UMI :: Children's Shoes for Spring! {Giveaway Ends 3/13}

Umi was founded in 2004 and has been making high quality children's shoes ever since. With growing feet in mind, Umi ensures their sizing allows for a bit of room to grow, and your child's safety is kept at a high priority through the use of child-safe materials and through strict quality and safety testing. They are also environmentally conscious and use earth-friendly materials wherever possible and recycled packaging. With a wide selection of shoes for babies up to big kids, Umi has you covered when it comes to finding that one pair of amazing shoes that becomes the mainstay of your child's shoe collection each season.

Umi's spring line recently rolled out! After a lot of debating, I finally decided on the Laren sandal for Buddy as his new spring/summer sandal. With warmer weather coming soon (it's been showing up in California already!), velcro sandals are a necessity for my busy little boy. With Buddy going in and out of the house to the backyard a billion times a day and a no-shoe policy inside, this mama just cannot deal with tying shoelaces all day long! With velcro Buddy can just do it himself which is not only helpful for me, but he feels quite accomplished too. Besides, he's truly a hot body and hot summer weather is not always comfortable for him. Sandals are a must for him since they provide plenty of airflow!

First off, notice all the adorable details! The colored trim and contrasting reinforced stitching, the raised dots on the velcro closures, and various stitching all over for extra personality. What's not to love? The Laren sandal has a very sturdy, thick sole that grips the ground very well. Despite this I can still fold them pretty far in the middle so I know they are appropriate for growing feet. Also at the same time, this sturdiness ensures a long shoe life, and plenty of firm yet flexible foot support for rough outdoor play especially. This shoe is made from neoprene, microfiber and other man-made materials which make the Laren pretty water-friendly too. I'm excited about this since I plan on getting outdoors and doing more water activities this summer. Actually, we have a water park around the corner from our new house that we're excited to visit a lot this summer. Buddy will easily be able to go from water play to the playground with bark in these sandals.

A great feature about the Laren is that they are wonderful for young boys with growing feet due to the flexible neoprene upper material and the ability to adjust the shoe is three areas. The velcro is very strong and will easily hold up through rough usage. The velcro strap behind the heel is especially helpful for us right now since these are slightly too big for Buddy. Umi is wonderful in how they size their shoes to account for growth (he measured between the 29-30), but I intentionally went up an additional size from the printable shoe size chart I used from Umi (so I got a 31). I wouldn't normally recommend you do this, but Buddy just turned 4 and is already in the equivalent of a size 13 to 1 in other brands and rapidly still growing at a steady, but fast, pace. I figured he's going to have a growth spurt or two prior to summer when he'll wear these daily! Actually, in the 3 weeks I've had these shoes in my hands, Buddy has clearly grown into them a little since he first tried them on so he has actually started wearing them on warmer days!

The Laren style is available in sizes 20-35 and three colors: Steel, Cocoa Multi, and Pink Multi for girls. The Steel color we received is a combo of deep and light gray with a bright orange accent trim. It's not a combo that will really match too much of most kid's wardrobes, but I think boys can easily get away with that so it doesn't bother me at all. Besides, orange is Buddy's favorite color! He's so excited about his new sandals, and so am I. They are going to be the one and only pair Buddy needs throughout the whole summer, unless of course he grows out of them! :)

Don't forget, Umi offers FREE shipping and returns (excluding clearance)!

Price: Laren - $45-$50

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One winner will receive $60 Gift Card to UmiShoes.com!

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Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product(s) to facilitate this review for free. No other compensation was received. This is my completely honest opinion above and may be different from yours. This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.