We traveled to Rosemary Beach, Florida last month with some friends and their families. We had a blast! It was so much fun to travel with friends, and it was our first time in Rosemary Beach. We realized that the beginning of May was the perfect time to travel to Florida with small kids. The weather was not too hot yet, and it wasn’t too crowded.
We actually stayed right outside of Rosemary in Inlet Beach, and it was perfect. We had close beach access, great views, and were able to walk right in to Rosemary for dinner and breakfast in the mornings.
The beach with a baby and a toddler is not very relaxing, but the boys had a blast, so it didn’t really matter. Both boys loved the sand, and Jack could have played in it for hours. William refused to stay in the little tent we had set up for him, and also did not want to wear his beach hat, so I was a little stressed about his level of sun exposure. We really didn’t keep him outside too long, and with both boys nap schedules, it didn’t really leave us too much time each day in the sun anyway.
Here are a few things I learned from traveling to the beach with two little ones in tow.
- Beach toys are a must!- This one seems obvious, but I only packed a few things for them to play with on the beach. I figured Jack would want to spend a lot of his time playing in the water…but it turns out that he was a little afraid of the ocean…so he spent much of his time rolling around in the sand!
- A tent for the little ones is key- William didn’t love being in the little pop-up tent we brought to the beach each day. When Jack was 9 months old, we brought him to the beach and he did great staying in the tent most of the time. He was a little timid of the sand and was content playing with his toys in the shade. William wanted nothing to do with it, and only wanted to crawl out into the sun, and play in the sand. It’s a good option to have and is worth it if your little one will play inside for a little while!
- A kiddie/baby pool- Our friends brought a small blow-up baby pool and it was a nice cool spot for their son to play while we were on the beach! Jack liked playing in it a little bit, but William kept crawling out and eating the sand ;). It’s a great option to have if you think your little one will stay put!
- Bikes- Rosemary Beach is super walk-able, but many families have bikes. We debated if it would be worth it to rent a bike trailer at the beginning of our trip, and ended up loving it! We biked to dinner most nights, and it was great to have the little ones right behind us in the trailer. It was nice to have the option to bike, and explore the town a little bit versus walking and pushing the stroller.
If you’ve never been on a family vacation to the Florida panhandle, I’d highly recommend it. We have been to Destin, Florida many times, but this was our first visit to Rosemary Beach and we definitely are already thinking of planning a trip to go back!
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