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Five Summer Favorites: smoothies, sunscreen, sand toys and more!

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How have ya’ll been enjoying your summer so far? It’s so hard to believe that August is just around the corner! Summer is flying by way too fast for us, as I’m sure it is for most of you! We’ve been busy playing at the pool, enjoying the lake and all kinds fun stuff and today I wanted to share a few items that have helped us survive our summer adventures!

Kids KEEN Sandals

I can’t say enough good things about these KEEN sandals that we got for the kids two summers ago. Not only are they cute, but after two years and countless trips to the beach, hiking volcanoes and everything else in between, they’re still in excellent condition and are now being passed down to younger siblings! Even though they are a little more pricey than I typically spend on kids shoes, they’ve been so worth it!

Sunscreen Sticks

I don’t go anywhere in the Summer without packing some sunscreen with me, more particularly a sunscreen stick. There’s nothing worse that applying sunscreen to little faces and getting it in their eyes! That’s why I love sunscreen sticks, they make applying sunscreen on kids faces super easy!

Melissa and Doug Sand Toys

After purchasing countless sets of low quality sand toys only to have them break and fade in the sun, we splurged on one of these darling sets from Melissa and Doug a few years ago and I haven’t regretted it! These toys are adorable, well made and stood up so well during our time in the Caribbean when we were at the beach nearly every day! I’m so impressed with them. Another thing I love about these imaginative sand toys is that all my kids {ages 2 – 10} love to play with them!

Tupperware Impressions Tumblers with lids

We drink A LOT of smoothies around here in the Summer and because we drink them so often, there’s bound to be smoothie spills once in a while. Aren’t they the worst to clean up!? While on the lookout for some spill proof smoothie cups I came across these Impressions Tumblers from Tupperware. They have tight, spill proof lids with a spot for a straw and we love them! Because we’re a family of smoothie drinkers, we also couldn’t live without our trusty Vita-mix. We’ve had our vita-mix going on 8 years now, isn’t that amazing!

Summer reading: Little House on the Prairie and Best Loved Library Classics

Another thing we love to do each summer is read together. The kids and I like to pick a series to work on or a few favourite chapter books to make our way through during the summer. This year reading the Little House on the Prairie books and in the past we’ve really enjoyed books from the Best Loved Library of classics.



Those are just a few of our Summer favourites and I’d love to hear what some of your Summer essentials are in the comments!

Rebecca

Rebecca

Rebecca Cooper is a 42-year-old wife and mother of four from Alberta, Canada. As a photographer, crafter, author, and blogger, she finds joy and fulfillment in celebrating everyday moments. She loves to read and eat chocolate, and is a firm believer in afternoon naps. Rebecca shares her family’s adventures, photo tips, simple craft projects + more right here at Simple as That.
Rebecca
Rebecca

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  3. I love that picture of all their little feet…so cute! What can’t I live without in the summer? My Pack-It Freeze and Go lunch bag. Great for carrying lunch to the playground and keeping it super cold!

    Reply

  4. Oh those all look like great products, especially the sand toys. I’ve never seen anything for sand other than the typical buckets, etc and those are so unique.
    You’ve got me wondering what my top items for the summer are…hmm…
    #1 – soft sided cooler with a shoulder strap – just the right size for drinks and snacks for the afternoon and easy to carry on the walk to our neighborhood pool or from the car to a good spot on the beach.
    #2 – sunscreen. lots and lots of sunscreen in all forms – the spray on and the tubes are the easiest/fasted to apply but I’ve found that the lotion costs less and gives many many more applications per bottle.
    #3 – kid-size headphones! With everyone at home I’ve found that I crave the peace and quiet I got while the kids were at school. My kids love their music and play it for hours and hours every day, so being able to tell them to put on headphones instead of blasting it through the house is such a relief. It’s so cute to see my 5 year old bopping around the house with his headphones on, playing air guitar, and singing the wrong words to his favorite songs 🙂 And I don’t have to listen to the annoying noises from the hand-held video games anymore – bonus!

    Love your blog and really love all the photos!

    Reply

  5. i love your list, rebecca! love it!! we have always bought keens for our kids and thought we’d try the target brand of “keen” type shoes to see if they were any good. nope. jack’s busted yesterday and noah’s busted a few weeks ago. keens are the way to go.

    i am going over to check out that melissa and doug link too. looks like something sophia would LOVE!

    Reply

  12. I’m bookmarking the Keen sandals! And I just love Melissa & Doug toys; my little one has a lot of toys made by them. Love the sand toys!

    Reply

  13. Keens are great–got my toddler a pair just after he started walking & haven’t regretted it. He’s got wide feet, so they fit better than most shoes. I was lucky enough to find a pair at a consignment store, so I only paid about 30% of retail for them.

    I think I might get some for myself too…

    Reply

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