Obamas leave for annual summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, Mass., Aug. 6 (UPI) -- The first family left Washington Saturday for what has become their annual summer vacation on Martha's Vineyard.

President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, their daughters Sasha and Malia and the two first pets, dogs Bo and Sunny, left the White House on Saturday afternoon and arrived in Massachusetts via Air Force One, landing at the Cape Cod Coast Guard Air Station. The Obamas greeted Coast Guard members before departing via Marine One to make the short trip to Martha's Vineyard, according to White House pool reports.

The first family has made the iconic New England island their annual summer vacation destination since Obama took office in 2008, save in 2012, when Obama skipped the trip to campaign for re-election.

They are scheduled to stay there for 17 days.

The first family rented the same seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom home in Chilmark where they stayed last year.

The vacation means Obama will not attend the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The president has not attended any of the four Olympics during his presidency. He sent Vice President Joe Biden to Beijing and Vancouver. Michelle Obama attended the last Summer Olympics in London four years ago.

Obama does not have any public events scheduled during the trip.

While the trip represents a break from work for the president, that will not be the case for Sasha, Obama's younger daughter. Sasha Obama, 15, has taken a summer job on the island, working a four-hour shift at Nancy's a seafood restaurant on the island.

Sasha Obama's duties include being a hostess, server and running the restaurant's drive-thru window. She is accompanied on each shift by six Secret Service agents, who are stationed in and around the restaurant each afternoon she works.