Summer Days: What’s In My Pool Bag

July is here and it’s sweltering hot here in the Carolinas. We pretty much just sit around and sweat and watch stuff melt this time of year (just kidding.. kind of). We have some German friends who always escape back to Germany for these hotter months and after the third day in a row of almost 100 degree temps last week, one of them asked how we could stand this weather.. Truthfully, most of our outdoor time is spent at the pool, since it’s really too hot to do much else. I try to keep it simple since I need to tote all of the essentials for myself and both kids all in one bag. Thankfully, by now I pretty much have it down to a science, including which favorites I always grab on my way out the door!

Sunblock is possibly the most important item for a day in the sun. This summer I’ve been using Babo Botanicals for the kids and for myself. It spreads fairly easily (especially for a natural sunscreen with physical blockers) and it’s a steal on Amazon, especially if you Subscribe and Save. For the kids’ faces I use the Honest Sunblock Stick, although Babo Botanicals makes one a stick as well. I think it’s much easier to get it on the kids faces quickly with out getting too close to their eyes. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while you probably already know I use Suntegrity 5-in-1 on my face. It gives a little bit of tinted coverage and I’ve never gotten burned on my face while using it, even when I’ve forgotten to reapply. You can read my full post on sunscreens here for more info on brands I like and what to avoid.

The rest of what I throw in are odds and ends, but all complete necessities! Since we frequently snack or even have lunch at the pool, I always keep CleanWell hand sanitizer in my bag. The spray-on formula is easy to apply, even to wet or sticky kids and is completely safe for little ones to use (and once again it’s a steal on Amazon, especially for Subscribe and Save). I bring water for the kids in their Foogo cups and bring my BKR water bottle to stay hydrated in the sun. OK, the next item might not be a complete necessity, but I just love it so much I always bring it to the pool or beach. Leahlani’s Mahana Coco-Infusion is like a whole tropical beach in a bottle. The scent alone immediately evokes old school beach vacations from my childhood and the buttery texture yields a soft golden glow. This is the perfect oil to  cover your legs and arms on a warm summer’s night or to use under or over your sunblock at the beach or pool. I use it under my sun block since natural sunblock spreads easier on well moisturized skin. It’s about time to order another bottle since I’ve almost used it up! 

Throw in a sun hat, some towels and you’re done! You can read my pool bag post from last year here. Yes, I’m using the same bag this year. I’m over the whole new season, new bag thing. I wrote about reusable swim diapers in that post and I just wanted to add to that. We got caught with some.. *ahem* exceptionally dirty diapers while swimming when someone decided they liked water births (I’m just kidding, but seriously we were on a streak of every time we went to water our youngest pooped). I ended up having to throw a couple away because wet poo and no where to keep the swim diaper leads to disaster. This may be the most ungreen/toxic thing I say on here but.. I’m not judging if you don’t go for the reusable swim diapers. Just wanted to put that out there. Anyway, happy 4th everyone! Hope you all have a fun, safe weekend! xoxo