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.
Ally says
These pixs prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that $herdog and JBoom are truly PERFECT for each other! :)
The JBoom lunge reminds me of a certain photo of $herdog (Haven, House Crashing, & Obligatory Weirdness post https://www.younghouselove.com/2012/06/haven-house-crashing-and-obligatory-weirdness/ :) who’s also lunging, and making a somewhat maniacal face (while in a tube with Katie :)
I think you guys needs to split-screen these two photo’s, and use them in print ads when you open the Petersik Family Fitness Facilty & Ice Cream Lounge :)
xox
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, sounds like a plan!
xo,
s
Amy @ a new old house says
Looks like you had a fun filled week away! You certainly deserve it!
We’ll be heading to the beach with my hubby’s family- 13 adults + 10 kids in a house for a week. I love that my boys will get to enjoy uninterrupted time with their cousins- it’s the best!
Oh- and I have to look up where the Ole Sale Barn is… Eastern Shore of MD?
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, it’s right in Denton Maryland on Rt 50 I think!
xo,
s
Rachel says
This post made me love this blog even more. We are Richmonders by heart. My parents still live there but we’ve relocated to Charlotte. Anyways, we vacation in Dewey Beach every year. I love that you love Delaware and Virginia!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Rachel! You’re sweet.
xo,
s
katie says
Looks like fun!
Unrelated – I was looking for gifts for my fiance’s birthday and came across the following:
Bicycle Doormat (but the colors reminded me of a bathmat for your bathroom)
http://www.uncommongoods.com/product/bike-doormat?utm_medium=shopping+sites&utm_source=gifts&utm_campaign=20456
which then led me to search bicycle bathmats and I came across this – combining both your and John’s loves bikes and ceramic animals:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/darkcycleclothing?ref=seller_info
YoungHouseLove says
Love the links! Thanks for sharing! John is smitten with both! Haha.
xo,
s
Jess Boro says
Hey! I’m a Bethany Beach regular too! I always hope to run into you there! Next time you’re at the beach, you must eat at Perucci’s. You’ve probably passed it on your way to the beach. It’s a cute little brick place with delicious Italian food. My husband says anything with their “Sunday sauce” is his favorite food on the planet. See you around!
YoungHouseLove says
Mmm, sounds awesome. Love me some Italian food!
xo,
s
karen says
hubs and i celebrated our 10-year anniversary earlier this summer. i had ruined his proposal the first time around (long story :) ). he surprised me this year by calling a “family meeting” on our anniversary eve. he made our 6-year old twins listened to a gushy speech about moi and then got down on one knee and re-proposed (yes, i do make up words) again, new ring and all. i love that after all these years, he still knows how to surprise the heck out of me!
YoungHouseLove says
Thats so cute!!!
xo,
s
Plein Jane says
We have photos of our kids on this same beach and in Rehobeth. (We used to live in the D.C. area, but are now in Texas and so faaaaaaaaaaar away from a beach.) Now, sadly, those kids are 24 and 19 (eep!) and might not go to the beach with us now if we cut them a check. Soon, we’ll be taking photos of THEIR kids on a beach.
All of which is to say: Be glad that you have all of these images, which you’re so good at remembering to take. Somehow, in the kid chaos, I wasn’t as good about it. These are the moments you’ll look back at and say, “Oh, this was the best time.”
Sherry from BC says
I am so happy you had time to fit in a bit of downtime
…..you keep the ole blog a hummin’. Have you seen these on etsy?
http://www.etsy.com/listing/72141651/carnival-photos-nursery-art-turquoise?
I love them and have been hoping to take some and work with photoshop to get this dreamy quality. Maybe you have a few shots that you can try it on for your photo wall. I love the moody turquoise look. I think you should play with the one with Clara & friend in the boat…..ie filter out the background noise and play with colour? Ideas from a busybody granny….cause you don’t have enough projects…..hee hee!
YoungHouseLove says
Gorgeous! I love them all so much!!!
xo,
s
Em says
Happy anniversary! We also vacation is Bethany and I was just wondering if you found good places to ride your bikes. We rented bikes last year but felt like we exhausted the whole town within half an hour. I’d like to hear your suggestions.
YoungHouseLove says
We just rode around in neighborhoods and up Rt 26 to Bonkeys (for ice cream). John and Clara rode down to the playground at Bethany one morning while I was working too!
xo,
s
Shannon says
LOVE the pics! IT looks like you had such a nice vacation, even though you still worked on the blog!
My husband and I went to Oahu for a week, while our daughter went to the other side of the country, Florida, to spend time with her grandparents. It was pretty hard to be away from her, but being in Hawaii helped!
Sara says
Hi! I have loved reading your blog for several months now, and I’m not one to comment usually – but I had to today because I was with my family in Bethany Beach last week!
We live in Michigan, and no one here knows what we mean when we say we’re going “to the beach.” And then they look at us kind of skeptically when we say we’re going to Delaware to the beach. (My husband grew up in Maryland so it’s his old stomping grounds – we try to go every year. (And our daughter is 19 now and has reverted back to never getting anything above her neck wet!)
We spend a fair amount of time in Rehoboth while we’re there, but we love Bethany best! We probably stood in line for ice cream at some point right behind you!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so funny! I can’t believe we didn’t bump into you!
xo,
s
heather s. says
That’s because in MI we all go to the lake. ;) Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Superior and all of the inland lakes. Gotta love Michigan!
Jillian@TheHumbleGourmet says
That profile photo of Clara with the ice cream cone demands framing. What a beautiful photo!
Lissy says
Awww…we were in Bethany last week! Clara and my Avery are almost the same age…they could’ve played together!!! You are my online friend ;), I’m sure it wouldn’t have been awkward at all. Well until I saw that John picture!
Avery likes to watch Clara videos all the time.
YoungHouseLove says
I wish we had run into you! Avery sounds adorable!
xo,
s
Micaela says
Looks like fun! And Clara is so adorable and happy! I love when families take vacations all together in a big group. I think that will be one of my summer goals for next year!
Alicia says
Too fun! I saw that whale plaque at Mod Cottage over July 4th weekend and loved it. I’m glad he found a good home ;) Now that The Pelican’s Loft and Coco and Company have closed up shop, Mod Cottage is easily my fav home shop in town. You are so right, the owner is fab!
Not to be stalkerish, but every time I’m in town I wonder if I’ll spot you guys. I don’t think I’d have the guts to say hi, but it would be super fun. I’m very fortunate to have a family beach house in Rehoboth and we’re often busy incorporating some sort of YHL-inspired idea.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us. Can’t wait to see what you guys get up to next!
YoungHouseLove says
You better say hi if you see us! I mean it! Maybe we’ll both be in Mod Cottage. Haha.
xo,
s
Liz @ IHeartVegetables says
You guys are so freaking adorable!!! :) You have such a lovely family!
Misty says
LOVE the pic of Miss Clara standing on the beach look at the water. So cute!
Jonesypie says
Happy anniversary! that sounds like a great trip :) my husband and i just celebrated our third anniversary on july 11th. we live in seattle and took a long weekend to cannon beach, which is on the coast in oregon. also brought our goldendoodle, finnley!
Katie says
summer isn’t complete in my book without a trip to the beach!!
so glad you all got away and had time to refill your tank with family and beach fun!
we (hubs and three wee ones) went to one of our favorite places in the world, oak island, nc with my parents and sister the last week in may. sun. sand. surf. love and laughs. = pure bliss. our 13 anniversary was on the 29th so we celebrated at a great little bistro, mr. p’s, in southport, which is one of those postcard seaside villages that dot the coast.
yes, i may have a borderline unhealthy obsession with the beach…
Kerrie says
Glad you guys had a blast at the beach. I wanted to see you when you were in Atlanta, but I was at Disney World – too bad, maybe next time!
This is completely unrelated to this post, but I was just on Anthropologie’s website, and saw these pillows and thought that they would look great in your dining room… or kitchen… or really where ever!!
http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/product/home-new/25110230.jsp
YoungHouseLove says
So pretty!! I love them.
xo,
s
Jara Downs says
Looks like you had a great time! Love the family pic tradition, gotta start that! Although now we are on year 13, got lots of catching up to do! Or lots of picture hunting to do:)
Love the chopstick idea too, the hanging lamp find, and the sweet whale!
Oh, and LOVE Clara’s ponytail at the pool:)
Ya’ll are precious!!!
McKenzie says
Ok, I know you are the ones with the blog, but I sort of feel like you are stealing our ideas :P This year we have built a rock box, rebuilt our deck, and gone to Hawaii all before you guys posted about it! I guess great minds just think alike. :) We took our 1.5 year old little dude to Kauai to check out some sand. We are from Alaska so it was a totally different world for him. Amazing family vacation!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so funny! Great minds do think alike! Or maybe we’re both on Pinterest too much- seeing all those pretty pics that make us wanna travel/DIY! Haha.
xo,
s
Emily says
Happy late anniversary. Love the pictures and fun in these posts. I want to go kayaking in the canal. That would be awesome. John should trademark that pose. ha.
Allen King says
How do you guys go about renting a house up there? Website? Real estate broker? I want to do this with my family next summer, looks like a blast!
YoungHouseLove says
We’re such a big group that certain members of the group (John’s older sisters or parents usually) love being the planners, so we leave it in their capable hands (I think they use a website and just look up reviews, etc). We just show up and pay our share and the accommodations are never an issue because we’re easy! Haha.
xo,
s
Aimee says
Don’t know if you know about this tip for de-sanding munchkins (and adults)or not. We just found this out after moving to the coast last year and LOVE it! Sprinkle baby powder on you over the sand and then the sand falls off super easily while brushing with a towel.
:)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip Aimee!
xo,
s
Lauren L says
Ok numba 1: Sherry you are so beautiful! 2: I apologize if you guys don’t care to hear grammatical corrections and I’ll totally not do this again if you don’t. But it’s actually “champing at the bit,” not “chomping.” Seriously, only if you care to know. If not, that’s cool too! :)
Love the blog! xoxo
Lauren
YoungHouseLove says
Oh my gosh you’re right! I always forget that. Thanks for the tip! Although in that picture it should probably say “lunging at the bit.” Haha.
xo,
s
Raelynn says
Looks like an amazing time….
We’re spending our 5th anniversary on an Eastern Caribbean cruise @ Miami this November, so your beach pictures make the next 13 weeks that much harder to get through!!
Hannah says
Love the de-boogering picture! I do that too and my hubby says its gross not to use a tissue or something. lol But you don’t always have one on hand right?
I wish we could take a vacation this year. We’d more than likely drive up to my old stomping ground, Maine, to visit my family. My hubby just got a new job though(at Disney!), and since its a contract position, he doesn’t get any vacation time. His contract is up in December so maybe then?
We celebrate our 11 year anniversary this year. 11 years?! Wow. Sounds so weird to even say it myself. I’m hoping we can get away for the weekend but with a 2 year old and a newborn I don’t know…
YoungHouseLove says
Wahoo! Happy 11 years Hannah!
xo,
s
Suzanne says
If you dont mind me asking, how do you organize your food? We have big family vacays too, but it always seems a couple of families do all the ‘work’ and get stuck with all the bills. Do you assign meals to certain families?
YoungHouseLove says
We all put receipts in the pot and average it all out at the end (everyone eats all the food pretty consistently since we have almost every meal together, so unless people go out on a date like John and I, it all goes in the pot). After it gets divided evenly in so many ways it’s not too bad! I think the three of us ended up paying $120 for our share of food for the entire week since we cooked at home a lot!
xo,
s
Corien says
Sherry’s thumb? I thought it was your knee, John.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- totally my thumb.
xo,
s
Bree says
You guys are too cute! I’m addicted to your blog and hearing about your projects and family. I love the anniversary pics wall. Such a great (and simple!) idea. Ever been to Nova Scotia or New Brunswick? My hubby likes to call us “seasoned road-trippers” lol and we are headed there in August. Thanks for sharing! :)
Alyson says
Looks like you guys had a great vacation and anniversary all rolled into one!! We are celebrating our fifth anniversary this Saturday. The plan is to go out to eat where we went on our first date (which we try to do every year). But we might not make it to dinner since we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our own little one due any day now, so it might be spent in the hospital!
YoungHouseLove says
Ooh that’s exciting!
xo,
s
Melissa says
I don’t know if anyone else has mentioned it, but your pictures of holes in the sand made me want to share this with you. It was linked to me from a friend. Sand holes can be very dangerous! Of course, your hole looks like it was wide and shallow, but I just want everyone to know about this. I grew up at the beach and I never knew how dangerous holes in the sand could be.
http://earthchicknits.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/five-years-later-celebration-of-a-rescue/
and the original story is here http://earthchicknits.wordpress.com/2007/07/16/the-worst-five-minutes-of-my-life/
And the rules of the sand, from her post:
I also want people to know that this kind of thing is totally preventable. It’s easy:
1 – Don’t dig holes deeper than waist-height of the shortest person around. The hole my son fell into was not terribly deep. But it was deep enough to swallow him up when it caved in.
2 – If you (or your children) do dig holes, fill them up when you’re done. That alone would’ve prevented our near-tragedy.
3 – When you arrive at the beach, scout out the area you will be setting up in, checking for holes. Teach your children to come tell you if they find holes other have dug, and to not play in or near them.
4 – Keep as sharp an eye on your children on the sand as you would in the water.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, someone just shared that with me. Terrifying and so enlightening. Thanks for sharing!
xo,
s
gina says
Looks like good FUN! you have the most beautiful family! thank you for sharing all the great pics!
Just a question…?
When ya’ll go out and do stuff, such as vacations, or days on the beach, or even out to dinner… do folks recognize you? and or bother you? ask for autographs? …. I know this will sound derp… but if I saw yall, I would bug you and ask for an autograph AND a group picture!
love yall. and Burger too!
hugs
-gina
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- you’re so cute! We do occasionally get spotted and folks very sweetly say things like “no way I read your blog!” and we’ll chat a little and Clara will say hi but that’s usually it. I don’t think we’ve ever been asked for an autograph. Haha.
xo,
s
Wendy says
After 3 weeks of travel: 1 week to/from NoVA to TX for a race and 1 week to move from NoVA to Utah we unpacked our new home in 4 days and then hit the Bahamas for a week.
The pluses: good salads and healthy food made for you every day, mini cups of Ben and Jerry’s for dessert, and lots of bonding time (in unique ways).
The minuses: we missed reading this blog, we missed our home, and we missed the little things of our country.
Lessons learned: we can survive anything (and 13 yr olds are amazingly resilient at times), we will never go to the Bahamas again, we live in our own “dream vacation” spot with the mountains 2 miles away (= hiking, biking, open water swimming, etc.), and most importantly…we love being together as a family!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, cute!
xo,
s
Jenny says
Happy Anniversary! Thank you for sharing your family with us- in a world full of ridiculous and over-the-top celebrity news, it’s refreshing to read about two down-down-to-earth people raising a family (while DIY’ing like no one’s business!). And can I just say, the pics of Clara with her hair in that little ponytail- Cutest.thing.ever.
Kendra says
You guys might already be aware of this, but just a word of caution about the dangers of sand holes: http://earthchicknits.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/five-years-later-celebration-of-a-rescue/
YoungHouseLove says
SO scary! What an amazing story!
xo,
s
susan says
Great pix. Hubby and I grew up near the beach-on opposite coasts. We’ve moving to San Diego this fall ( woohoo!) and will be living near the ocean once again…can’t wait.
We have a different situation than most-we were both widowed in our 40s, so remarrying right before fifty was kinda weird-but in a good way.
We are empty nesters, yet we will “only” celebrate year number two in August. We married in Hawaii, and decided that a trip to a some place with a large body of water would be our gift to each other every year.
Last year we did NYC, and this year it’s Crater Lake.
Happy fifth! ? Best wishes for many more :)
PS-that girl of yours needs a trampoline for her mad jumping skills. LOL at her not wanting to get her hair wet. I still do that!
Emily says
We were in Bethany the last week of June, and went to Funland with our boys. Let’s just say that ferris wheel is smalllllll. I lacked some grace getting my behind outta that thing! haha
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- me too! I basically studied all the other people and tried to emulate the graceful ones. Didn’t work. Haha.
xo,
s
Lauren says
My grandma lived in Bethany Beach for 40+ years. We would drive 10+ hours there from Boston – my parents, three sibs and me. Your pictures made my day! Some of my best memories are from Bethany and Rehobeth. Thank you! My husband, our 2 year old daughter and I are planning to spend Labor Day weekend in Little Compton, RI. LC is so charming! But, we may be closing on our first house that weekend, so we’ll see! Will be channeling your spirit and energy as we have certainly fallen in love with a fixer upper!
Holly says
Looks like a lot of fun. We’re still saving up leave time for our honeymoon trip to Hawaii in October. I’m almost more excited about the trip than the wedding. The most exciting part is the 4 nights we’ll be staying in a tree house in Volcano, HI. It sounds like such an exciting adventure!
Angie All The Way says
I think this is my first comment, but just wanted to say that you guys always make me smile – you are SUCH a sweet (and funny!) family! :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, thanks Angie. Your comment made me smile so we’re even.
xo,
s
karen says
Bethany beach looks amazing and we are planning a trip for September to check it out (along with other fun places up the coast). Any suggestions where to stay (we have a 17 month old)? Did you stay in a more residential area? Is the downtown part too busy? Sea Colony seems super popular for rentals. Advice?
YoungHouseLove says
We stayed sort of behind Harris Teeter in a neighborhood with a bunch of rentals and a pool. Was nice because we could bike to Bonkey’s for ice cream and even to the playground/beach.
xo,
s
Gina says
Aw :( I wanna go to the beach-each. At least I’m in Salt Lake with beautiful mountains. BTW Sherry, you’re seriously one of the most naturally pretty ladies I’ve seen! You have so much of your mom in you and Clara has so much of both of you in her. Cute fam!
YoungHouseLove says
You’re so sweet Gina! Thanks!
xo,
s
Lindsay @ Me, Ed and Pea says
Looks like you guys had so much fun!! Our beach vacation is still a few weeks away and I can’t wait. And Sherry you look so pretty in the family pics!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Lindsay!
xo
s
Olivia says
Looks like a fun trip, you both look great! I love going through your old anniversary posts. Beyond random question… Sherry, do you ever drive? Can you? Or do just not like it?
YoungHouseLove says
I have a license and technically can I guess, but I’m definitely not great at it! Haha. I only drove for about a year before heading off to college in NYC (where no one drives/has a car) where I lived for 6 years. Then we moved here but only have one car (and when John worked in advertising while I freelanced from home he took the car to work). Long story short, I don’t have much practice, but thankfully John’s happy to drive (he’s sort of a backseat driver when I drive, probably because I’m terrible, so him driving works for us – haha).
xo,
s
Chantel says
Looks like you guys had a great time! We were right down the road from you in Fenwick Island Delaware. The beach was gorgeous and the weather was perfect! :)
J says
Wow, it looks like you guys had a great time- so well deserved! I’m also impressed that you managed a Nicki Minaj reference in a post title about vacation!
I’m counting down to my vacation this September, which will also be my honeymoon and first time out of the States! After our big day, my almost-husband and I will be heading to Costa Rica for over a week :)
kelly says
This was a delightful post for me to read. You see we recently relocated from Seattle to Delaware and it’s felt fairly drab so far. However, you never disappoint with sharing great adventures on your vacations. Oddly enough, my family seems to be following you everywhere you go. We hit up Portland before the move and stopped at several of the places you shared, visited Hawaii in June for my brother’s wedding, where I made sure to purchase our three year old crocs before the flight, and now we’ll need to relax on the Delaware coast. What I love about this coincidence is that Clara is so similar to our Davey. Instead of Barbies it’s Cars though and we recently recovered from the fear of getting his head wet with arm floaties and goggles. Now he’s unstoppable. Thanks for sharing you lives, it has really brightened my view of the east coast.
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Kelly! Davey sounds adorable and it’s too funny how many trip locations we have in common!
xo,
s
Lana says
Sherry, the picture of you in the kayak is gorgeous- you look so fresh and just….awesome! Props, woman!
YoungHouseLove says
Haha- you’re sweet! I think that one is the ugliest one. Hahahaha. I guess we’re all our own worst critic, right?
xo,
s