july 4th weekend

striped oxford shirt dress / american flag sunglasses / firecracker pop / ikat swimsuit / a comedy classic / saltwater sandals / patriotic cocktail / star-studded scarf

Though we will be in Aruba for July 4th, we plan to celebrate our American heritage in full force while away. In true Type A form, I ordered various flag shirts for Shaun, Penelope and me months ago and they are neatly packed and ready to go. Shaun got me these flag sweet sunglasses and I picked up some red white and blue garland to decorate our spot on the beach for the weekend. I'm still loving my saltwater sandals and silently crushing on this swimsuit, dress + scarf. I hope you have a wonderful 4th of July!

favorite sunscreens

Have you seen the articles lately about which sunscreens are good and which are not so good?

It's tough to navigate this saturated market and to know which is the right one for those soft-skinned little ones. Penelope has already spent a lot of time in the sun so far this spring and summer and I make sure to always keep her as covered as I can (without making the poor child suffer) and fully coated in sunscreen (sun protection is a topic I take seriously). Most of the time (not like the photo above), I keep her in long sleeve rash guards...but sometimes it's fun to also let her just be in a regular bathing suit, especially in the late afternoon/low sun hours.

For our upcoming trip to Aruba, I purchased some of the babyganics sunscreen products and I'm excited to try them out. In the past, we also had good experiences with Banana Boat Baby and Coppertone Waterbabies, but I wanted to move to something organic.

I picked up two tubes of sunscreen cream and two bottles of spray. We like spray for the top of her head, those hairlines are so dang white that looking at them in the direct sunlight makes me cringe. I've tried to get her to wear a hat but that is usually hit or miss. When P was an infant I really loved the babyganics products because it was all gentle but effective. I used the laundry detergent, stain remover, insect repellent, hand sanitizer and dish soap.

For myself, I used to love Neutrogena but now I'm not so sure after this article blasts it as being the absolute worst. Last year, we used No-Ad and one giant bottle more than got us through a week in the Caribbean, and so that's what we will be going with this year too.

What are your favorite sunscreens for your kids and for you?

psst...this is not a sponsored post, I just really love the babyganics brand and wanted to start the discussion on favorite sunscreens!

I need a new show

{via}

On Friday, we are leaving for Aruba. Typically, the evenings are spent at dinner with the family, and then relaxing in our hotel room, especially now that we have Penelope in tow. Since TV options are not abundant down there, we typically bring some DVDs and a portable DVD player to use in the evenings before bed. It's a bit of a tradition that Shaun and I choose a new TV show to start watching while we are there. In past years, we've started The Walking Dead and Justified - both of which went on to become absolute must-see TV for us. This year, I don't have anything in the pipeline. I'm considering Suits, but I'd love to hear your recommendations. My only criteria is that is must be great TV and available on DVD so that I can bring it with us!

Also, here are shows we have already watched/are currently watching:

Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, Justified, Sons of Anarchy, The Walking Dead, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, Outlander, The Jinx, Girls, True Detective, Shameless, Modern Family, How I Met Your Mother...and probably a ton more that I can't recall.

And so with that...what would you recommend that we watch?