Beach Robe: MADE pattern

Dana was having a sale on her patterns and I had some money in my paypal account. I had been wanting to buy the Beach Robe pattern for a while. I just thought it was the perfect thing to take along to the beach, or pool. So I bought it.

I had been stocking up on beach towels ever since I saw her post. I had the perfect towels for my boy and my girl. All I needed was the pattern and time to do start/finish a project. And a trip to the beach was coming up soon, so I had to get to work.

Finished product:

 

I used a pink and white striped beach towel for the girl and yellow bias tape for the edges. I think it adds a much needed pop of color. 

 

 

I found a dark blue and white striped towel for my son. I didn't want to use red bias tape because I wanted to avoid any traditional summer holiday colors. But it did need some something to make it stand out more. The lime green bias tape was the perfect find. When he outgrows it his sister can wear it, too.

 

 

 

Because of the way the stripes were laid out on the towels, there were not any leftovers to make hoods. The pink robe has long sleeves, while the blue robe does not. I used the already finished edge of the towel for the short sleeves, mainly because it was available, looked good, and I didn't want to sew on any more bias tape than I already had to. Win, win.

 

 

Now we just needed the beach.

 

 

We had never been on a family trip before. Mainly because we don't plan ahead for things like this, we already have so much to do at home the way it is, traveling with small children is hard. We opted to wait until they were both older, sleeping reasonably well at night, potty trained, and halfway traveled well.

 

I also wanted to go to the beach to just get away for a weekend and have fun. I didn't want to go in the middle of summer when it would be crowded and expensive, and hot. So, the middle of September just seemed perfect, and after peak season is a great time to go. The weather was great! Sunny and warm, nice ocean breeze to keep you from getting too hot. Just nice.

 

On the way to the beach we stopped to eat lunch and the kids enjoyed their very first Happy Meal from McDonald's.

 



 

I think the enjoyed them. Especially the toy that came with it.

 

Once we got settled into our new home for the weekend, we got ready to head to the beach.

 

The kids in their beach robes:

 

 

They had such a good time playing in the water and the sand. It was just one big sandbox for the girl. Eventually they were brave enough to play in the water. Once I showed them that they could just sit in the water and have the waves come to them, it was hard getting them out of it.

 

It was a fun trip. I look forward to seeing them explore new places and have different experiences again. Of course I will have to work it around the school calendar next year though.