This summer has been jammed packed with back to back plans each weekend. No wonder I feel like summer is the shortest season out there. Two weekends ago, we were invited by some friends to watch a movie under the stars at the Star Drive-In located in Taunton, MA.
The Star Drive-In has been in business for over 50 years. It is a small establishment with a walk-up service. Outside are picnic tables for you to sit and enjoy your meal. I was surprised at the size of the menu. It had everything from juicy burgers, fresh-made pizza, salads, seafood, and more. Plus, it serves both hard and soft-serve ice cream available in 100 flavors. I had a Greek salad with grilled chicken, my husband and two boys had pizza, while my friends had fisherman’s platters. The fisherman’s platters were huge. The food was excellent. A little later on in the night, we treated ourselves to ice cream. There is nothing like ice cream on a summer night.
After we ate, we unloaded our beach chairs and headed over to the grassy area to claim our spot for the movie. There are weekly bike nights, Jeep shows, holiday events throughout the year, and starting in the Spring, movie nights every Saturday night. This week’s movie was an oldy but goody, The Outsiders.
Both kids had to read The Outsiders for summer reading one year, so I thought they would enjoy the movie as well. Except for the beetles buzzing around, it was a great night.
For part two of the weekend, we headed up to the north shore of Massachusetts. My sister and her family live up that way. We spent the day hanging with her on the beach in Marblehead, MA. Marblehead is a beautiful coastal town, home to Marblehead Light, Fort Sewall and referred to as the birthplace of the United States Navy.
Our first stop of the day was to Devereux Beach for some fun in the sand, surf, and sun. This beach is small compared to some of the other beaches we have been too, but it is clean, has a great snack shack, playground and an area where they have entertainment on certain nights. The beach has small waves, which makes it ideal for kids. The water… well let’s say it is a little too cold for me.
The weather was extremely hot, and even on the beach, there wasn’t much of a breeze. We only stayed a couple of hours, as the sun was a bit much. Plus, we were all getting hungry and wanted something more than snack shack food. Being that we were on the coast, we knew there would be some great restaurants to be had. We found ourselves in Marblehead center at a restaurant called The Landing.
The Landing Pub is located right on the water. On the weekends it serves brunch until 2:00 pm, plus their regular lunch and dinner menu. One of the best things about living in New England is our seafood. It never disappoints. As I looked at the menu, lobster mac and cheese caught my eye. It looked too good to pass up.
The pieces of lobster were huge. I could eat only half of it. The rest I took home. The mimosas were good too.
Over the last couple of years, Massachusetts has become a hotbed for filmmakers. Several movies have been filmed here, and this summer is no exception. Adam Sandler is in town filming a Halloween movie for NetFlix. The whole downtown area was decorated for Halloween. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, second only to Christmas. I felt like I was in a Hallmark movie.
Doesn’t this look fun? Too bad we didn’t see Adam.
A summer day would not be complete without ice cream. We drove back to my sister’s house in Wakefield and stopped at Cravings. Cravings is a local ice cream shop made to look like an old fashion soda shop from the 1920s. It has fresh homemade ice cream, coffee, and confections. There are 36 flavors that rotate depending on the season. They have custom-blended soft serve flavors as well. Each flavor is blended with cookies, candy, nuts, or fruit. I had Cappucino Chip. It was delicious.
Weekends like this remind me how lucky we are to live where we live. There is never a shortage of things to do, places to eat, and things to see. It is just too bad summer isn’t a little bit longer.
For those of you following along, I have been sharing stories of my Mom all month long. It is my way of coping with what was to come… the 5th year anniversary of her death. Today, we gathered as a family, celebrated and remembered her. We usually get together for lunch or dinner, but this year we decided to take a ride to one of her favorite places, the beach!
My Dad, sisters, nephew, my boys and I took a ride down to the West Dennis, MA. As a kid, we use to rent a house there in the summer time. My Dad and sisters still make it part of their summer vacations. Like Mom, we all love the beach. There is something about the ocean that instantly makes us feel better. It is good for the soul. As my boys ran around with a football, I snapped some photos of my nephew and then had a bit of quiet time to reflect. There is so much that has happened over the last 5 years. There have been many milestones. There have been happy times and sad times, all of which have happened without her by our side. One thing is for certain, we as a family have become closer.
These are my people. These are the people that I love fiercely. These are the people, even when we don’t agree or see eye to eye, have my back. If any good came of her death, it was the bond that I have with my family.
Losing a parent is downright awful. Losing a parent in a matter of weeks after learning of a diagnosis was unbearable. I never knew such pain and unless one has gone through it, there is no way one can understand. I am just glad to have made it through another year.
