Alice’s First Beach Trip: AKA The Time We Stuffed Elevendy Billion Things Into One Diaper Bag

When Alice was a mere 11 days old, I had a moment of pure insanity and decided that taking three children – age four and under – on a two hour road trip to the beach sounded like a totally great idea.

I’ll cut to the chase and tell you that it probably wasn’t one of my most brilliant ideas. Alice actually did great and barely made a peep the entire ride. She was an absolute peach. As for the big kids…well, let’s just say they were a little less “peachy”. The ocean was “too cold” and they were hopped up on the sugar from the baked goods we (stupidly) let them eat and the drive…well that was hellish to put it nicely. Apparently sitting in the back seat next to your sibling means that it’s completely impossible to behave even semi-respectably and instead you poke and lick and bite and scream at each other until your parents are ready to pull over the car and your mom breaks down in tears halfway through the drive.

So yeah…it went about as well as anyone could’ve predicted.

The good news is, we were never without the proper supplies. Sunblock? Check! Changes of clothes? Check! 87 diapers? Check. ALL THE SNACKS? Check! And we were able to cram it all into one super awesome diaper bag. Basically our diaper bag and our magical, quiet baby were the true heroes in this story.

I can’t really give you any secrets about how to get a magical baby, because I’m pretty sure it’s just luck of the draw, but the backpack – from Product of the North – I can tell you more about. But first…a few photos from our crazy/chaotic/but-memorable day at the beach…

First stop: Sea Level Bakery for coffee and delicious baked goods that we totally shouldn’t have shared with our kids.

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Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!

Our friends John & Dana joined us on this day trip, because the beach is kind of our thing with them. Unfortunately I didn’t get any good pictures of us together. I blame it on the fact that we were all too busy wrangling children, but trust me…they were the other heroes of this day, because Lord knows we badly needed an extra set of hands that day (two actually). God bless John & Dana for liking our kids…and us…even when we’re a crazy hot mess. But I digress. Back to the story.

Next we made our way onto the beach…Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!

The water at the Oregon Coast isn’t exactly known for being toasty, but apparently Clive didn’t get the memo. He spent the majority of the time crying because the water was too cold. Clearly he has a thing or two to learn about being a true Oregonian. Also, he stole that spoon from the coffee shop and we didn’t notice until we got down to the beach. Don’t worry. We returned it on the way back.
Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!

Fern never met a body of water she didn’t love though and she was pretty stoked. We buried her in the sand and then had the joy of listening to her lament the sand in her “pagina” later on. Not sure how she expected that situation to go, but apparently she was misinformed.Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!

This was my view the whole time. I sort of forgot that new babies can’t exactly bask in the sunshine just yet and also I was still wearing grandma pads and healing up from delivering a human 11 days prior (TMI?), so we just sat and nursed and hung out while the menfolk chased the children and they all froze their butts off.

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Eventually we got tired of the kids whining about the cold water and the sandy-sand and headed to Pelican Brewing for lunch. Alice kept sleeping like a baby through most of it (but actually like a baby…not like how my other babies didn’t actually sleep).

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I made Craig pose for some photos to feature our cool diaper bag and highlight the very important fact that you can drink beer while chasing children and still look stylish doing it. All very important things for us Pacific Northwesterners.Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!

After lunch we headed home and tried to drown out the whining and screaming of our children with the sweet sounds of Spotify. In case you’re wondering, it didn’t work. But Alice slept through it like a boss.

So basically the moral of this story is that next time we go to the beach, we’re just bringing Alice and our awesome backpack filled with all of the beachy essentials. Sorry big kids…you can come again in a few years. Kidding. Sort of. I do love them all. Even though they’re a little insane.

OK…now back to this hero-of-a-bag.

It’s called “The Westin” and it’s from a cool new line of diaper bags called Product of the North. They have’t launched just yet (we got ours as a sneak preview!), but they should be launching October 15th and you can follow them on Instagram @productofthenorth for updates so you don’t miss it when they do! There are so many things I love about this bag starting with the fact that it’s creators are a husband and wife team from our neck of the woods – the great PNW. They started their brand in an attempt to make a diaper bag that both moms and dads would love and that wouldn’t outlive its usefulness once the baby days were over and they totally nailed it.

The aesthetic of the bag is so cool. As a lover of neutral colors and a tomboy aesthetic this was totally my jam. They have a few different styles of bags in this vein, but I was smitten with this backpack from the start. That grey flannel has my heart and I love that Craig isn’t embarrassed to carry it. I’ve had other cool diaper bags in the past that looked like purses and that I really loved, but he wasn’t exactly super stoked to tag team the diaper bag carrying. He would usually opt to carry the baby and let me carry the bag, because really, what guy wants to look like he’s carrying around his lady’s purse?

Here it is in all it’s glory along with the 8,527 things I cram into it on the daily:

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Solly baby wrap, swaddle blanket, nursing cover, wallet, sunglasses, lipstick, extra shirt for me for when I get pooped on (it happens way more than you would expect…and not always by the baby). I also love that my Hydroflask (or my kids’ water bottles) fits in the side pocket so I actually remember to drink water when I’m out and about. And let’s not forget the absolutely most essential items in my bag: hand sanitizer and bleach pen (because kids are kinda gross). Note that the pockets are nicely divided up so I don’t have to dig around for my things and also that little hook to hold my keys…totally invaluable. I cannot tell you how often I lose my keys now that I have three children.

Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!

There are tons of pockets inside too, so I can easily discern big Clive diapers from Little Alice diapers without a ton of digging around.

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The bags also come with a changing pad, wipes case and a cooler bag. I don’t need to keep things cool super often, so I usually just cram mine full of other kid items like sunblock and the Nose Frida and gummies for child bribery. Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!

Oh! And one last shot so you can see the straps and the hooks where you can attach the extra strap to wear it crossbody style. The little clips on the side are stroller clips to hang it from your stroller in case you were wondering!

Product of the North - Super cool, locally made diaper bags for moms OR dads!

I think that covers just about everything, but if you go check out my Instagram story today, you can see a little “What’s In My Bag” video action in case you want a closer look at all the details. And don’t forget to be on the lookout for Product of the North’s launch in October!

xo

Lauren

 

*Note: This blog post has not been sponsored, but I was given this bag to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I seriously do love this bag!

Comments

  1. Looks like a VERY successful trip to the beach. I totally know what you mean though about all the stuff you have to pack along. Great photos too!

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