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Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Bye bye beach

I got waylaid by some intestinal issues, so this beach vacay wrapup post is a little late... Oh well, better late than never. We took the girls to a dress rehearsal to see daddy play his tuba, and they nodded off after a few minutes. It was the quietest they have ever been, or probably ever will be, during a show. Maggie and I were thrilled because it meant we actually got to stay and hear the whole symphony rather than bolting for the nearest exit after a few minutes. This was the scene at intermission, and they stayed in these positions until the final applause—yesssss!!!


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I finally figured out a hairdo that will hold up to a long day of rolling in the sand and playing in the waves—we now call it Beach Braids! This style stayed put, kept hair out of faces even in the midst of gale-force winds, and also stayed really clean, which is a huge bonus if you don't want to have to bathe your kids while you're on vacation. (What? We can't be the only ones who try to stretch out the time between baths as long as possible, can we?): IMG_0631

The girls played with their driftwood house every single day. And it was kind of fun to come back and see what the college kids had added to the house each night. Here Ro is sitting on her pretend potty while Ree makes an elaborate tiered sand cake: IMG_0639

I shot a few snippets of video with my purse camera. It was kind of windy, which you can hear on the video, and WAY too chilly for my body to get anywhere near the water, but that didn't deter our happy little beach girls in the slightest. They danced and danced in the waves:

During one of the wave dances, Ro tripped and got doused. Ooooo, she was mad. Wet and mad: IMG_0644

A quick shirt change, some baby powder and towelling, and she was ready to roll again. Which reminds me, do you guys pack baby powder when you go to the beach? I learned this trick from my sister-in-law. Just sprinkle the baby powder on wet, grimy, sandy parts and then you can easily rub the sand and wetness right off. It's like magic! Ro and Ree love to do it themselves. I have to drag along an extra-big Costco-sized container of powder they love it so much. IMG_0645

We had planned to use the wagon to haul all of our stuff around, but the girlies just found it irresistible and climbed aboard any time we were on the move. They looked pretty smug and cute up there, so we let them have their perch:
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Goodbye Avila, we'll be back soon!  

PS: I took the girls in for a trim today (they get one every couple of months) and the hairdresser pointed out that they have split ends all over the place. She thought maybe I was blowdrying their hair all the time or they were always in the pool. But puh-leez, I don't even have time to blowdry my own hair (hello ponytails) and it's winter, so I think they've been swimming two times in the last six months. Does anyone else have this problem with your daughter's hair? Any idea what could be causing it or how to prevent more split ends in the future?

32 comments:

  1. Very cool. Hope you are feeling better. Thanks for the tip on powder. We go to the beach alot (Avila too!) and it is always a big pain to get the sand off enough to get in the car. Did they play at the playground there too? If we had known you would be there, we could have stopped by.

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  2. Looks like wonderful fun. Great tip about the baby powder. Finally have a reason to use it again!

    Hope you're feeling better.

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  3. For the hair - it's the elastics. Only use them on the ends of the hair (bye bye beach braids and pony tails, hello Laura Ingalls plaits)

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  4. Yes, we LOVE the baby powder trick :-)
    As for split ends, I have no idea. The rubber bands maybe?

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  5. Sara has been chewing on her hair at school. Weird nervous habit that popped out of nowhere. Her ends are a disaster. Good Luck!

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  6. Hope that the intestinal issues are behind you ;-) Looks like fun times but with the Salsa family that's par for the course.

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  7. Love the baby powder tip - thanks!

    We stopped using shampoo on our girls hair except for 1 or 2 times a week (or when its crazy gross.) It seemed to stop the split ends a bunch.

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  8. Love those braids! Didn't know about the baby powder. The rubber bands on the ponytails will damage hair.

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  9. Courtney has split ends ALL OVER!!! Frustrates me.

    I do not blow dry her hair except for maybe once a month! No Swimming (cuz its winter) and she rarely has her hair pulled into a pony tail or anything as she prefers headbands.

    So I am NO help..but I wish I could fix it!

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  10. Michelle, Australia3/09/2010

    For the split ends maybe their hair is dry... try an organic shampoo and conditioner.

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  11. Love, love, Love the tip on the baby powder - thank you! We leave for the beach this Saturday, so very timely:)!

    Hope you're feeling better!

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  12. Ponytails, clips and stuff like that will break there hair off:(
    I had NO idea about the baby powder...your trip looked FUN!!

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  13. Hope you are feeling better....that stomach bug is no fun...we had it here a few weeks ago.

    The girls looked so happy dancing and running through the water....too cute!!

    Love the beach braids and the baby powder idea. Thanks for that tip!!

    Lisa

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  14. I know what you mean about the bathing. Martina only gets about 2 baths a week. She hates getting her head wet. Some battles aren't worth fighting, and she just doesn't get terribly dirty.

    Her little brother is a different story--he's a mess every day!--but luckily he loves his baths.

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  15. Anonymous3/09/2010

    Avoid tight ponytails - we do lots of messy buns. Use "adult" products that actually work. Once I gave up the kiddie shampoos, my 3 daughters' hair, which is incredibly fine, got better.

    good luck!!!

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  16. Its those non-damage hair bands and braids that ruin my girls hair.

    My girls have fine hair and I have been growing it out and it is a nasty split end mess...big cut in the future.

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  17. Anonymous3/09/2010

    The hairbands kids wear causes split ends so cut hair regularly to avoid split ends. Frequently cut hair looks healthier anyway :).

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  18. Anonymous3/09/2010

    Another problem is brushing wet hair as opposed to combing it while wet. Try a leave in conditioner as well. It'll help a lot.
    Lissa from Loving Lydia

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  19. The bands on WET hair. That could be causing the breakage. My niece, the hairdresser, says to avoid pulling their hair up in clips/bands/headbands, etc if it is wet. Wait until it's dry or nearly dry!

    Just a tip! (For what it's worth though...we don't always do that and so we're split ends city too!)

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  20. Love the baby powder tip! Thanks. And for the sleep...my kinda performance too!

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  21. Sorry you had intestinal issues, never fun.

    Our girls had long hair when they came home (adopted). We used a lot of hair ties, etc. One thing I found as stated below, don't brush wet hair and don't put it up till it's dry. Also our girls wanted significantly shorter hair and I don't think anyone had really cut their hair in years. When we started cutting it off it became shiny and healthy.

    Now their hair glistens and shines and looks healthy. I still use the kids shampoo and conditioner. I am sure they are going to want to grow their hair out again, and someone asked 8 yr old why her hair was so short recently. She said she liked being able to comb and brush it herself. So we'll just keep going till she wants to grow it out again.

    Good luck and hope you feel better soon.

    Molly

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  22. Love the baby powder idea. I will have to try that. We live about 3 blocks from the beach and since we won't have a newborn this summer, I think we'll actually be able to go more often. Our beach has the stickiest sand I've ever seen.

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  23. I don't know if this helps my hair, but it surely doesn't hurt it. When I shower, I shampoo and rinse right away, then I put conditioner on the ends and then do everything else (wash, shave, etc). I leave the conditioner on until I'm done with everything and then rinse. My hair feels incredibly soft after I do that and I read it's supposed to help prevent split ends.

    I don't know what elastics you use, but the ones without the metal (Ouchless, I think) don't pull on my hair and it's up everyday for work.

    :)

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  24. Sawyer's Mom3/10/2010

    I'm known as the Hair Queen:

    You need to change up their every now and then shampoo and upgrade the conditioner...

    I would also hose them down with a quality leave in conditioner each time you wash...i also concer with the not shampooing everyday thing...only as often as neccessary.

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  25. Ooooo we are counting the days until we head down there....8 but who's really counting! :) Looks like you guys had a ton of fun as always. Hope the tummy stuff is gone.

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  26. Amyesq3/11/2010

    Ha ha! Not to mention who would stand STILL long enough to have her hair blowdried? Puhleeze! No sure what to tell you on the split ends, though.

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  27. Anonymous3/12/2010

    Oh for Goodness sakes, split ends?!?! Hairdresses act like its some kind of illness. If YOU can't tell what does it matter. Hair is dead after it leaves the root. In fact a few "split ends" on hair that is very straight and not very voluminous often makes it look better in my opinion! And don't cut it off to solve the problem. My SIL did that and my neice still hasn't forgiven her for the year she spent with way too short hair!

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  28. Very fun. I have to say that Ro made me nervous sitting on her pretend potty. If it were one of my 2 boys I'd have been picking sand out of their ears after they fell backward.

    Of course they'd climb right back on and we'd do it again:)

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  29. I'm guessing dry hair as well. Megan has SERIOUSLY dry hair only complicated further by the fact that she has curly (yes, CURLS) Asian hair. I've found that I have to use so much leave in conditioner...so much that I even use it after nap most days! I've switched to Silken Child moisturizing shampoo and conditioner when I wash her hair. (You can find it at Sally Beauty Supply). I was also using their spray leave-in conditioner, but it was making the crown of her head look dirty by day 2. I talked to my hairdresser and she gave me a product called in(fus)ium 23. It's by (repair)ologie. She says its been around forever, and that I can get it at Walmart or Target. (I haven't bought any more yet, as I'm still using what she gave me.) You can use it at full strength or half with water. I use it at full strength (again twice--or more--a day). I put it in my hand and massage it through the ends of her hair. It doesn't smell bad as I've grown to like the Silken Child (it has a funky fruity smell).

    Good Luck on the hair thing! It's something I'm been trying to figure out for past 6 months!

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  30. Mae has super dry hair that splits easily. We use swim shampoo and conditioner on her (they have kiddie versions available, plus the real stuff at swim shops). It's made a huge difference in keeping her hair healthy. Good luck! And thanks for the baby powder trick!

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  31. My girls are now 7, 9, and 9 now, but when younger, they had the same issues with split ends. I just had to keep their hair shoulder length until the strands got stronger, which happened at about 6 years I think. They all have long hair now and it looks great.

    Can't believe how big your sweeties are getting...

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  32. We had the split ends and dry hair issue too! We kicked the kiddie shampoos and rinses to the curb, switched to an adult product (just be careful, they aren't tear free) and one other thing that my mom told me- we were rinsing her hair with the bath water and she thought that the soap etc. in the water was drying Hadley's hair out. Now I run the water to rinse it. Those changes have made a huge difference and now her hair has it's natural shine and is so soft!

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