Summer Must Haves

I love summer.

The warm weather, bright colors, and lake days are what I live for especially in our little resort town. You know summer is here when you are picking up a new set of sand toys, and bottles of sunscreen. This year we found some must haves we had to share with you!

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1. Microfiber Beach Towels

Let me start off by saying I have wanted to purchase new beach towels for the last FIVE years. We have made our old bath towels work just fine, but this year I was determined to find the perfect beach towel. Since every purchase seems to have, "will this be coming with us in the Airstream," question... I was now on the search for something other than big fluffy beach towels.

Since Instagram pretty much reads my mind, an ad popped up about microfiber towels. I fell in love with @sandcloud microfiber towels, but I could not fall in love with the price at this time even though I love that they stand for saving marine life. #savethefishies

I did however find microfiber beach towels at Costco for $10. I ended up buying all four prints from House of Clouds. Check to see if your Costco still has them. They were flying off the shelves, and every person I passed told me how much they loved theirs. And we do!  Not only are they fun prints, but they are thin, super absorbent, dry fast, and we don't have to deal with all the sand.

Perfect to throw in a bag, and definitely perfect for our tiny living.

2. Water Shoes

That is it. No more rocks in our shoes, or swimming after flip flops floating down the river. This summer was a must for good water shoes. I knew we didn't want super expensive shoes for the kids because their feet are growing so dang fast right now. We needed something that didn't have holes where rocks could get in to cause the next big melt down. They had to be just right.

My friend shared about some she found on Amazon for her kids for $13. She said they lasted about a season. I was sold. The kids picked their favorite prints, I found some some adult ones for Ben and I, and two day shipping here we come. Although it ended up being closer to three weeks due to Corona.

So far they work perfect. No meltdowns from the kids about rocks getting in their shoes, and they are great for running on rocky ground. They pretty much suction to your feet, so if you end up getting yours in, and they are a little big, it didn't seem like to big of a deal.

3. Reef Flip Flops

I was all about cheap flip flops until I realized that my kids practically live in them all summer, and there was absolutely no support for their feet. I know flip flops are not the best for your feet anyways, but if you are going to wear them I think it is worth the money to get ones that have better support.

Reef was the winner this summer. We found some at Khol's for Emery, and she was happy with the cute watermelon print. We all know that is a big deal for an almost FOUR year old. I don't know about your daughter, but some of the stuff we buy for Emery, she refuses to wear. Pretty much give the girl hand me downs for older kids, and she is living her best life.

We ending up ordering a pair from Reef online for Parker. He was super excited he got to pick his very own print, and realized now that he is almost six his flip flops no longer come with a strap on the back. I laughed the first time he tried walking in them. He wasn't sure how they would stay on.

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4. Life Vests

We have loved our puddle jumpers for river and lake days for the past few years. We can probably get another year or two out of Emery's, but Parker has been on a growth spurt the last few months, and it was time to get him a life vest. We decided to get both the kids life vests this summer since we usually end up on our friends boats, paddle boards and kayaks, and we wanted to make sure we would always have one that fits perfectly.

Another Costco win. We ended up going with the Hyperlite life vests for both Parker and Emery. They were only $20, and since the swimming pool will not be open this summer for swim lessons, I know we will be spending a lot more time at the river and lake. It is just so nice knowing they have that extra protection in case something were to happen.

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5. Perfect mom visor

"Look Parker, mommy has her funny hat on." - Emery
It might look funny, but there is no denying it is my favorite purchase this summer for myself. I saw it at Target for $7.99, and that roll up visor hat was mine. I love a good messy bun on top of my head, and this thing has a nice wide brim to shade your face, and shoulders. Not only that, but it rolls up. Like are you kidding me, take my money. I love that is is tight around my head so I no longer have to chase it down the beach when a big gust of wind comes up out of nowhere.

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