Back on tour in search of Halloween decorations with the boys. We drive by this one at Ken Knowles Fine Art each day.
Author: Nichole S.
The Bruins Academy and Former Bruin Andrew Alberts at Talbot Rink
This past Saturday the Boston Bruins learn-to-skate program, the Bruins Academy, teamed up with Cape Ann Youth Hockey at the Dorothy Talbot Rink in Gloucester for some on the ice instruction and fun.
Some very lucky skaters received, in many cases, their first on-ice lesson, completely decked out in Bruins gear, alongside former Bruin and NHL defenseman, Andrew Alberts.
It was so much fun to watch him skate with the kids. He was beyond phenomenal and played group games like the best of them….while also offering up many special one-on-one moments to wobbly first timers.
My favorite moment of the day? Watching Andrew Alberts give his undivided attention to a tiny one who had fallen and had absolutely no idea of how to get up. I hope the video footage finds its way to this little one’s parents as his potential skating career unfolds so they can look back and laugh at how it all began….on the ice at Talbot Rink…with a Boston Bruin cheering him along. See video below.
A huge “thank you” to the Boston Bruins, the Bruins Academy, and the Cape Ann Youth Hockey volunteers who worked together to make this a huge success.
Read More About the Bruins Academy Here
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Halloween Decorations #1
The boys have challenged me to make hunting for stellar Halloween decorations a thing like when we drive around and look for the best Christmas light displays in December. So, for the next few weeks we’ll evidently be looking for and taking photos of Halloween decorations. Feel free to share good locations!
Here’s some found at the Rockport Inn and Suites.
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Nichole’s Picks 10/14 + 10/15
Pick #1: Rockport Harvestfest
Saturday, October 14th.
Always a great time! READ HERE FOR MORE!
The annual Rockport Harvestfest celebration features the best regional bounty of the season — all in an unbeatable setting.
New England food producers gather under a giant tent on one of Rockport’s historic working wharves to celebrate the best of local food with fresh seafood, pastries, cider doughnuts, chowder, small-batch jams, locally-grown produce and more.
Local craft beers and wine produced in Massachusetts are on hand, along with Rockport’s own Twin Lights, with soda crafted from the 120-year-old company’s original recipes. Cooking demonstrations take place throughout the day, the highlight of which is the Seafood Throwdown, a competition-style showcase between two chefs, demonstrating the versatility of fish, coastal New England’s most significant harvest.
Harvestfest features plenty of live bluegrass, jazz, folk, indie rock, cooking demos, a farm expo, and plenty of activities for families.
Pick #2: Grand Prix of Gloucester
CRAFT SPORTSWEAR Gran Prix of Gloucester | 14 & 15 Oct 2017
Rounds 1 and 2 of the Vittoria Northeast Cyclocross Series presented by Cycle-Smart“Gloucester is a special race for me. It’s a true New England classic: the big, rowdy crowds always show up, the course is dynamic and challenging, and all the top riders line up. Historic, classic, and epic” – Jeremy Powers US National Cyclocross Champion“There is something about that place. It’s got a soul. I’ve been everywhere in the world that cyclocross races, and little comes close to the aesthetic drama of Gloucester.”
– Christopher Zigmont, cycling industry representative (Boston Globe)“The incredibly well-organized event and huge, energetic crowds of racers and fans make Gloucester an amazing weekend of racing. It’s no surprise that it’s called ‘The New England World Championships.'” – Maureen Bruno Roy, Bob’s Red Mill-Seven Cycles
Read Posts from year’s past by GMG contributors at these links
https://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2016/10/17/grand-prix-gloucester/
https://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2016/10/15/video-2016-gloucester-grand-prix/
As always, for a comprehensive list of family activities, visit our friends at North Shore Kid
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Some Fair Fun
We couldn’t squeeze in a trip to the Topsfield Fair until the very last day…and in the rain at that…but, we still had a really great time!
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
For the Birds
Kind of fascinating when you stop and really appreciate them…
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Forced Family Freaking Fall Fun
I jest. Really. But still, there are definitely some must dos this time of year….and I have wicked parent guilt if we don’t squeeze them in. Silly as it is.
I know that I’m supposed to be doing a “Nichole’s Picks” post, but honestly this is a tricky time of year to get creative. If we’re keeping track, these are my picks…and the fall must dos.
- Topsfield Fair
- Awesome Autumn Fun at one of the MANY fantastic farms/orchards near us
- Salem….. get your Halloween freak on for sure.
We do the Topsfield Fair every year, for sure. That’s 1 point for Team Schrafft.
Contrary to that, every year I say we’re going to go enjoy some Halloween fun in Salem, but we never do. That’s tie score, Schraffts 1, Fall Forced Fun 1.
Apple picking is the dark horse of our fall fun tour.
I always want to go apple picking….and sometimes the stars (and by stars I mean hockey schedules) align and we get to participate in some Forced Fall Family Freaking Farm Fun. But lately, we’ve been letting the season get by us without nearly as much farm fun as normal! This year I won’t have it.
My favorite farm is Applecrest up in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. I’d really love to know….what is yours?
Read all about Applecrest HERE
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
GoSun Stove
Anyone out there ever use this? I’m intrigued…especially for fish on the boat.
GoSun is a young company comprised of designers, engineers, and change-makers, intent on serving the world with unparalleled green cooking solutions. We are passionate about our products and how they power our customers’ lives. Founded in a small suburban garage, we grew quickly thank’s to our community of committed customers, who not only believe in our products, but also use them to bring people together.
At GoSun, we are big believers in nourishing the good things in life and helping others do the same.
GoSun Sport
Our fastest solar oven. Bake, roast or steam a meal for two people in minutes, reaching up to 550°F (290°C). GoSun Sport sets the bar for portable solar stoves.
Bake, boil or fry a meal for eight people, (4x more food than the speedier GoSun Sport) using only the sun. Due to unprecedented demand, the Grill will be on back order, shipping in October/November 2017.
Click HERE for GoSun Stove Website
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Clean Sheets
I’ve come to love and appreciate clean sheets of ice as much as my boys.
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
That Ship Has Sailed
That ship has sailed….well, actually, The Ship has sailed.
I’m not sure how I missed this fact until just last weekend, because I’m fairly certain I’ve been by since its demolition, but regardless…it is gone.
What’s next? Hilltop or the Orange Dinosaur Mini Golf….oh, wait.
Local fun fact: I read last night that the ship was actually built by a retired Gloucester sea captain named James F. Wilkinson….back in 1925.
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
All Growed Up
Remember these six little cygnets? Well, they’re getting all grown up and are doing well…except there seem to only be five now. Super cute.
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Local Teacher and Students Celebrate Play Publication
I am very proud and excited that a play written by our Director of Performing Arts, Katie Oberlander, and performed by our students at the 2016 Massachusetts Middle School Theatre Festival, where they won a gold medal, has been published by Eldridge Publishing and will performed by two other schools, located in Texas and Indiana, in the next few months.
I’m also looking forward to celebrating with Katie and the cast/crew of Mastermime in a few weeks. See information below.
LOCAL TEACHER AND STUDENTS CELEBRATE PLAY PUBLICATION
Harborlight Montessori’s Director of Performing Arts, Katie Oberlander, and her former middle school students are celebrating the publication of Oberlander’s play, Mastermime, with a party at the Beverly school on Tuesday, October 24 at 6:00pm. Students are planning to sign scripts, greet fans and reminiscence about the creation of the original play.
Mastermime is an over-the-top melodrama that tells the story of a notorious criminal who distracts audiences with entrancing mime routines and then disappears with their valuables. The mystery unfolds, punctuated with theatrical cell phone ringtones, love-at-first sight encounters, and a dramatic mime battle! Oberlander wrote the play for her students to perform at the 2016 Massachusetts Middle School Theatre Festival where they won a gold medal for their performance. Eldridge Publishing, a leading play publisher based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, subsequently published the play and schools in Texas and Indiana have upcoming performances planned for November and December.
Harborlight Montessori is a preschool through 8th grade independent school in Beverly, MA, serving communities North of Boston. Mastermime is the second play to be published that teacher Katie Oberlander originally wrote for Harborlight students to perform. Oberlander works closely with her students to create plays that are fun for them to perform and specifically catered to their talents. For more information, please contact Director of Communication Nichole Schrafft at nschrafft@harborlight.net.
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Nichole’s Picks 9/30 + 10/1
Pick #1: Salem Food Truck Festival
The Salem Food Truck Festival is a two-day event being hosted in the Salem Common in historic downtown Salem, MA. The event will feature 40 food trucks, live music, and family fun. Save the date and save your appetites for one of the area’s biggest food truck events!
Check out their website HERE to learn more
Pick #2: Topsfield Fair
Amusement rides, food and beverages galore, agriculture, livestock, vendors, educational experiences, live music, and much..much more. While the Topsfield Fair may not be everyone’s cup of tea I’ve gone nearly every year of my life and always enjoy it! Except that one time a few years back when it poured the whole time, the rides were closed, and the boys convinced us to bring home a new pet rabbit.
READ ALL ABOUT THE TOPSFIELD FAIR, PURCHASE TICKETS, FIND MAP + SCHEDULE HERE
Pick #3: Chinatown Lantern Festival
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION
As always, for a comprehensive list of family activities, please visit our friends at North Shore Kid
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Maybe Not Your Typical Girls’ Weekend….
I was super lucky to be able to sneak away from home/work with two pretty excellent peeps for a girls’ weekend away. “Spa?” you may ask. “Shopping?” “Beachfront vacation with a good book?” “Wine Country?” Nope. Nope. Nope….and Nope. Three days in Kentucky at the Bourbon and Beyond Festival….that’s right.
We knocked off a a trip to Churchill Downs from the Bucket List by sneaking in just in time for the last race of the day. Placed a bet, won a bet, had a drink, met a jockey, and looked around the grounds. We went to the Louisville Slugger Museum and ordered some fun things for our boys. We had several phenomenal meals, stepped up our drinking game, met our fair share of Uber drivers, stalked Top Chef’s Tom Colicchio and gave him a good laugh, and heard some really, really great music. Highlights of the weekend’s music were Eddie Vedder, Stevie Nicks, Steve Miller, G Love and Special Sauce, Buddy Guy, Amos Lee, Band of Horses, Keifer Sutherland, and Steel Wheels….but there were many other artists on the bill as well.
Vendors, tons of food, so many drink options, live music on four different stages, corn hole, demonstrations, and lots and lots of laughs. The Bourbon & Beyond Festival was no joke. Huge kudos to the organizers of this phenomenal event for not missing a beat. I was so impressed by the venue, the layout, the conveniences, the cleanliness, the efficiency, the talent, and the fun!
While it may not have looked like your typical girls’ weekend away….I wouldn’t have traded a second of it. Thankful for the opportunity. Thankful for friends. Thankful for a husband and kids that held down the fort at home and let me get away. Thankful for some pretty great memories.
READ ALL ABOUT THE BOURBON & BEYOND FESTIVAL HERE
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Don’t Sit Down
I snapped this photo in downtown Louisville the other day. Couldn’t help but giggle at the three tiny pink penguins that looked like they’re about to peck at the massive golden statue’s behind. A funky juxtaposition of art…..oddly enough just a few doors down from the Louisville Slugger Museum.
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Feels Kind of Like the Jetsons Cartoon
Just stepped off of our super early flight out of Kentucky and landed in Newark hungry and in desperate need of coffee.
We have a three hour lay over and a little work to do so we saddled up at a breakfast counter with work space and put in our virtual order. Super easy and convenient…but felt a little weird about the total lack of interaction. Good news is you don’t need to tip the iPAd.
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Harborlight Helps Sing Peace Around the World
If you follow any of what I write here on Good Morning Gloucester you’ll know that every once in a while I take advantage of the opportunity to sing from the mountaintops about how much I love the school where I am fortunate to work….and where the boys have attended since 5 months old.
Well, this time I’m singing praises about singing….singing for peace.
Harborlight Montessori was thrilled to light a candle for peace at 9:30 in the morning on International Peace Day, along with Montessori schools across our country, to help Sing Peace Around the World. By joining our voices with those from schools all over the United States we helped carry the music and message of peace off our shores and across the Atlantic Ocean where schools in Africa and Europe then took over. Peace was ultimately sung all across the world. May those sentiments continue on in the hearts of all.
Read more about the Sing Peace Around the World initiative HERE
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Nichole’s Picks 7/23 + 7/24
My picks for this weekend are all of the great activities that make up the Essex National Heritage Area’s Trails and Sails weekend.
Explore Essex County’s historic, cultural and natural sites during two weekends of 150+ FREE events during Trails & Sails: Two Weekends of Walks and Water, September 15-17 & 22-24, 2017!
Enjoy a variety of guided walks, paddles, historical tours and other adventures for all ages, skill levels and interests, that will connect you to the spectacular places, history and heritage that define the Essex National Heritage Area—the 34 cities and towns of Boston’s legendary North Shore. It’s all FREE and it’s all located within the 34 cities and towns of Essex County including the communities of Salem, Gloucester, Newburyport, Lawrence, Saugus and more.
Head here to read more and register to build your own itinerary
Here are just some examples of the types of activities that can be enjoyed in our area
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Stick Bug!
I was greeted at the back door by this fascinating critter the other day. So cool to look at up close! It stuck around for a couple of hours before disappearing somewhere in the yard….safely away from the footsteps of the two boys and dogs…I hope.
Spread The GMG Love By Sharing With These Buttons:
Who Else Looks for These Turkeys Every Day?
At first there was just one….at some point there were obviously two….so now there are three. Three turkeys living in the center of the Blackburn Circle.
It used to make me so sad to see the female turkey walking around day after day in the brown desolate grass in the center of the busy rotary. I assumed she was injured….and for a while she went unseen during my commutes back and forth to Beverly.
Then, low and behold, I saw her again….and this time she was followed closely by a couple of poults. Cute little baby turkeys.
So now, it would seem, all three of them live at Blackburn Circle. Do they stay there all day and night? What an odd place to decide to live.
