Appleton Farms.

Photo credit: Angela Graziano

Photo credit: Angela Graziano

Posted by: Alex. Yesterday I took a trip with my class to Appleton Farms. We took a big long bus to get there. It was fun even though it was kind of cold and rained on us a little, too. We are learning about soil in Mrs. Graziano's class, so we looked for bugs in the soil. We got a little box to look through and I found a spider. Then I put the bug in the box, but then I let it crawl back out. 

We ate lunch in the barn. Mommy packed me a sandwich, crackers and a banana. There were horse stalls in the barn, but they did not have real horses in them. I saw baby cows, mom cows and a bull. One of the baby cows was named Peaches and the other was named Emily. I got to see chickens too. After lunch we had recess in one of the fields, except it had walls around it so it wasn't that big. I played tag with my friends. 

I saw a lot of vegetables that they were selling at the farm and also got to see a big compost pile. The pile was smoking because the dirt is hot and it was cold outside. I had a really fun time. 

Photo credit: Angela Graziano

Birthday Girl!

Posted by: Sherry

Our girl turned 3 today. This is the first birthday we've celebrated since moving away from our hometown, and it definitely felt a little different. Had we still been in Pennsylvania, we'd probably be throwing an awesome little party tomorrow and celebrating with our family and friends. They all did a great job, though, of making Lizze feel loved from so far away. After bugging me for cake for breakfast (the girl loves her sweets!), she got to sit down and open the presents her Grandmom & Pop-Pop and Mom-Mom, Pop-Pop Paul & Aunt Amber had sent. She tore into them with squeals and giggles and finished just in time for Mom-Mom to call first thing in the morning to offer up some birthday love. Watching her on the phone with my mom was the most precious and entertaining thing. She already has the girlish hand gestures down pat and I can only picture her ten years from now chatting away with her girlfriends about world affairs clothing and boy bands. She spent most of the day riding up and down the sidewalk on her new bike and dragging her beloved stuffed animal Monkey along for the ride. That poor Monkey has been through everything with her! She could not wait for her daddy and brothers to get home so she could have her cake. I tried convincing her that maybe we should put a candle in an apple instead, but she was having none of it. Our family tradition is that the birthday boy or girl gets to pick the dinner for the day, so we had one of Lizze's favorites: "sketti." She's like her mama, could eat pasta all day. Hopefully she burns her carbs better than me, though :) After dinner, it was finally time to light the candles! I made her a butter cake with chocolate icing and it was delicious! I tried my hand at a homemade pennant banner that spelled out her name for the cake decoration. I saw it on Pinterest and thought it was adorable, and it turned out to be super simple too. Just as we were finishing up with the cake, Grandmom and Pop-Pop called and sang "Happy Birthday" to her on the speaker phone. I wish I could have taken a picture of her face while they were singing, her smile stretched from ear to ear and her eyes were filled with amazement. Later she asked me why she couldn't see Grandmom & Pop-Pop. It's hard to explain to a 3 year old the concept of distance but one day she'll understand. I hope her day was as special as she'd hoped it to be and I can not wait to see what milestones she reaches in the coming year and how her personality continues to develop. Tomorrow we are all going to a carnival in Salem to continue celebrating since today was a school/workday and we couldn't do anything really special. The kids are looking forward to the rides, I'm looking forward to the fried dough :)

Witches, Halloween, and Ice Skating!

By Stephen Jr:

I really like my new school. My teacher’s name is Mrs. Shevory. Right now we are learning about space in science and are reading “The Witches” by Roald Dahl. I really enjoy that book because it is interesting to me and it’s about witches. My best friend in school is named Ethan, he is really smart. My other best friend is Gianni because we both like the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books. The other night we saw the Salem Halloween Parade. I had a great time, the most fun I ever had. We saw The Ghostbusters, a Haunted House float, and I got a lot of candy. I am really liking living here because there are a lot of kids on my street that I can go outside and play with and ride our bikes. I also like all of the Halloween stuff in Salem, I want to go to a Haunted House soon. I started playing violin at school and I like it except that I can’t use the bow yet because we haven’t been taught. Right now we are learning to pluck the strings with our fingers. I know how to read the music notes in the book now. It’s starting to get cold out and there are a lot of leaves falling on the ground in our yard. Mommy says we can rake them up one weekend and we’ll jump in the pile. I can’t wait until it snows because my friends up the street make an ice rink in their yard and have extra ice skates I can borrow. I have never gone ice skating before so I can’t wait to do that. 

Sailboats, Soccer, and Fenway Park!

By Alex:

Hi everyone! On Saturday we got to tour a big ship called The Peacemaker. It sailed here from Georgia and is right near The Friendship in Salem. I got to go to the very top and it was so cool. I go to the ocean a lot and I like it so much. I find a lot of animals under rocks there. We saw a big clam. I got a lot of candy at the parade in Salem and we got to go trick-or-treating already with the mayor. We will go again on Halloween and there will be fireworks. I like fireworks but Bubby doesn’t. I started playing soccer with the Marblehead team and I love it! I kicked a goal 6 times and am learning a lot of new things from my coaches. My coach is a professional soccer player and he is really good. At school I made a cool ship with the legos. We are learning about soil in science and we are going to Appleton Farms on Friday for a field trip. We are also learning about maps in school and I made a map of my room. I read a bunch of Magic Treehouse books, they are my favorite. My best friends in school are Jack and Clark. They play superheroes with me at recess. Jack is Mario and I am a power ranger. Whatever color shirt I have on that day is what color ranger I am. I have so many friends here, I am friends with everyone. 

Pop-Pop and Donnie came up to visit and I was glad because I missed them. We got to go to Fenway. It rained but I had so much fun even though the Red Sox lost. It poured on us and we went into the bathroom for safety. I danced too. I saw some guys twirling around and dancing on their heads when we were in Boston. Mommy says it’s called break-dancing. I want to do that when I am older. I love Boston more than Marblehead and I want to live there when I am older. 

Trick or Treat?

Posted by: Sherry

The leaves are turning crimson and orange, the air is getting chillier, the whole town smells like wet leaves from the four straight days of rain we’ve had, and the Halloween season has officially kicked off in Salem. I have always loved October, but October in Salem is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Halloween is not just one day, no way…here in Salem it’s an entire month long! I walked through town on the 1st of the month and people were out (some in costume) decorating their homes with orange lights, putting fake boards over their windows, hanging home-made ghosts, and setting up be-headed scarecrows on their porches. Downtown is filled with cornstalks, mums, and pumpkins that offer an abundance of rich colors and autumn rusticity while complimenting the old cobblestone pathways and early Federal-style homes.

Last night was the Grand Halloween Parade, which marks the kick-off the Halloween festivities here in Salem. The kids had so much fun and went to bed with candy-filled bellies and happy hearts. We saw everything from witches on segways to the Ghostbusters crew and tons of pirates, including Jack Sparrow! We met up with one of Stephen’s students and her dad who showed us the best spot to watch from. She was so excited to be the first in Mr. Croft’s class to meet his whole family. We ended the night dancing in the Common with hundreds of other people who came out to help get Halloween in Salem started. Stephen’s student told the boys that “the witch city is the best place on Earth to be a kid.” I think it’s the best place on Earth to be an adult, too :)

Tonight the kids are going trick-or-treating with Mayor Driscoll along Essex Street and tomorrow we have a jam-packed day. The kids will be attending Professor Wunders’ School of Magic at The Witches Cottage. Then there is the Biz Baz Street Fair where there will be street performers, live music and tons of unique vendors. We’ll head over to the Common for some good old fashioned family fun: face painting, rides, more street performers! The kids will get to make a wand with a real Salem witch and then we’ll watch the hundreds of zombies walk through town during the Annual Zombie Walk! We’ll end the day back in the Common and watch Hocus Pocus beneath the stars with blankets and snacks. Hocus Pocus is my favorite Halloween movie and it will be so awesome to watch it right in the Common, where parts of the movie were filmed and around all of the other sites that were also featured in the movie. 

We have so much planned for the rest of the month, too. Everything from a haunted harbor cruise to evening ghost walks, a Witches Ball and a flash mob dance to Lady Gaga’s “Born this Way”. But most of all, I absolutely can not wait until Halloween night. There are ghost stories and witches circles, candlelit walks through the century-old cemeteries, hundred of kids skipping around in their costumes basking in the mystery and thrill of the night. And it all ends with fireworks over the North River, marking the end of Halloween in Salem and leaving everyone waiting for next year when we can do it all again.