallon sized ziplock bags, so when I need to grab something it is easy to find.

- Sunscreen (adult sunscreen and kid sunscreen). Devin and the kids wear SPF 50 and the kids use a face stick, but I prefer to use SPF 30. 

- Goggles

- A baseball cap-- I love a good floppy beach hat, but on particularly windy days a baseball cap comes in handy. I love being able to thread my ponytail through the back. Keeps the sun out of my face and my hair off my neck! Win/win.

- A little bag/purse-- This one came with the free beach bag, but you could use a similar small bag like this. I love to keep my ID, phone, a credit card, some chapstick, a hair tie, a tampon or two, and anything else I may need in here. Then I'm not searching through my bag for them later, the little bag is easy to find!

-  A hairbrush-- I love to swim in the ocean with the kids, but since my hair is so long it can get really tangled if I don't brush it out while it's still wet. 

- A Coozie-- I always have a drink on hand at the beach, and a coozie helps to keep it cold longer. 

- Swim Diapers-- Liam is doing great with potty training, but we aren't taking any chances around here. Again, I keep all swim diapers in a gallon ziplock so they are easy to find when we need one. 

Then we usually pack either a little wagon or another bag for beach toys, boogie boards, towels, etc. We bought our wagon at Costco 3ish years ago, but this one on Amazon looks identical. It works really well for us. 

I'd love to know, is there anything you pack in your beach bag that you think I should include in my bag? I always love your suggestions!

Today I am linking up with Andrea and Erika for Friday Favorites.