Author: Nichole S.

Thatcher’s birthday was last Thursday, but he had a super busy day that day…so when baseball was cancelled on Wednesday we took advantage of a free night and went to the Studio for dinner to celebrate a little early….before celebrating a bit late later in the week.  #weeklongbirthdays

After dinner we stopped by Cape Hedge Beach for the annual and obligatory birthday-photo-on-the-beach that I subject my children to. The horror.

While driving down to the lot we inadvertently found ourselves driving through some movie filming that was taking place in the neighborhood.

They waved us through, walkie-talkied ahead, and kindly tolerated the interruption.  We went down to the beach long enough for the boys to scale the massive wall of rocks, oblige me with a few photos, and steal a lobster buoy.

That’s right.  Finn had spied a lobster buoy pretty far down the beach and took off to grab it.  As you all know, lobster buoys wash up on our beaches often….so I didn’t think much of it when Finn tossed it into the backseat of the car before we left.

We had to wait a bit for crew members to exit the home where the filming was taking place and I scanned the group for a face I might recognize….but had no luck.  Once the group had moved on towards the beach and the coast was clear, someone waved us along again.  I drove up the road slowly and paused to ask what the name of the movie was….but, I never found out.  Instead, as the nice movie crew peep walked up to my window, I started to apologize for interrupting their work and was about to explain why we had driven down the the beach…..birthday boy and all.   But, mid-sentence the movie crew guy interrupted and said, “Yuh…ummm….so did you by chance pick up a lobster buoy while you were down there?”

Oops.

Turns out the lobster buoy that Finn saw and ran 50 yards to pluck from the beach was actually a movie prop….and was kind of essential to the scenes that were about to be filmed. Bygones.

In thinking back on it….there was a girl in the parking lot with a walkie-talkie watching the boys and I on the beach.  She must have seen Finn take the buoy because she radioed my license plate # to the buy up the road.  I thought she was simply telling him that we were on our way up so they could pause filming for a minute.  Evidently not.  I can’t help but wonder why she didn’t simply tell us that the buoy was theirs…. Finn would have happily put it back….especially if to avoid the embarrassment of having to cough it up and hand it over up the street.

I wish we had thought to snap a photo of Finn with his buoy!  It will be funny to see the buoy make its appearance in the film once it’s released.  Whatever the movie is.

I took the boys and some friends down to Pawtucket, Rhode Island to see the PawSox play on Saturday.  One game turned into a doubleheader….with fireworks as the cherry on top.  So, we got home pretty late.  After dropping one friend off in Magnolia we drove past Stagefort Park just past midnight and saw this scene.  I checked online the next day because the boys were pretty curious about what was happening, but didn’t find any information.

Anyone have any ideas?  Kudos to the fire, police, and ambulance responders who were out in the middle of the night taking care of whatever the situation may have been.

Please take some time to Celebrate and Honor Memorial Day 

 

Gloucester:  

Monday, May 28th

Gloucester will not hold a parade this year, but will be holding special Memorial Day Ceremonies at Gloucester High School at 10:30 in the morning. Followed by lunch in the cafeteria around noon.

Rockport:

Monday, May 28th

In Rockport, the Memorial Day parade will start at 10 a.m. from American Legion Hall on Beach Street,  proceeds down Beach Street to Main Street and then to School Street, Pleasant Street and into Beech Grove Cemetery.  Memorial services will be held at the Veterans of Foreign Wars lot in the cemetery.  It will then go back to White Wharf and on to the American Legion Hall.

Manchester-by-the-Sea:

As written on the town of Manchester’s Facebook page

Manchester American Legion Memorial Day Ceremony and Parade Program
Date: Monday, May 28, 2018 @ 9AM.

8:30 AM Report to Legion – Veterans, Auxiliary and all parade participants gather at Legion.

9:00 AM Waterside Service – Recognition with wreath and poppies cast into the water in memory of all servicemen and women lost at sea.

9: 15 AM Line up to March – Veterans and all parade participants form up and start marching by the Town Hall. Head up Pine St to Pleasant Grove Cemetery. Wreath laying, rifle salute, and Taps at flagpole.

Form up and march to Rosedale Cemetery. Wreath laying, salute and Taps with reading of Gettysburg address (by Manchester Essex Region High School 10th grader) Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) lot.

Walk down to the Legion Lot for Memorial Day Service. In Flanders Fields poem to be read by 10th grader.

Form up on Pleasant Street Extension and proceed down towards School St. to Hinckley Park for wreath laying, gun salute and Taps.

March to Union Cemetery for gun salute and Taps.

March to 1661 Old Burial Ground on Summer Street for gun salute and Taps.

Return to American Legion for National Anthem and raising the flag.

Collation to follow at the Legion.

The firing squad along with Commander, Selectmen, buglers and police escort will depart to Kettle Cove Cemetery in Jeffrey Creek located on Magnolia Avenue.

Allan Kirker, Post Commander
Manchester Legion Amaral-Bailey Post #113

Essex:

Monday @ 9:00 at Essex’s Memorial Park:  24 Martin Street.

As written on their Facebook Page:

Don’t miss the small town charm of a Memorial Day Parade in Essex. The parade progresses to the Town Cemetery for a military rifle salute to our country’s war veterans and then up Main Street to the Causeway Bridge. Town officials lead the parade followed by members of the school band and various athletic organizations. Norman Rockwell couldn’t have painted a better picture than our parade coming down Main Street.

 

We go to the Studio for lunch and dinner often.  The biggest draw for us is the deck.  You really can’t beat the view from their expansive deck….and these sailboats are no exception.

Thanks to Paul Horovitz for these two gorgeous shots taken from the Annisquam Yacht Club just seconds apart.  The first photo looks down into the river as the fog creeps in while the second photo captures the sun setting over Wingaersheek Beach.

Well, not really…but it seemed like an appropriate name for this photo.

Pick #1:  Motif No. 1 Day

Saturday, May 19th 9:00-5:00 throughout downtown Rockport

READ MORE HERE

The Motif No.1 Day Festival celebrates Rockport across the arts!

M1D honors the fishing shack, artist’s studio, and tourist attraction that started it all: an old building right on one of Rockport’s historic wharves, a building painted so often by artists at the turn of the last century that it was given the nickname Motif No.1.

Featuring film, poetry, dance, music, art-making activities, historical presentations and more, along with the Motif No.1 Day 5k and Fun Run, (organized by the Rockport Public Schools’ WELL team), M1D is a festival with something for everyone. M1D focuses on honoring Rockport’s heritage of the arts, along with showcasing the arts in today’s Rockport.

Pick #2:  Safe Boating Day at the Coast Guard Station

Pick #3:  Snakes Alive! Snake Hunt and Live Snake Show

Sunday, May 20th 1:00 – 3:00

Preregistration required:  REGISTER HERE

Member Adult: $15;
Member Child: $9;
Nonmember Adult: $25;
Nonmember Child: $15;

READ MORE HERE

An afternoon designed to make every herpetologist happy! We’ll start with a hunt for local snake species around the Crane Estate, looking under logs and around the stone walls that lace the property. Capture will be strictly catch and release! We’ll then make our way to the Barn where Rick Roth, founder and executive director of the Cape Ann Vernal Pond Team and local snake expert, will present “Snakes of New England and the World.” Rick cares for over 100 snakes of all different species — even if we don’t find any slithering friends on our hunt, there will be plenty of snakes to see and learn about during the show!

Pre-registration required. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

As always for a comprehensive list of family activities, please visit our friends at North Shore Kid

 

This looks like a great event to support an even greater cause.

May 20th 2:00-8:00, 6 bands, $10 at the door, Breakaway (the Old Village Green in Danvers).

We participated in Cape Ann’s Wreaths Across America event several months ago and it was a wonderful event.

Northshore Wreaths Across America is sponsoring Rock for Wreaths: Remember Heroes.

Heading out to the Dry Tortugas for a day of snorkeling and am struck by the pile of boat wreck debris from Hurricane Irma to one side and the gorgeous Sunset Key to the other.

”Off Island” this week with a group of great girlfriends enjoying some time in Key West.  I’m calling the trip “Key West or Bust, Happy Mother’s Day to us” and despite arriving last night at 7:30 and still not having any luggage we’re off to a fun start.  I should note that we are all flying home to be with our kids before actual Mother’s Day.

 

Thatch took this photo Saturday afternoon.  Not bad for a 10 year old. Makes me happy.

We had to turn around and capture this sunset before the opportunity was gone.  I love that Thatcher likes to capture “the right” shot almost as much as I do.

Responsible recycling for a good cause!  Saturday, May 5th from 8:00 am – Noon.

Time for some spring cleaning.  If you have any electronics cluttering your basement, garage, closets, or living room that you’d like to recycle responsibly, Harborlight Montessori up in Beverly is hosting a large electronics drive to help send their Middle School’s Destination Imagination team off to the Global Finals in Knoxville, Tennessee in May!

Congratulations to them for advancing to the finals and good luck raising funds while getting ready to compete at the University of Tennessee!

Read about the Middle School Destination Imagination team here

https://patch.com/massachusetts/beverly/harborlight-montessori-students-compete-global-finals-event

Harborlight is located at 243 Essex Street in Beverly….just about one mile off of Route 128 and Exit 18.

I so badly wanted to pull over and take several shots of this, but there were cars behind me and we were running late for Thatch to meet up with his group to walk in the Pride Stride.  Some days I have time, some days I don’t.

Pick #1:  Gloucester Pride Stride

Visit their website here for all information

The Directors of Gloucester Pride Stride are committed to the residents of Cape Ann to assist non-profits and community groups in their fundraising efforts.

All members of the community are invited to get involved by choosing and walking in support of a local non-profit or community/school group. Tax-deductible pledge donations are collected by each walker in advance of the walk using the pledge sheet or online giving system.

The 2 mile walk begins and ends at Gloucester’s iconic Stage Fort Park at noon on Sunday, April 29, 2018. Donation checks are then disbursed to all non-profits and groups at the Awards Party in June 2018 (exact date/location TBA).

In addition, Gloucester Pride Stride awards two annual scholarships, the Lynne “Lani” Vachon Memorial Scholarship and the Gloucester Pride Stride Scholarship to two individual Cape Ann graduating seniors.

Pick #2: Build a Lighthouse

An Essex Heritage event at NPS Visitor Center in Salem.

Essex Heritage invites visitors (ages 4+) to come and build their very own model lighthouse using every day materials! Special guest instructor and children’s book illustrator, Katy Bratun, will be leading this family friendly craft starting at 1:00 pm at the National Park Serice Visitor Center in Salem. This event is FREE and all craft materials will be provided.

Since 2014, Essex Heritage has been taking visitors to see the lighthouse on Bakers Island, but now we want you to your hand at building one!

*Pre-registration strongly suggested for this FREE event!

REGISTER AND READ MORE HERE

Pick #3: Art in Bloom at the MFA

What a wonderful way to spend a beautiful spring day with your family.

READ MORE ABOUT THIS ANNUAL MULTI-DAY EVENT HERE

Celebrate the return of spring with Art in Bloom, the Museum’s annual festival of fine art and flowers.

Enjoy exquisite art from across the MFA’s collection paired with magnificent floral interpretations created by New England-area garden clubs. Professional designers delight with creative designs in Museum entrances and walkways.

Art in Bloom launches with an Evening Preview of freshly installed arrangements on Friday, April 27, from 5 to 10 pm. Daily events include tours of flower arrangements throughout the galleries; demonstrations of floral arranging for your home; casual dining among masterpieces; and outdoor walking tours. Browse the new MFA Art in Bloom Market and expanded Garden Cart for unique gifts and treasures.

The popular Member Night is Saturday, April 28, and Community Day with children’s activities is Sunday, April 29. Free Ikebana demonstrations on Saturday from 3 to 4 pm in Remis Auditorium.

As always, for a comprehensive list of family activities, please visit our friends at North Shore Kid.  

 

While we didn’t venture inside…and I’ve honestly never even heard of this place before…we got a kick out of driving by the Wonderworks building in Orlando last week.

I was curious to know what they do inside so I checked them out online and now I kind of wish we had found time to visit!  Has anyone ever been?

WonderWorks is an amusement park for the mind with 35,000 square feet of “edu-tainment”. The attraction combines education and entertainment with more than 100 hands on exhibits that challenge the mind and spark the imagination.

This once top-secret laboratory was located in the Bermuda triangle. An experiment gone awry lifted the laboratory carrying it to International Drive in Orlando, Florida where it landed upside down. Luckily all of the exhibits remained intact and available for guests to explore.

Check them out here