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.
Jessica says
I have the same camera as you guys and am still learning how to use it. How do you get the great action shots? I especially love the flying Barbies. Lol!
YoungHouseLove says
We always shoot in A mode (with the white balance on auto outside, and then we manually white balance when we’re inside). Other than putting it on A, we usually adjust the exposrue and that’s it. Took a while to figure out though! Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Designgratis says
As soon as I saw that basket I thought “what a fab pendant shade”, I didn’t even realise it WAS a basket lol. Can’t wait to see what you do with it!
Jillian {Her Split Ends} says
i love it…especially the boogie board jumping! such a creative little girl! ;)
Cheers
~ Jillian
http://www.hersplitends.com
* Check out Her Split Ends today for a fabulous giveaway!!
http://hersplitends.com/2012/07/18/giveaway-good-belly/#
emma says
You’re readying my DIY mind! First we get a bed I want to add fabric to and last week I picked up a glass cloche/pendant wannabe. Can’t wait to see how the basket turned lamp comes out!
CandiL says
We are going to Fun City in Burlington Iowa for a weekend in August. Then in September…maybe October we will be going to St. Louis Zoo and Six Flags! We like the short trips our 3yo doesn’t like to be out of his “element” for much longer than that!
Linda says
I live in Fort Madison, just south of Burlington! Fun City has so much to do — and the water park is one of the best. My S.O. and I are teachers, so we had the time to go to Spain for 3 weeks in June, then to Miami for the 4th of July to see my son and his wife who moved there in May (fireworks on Fort Lauderdale Beach = awesome!). And best of all, I am leaving for San Diego on Tuesday to spend a couple of weeks with my daughter who is due to have my first baby grandchild on July 30! What a great way to spend the summer!
Richelle says
My vacation starts next week. It will be a staycation this year, our babysitter is visiting family so I decided to take the week off and work on painting/decorating the house we moved into 3 months ago. My hubby and I work oposite schedules and with a 13 month old it’s hard to get anything done when you are the only one home with the baby. My aunt(who is great at interior design) is coming to visit for the week to help me. I can’t wait!
YoungHouseLove says
That sounds like so much fun! Take lots of before and after pics!
xo,
s
Shelley Fosse says
We used to live in VA, moved to CA four years ago. Thanks so much for sharing your trip pics, it totally brought me back to our Summer Vacations at Bethany and Rehobeth when our kids were little. If you ever get a chance go to Chincoteague, it was one of the best family vacations/beach rentals ever. If you get a house on the bay side with a dock then kids can just walk down and catch blue crabs using a string with hot dog tied on and then play with them all day. Good times!
For vacations this summer? We’re painting our house using those now older children as minions :).
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, nice plan! Good luck with the painting!
xo,
s
Jocelyn says
I love your anniversary tradition of the pictures. It’s so cute. Your vacation looked like a fabulous time. My husband and I just celebrated our 4 year anniversary. We don’t exchange gifts for anniversaries, birthdays, or Christmas. Instead we make a point to do something together. Sometimes its just a day trip to hike a local trail and other times we are lucky to be more extravagant and take a vacation to celebrate. My birthday and our anniversary are very close to each other. So this year we killed two birds with one stone and we went on an Alaskan Cruise. It was by far my favorite vacation (though my husband requires that I say “with the exception of our honeymoon”). I cherish our memories from the things we do each year and I love building on them.
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds amazing!! We had so much fun in AK for our honeymoon!
xo,
s
Stephanie M. says
Aw, you guys are too precious. Your family photos are gorgeous…Sherry, seriously you always look beautiful. Not fair! lol.
Fear not for Clara’s hair! Once you can do the “Pebbles” ‘do it won’t be long before you can do piggies on top and then even a ponytail (gasp!)…haha. That was my experience with my 17 month old anyway. :)
Oh and I totally snorted coffee on the “de-boogering” comment…I “de-booger” my little girl constantly. I have a problem.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Stephanie! I promise there were a few terrible pics of me that I said “no way- not on the blog” to John about. Haha.
xo,
s
Jen @ our delicious life says
What area are you guys vacationing in in Delaware Beach (admittedly i know nothing about Delaware Beach- so pardon me if there is only one part) it looks really pretty there. How many bedrooms/bathrooms are the houses you usually rent?
YoungHouseLove says
We stayed in Bethany (John’s parents have a house in Rehoboth, but it’s too small for the entire family, so we rent a bigger one when we all go). Since there are a million of us (totaling 14 this time I think) we usually get a 4-5 bedroom place with a few bathrooms and some folks (like the teenage kids) sleep on air mattresses and fold out sofas in dens/living rooms/nooks, etc. We pack ourselves in there! Haha.
xo,
s
Melissa says
“Sometimes Barbie was naughty and needed a timeout in the filter.”
haha! I die. I definitely did this at my Aunt’s pool as a kid!
Rue says
Looks like a whole lot of ice cream!!
I am not going anywhere this summer because I bought my first house!! Seems like a fair trade off.
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh congrats! I totally remember laying in bed the first few months that we bought our first house, just buzzing with excitement. Such a fun time!
xo,
s
Anita says
Glad to hear you had fun at the beach – we’re hoping to head to VA beach sometime in September! Also wanted to mention that I totally support you guys taking a 2 week hiatus next year. You both are the most dedicated bloggers that I follow, and I think it would be much deserved :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Anita!
xo,
s
Robin @ Our Semi Organic Life says
I’ll live vicariously through your vacations since dear husband is in full time grad school we can’t really take any vacations for a while. Maybe summer 2014!?
Carolyn says
Celebrating our 5 year in a few weeks! We really didn’t have any plans, but just the other day there was a CrowdCut offer to go up North (Minnesota) where we spent out honeymoon … so off we go! I really miss the beach though, being a Jersey Girl, so I enjoyed seeing all of your photos!
Tiff says
Beautiful pictures!! Love the ones of your daughter. She’s too cute for her own good!
Anne says
We’re heading to Bethany tomorrow!! My aunt and uncle have a beach house, and we haven’t been in two years, so we’re excited. I was wondering when you guys would be there. I guess we’re missing you by a week or so.
Courtney says
John always has the best poses! I think a flip-book is needed. :)
We still have our vacation ahead of us. Only 7 more working days and I can. not. wait!! We are headed south to Flathead Lake, Montana for some camping with my whole family (aunts, uncles, cousins) and then to Fairmont, BC for more camping (and a detour to the Okanagan for wine tasting!!) with my husband’s mom & sister.
Laura says
It looks like you all had so much fun! Our anniversary will be celebrated a month late this year. But with that said, it will be the first time we have gone on an anniversary trip alone in 6 years. We will be celebrating our 7th anniversary. We are going to Kill Devil Hills, NC for the OBX Marathon. We are going to run the 8k together on Saturday. Romantic huh? At least we get to have dinner together Friday night :) Congrats on the happy half-decade! You have a beautiful family!! Thank you for all of the wonderful diy posts also. We thought that being almost 30 years old with a 6 year old and a 7 month old meant we were too broke to make our 1950’s brick ranch house a home….but you have taught us that it can still be done!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks for the kind words Laura. That makes me all nerdy and smiley. Good luck with your 50s ranch. I’m sure it’s looking good already!
xo,
s
Rebekah says
Our Anniversary is in August – this year for Christmas, I gave my husband a year of date nights – one a month – complete with gift cards. They were all local, farm fresh restaurants – no chain. I picked a new place for our August anniversary. So excited! We just got back from Disney in May so no major vacation plans the rest of the summer! Enjoy!!
Jamie says
My daughters finish school on Friday so we’re planning a short camping trip to the beach early next week. Fingers crossed that it will stop raining and actually be warm enough to not need jackets! We’ll go whether it’s nice or not but it will be a lot more fun if we don’t have to spend the whole time hiding in the tent.
Shaina @ Wives Unscripted says
Don’t know if they still have them, but a friend’s son got a boogie board from Five Below and it handled the waves in the OBX with no problem. Might want to check it out!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Shaina!
xo
s
Anja says
What a cute holiday report =) So I guess you guys aren’t the kind of people who are likely to forget their anniversary (since you have a lot of traditions going on)which totally happened to us two weeks ago. Duh! We probably have to change the motto “Live every day like it’s your last” to “Live every day like it’s your anniversary (in case you forget)” ;-)
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha, so funny!
xo,
s
Kim says
My family and I were in Rehoboth last week! We have been going since I was a baby – my grandparents retired there. Even though they are no longer there, we still love renting a house and spending the week making memories :) We took my two nieces (ages 2.5 and 1) to Funland and they just loved it – so fun considering my sister and I (ages 29 and 25) used to ride the same rides!
Glad you had a great time; wish I would have bumped into you though!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, sad we missed you! Next year I bet.
xo,
s
Caity says
I love the pictures of Clara jumping off the boards. The concentration on her face+her feet off the ground=it looks like she is levitating :)
Our 2nd anniversary is August 14th, and we’re getting away for a day or two…can’t wait! Happy anniversary to you guys!! :)
The Mrs @ Success Along the Weigh says
Looks like a wonderful vacation and you’ve gotta love when a kid will keep themselves busy for hours jumping an inch on the beach! If only we could all be so content doing something so simple and fun!
We went to Maui, Lanai and Big Island in May but we’ve got another vacation coming up in October which I should probably get to planning soon!
brittany says
We just got back from our anniversary trip to St. Thomas. It was so relaxing and beautiful.
Jen says
You mentioned you started potty training but now I am curious about how cloth diapers hold up to the ocean? Do you switch her over to disposible water friendly diapers for beach/pools or are cloth okay to be submerged in the water?
YoungHouseLove says
We actually used disposable swim diapers this time, just because they were required at the pool. They were nice because they don’t get all puffy and seem to contain things well!
xo,
s
Meredith says
To echo what Sherry said, almost all pools require the “swim friendly” diapers, not cloth or regular diapers. I know regular disposable diapers can start to disintegrate in the pool from being submerged (!) and cloth by itself isn’t sanitary enough with water going in and out of the diaper. Just as a heads-up. :)
Alison says
I found swim cloth diapers like this http://www.everydaydiapers.com/iplay_Swim_Diapers_p/iplay-02.htm Works well!
Maureen says
Reading about your trip made me so excited for ours to Madeline Island in August! Of course, I still have to make it through one more week of studying for the bar exam but that is only going to make a week of kayaking, yoga and golf (and eating and drinking) that much sweeter!
Brittany D says
It looks like you had a wonderful family vacation. This is the summer of vacations for me! I have already been to St. Thomas, St. John, Washington DC and will be heading to Alaska next month! You better believe I’ll be revisiting your posts about your honeymoon, for some tips on things to see and do.
Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication says
Sounds like a great trip! We haven’t taken any vacations this summer, yet. We are doing a trip to the bay with a bunch of friends in a few weeks to ride around on jet skis and have fun. The hubby and I also have plans for a weekend in Charlottesville touring the vineyards :)
Nancy says
Just a quick comment with a tip (that you probably already know)…baby powder works like magic for getting sand off legs & feet! I always carry a container of it in my vehicle. We hardly ever go to the beach anymore and my “babies” are in their 20’s but my hubby hates to have sand on him so I always have it just in case.
YoungHouseLove says
Love that tip, Nancy!
xo,
s
Care says
A mojito?! Go $herdog!
We just spent a week in Boston/New England and it was fabulous!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- oh yeah. $herdog was in full effect.
xo,
s
Maria says
So.much.fun. We do a family beach vacation each year and just got back as well. We are OBXers and really enjoy staying together in one big house. And the best part: choosing houses for the next year. Those babies are giant and who doesn’t love a house painted Pepto Pink?
YoungHouseLove says
Hah- it’s true! Only at the beach!
xo,
s
Allyn says
I really love the photo tradition! Our one year is August 6, so I’m hoping we can start the tradition off right! Congrats on 5 years. Glad you got to celebrate at the beach!
Erin says
Such a cute post. Love the dry humor to caption the pix. Clara looks so cute with her Barbie dolls:)
Danielle E says
Just purchased the Black and White chevron rug from the DIY Joss and Main collection. It said it was from one of your collections. Did you ever receive any photos of it from readers who purchased it? Would love to see it in action!
Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
We haven’t but would love to! Send pics!!
xo,
s
Meghan says
I’m actually vacationing in VA this week from MA. I’m with my family and our family friends. We are spending time in Williamsburg and VA beach. :)
Loved the pics of Clara throwing all her dolls into the water haha so cute!
Happy anniversary!!!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, have fun!
xo,
s
Christina M says
My husband and I celebrated our 7th anniversary this past week – the seven year itch for us meant the itch to travel! So, we spent 3.5 weeks in Nepal and China! It was an amazing trip, but now we can’t help daydreaming about where our next trip might be….Iceland, Guatemala, Peru, who knows! Thank you for keeping me well entertained at work each morning, and each afternoon, even while you were enjoying your vacation!
YoungHouseLove says
Wow- that sounds like so much fun!
xo,
s
Katie says
We just returned from our 10th anniversary trip to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Canada. We wanted to go someplace cooler than the scorching temps blasting the East Coast and was it ever a relief. Gorgeous scenery, wildlife galore, beautiful drives, and delicious seafood. We put away our computers, kept our cell phones on vibrate (couldn’t turn them off completely since we needed to keep tabs on our boy, who was staying with grandparents for the week) and enjoyed time with each other. It was amazing, and it really helped us reconnect.
It’s funny – almost every house we saw on Prince Edward Island had different color adirondack chairs on their front porches or lawns. Red, blue, green, yellow. It was a lovely rainbow of adirondack chairs everywhere! I thought of you guys and your red chairs on your back patio. :)
We go to Rehoboth Beach for a week next month. It’s our annual family trip with my brother-in-law’s crew. Aunts, uncles and cousins all stuffed into a small townhouse for seven days. It’s awesome. Can’t wait.
YoungHouseLove says
That sounds like such a great trip!
xo,
s
Marla says
Your vacation pictures are great. We’ve never been to Bethany Beach, where did you stay? We love taking our kayaks along on vacation and this sounds perfect. Thanks!!
YoungHouseLove says
We stayed in a rental that could fit our giant family. Haha. It was our first time staying on the canal and we really liked it! It was back behind the Harris Teeter sort of (in Bethany). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Alissa says
One week from today I leave for a three week trip to go see the Olympics in London! I’ll also get to stop over in Iceland and Prague, so I’m pretty darn excited. First vacation in four years, and first time across an ocean EVER. :)
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so cool! Have the best time!
xo,
s
Wom-mom Ethne says
We just had our 7th anniversary on Monday! My mom took the kids for a sleepover, we went out to dinner, then we bought season 4 of TrueBlood. I even had a glass of wine at dinner and those little mini desserts that are popular now. So it was kinda like a mini vacation! Glad you had fun too.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- that sounds like an awesome night.
xo,
s
Morgan (Style Oyster} says
Kind of funny, but on YOUR 5th anniversary, I was on that same kind of ferris wheel-thingy, but in Myrtle Beach, with my husband and our boys! We were there 7/7-7/8. I posted some pics on my blog. Clara is such a sweetheart…can’t wait to see how you do it up in a couple of years for the big 7th Anniversary! We have our 5th in December. XOXO
Morgan (Style Oyster} says
Urg, I mean November…LOL
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- so funny! Such a small world.
xo,
s
Melinda W says
What a fun vacay! Enjoyed reading about it. Thought you might be Interested to know that basket you found is very similar to one My sister had years ago, but it was actually a table. There was a wrought iron base (a ring with three legs) that the narrow end sat in; and then a circle of glass rested on that upper strip of rattan that circles near the top. It would not be a good table around a toddler what with stability issues, glass, and rattan ends sticking up from the top–but it was very cool for the college girl!
YoungHouseLove says
So interesting! Love that!
xo,
s
Jessica says
I love reading posts about Clara, especially at work (sshh) – they always make me smile. She reminds me of my daughter, who’s not quite a year older than Clara. (Her third birthday is this weekend!)
For keeping her head dry, and swimming in general, I would definitely recommend the Puddle Jumpers (like this: http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=534705) We recently went to the beach with friends and kids from age 20 months to 5 years had them on and the floaties worked great for all of them! Although we still keep her within arms length, it’s made swimming so much more fun than trying to hold onto a sunscreen+water+wiggles = super slippery little one. Plus she loves the independence.
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds like fun! Love the tip!
xo,
s
Stephanie says
That looks like such a fun vacation. I’m about 2 weeks away from my big family vacation. My mom, aunts, me and all my cousins head to Plymouth, MA for a beach vacation. We spend the week in cottages hanging out on the beach. We’ve been doing it since me and my cousins (there’s 10 grandchildren all together!) were about Clara’s age. Now all the kids are grown up and some are starting their own families but it’s such a blast.
I can’t wait for a week of beach, food, drink and trashy magazines. :)
Cherri says
Your new family pics are really adorable. And we are looking forward to a cruise in September. Never done a vacay in the fall before.
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh that sounds fun!
xo,
s
Whitney says
I have never heard of this Rehoboth Beach place that you speak of but I totally want to go there now…it looks BEAUTIFUL! From the pictures it just looks very vintage beachy which is so cool!
My husband and I just celebrated our 5th as well in May, and in June we went on a mission trip to Uganda and Kenya. Since our anniversary was just before the trip we decided to splurge a little bit and do a one day safari while we were in Uganda and make that our gift to each other.
YoungHouseLove says
That sounds like an awesome trip. Wow!
xo,
s