I know I'm not alone in saying that I find an inner calm and peace when I am at the beach overlooking the vast blue sea. There's something about being at the beach that makes me feel exactly where I need to be and getting to be there with my love and our two boys makes it feel even more so.
Being by the seaside doesn't change what it is to be a parent, there's still all of the daily challenges to deal with - our wonderful little threenager and his mood swings for starters, but that's OK, because that's what it is to be a parent. It's the ordinary, the magical and the everything in between moments. It's the ups and the downs and then the ups again. It's often a heart full of love and pride as well as an aching, tired body.
But as if spending time with my three at such a beautiful beach wasn't enough, there are all the moments that I want to replay over and over again. Like running in and out of the sea with my little boy, laughing and giggling and jumping over the waves. Like eating the nicest ice cream I've ever tasted on our blanket under our parasol and like watching our beautiful boy make friends with a little girl so easily and witnessing what it is to be young, innocent and care-free as they jumped in and out of the sea (with their Mummy's proudly but anxiously watching on, making sure they didn't go too far in).
It's amazing to think that it's through my blogging space here on the Internet that we end up finding beautiful little places like this and that we are able to spend the day there together as a family. I built my blog up just for us to record the moments as we grow a family, but now I also get to work with brands that I believe in to help spread awareness of what it is they do. And our beach trip was sparked by our current collaboration with Boots Soltan,who you may remember helped me overcome part of my travel-anxiety when they invited me to London to attend Brit Mums Live (one of the biggest parent-bloggers blogging conferences).
Boots Soltan are a perfect fit for us - we really believe in their product and are thrilled to be able to use our blog platform to help increase awareness of the importance of sun protection, especially when it comes to protecting children's sensitive skin.
The majority of families will tend to remember to take and apply sun protection when they head to the beach for the day, but it's also important to ensure our little ones (as well as ourselves) are protected from the sun at all times when outside. And that is even if it's just 10 minutes in the garden because that's all it can take for skin to get burn. Plus a interesting fact about UV exposure is that 40% of UV exposure occurs when we're not even in direct sunlight, so it's always best to ensure that we apply sun screen even before leaving the house. Hats are important too - our boys get fussy about their hats sometimes and will take them off, but we encourage that they wear them as much as possible.
In terms of sun protection, we of course use Boots Soltan who are the No.1 5 starUVA sun protection brand. Because all of their products have a 5 star UVA rating they offer the highest protection against deep-down skin damage and burning. A favorite of ours form the range is the Soltan Kids for obvious reasons really. Boots Soltan are a brand we trust in terms of protecting our boys against the sun, they understand that children's skin is more vulnerable and so with over 75 years of expertise they've developed a sun protection that's made especially for them, as well as sun cream for us adults and many other fantastic products in the range.
It can be easy to get confused when it comes to choosing a sun cream with all of the different factors available, but Boots Soltan aim to help people understand exactly what Sun protection factor (or SPF) they need so have developed this extremely easy SPF selector tool which is found over on their website. Even if you think you know which factor you or your children need, I do recommend checking it out, it takes less than 30 seconds and just offers peace of mind.
It's been amazing to have had such wonderful weather here in the usually grey-skied UK. It's been so lovely to spend time together outside (a favorite thing of ours do) and to have discovered a beautiful new beach to hopefully go back to very soon. I'll let some of our photos do the rest of the talking and if you'd like to you can even watch a little video I put together of our day right at the end of the post. A huge thank you to Boots Soltan for collaborating with us, please do make sure you head over to their website to see their full sun protection product range and to find your SPF.
Watch our video:
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