Joe and Jill Biden leave for their Delaware beach house for their 45th anniversary

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden departed the White House together Friday morning to travel to their Rehoboth Beach home as they mark their 45th wedding anniversary and celebrate the Juneteenth federal holiday.

Traveling with the president and first lady was White House cat Willow, who flew on Marine One in her carrier, taken to the waiting helicopter by a valet. 

‘We gotta go!’ the first lady told her husband, giving him a tug after he paused to talk to reporters. 

The president pressed Americans not to travel to Ukraine.

‘Americans should not be going to Ukraine now. Say it again: Americans should not be going to Ukraine now. They should not be going to Ukraine,’ the president said. 

He had been asked about reports that two Americans who are former servicemembers and aiding the war effort may have been captured by Russians in wartorn Ukraine. 

President Joe Biden (left) and First Lady Jill Biden (right) departed the White House together Friday morning to travel to their Rehoboth Beach home as they mark their 45th wedding anniversary and celebrate the Juneteenth federal holiday

President Joe Biden (left) and First Lady Jill Biden (right) hold hands as they leave for a beach weekend in Delaware

First Lady Jill Biden (left) holds hands with President Joe Biden (right) as they depart the White House for their Rehoboth Beach house, where they will be spending their 45th wedding anniversary and the Juneteenth holiday 

Willow Biden peers out of her carrier as she heads to the beach with the president and first lady 

Advertisement

A valet carries Willow Biden in her carrier to Marine One for a ride to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on Friday 

‘Americans should not be going to Ukraine now. Say it again: Americans should not be going to Ukraine now. They should not be going to Ukraine,’ the president said Friday  

President Joe Biden speaks to reporters as he leaves for Rehoboth Beach, Delaware Friday

First Lady Jill Biden (left) looks back at the press as she and President Joe Biden (right) depart for Rehoboth Beach Friday

Advertisement

First Lady Jill Biden (left) and President Joe Biden (right) are captured arriving at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware to mark their anniversary and Juneteenth weekend 

Marine One flies over the beach to land Friday in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware 

First cat Willow Biden arrives in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware on Friday 

‘I have been briefed, we don’t know where they are,’ the president said. 

He also answered questions on Saudi Arabia.  

Dr. Biden had spent the morning delivering an address pushing for more gun control measures at the 125th Anniversary Convention of the National Parent Teacher Association, while the president hosted an event on climate change. 

The Bidens landed in Rehoboth about an hour after lifting off from the South Lawn, getting off Marine One and then being followed by an aide carrying Willow in her carrier a minute later. 

The president and first lady have opted to spend most weekends in Delaware – and as the weather has warmed have spent more time at their beach house located near Cape Henlopen State Park, at the northern part of Rehoboth Beach. 

Earlier this month, a plane flying in the airspace near the Biden residence prompted the Secret Service to remove the president briefly from the property. 

‘A small private plane entered restricted airspace, all indications are by mistake, and precautionary measures were taken,’ an official told CNN about the incident. ‘There was not threat to the president or his family.’ 

That trip was to mark the first lady’s 71st birthday. 

This time, the president and first lady will have a three-day weekend to enjoy thanks to Biden signing a bill last year to make Juneteenth – the official end of slavery in the United States – a federal holiday.