Our First Family Outing

When Irelynn was only one week old we headed north to Blue Water Beach, located on the shores of Georgian Bay.  Every summer my hubby's Uncle rents a cottage in the area and every year we look forward to joining his family and spending some quality time up north together.  For our children it's always been a highlight of their summer and this year I was so worried we wouldn't have the opportunity to visit.

One of my biggest concerns about the new baby arriving was making sure our other three children would still have a great summer.  As exciting as having a new little sister can be, I knew the excitement would eventually wear off...to avoid this I made a point of trying to keep our summer plans as normal as possible.  This means staying home in my pyjamas all day is not an option.  Instead we packed up the car with all 4 kids and headed out on our first adventure as a family of six.

It took a lot of planning and preparation but it was so worth it.  We had an absolutely perfect day at the beach and spending time with family and friends made it even better. 

Some of things we did to make the day go as smoothly as possible:

1.  We set zero expectations and stuck with that mindset all day - even when things didn't go quite as planned.  Although we had hoped to leave as early as possible, it was nearly 10:30 by the time we finally got on the road.  My hubby and I just thought to ourselves -you can't be late if you don't set a deadline...we'll be there when we get there - that's what we told our family.

2.  We packed tons of healthy snacks and some treats to avoid any possible meltdowns (thankfully we didn't have any).

3.  We made the kiddies wear full coverage bathing suits and hats all day so we didn't have to stress too much about constantly applying sunscreen.

4.  We stopped for lunch during off hours in order to avoid line-ups.

5.  We stuck to routines as much as possible.  For example, our two year old definitely still needs his nap, so although it was a little later in the day we made sure he still got one.

6.  We were also grateful to have so much help from our family and friends...my hubby and I even found ourselves able to relax a little (who would have thought?).

Have a wonderful weekend!