Back to School, rain or shine with Gymboree

I remember thinking that summer was far too short when I was growing up, but as a mom I feel summer is even shorter than I remember. Our weeks go by in a flurry of summer vacations, mini getaways around Puget Sound and playdates at the lake and ocean. All summer long you can find us with our toes in the sand, building castles and having picnics, enjoying ice cream as the sun goes down, and then just as quickly as it started, it seems like it’s fall again.  

And, this year the coming of fall means a very big thing for us: the start of Elementary School. My daughter is really excited about going to the “big kid” school in our neighborhood and I’m excited to walk her there, hand in hand every morning and then pick her up every afternoon. But, with the arrival of school comes the changing of the leaves, the cooler weather, and the start of the rain that will be here on and off until April.

So, we’re starting school and kicking off the start of the rainy season with some new rain duds from Gymboree. That means rain boots, rain jacket, and umbrellas. But, it also means long pants for my son since he still goes to school twice each day to pick up his sister, and so far that has equaled a whole lot of wet jeans from puddles and rain.

Thank goodness Gymboree had everything we needed and more, including this gorgeous rain set that would make any rainy day seem brighter.

My daughter has worn it to and from school a few days now when it was sprinkling {or "sparkling" as she would say} and it was perfect for the warm days of fall. When she’s not wearing it, it stuffs nicely into the bottom of her school bag still leaving plenty of room for all the things that need to go back and forth to school each day.

In winter, we will just add a sweater like the 3D Poppy Stripe Sweater Cardigan underneath and she should be plenty warm with the coat as a top layer to block the elements and the sweater to insulate. And, then when she gets to school, she can ditch the wet outer layer and still stay warm.

Plus, the Poppy sweater is completely adorable in its own right, especially when my daughter throws in some accessories and a side of sass. 

But, we all know I can’t walk into Gymboree and just buy rain gear and a sweater; I tend to go a little crazy in the Gymboree store. Especially when their back to school lines are so incredibly cute. And, trust me, they are seriously cute this year!

I personally love the whimsy in the Fashionable Fox collection, the bold colors and stripes in the Brightest in Class collection for girls, and then the wilderness and camp-inspired duds for boys in the Fox Trail collection that looks so good on my son.

All told, I walked out of the store with a stack of jeans, a full rain outfit for my daughter, some awesome red glitter flats {AKA the Ruby Slippers} and shirts from the Ready, Dress, Go! Line and some back to school PJs for both kids. 

Clearly, the kids are now both ready for school, no matter what the weather or how many changes of clothes we do in a day. Now, if only they made rain gear for parents, we'd be all set. No, seriously, I need this set.  

If you haven't shopped Gymboree yet this fall, I would highly recommend you do. I've got my
eye on these flower faux leather boots, which I know would go with everything my daughter wears, and would be great from fall all the way through winter. Again, if only they had women's sizes….  

A
big thank you to Gymboree for sending a gift card so we could do some back to school shopping.  As always, all opinions remain 100% ours.