Heading into the summer season, there were a few items on my bucket list that I wanted to make sure we did. Among those activities, I was hoping we could head to the beach, multiple times, to catch the sunset and have a picnic, head to date nights at our favorite spots, and sneak in at least one weekend getaway together to just lounge by the pool and sip cocktails without any parental responsibilities.

Well as the summer unfolded, given the current climate of California, none of those things happened. Yet instead of focusing on what we couldn’t do, I was determined to get creative and focus on what we did have: each other. The Corona Beer commercial has to be my favorite. It’s all about finding your own beach… and that basically means that wherever those you love are, there is your paradise. TJ threw that out there during one of our fun date day activities (which was in our backyard) and I’ve loved it ever since…

So today I’m sharing 3 really simple date night activities you can do in your own backyard or from the trunk of your car…. easy ways to just “find your beach…”

(You can also see a planned out date night here + here)

PICNIC IN YOUR TRUNK

Given that summer is “technically” coming to a close, I really wanted to see if we could sneak in one date night picnic down on the beach. So last Friday night we packed up some wine, grabbed take-out tacos, and headed down to the beach. In my mind I was thinking it wouldn’t be that crowded. #Delusional. It was jammed. We didn’t feel particularly comfortable with that, so we drove up the highway a little, pulled into Crystal Cove (which has tons of parking lots that overlook the coast), opened our trunk, turned on some Jack Johnson music, poured some vino, and took in the view and uninterrupted time together….

And while the beach might not be an option for you… a hilltop with views, a beautiful park, or lake could be equally fun options.

BACKYARD MOVIE NIGHT

TJ + I did this back in June and it was surprisingly so easy. We set it up during the daytime, so that when the girls went down for bed it was ready to go. So much more relaxing than being in an actual movie theater (and cheaper… your own drinks + snacks… not to mention you can push pause when you have to use the bathroom…). It’s getting a little warm for us to do this right now, but when early fall comes it will be fun to set it up again!

Our full how-to is in this post, but it can also work for the entire family!

RELAX POOLSIDE

In line with the thought that we would get a weekend away, relaxing poolside, sipping cocktails + eating nachos (I also love a good plate of nachos on vacation) we decided to just create that for ourselves. Modified dramatically, obviously. One, we don’t have a pool. Two, we’re with the girls all day. SO, when we did ours, it was in the heart of “stay at home” so we blew up our blow up pool, made a couple mimosas (and nachos), and planned it for when Camille does her afternoon nap + Harper does her afternoon quiet time.

We got about 1.5 hours to sip, eat, frolic in the pool (and by frolic I mean kick our feet around in the water…) but you know what, it was a heck of a lot better than sitting inside and doing some sort of chore!

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Alright, so there you have it! Three super easy date options if you’re not quite feeling the restaurant scene yet or can’t get a babysitter. Enjoy!