Last week we spent a lot of time reciting the first line of her song Starships: “Let’s go to the beach, each, let’s go get away.” Why? Because we were at the beach, that’s why. Surprise! And since a bunch of you have asked what we did for our fifth anniversary (which happened to fall over our family beach vacation) we’re here to fill you in. You know we love sharing lovey dovey stuff and road-tripping stuff alike.
Last week was our annual family vacation to Bethany Beach along the Delaware coast (where we go with a bunch of relatives to spend time together as one big group). And since this year’s beach week just happened to start on our 5th wedding anniversary, we took various moments throughout the trip to celebrate half-a-decade of marriage. Starting first and foremost with our little anniversary tradition: snapping a family portrait.
We actually took it at home before hopping on the road for Delaware (since who knew how pretty / sane we’d be after the five hour car ride with a pooch and a toddler). These pics are some of our favorites.
We even got Burger into the mix for a few.
And you can see a bunch of outtakes over here on Young House Life.
But it was the first photo – where we all had the most natural smiles (since we were actually laughing) and with a vertical crop possibility (since the frame we needed to fill is vertical) – that earned the spot on our wall with the other four anniversary photos that we mentioned in this post about our little annual tradition.
Beyond taking those photos, packing and driving ate up most of our celebration time on the actual 7th of July. But with a week at the beach ahead of us, we didn’t mind. Especially since the week prior was one of those crazy get-as-much-done-as-possible weeks (we do our best to double up on projects so we can blog throughout the week while we’re gone – and so we don’t come home in a panic after vacation). I did “surprise” Sherry with a stop at one of her favorite roadside shopping spots as an anniversary adventure on our way to the beach though. This is the Ole Sale Barn in Maryland where we found the L-turned-7 in our office last Labor Day.
Sherry did buy something there, but we’ll save news on her spoils (and other beach-y shopping adventures) for another post. Well, scratch that. She wants me to show you what she got, so here it is:
Yup, it’s a giant basket that she wants to turn into a hanging light. Such a cool find. It was actually hung from the ceiling (it’s a giant warehouse in there) so Sherry was so excited that she even spotted it among all the chaos. More pics of that trip (and other beach shopping trips) to come!
But we’ll also share another one of our purchases – since it was our only physical anniversary gift to each other. See it there below? It has already been added to Clara’s frame collage.
Yup, it’s a little painted wooden whale sign that we snagged at a shop called Mod Cottage in Rehoboth Beach. We both really liked it and it seemed fitting since “wood” is the traditional 5th anniversary gift (it’s fitting that we’re building a wood deck right now too, huh?). Plus, it sort of symbolizes our main non-physical anniversary gift to each other: our trip to Hawaii earlier this year (where we went whale watching with Clara who had the best time ever).
So we’ll have more shopping pics later this week, but you may have caught a couple of sneak peeks on our Instagram feed already (you get to see these pics in real-time by following us on Facebook and Twitter, even if you don’t have an Instagram account). More on these guys once we go through the other 200 photos that we shot of various pretty things on our travels…
We opted to make this a “working vacation” – aka, we kept posting regularly (even from the beach sometimes) – since we already took a week off in March for Hawaii. That was our first blog vacation ever since YHL starting in 2007, so we’re still easing into the idea of putting posts on hold (we also had book tasks, like finalizing our cover, which we had fun doing while we were gone too). Maybe we’ll take off two weeks in 2013. Crazy talk, we know.
But let’s talk about the beach. Yes, this is the face Sherry makes when she’s approving comments from a lounge chair.
Even if we had wanted to leave work behind, sights like this wouldn’t let us. I saw this baby rolling down the beach to add new “No Smoking” signs and couldn’t help but have post-hole-digger envy. Where were you a few weeks ago when I was digging deck holes???
But Clara’s always pretty good at snapping us out of work mode, both at home and at the beach (where it’s always welcomed). And when we were working, Clara had plenty of company to keep her busy. We were there with my parents, two of my three sisters (plus a brother-in-law and sister’s boyfriend), two nephews, one niece, and two cousins with their two kids. Oh yeah, plus two dogs. Having four kids under the age of four made for a bit of mania at moments, but for the most part is just made the week all that much more fun.
But if you ask Clara the most fun thing at the beach it was jumping off of the boogie boards. Onto dry land of course.
Seriously, the girl did it for hours.
Since we were too exhausted from the drive on our actual anniversary, we made time for a date night in the middle of the week. Once Clara was in bed (and others were in the house to keep an ear out for her), we ducked out to a nearby seafood place called Bluecoast to spend an anniversary gift card from my parents.
We had already munched on some dinner at home with the family, so we ordered the things that we usually never find room to order – an appetizer (shrimp dumplings, seen below), two desserts (key lime pie and bread pudding) and drinks (mojito for Sherry, Sprite for me). Then we capped the night off with a stroll along Bethany’s boardwalk and a little window shopping.
Since we ended up getting an appetizer that required chopsticks, we earned ourselves another sentimental souvenir for our little collection back at home (more on that here).
Actually, we should’ve talked about the pool first, since that’s where we spent the first few days (between working on the blog while we were gone and Clara’s afternoon nap, we didn’t even make it to the beach until our fifth day of vacation!!). So we were happy to have a pool nearby to give Clara an hour or two in the water without trekking down to the beach after getting the morning post up and manning comments (which would have left us just enough time to turn around and go right back home for her nap).
And since barely anyone was there, we often had the baby pool completely to ourselves.
Well, us and Clara’s entourage of Barbie dolls.
Clara has recently grown a strong distaste for getting anything above her neck wet, so most of our time was spent “watching” the Barbies “jump” into the pool. Which meant Clara just counted to a random number (like four or nine) and chucked them into the water.
Sometimes Barbie was naughty and needed a timeout in the filter.
After seeing me flick a plastic fish toy out of the water with my foot, Clara was determined to do it too. Wish I could say she had succeeded, but really this is just her holding it on her toe and then flinging it with her hand.
This was the closest thing we got to swimming. And it lasted all of 30 seconds.
But we did eventually make it to the beach. And again, given a certain someone’s predilection for a dry head – this is as close to the water as she got. But she loved the ocean in Hawaii, so we’re confident it’s just one of those kiddo phases and she’ll be back in the surf again soon.
Fortunately the sand held plenty of hours of entertainment. Especially when other visitors had left giant holes that just begged to be climbed in.
That’s our cousins’ daughter Elsa, who just turned three, playing with Clara. I love this shot of them because it feels artsy for some reason. Like it would be sold on 20 x 200. Okay, maybe I’m stretching a bit. But Sherry took it, so this is not me patting myself on the back.
The sun definitely brought out the blonde in Clara’s hair.
Which, in case you haven’t already noticed, has been recently cut. The sides and the front don’t grow – just the back (which = mullet) so Sherry snipped that off. But we’re both chomping at the bit for that fateful day when the top and the sides decide to grow in and this girl can have a more girly do.
And by “chomping at the bit,” I mean “awkwardly posing in a sand hole.” I think I’ve found my new Facebook profile picture…
One benefit of Clara’s aversion to H2O is that de-sanding her is much easier.
So much easier that apparently I had energy left to de-booger. This is love people.
We even managed to snap another family portrait before Clara had a you-promised-me-ice-cream-but-now-insist-on-taking-my-picture induced meltdown.
So you probably know how this story ends…
Besides just beaching it up, we also took a few bikes rides. I have no pictures of us on bikes to prove it, but I shared two of our bike ride destinations on Instagram already. Like this one when I took Clara to the playground one morning while Sherry was getting the post up and answering comments.
And this one that we all took one evening. Surprise: it ended in ice cream. You may notice a lot of our adventures end that way.
The house that we rented had a canal right in its backyard, which meant we got to take my dad’s tandem kayaks out for a spin right from home.
It was a blast. We got a bit of exercise, took some sneak peeks at everyone’s backyards from the canal, and Clara didn’t try to stand up and capsize the boat once. It was win-win-win.
You’d think after years of blogging Sherry would’ve learned to keep her thumb off the camera lens. Nope.
The night after our little dinner date night was spent as a big family night out in Rehoboth Beach.
We once again hit up the kids’ favorite spot: Funland.
Since most of the kiddie rides were old hat for Clara (having done them over Memorial Day for the first time) after she had fun with those again, we tried out some new ones – like the mini Ferris Wheel.
Admittedly, it stopped a lot to load people in and get people out, so there wasn’t all that much riding. In summary: it was nothing to write home about. Though I guess I did just write about it in a blog post. But I couldn’t resist sharing that picture of $herdog. In a cage. In the air.
But as of Saturday afternoon, we have officially returned to the real world. We’re obviously missing vacation, but also happy to get back into the rhythm of regular life. Clara is still asking to go to the beach each morning, so we may have to break down and get her a boogie board just so she can jump off of it out in the yard (you know, to tide herself over until our next beach trip).
What’s the scoop on your summer vacation or your anniversary this year? Have you gone anywhere? Or are you one of the lucky ones with it still ahead of you? Either way – is it someplace new or a tried-and-true traditional location? Is it just with your honey (or your dog/kiddo?) or the whole extended fam? If you’re not going anywhere this summer, do you have any fun fall or winter plans on the horizon?
Psst- You can check out over 30 road trip/vacation posts here in our On The Road Again archives.
Psssst- Joss & Main is doing a best-of collection for a few DIY-related bloggers and a few of our past picks made their little “encore collection.” We really like the things everyone else picked too, and are so flattered to be included among such awesome fellow bloggers.
kalibrooke says
John, that pose needs to go viral. Of course, it’s the new planking.
YoungHouseLove says
Bwahahahaha. It’s like the Angelina leg. Everyone will be doing it.
xo,
s
annabelvita says
Looks like a great time! We just booked our holiday last week and we leave in two weeks so it was pretty last minute! We’re heading off on a roadtrip around France, being guided by a couple of books about places to swim in rivers and lakes. Hooray!
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds amazing!!! Have the best time.
xo,
s
Melanie @ MJ says
Looks like a fantastic time! Makes me miss the beach, I only go every other year, and this year is an off year.
I love that basket you picked up! I can’t wait to see it as a light!
Katy says
hahahaha, looks like fun! Maybe Clara is a born surfer, she just needs a bit more practice, at least she has the standing on the board part right! I went to a shrimp and lobster fest a few weekends ago. It was a blast! Nothing like a good food festival for a mini day-cation. http://thefirstapartment.blogspot.com/2012/07/weekly-wonders-july-18th-2012.html
~Katy
YoungHouseLove says
Mmmm, sounds delish.
xo,
s
Kristen | Popcorn on the Stove says
What a great trip – I’m so glad you got to sneak away to celebrate your anniversary! I really do love Rehoboth and we try to sneak away there as much as we can (I also love Nicki Minaj so much that I rapped Super Bass at my wedding but you know how it is).
YoungHouseLove says
Hahahhhhahahahaha. Totally know how it is. Once I mimed playing the piano on the dance floor for the entire duration of I Gotta Feeling. Just doing my part.
xo,
s
Kim says
Just went to San Fran during spring break (so fun). This summer we are mostly hanging out since we live by the beach (Charleston SC), but we are heading to the NC mountains for a tubing trip in August.
Jackie E. says
Here’s a tip for de-sanding at the beach. Baby powder or cornstarch. Works like a charm. Shake it on and the sand falls right off. Amazing!
YoungHouseLove says
Love that!
xo,
s
Sarah R. says
I live in Florida and second the baby powder! I always keep a large container in the car for unexpected beach trips.
heather says
I was going to tell you the same thing. Baby powder works great and leaves them smelling yummy. I keep a small bottle in my beach bag and one by our back door to de-sand from the sand box. Looks like you had a great trip. Thanks for sharing.
Rehoboth Fan says
Love Mod Cottage! Try to leave my wallet at home when I visit so I don’t go broke. :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, it’s true! We got to chat with the owner and he was awesome. Kind and funny! Used to be in interior design (no surprise there- he has awesome taste).
xo,
s
Sugar Cookie says
The hubs and I just got back from a long weekend in Dauphin Island, Alabama. His grandparents have a beach house there, so we spent a lot of time relaxing, eating, and of course, playing in the gulf. It was wonderful! Our five year anniversary is in June, so we’re already talking about going on a cruise (like we did on our honeymoon) to celebrate! Looks like you guys had a great time too!!
Brady says
Looks like I just missed you guys! I’m heading to Bethany on Friday night for my father in law’s 50th birthday party! Actually my in laws technically live in Dagsboro but that’s only about 15 minutes away. My husband and I have fit in a lot of mini vacations this year plus a week at the beach in North Carolina (no boogie board jumping for me but I see a lot of that in store for my 2 year old cousin next year). It’s been an awesome year =)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw man, have fun!!
xo,
s
tinajo says
Hey – you got married 7/7? :-) So did hubby and I – though 2002. Congrats (a little belated)!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks! Yes, we’re one of the many (many) 7.7.07 people. We started dating on 7.7.05, so we said “if 7.7.07 is on a Saturday, we should do it!” – and it was!
Happy anniversary right back atcha!
xo,
s
Stephanie Phillips says
We just returned from our July 4th week in Kure Beach, NC. This is our second year going with my parents, sister, husband, twins, and my cousin and her hubby. Sprinkle in about four different friends coming in for a night here or there and it’s always bedlam! We love it. Now mom and dad are entertaining the idea of buying a house down there in the next year and, let me tell you, I cannot stop fantasizing about running away for long weekends anytime we’d like.
I might also be fantasizing about decorating “our” room, too. ;)
Laura Mangiaracina says
Looks like you guys had a great time in Bethany. My family has been vacationing there since 2005 and we love it. I actually recognize the pool – we rent a house in the same neighborhood each year! My hubby and I got engaged in Bethany, spent our first Anniversary there and took our 4 month old son there this year for the first time. And like you, we escaped to Bluecoast for a much needed date-night! Enjoy the rest of your summer!
http://beingmangiaracina.blogspot.com/2012/06/beach-bums.html
YoungHouseLove says
So funny that you recognize the pool! Such a small world!
xo,
s
Meredith @ La Buena Vida says
Happy anniversary guys! Looks like a great beachy vacation…which is something that I’m literally dreaming about right now! Also, I’m super impressed that Clara didn’t try to tip the kayak over!
YoungHouseLove says
I know! I was so nervous but we made it!
xo,
s
Lauren says
WHAT! DAMMIT!!!
I am at Bethany THIS week, and ironically just ate at Blue Coast last night!
Don’t know if you remember, but when you mentioned a couple months or so ago that you go to Bethany, I said that I would poop my pants if I saw you guys here.
Looks like my pants are safe, unfortunately. Glad you enjoyed :) Hard not to here!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw man, so sad we missed each other. Although maybe it’s a good thing seeing as pooping your pants could get awkward. Hahah.
xo,
s
Krystle @ Color Transformed Family says
John, that definitely needs to be your profile pic! It is hilarious.
We have had a few short trips to places this summer but not a week long trip. This winter we plan to rent a cabin in the mountains. I am looking forward to that. I’m glad to hear that y’all had a great time.
Alison says
I too was in Bethany for vacation last week! (Not to be all stalkerish,) but the thought did cross my mind about maybe seeing you guys down there! Glad you had a great time- it’s a great place to go and relax!!!
YoungHouseLove says
No way! Can’t believe we didn’t bump into you:(
xo,
s
Ann L. says
Happy Anniversary guys! Congratulations on five years of marriage and a beautiful little girl.
Now for the things I found funny/odd about this post:
1. Is Sherry wearing jeans on the beach? I don’t think THAT would be Nicki Minaj approved.
2. You guys have a thing for lunging, huh? The picture of John in the big hole on the beach looks like the outside and male version of Sherry’s lunging pose she was doing at the aquarium with KB.
Can’t wait to hear all about your shopping adventures!
YoungHouseLove says
1. It was an evening beach trip (ducked down there after dinner) – so yes, jeans. I’m a strange creature.
2. Lunging is the new planking.
xo,
s
Christine says
We share the same anniversary, well day at least! We celebrated #11 this year, and I took the week after as vacation as well.
Our vacation was a home improvement one. We painted our girls bedroom, the office and the entry way. It is amazing what a $150 worth of paint can do to change the way a home/room looks. We also bought new bedding and some art work for our walls. So, not an exciting vacation for some, but we were very happy with it. Of course, we worked a couple of movies in and some nice down time too!
YoungHouseLove says
Happy anniversary Christine! And that sounds like an awesome way to spend a vacation. Seriously, I know what you mean about paint making such a difference!
xo,
s
Andrea Atkins says
I love Clara’s little “Pebbles” hairdo in the kiddie pool! So cute! Hopefully soon she’ll be able to rock some pigtails. :)
Brit says
I was about to type the same thing! So cute :) I used to call that a fountain hair style… is that weird? The little hair looks like water shooting up to me.
My boyfriend and I taking a little anniversary trip to Minnesota in August. Camping (yuck, his choice) and then State Fair-ing (wahoo! Mine!).
YoungHouseLove says
My mom calls it fountainhead! Too funny!
xo,
s
Crystal @ 29 Rue House says
I knew something was up! haha We’ve got a beach in our town but it is on Long Island Sound so it isn’t as nice as the ocean beaches. I only see day trips in our future especially since the grandparents usually come to us. Looks like you guys had a really nice time!
Ann L. says
And darn I missed the question at the bottom before commenting — our seven year wedding anniversary is in October so we decided to ask my Mom to watch our 7 (yes, 7) dogs and cats and we’re ducking out of the country for a week to our favorite resort in Mexico. HOLLLAAAAA! Super psyched for a week of sun, relaxation, adult beverages and more food than one person should consume on any given trip. :)
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- that sounds amazing! I hope it’s awesome!
xo,
s
Casey Y says
I got married over Labor Day weekend in 2009. So far, we have had to attend out of town weddings for other friends every year since. We have vowed to take a trip just for us on our 5th anniversary, regardless of who is getting married!
Misty @ The Family Math says
My fam went to the beach last week, too! It was Noah’s (15 months) first trip to the beach, and he loved it! The water took a little getting used to, but the sand was a big hit!
Meg says
We are going on a short vacation in a few weeks to Charlottesville & I know John is a UVA alum. Do you have any suggestions of what to see/do while we’re there?
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh Bodo’s bagels! And walk around on the corner and the downtown mall. There’s also Arch’s (great ice cream). Have fun!
-John
Sarah F. says
We were just in Bethany for a week too! My 2 year old loves funland so much (and you can’t beat $.60 rides!). Maybe we’ll see you on the boardwalk sometime, I’ll be the one chasing down a crazy, blonde-afroed little girl!
Cassie Helwig says
You need to frame the de-boogering picture!
We’re still trying to organize a family vacation for next summer.. we’re just getting up to the family vacation stages because we’re the oldest and our siblings are finally starting families.
YoungHouseLove says
That and the lunging pic. Haha.
xo,
s
Julie says
Jumping with both feet!! That a serious developmental milestone, well at least according to my toddler update emails. Random beach tip – baby power to get the sand off. It dries up any moisture and the sand easily comes off.
YoungHouseLove says
Love that tip!
xo,
s
Larissa says
I was going to say the same thing! Been going to the beach all my life and just recently heard the baby powder tip. We tried it when we went to the beach at the beginning of the summer and it really works! Of course, there’s white smudges all over your bathing suit, but the sand disappears!
Happy Anniversary! Glad you had a great time!
Rachel says
Our vacation wasa trip to Virginia. We spent a few days in Norfolk visiting family and friends, then spent a few days in Charlottesville, and finally a few days in DC. I have to say, Charlottesville was my absolute favorite.
Jennifer says
Looks like a great time that you had! We are excited to be headed to the beach this coming Saturday for a week! Funny that my husband and I live on the coast, but never really go to the beach. Instead we wait til our annual family vacation to Ocean Isle, NC to spend time with parents, siblings, nieces, aunts, uncles, and cousins! Can’t wait.
Merideth says
We are heading up to camp at Cape Henlopen State Park and check out a tour at Dogfish Head Brewery in September!
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds fun! Love hearing about all your trips guys!
xo,
s
Deb D. says
Happy anniversary! Hubby and I just celebrated our 10th on 7-13 with a staycation but with a twist… we sent the kids to their grandparents! We enjoyed exploring our new hometown city of Philadelphia and all it has to offer and gave each other bikes so we can keep up with our kiddos (John should appreciate that!). Love all your pics of your vacation — you definitely made it look seamless on the blog side. Such professionals!! :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Such a sweet way to spend your tenth! Have fun on those bikes!
-John
Nikki @ only25hoursinaday says
Congrats on 5 years – my husband and I just celebrated our 5 year anniversary on 7/11 (yes, we got married on a Wednesday!).
So fun to see your shots of Rehoboth and Dewey Beach – I spent a lot of time down there from 2002-2006 (in a house on Chesapeake St. in DB… 5 houses from the beach – so nice!). I recognize a lot of the places you visit! It’s such a charming, family-oriented place to visit.
dana828 says
Looks like a great trip! We are actually thinking taking a road trip (17-hr drive) out that way next summer–DC, maybe visit family in Dover, DE, and Rehoboth might be a good idea for a day trip! We’ve never been out east.
We just got back from a week at a Minnesota lake with my husband’s family. We go every year to the resort he grew up going to as a kid. Not much has changed over the past 30+ years, and it’s great. There are 10 of us (4 kids ages 7-11), and we spent our week swimming, kayaking, biking, playing golf & tennis (well, I read while others golfed & ‘tennised’), and eating way too much ice cream. As much as I appreciated the relaxed week after this crazy summer, I’m ready to go somewhere new, with just the 4 of use, not the whole clan…though it may upset my in-laws…ugh.
Christa says
We are planning a road trip from PA to WY and it happens to fall on our anniversary too. All day in the car with 3 kids, now that’s love. Enjoyed hearing about your beach vacation. We are doing the mountains this year, maybe next year we’ll do the beach thing. Clara jumping off the boogie board is too cute.
Kate says
That looks like a fabulous vacation! How nice that you all can get away to the beach with the fam each year. These are going to be some of the best memories for Clara! We just got back from a trip to CA where we visited San Francisco and wine country. It was absolutely amazing. I recapped my trip yesterday. While I don’t expect anyone to be interested in my vacation, I’m so glad I have a place to catalog everything we did so we don’t forget!
Angela says
Happy (belated) Anniversary!
My husband and I just celebrated our 5th anniversary on June 29th. We didn’t go on a honeymoon so we’ve made up for it by going away for our anniversary each year. 1. Napa Valley/San Francisco 2. New York City 3. New Hampshire 4. St. Lucia 5. Lake George, NY We’re expecting a little girl in 4 weeks and we hope to keep the tradition alive by bringing her along.
YoungHouseLove says
So exciting about your little girl! Four weeks will pass before ya know it!
xo,
s
ashley says
Sherry,
I feel like you are truly showing your love for black clothing in this post :-D
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, amen.
xo,
s
Michelle says
Lovely beach! I’m glad you guys had a great vacation. We usually take our vacation in July or August but this year, we went to Kauai in June. It was our first time to Kauai and we fell in love with it. Our favorite of the Hawaiian islands for sure. It came and went too fast but I’m hoping we can get away somewhere else before the summer ends, just for a weekend. We live just a few hours from Lake Tahoe so we might make a day trip up there!
Elizabeth says
The best way to remove sand after the beach is by applying baby powder
Bethany says
“Bethany Beach seems to be the coolest name for a beach ever!” says Bethany!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, Bethany gives Bethany Beach two thumbs up.
xo,
s
Erika Roberts says
Love to see your sweet family having a wonderful time. Thanks for sharing your vacation with us!
Deb D. says
PS: Not to be creepy…. but did you all accomplish what took me over 3 years to do for both of my kids? Has Miss Clara been potty trained???? I’m WAY impressed.
YoungHouseLove says
Not all the way, but some of the way (on our anniversary she helped us celebrate by pooping on the potty! wahoo!). We hear cloth diapers help since they feel when they’re wet more (it doesn’t wick it away as much) so it can help. Not sure if it’s true, but she seems to be catching on! We’re not pushing it though, just sitting her on the potty whenever she’s in the mood. Our doc said most kids don’t even show interest until 2.5 years old and 3 years old is common so I think you’re in good company!
xo,
s
Catherine says
This vacation looks like such a blast! And I agree with John: The pic that Sherry took of Clara and Elsa is really awesome.
I finally took the plunge the other day to request a week off work in August to head up to Newport, RI (my favorite city in America), so I’m really looking forward to that. AND in the fall, I’m traveling to my first ever 1/2 marathons–one in Newport and one at Disney World. So excited!
Jen says
Newport is such a fun city, especially in the summer when there are all sorts of events going on. I went to college in RI and have many great memories of that island! Enjoy your vacation!
Crystal @ 29 Rue House says
Catherine – Newport is my favorite place too! We’re hoping to get up there for a day soon.
Lindsey @ A Pear to Remember says
Mod Cottage?! I Lovvvvvvvve Brad and Ed, they are the sweetest guys. Mom and I adore that shop (and it’s tricky to resist, since my folks live three miles from it). Andrew and I have a gorgeous lamp from the shop (did you see them in the back?) glad you enjoyed this Rehoboth treasure : )
Headed to Rehoboth by myself for a wholllllllle week on Tuesday to get spoiled by Mom and Pops, Lewes is such a fun spot!
Rebecca says
My First Anniversary was the 9th. We started off with free entrees where our reception was held (nice perk) and stayed at the bed and breakfast we spend our wedding night. Then the next day was our huge family 4th of July get-together. We capped that night off with fireworks and visiting my mother-in-law. On our actual anniversary we went to a local place for dinner and hit up the mall for our traditional photobooth print. Since our “save the dates” features a photostrip and we had a photobooth at our wedding I thought the yearly photos (which I place in a basic glass frame) would be a fun idea!
Kimberly says
Sigh…I know you guys need vacation time but I missed you all SO much the week you all were in Hawaii! I only missed you more the week I was in Europe and couldn’t check in on your posts. :-) You are one the highlights on my day!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, you’re so sweet Kimberly. Love you mucho.
xo,
s
Kristen H says
We take a family trip every year – mom/dad, sister and her fam, and myself. We just booked a penthouse condo in Destin for Thanksgiving. I’m so excited – especially since it has 3.5 bedrooms (meaning bunks in a closet/hallway), so I don’t have to be the odd-man-out that gets stuck sharing with the kiddo! :)
Amy says
We’re headed to OC this weekend, with planned stops at the Old Sale Barn and Bluecoast :) John’s awkward pose made me LOL!
Emily says
I’m off for Paris today!!! So excited. Wanna jump in my suitcase? http://voyage-on.blogspot.com/2012/07/bon-voyage.html
YoungHouseLove says
Fun! I’m in.
xo,
s
Gabriella @ Our Life In Action says
Looks like it was a blast.
Keep chuckling about Clara putting naughty barbie in the filter for a time out – she is too cute!
Such beautiful pics; thanks for sharing. :-)