Weekend Trip to the Beach

This weekend Eli, Ethan and I took a quick trip to the Gulf Coast for Eli's Department Retreat. We all had a great time!

Ethan got to run and play on the beach. He went wading in the wet lands collecting with his Daddy and got to go to two bonfires and a BBQ.

Don't be fooled by the "Folly Beach" Tshirt! We are in Port Aransas, TX.

We are all pretty tired. Ethan slept till 7:15 am this morning and then took a 2 1/2 hour nap this afternoon!

First trip down, One (or two) to go

We are back from our first trip of the month! We went to the Gulf Coast for Eli's departmental retreat. We stayed at a beach side lodge, ate a lot of fried food and Ethan and I came home a little sun kissed.
Both nights we were there, the group had a bonfire on the beach. Ethan stayed up till almost 10pm that first night but crashed on the walk back to the room.

He loved looking out at the ocean. It seems to be very calming to him. This was breakfast the first day. The lodge had a deck over looking the ocean that we ate on.

I think he would have sat here all day!

Eli listened to several scientific talks until lunch so Ethan and I took the opportunity to do some sight seeing. These looked like giant seahorse lollie pops to me!

Watch out! Don't get eaten by the shark!!!

I will defiantly need one of these to get around in when Eli and I move to our beach side home. Where do you put the car seat?

Safety first!

Then Ethan and I took a walk on the peer. It got very windy the further out to sea we got.

Then off to a nice walk on the beach.Lots of birds!! The red tide had come in a few days before we got there so there was a lot of dead fish for the birds to enjoy.

Then lunch with Dad. As I said before, we at a lot of fried food! It was free so I won't really complain. I just hope on our next trip to the beach we can have some seafood!


I think Ethan got more food on the ground then he did in his mouth! Eli and I were glad there were slits in the floor for easy clean up. No one will ever know we have a messy baby!

We hung out on the beach for awhile. All this time I never thought "I should put some sunscreen on my very white baby."!!!! So Ethan did get a little color on his cheeks and nose but I did put some aloe on it and it was much better the next day. It was just such a nice day I didn't even think of it!
We also self toured the Marine Science Institute but I got so many great pics that I will do a separate post for it.

The last morning we made one last trip to the ocean to get a bit more splashing in! Ethan is such a good kicker I think we need to get into some swim lessons as soon as we can!

We had a really relaxing and fun time and hope the retreat is held there again next year! We leave for our next trip on Thursday. This time we are flying! Wish us luck. The last plane trip to Folly Beach went really well but Ethan was about 5 months younger. Now that he is more active I'm sure he won't be content to sitting on our lap for a few hours during the flight.

I used gDiapers with their disposable inserts the whole trip and will use the same on the next. I will write a separate post on that experience.

Traveling with Cloth Diapers

We have been traveling with Ethan since he was 2 months old. We have also been cloth diapering Ethan for that long. He has been back and forth visiting my family in Oklahoma almost once a month and we went to visit Eli family in South Carolina in May. During the trips to Oklahoma we have used a combination of Cloth Diapers and disposables. On our trip to South Carolina we used all disposables. I was pretty sure I didn't want to spend my whole vacation washing diapers!

At first I was not real comfortable or confident enough to travel totally with cloth. As I have gotten more confident in my cloth diapering abilities, we have switched to all cloth during our trips. It also helps that we stay with my parents so I have a washer and dryer at my convenience.

As our 2 trips in October get closer, I've been researching alternatives to using disposables. We will be traveling by car to the Gulf Coast and flying to Oregon. Both trips are for the weekend (Thursday or Friday through Sunday) so the amount of diapers needed will be between 30 and 50 for each trip (Because I will be unable to wash any cloth we won't be taking any).

"Why not just buy a pack of Pampers for your trips?" you ask. Well, I thought about that. But the reason why we are taking these two trips is for Eli's work. We we'll be around all of Eli's "science" friends and co-workers. I love to brag that I use cloth diapers. I feel very strongly about using cloth and like to share my passion and success with others. If I'm bragging about my cloth diaper use while changing my little boy's plastic, chemical filled disposable, I don't think it would look too good!

There are quite a few diapering systems out there that have a cover with disposable inserts. With these systems, you buy 3 or 4 starter diapers that comes with 1 or 2 cloth inserts. Then, if you want a disposable option, you buy the disposable inserts. The difference between these disposable inserts and disposable diapers is the inserts are biodegradable and you can even compost the wet ones! Some of them are even flushable, but I would be afraid of clogging the toilet and that would not be good. Whenever it is time to change the diaper, you just remove the insert, toss, and add a new insert and your done! If there is a leak, aka baby poop blowout, you just change the cover, too. You can hand wash the cover and let air dry while you use the others.

I read up on a few different brands and I really wanted to go with the GroBaby and their new Biodegradable Soaker pads. They seemed to be the nicest and I think I would like using them on a regular basis with their Organic cotton snap in soaker pads. They are also one size so I wouldn't have to keep buying different sizes. The only downfall is they are priced at $24.95 per diaper and I would need 3 or 4 of them plus the disposable inserts (19.99 for 50, .40c per insert).

Just this month CottonBabies introduced their newest diapering system: the Flip! I am so glad I didn't rush out and buy the GroBaby's. I'm sure Grobaby's are great diapers but I love my BG's 3.0 and the Flip's are designed to fit similar to bumGenius but with snaps instead of the velcro closure. And I'm sure you all remember the problems I've had with the velcro! They are a one size diaper, so you only have to buy them once. These also have the cloth inserts (microfiber and suede) and disposable inserts. These are 16.95 for one cover and one cloth insert. The disposable inserts are $4.95 for 18, the cheapest out of the 3 (grobaby, gdiaper and flip) at .28c per insert. The 2 downfalls are: they don't come out until 10/31 so they aren't even an option for our trips and they haven't come out yet so no reviews. And I don't buy anything without reading a review first!

In my search for options, I asked the mama's on my favorite baby board what they used when traveling. One of my online friends was sweet enough to loan me 3 of her gDiaper covers! gDiapers are very similar to the GroBaby but quite a bit cheaper. They come in 2 different sizes, s and m/l. The little gpants (covers) range from 14.99 on sale to 18.99 for the cute prints. The inserts are 14.49 for 32 (m-l size), 45c per insert. Some say they don't work as well as the GroBaby but other swear by them. And since gDiapers are located in Portland, OR it's only fitting that we use these on our trip to Oregon! Also, they sell these diapers and disposable inserts at my local HEB grocery store. I've already picked up a pack that were on sale for $13.50! One more pack and I think we will be set.

I will update you on how we liked the gdiapers when we get back from our trips. I'm very excited to have a simi-cloth option while traveling!

How do you travel with cloth diapers? Head on over to Dirty Diaper Laundry and join in on our 3rd Cloth Diaper Carnival!