A Morning at the Buttonwood Zoo (New Bedford, MA)

May 232013
 

Where we live there are several small zoos, and the gruesome twosome and I are frequent visitors.   We have a membership to one and with our membership, we get into the other one (in Attleboro, MA) for free – so when the nice weather hits, we make the rounds.  The Buttonwood Zoo in New Bedford is awesome.  Like I said, it’s small, so you can blow through it in about an hour – or make the day out of it if you want to pack a picnic lunch and participate in some of the activities they have going on throughout the day.

Chris and I took the boys for the first time this spring a couple of weeks ago and they were psyched to get back there.

Our first stop is almost always the bears.

buttonwood-zoo-new-bedford-ma-bears

And then we head to the elephants. Continue reading »

A Walk in the Park

May 192013
 

When the weather gets nice around here, my family are regulars at our local state park:  Massasoit State Park in Taunton, MA.  We all love to hike the wooded trails and go exploring.  It’s finally started to warm up enough that we can make it to the park on the weekends and we went for the first time this year about two weeks ago.

walk-in-the-woods-massasoit-state-park-taunton-MA-1

walk-in-the-woods-massasoit-state-park-taunton-MA-2 Continue reading »

Medieval Manor

Dec 132011
 

I can’t believe that I’ve lived in this area for my entire life, but just went to the Medieval Manor in Boston for the first time this past weekend. It’s an interactive dinner and show set in the dark ages and it was a fricken blast. Throughout the night we were entertained by the King, the Minstrel, the Jester, an Oaf and a few Wenches who all put on quite a show filled with jokes and music. All of the performers (minus the king) were also the servers, so they had double duty. But since we were doing things dark ages style, meaning we had to eat all our food with our hands, the performers were able to just drop our food and go. I guess they didn’t have forks back then.

Continue reading »

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire….Or Something Like That.

Dec 052011
 

Have you actually tried a chestnut that was roasted over an open fire?  I did – and after I gagged over it for about 30 seconds or so, I spit it out.  It was so bad that I couldn’t even bring myself to swallow it.  And trust me, I’ve swallowed plenty of foul things over the course of my life.  I can’t put my finger on whether it was the taste or the texture that grossed me out more and since my husbands experience with one wasn’t much better, I know it wasn’t just me.

Wondering why I was even eating a roasted chestnut?  You know you are. 

Continue reading »

Day in Salem – Part Two

Oct 122011
 

Were you up all night anxiously awaiting for me to post what we did during the second half of our day in Salem?  Well, the wait is over….oh, and if you missed what we did during the first half of the day, you can read all about it here.

After we had our cards read, we decided that we were tired.  It was pretty warm that day (in the 80′s, which is unseasonably warm around these parts) and we had been walking for about six hours at that point (minus a few breaks), so we decided to get tickets for the Salem trolley tour.  Here we are on the trolley:

Continue reading »

Our Day in Salem, MA

Oct 112011
 

In case you missed all the buzz yesterday, it was my husband Chris’s and my first anniversary.  As promised, here’s the recap of our anniversary weekend in Salem.  I should probably say our day in Salem because we actually stayed at a bed & breakfast in the town next door to Salem, Marblehead.   Whenever we go away, we usually opt to stay at a bed & breakfast because they’re more cozy and this one in Marblehead was interesting to say the least, but that is a story for another day.

We started the day nice and early and out first stop was Salem Vintage photography.  It’s one of those places in which you can get your pictures taken in a period costume and then pay an arm & a leg for them.  This place offered halloween (witches & warlocks), pirates and pilgrim-ish style costumes.  After picking out our costumes, the photographer took about 100 pictures of us in them and here are a few of them:

Continue reading »

Life is good Festival

Sep 272011
 

This past Sunday I attended the Life is good Festival with my family and we had such a good time.  The Life is good Festival is a fundraising event that took place this past weekend (September 24th & 25th) at Prowse Farm in Canton, MA.  The festival was a two-day celebration of music and optimism, featuring three stages of nationally known musical talent, hands-on games, interactive arts activities, and the “Good Kids” zone — home to the top acts in kids entertainment. 100% of Life is good’s profits from the Festival will go towards The Life is good Playmakers, helping kids overcome life-threatening challenges such as violence, illness and extreme poverty.

Continue reading »

Ghost Tour of Newport, RI

Sep 092011
 

After the lack of, well, anything paranormal during our tour of the Lizzie Borden House on Sunday, I somehow managed to talk my poor scaredy cat husband into going on a local ghost tour. I love ghost tours because they’re a combination of history and paranormal and he loves….um, well, nothing about them.  He loves history – just not when ghosts are involved.  But despite the fact he is scared to death that he didn’t really want to go, he said yes when I asked him to go.  So, I just left it at that.  Usually I have to drag him, literally, to that sort of stuff.

We debated which tour to go on, but ultimately decided on Newport.  The last time we went on the Newport tour was almost two years ago, which you can read all about here if you like.

Continue reading »

The Lizzie Borden House – Fall River, MA

Sep 062011
 

Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks.  And when she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one.

I have such vivid memories of  jumping rope while singing that song when I was a little girl.  But I digress….

We’ve all heard of Lizzie Borden, right?  She was accused of hacking her father and step-mother to death with an axe, but was acquitted.  No one else was ever arrested or tried for the murders and it remains an unsolved mystery to this day.  Wikipedia has a pretty decent recount of the story if you’re interested in the gory details.

Continue reading »

The Life is Good Festival is Coming to Canton, MA September 24th and 25th!

Aug 282011
 

 

The Life is good Festival is a one-of-a-kind fundraiser event taking place the weekend of September 24th & 25th at Prowse Farm in Canton, MA. The festival is a two-day celebration of music and optimism, featuring three stages of nationally known musical talent, hands-on games, interactive arts activities, and the “Good Kids” zone — home to the top acts in kids entertainment. 100% of Life is good’s profits from the Festival will go towards The Life is good Playmakers, helping kids overcome life-threatening challenges such as violence, illness and extreme poverty!

Continue reading »

How to Survive Driving Through a Rotary

Aug 122011
 

Here in Massachusetts, particularly in my neck of the woods (near Cape Cod), we have a lot of rotaries.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a rotary is, let me explain.  It’s a a circular shaped road junction where the traffic moves in one direction around a central island.  I’ve also heard rotaries referred to as traffic circles and roundabouts, but around here, they’re rotaries.  For someone that’s not experienced in driving their way through a rotary, they can be vicious – trust me, I know frirst hand.   I live about 30 seconds from one and drive through it daily.

Continue reading »

Blueberry Picking on the South Shore

Aug 102011
 

Yesterday, I took my boys out for our annual blueberry picking outting.  There’s nothing like fresh blueberries and we picked about five pounds of them.  It’s not as much as it sounds, trust me.  One pound of blueberries equals about three cups and (unwashed) blueberries actually freeze really well, so you can freeze what you’re not going to use right now.

Continue reading »

Breakfast in a Two Story Milk Bottle? Yep.

Aug 032011
 

In the little town of Raynham Massachusetts, there is a restaurant inside of a two story milk bottle.  I grew up in the next town over (Easton) and I remember going there often as a kid and I didn’t think anything off it.  I still don’t.  While my husband and I were having breakfast there last weekend, it occured to me that a gigantic milk bottle is probably a bit unusual….ok, a lot unusual – and I thought it was worth sharing.

Continue reading »

GPS Directions Gone Wrong?

Jul 112011
 

My family and I spent this past weekend up in New Hampshire.  It was my husband’s company outting, so we packed up the kids and headed up north.  We stayed in the North Conway area, which is one of my favorite parts of the state.

On Saturday, we took a drive to Santa’s Village.  It was about 45 minutes from the condo where we were staying and we got there right when the park opened.  We spent the day there & had a blast.  Since Santa’s Village is in the middle of nowhere is located deep in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the GPS was having a bit of an issue finding a satellite signal on our return trip.  I was driving and Chris was in the passenger seat working on the GPS.   We ended up driving past the turn that got us there that morning because honestly, I just couldn’t remember if it was the correct turn (and Chris isn’t much help when it comes to directions), so we ended up taking a different route home than the one that got us there that morning.

Continue reading »

Bark About Books Kickoff Featuring Martha Speaks (Tadpole Playground, Boston) – Event Recap

Jul 102011
 

This past week my kids and I were able to attend the kickoff event for the Bark About Books initiative at the Tadpole Playground, located in the Boston Common.   

The Bark About Books initiative is a WGBH/ReadBoston/WGBY partnership to provide readers in Boston and Springfield with access to high quality children’s books, coupled with activities and reading incentives. Over the summer, the Bark About Books! Massachusetts Summer Reading Initiative will distribute more than 5,000 books to children in Boston and Springfield communities. The goal is to promote early literacy, address the decline in reading ability over summer vacation, and engage families in their child’s learning. Visit ReadBoston to learn how to help going forward.

Continue reading »

A Day Out With Thomas – Conway Scenic Railroad (North Conway, NH)

Jul 102011
 

Last Friday, my family and I had a chance to spend A Day Out With Thomas at the Conway Scenic Railroad in North Conway, NH.  My boys are big Thomas fans, so on our ride up, they were so excited that we were going to actually get to ride Thomas!

North Conway is about a three hour drive from my home on the South Shore of Massachusetts, and since our tickets were for an 11:30 train ride, we set out from home around 7 am.  We wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to get up there, find parking and get to the railroad.  We actually had a weekend in N. Conway booked prior to receiving the tickets to the Day Out With Thomas, so the timing of this was the perfect way to start our weekend.

Continue reading »

Our Outting at Claychick Pottery Workshop – Plymouth, MA

Jun 302011
 

When I woke up yesterday morning, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do with the boys all day.  It was hot & humid and I didn’t really feel up to a long daytrip.  After thinking for a little while, I remembered someone on Facebook telling me about this place in Plymouth called Claychick, where kids (and adults) can go and paint pottery.  I checked out their website and decided to give it a go – especially since it’s only about 15 minutes from my house.

We got there and were met by Chickie, the owner, who was very helpful and explained to the kids how everything worked – right down to how the paint will look after she fires the pottery in the kiln (ie – how it will be glossy when it’s done, but it doesn’t look like that when it first goes on).    Once we were ready to get started, each of my boys took forever to choose what they wanted to paint picked out a piece of pottery to paint and got to work picking out colors.

Continue reading »

 Older Entries