Since we got here we had been slowly easing into the sun exposure as we did last time. It worked well for us and we got only slight burns once or twice last trip, and I even tanned a bit! But I failed to realize that the UV rays would be so much stronger at this time of year as compared to our previous visits to the area.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been this sunburned, and I wasn’t exactly running around in a bikini all day yesterday. I was pretty well covered for MOST of the outing, and yet so much of me is burned! Kiddo is pretty burned too in a couple spots, even though I reapplied his lotion twice. 🙁 Thank goodness for his long-sleeved swim shirt and knee length shorts.
Today I found out about http://sunburnmap.com. It lets me look up the UV Index for the day by location. (It is surprisingly very different day to day!) It also tells me that for our skin type, with the sun exposure we are getting here right now burning can occur within 15 minutes. Oops! I could have easily been without my hat for that amount of time throughout the afternoon without taking notice. No wonder my face is burned.
I can’t let this happen again. I think perhaps we’re going to have to start avoiding the midday events when they’re held in places with no shade. Attending those has been the only times we’ve really burned badly. We usually plan our own outings for after 2pm and do OK. Us redheads just can’t seem to handle the Noon sun!