Friday Favorites – Live from the Beach

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Summer is just not summer to me until I’ve made it to the beach!  Call it complete as I’m waking up this morning to the sound of the waves rolling in.  You can bet there will be toes in the sand most of the day and lots of great laughs.  
I’ve been going to the beach every summer since I can remember as I grew up just an hour from the coast.  My dad was always the best at setting up camp and cooking ranch style beans right in the can on his grill. Ahh….love those memories!  Here are a few of our favorite things to take along to the beach in the current century!  
A pop up canopy is a must to offer a retreat from the sun.  Everyone loves to be in the water and building sandcastles but having a place to sit in the shade while eating a bite or just catching a quick nap is a must for me. Be sure to take something to use to weight it down because it is typically windy at the coast.  A 5 gallon bucket always works well and we just fill with water and tie to the tent.  We also love this one with the zip up storage bag with wheels.  

We were always able to drive right onto the beach and I believe we can at this location too but we do have a boardwalk across to the beach.  I’m really thinking our utility wagon is going to come in handy.  We actually have this utility wagon with the smaller wheels since we mainly use for sporting event but a friend recently bought one with these large wheels which would be much more conducive to sand.  
Where there is water there will be mosquitoes.  I saw this Bull Frog Mosquito Spray Sunscreen with Insect Repellent not long ago on another blog (oops can’t remember which one) and it seemed genius to me!  Knock out two birds with one stone.  
One of my kids favorite things to do is walk along the beach at night looking for little sand crabs. When we vacationed in Destin years back, we noticed the little kids club babysitting group headed to the beach each night with flashlights.  Before that we had no clue!  So much fun. 
For the adults, I am partial to getting the day off on the right foot with a little vitamin C….that is if there is Malibu rum in it!  Mix this with orange juice and it’s the perfect drink before noon.  
Any book by Elin Hilderbrand is perfect to read at the beach!  I grabbed Nantucket Nights a week or so back and I might find a little time to read a few chapters.  
If you have a beach trip planned, you definitely want to hop on over to my friend Holly’s blog and read all about the Beach Bucket List she put together for our fun getaway.  Everyone needs a friend who can pull something like this together!  We can’t wait to cross everything off our list.    
Of course there are all the basics, sand toys and boogie boards and snacks you don’t allow yourself to eat anywhere else!  I can’t wait to share all of our pictures when I catch back up next week!  If you are dying with anticipation you can be sure to follow along on Instagram or find me on Snapchat queeninbetween1.  
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