Beach: Those of you with older kids and a baby

Hi!
It's beginning of winter and we are shoveling out another foot of snow, so I am here dreaming of the beach!

This summer I will have an infant (end of May-yay!) and 2-5.5yr old boys who love the beach.
I'm thinking in my head how this will work with an infant.

I'm going to buy a canopy for shade but is there a special (easy) carrier for the baby, like a tiny pack-n-play. When I go in the water I'll 'wear' him, I just need to make sure my older boys will be safe and the baby isn't laying in the sand.
I'm not as worried about safety with the lake as my boys know the boundaries, but in the ocean I need to be there with them, and in NH the ocean will be too cold for the baby, even in august.

What is a good expectation of time that I'll be able to be at a beach with an infant...we normally spend several hours.

Am I being unrealistic? Just how do the logistics work? Who thought having 'just one' would make my head spin! Lol
Thanks!
Rebecca

 

I haven't taken my kids to a big beach, but we have a small local lake (about 1 acre) with a beach that we go to at least twice a week during the summer. For my sanity, we go earlier in the day (10am), when it wasn't so hot and the beach wasn't as crowded.

When my singleton babies were infants, I just kept them in the infant seat and put a muslin blanket over the seat for shade. As you mentioned, I just wore the baby while wading in the water with the boys. As they got older and more active (but not mobile), I just laid them on a blanket with some toys. After the little ones became mobile, the trips to the beach became very stressful... not enough eyes to keep track of them all! My kids were younger so you may not have the same stress level that I did I think you have a good plan and 2 hour trips to the beach should be doable (yay!!). For the ocean - if it were me - I would prefer a second pair of eyes, though... not sure I would brave it alone!

I never had this, but I saw someone who did and it seemed pretty nice, if you are looking for a product:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0052LHC4O/?tag=mytwins02-20

 

I do a lot of beach trips with my kids. When the baby was younger, I kept him in his car seat under a canopy/umbrella. We have the sportbrella from Amazon and LOVE it. As he got older and more mobile I took a regular pack n play and he would stay in there. Your baby will be much smaller so I'd stick with a small travel bed/activity center thingie that's much easier to carry around. We usually go late afternoon, after 2 or 3 pm and stay until 7 or 8. I always bring tons of snacks and bottles of water (and sunscreen, tons of sunscreen).

Sportbrella: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003DJ4FEM/?tag=mytwins02-20

Travel bed: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FBEN8X6/?tag=mytwins02-20

 

If you are anywhere near Maryland, you can have my baby beach tent/bed!! Google fisher price beach tent, sorry I can't paste.
It is great, has a shade and netting that zips.