Clam Bake 2010

LOBSTER  volleyball  homemade ice-cream

beautiful blue sky with enough wind for kite flying 


beach fun  catching up with old friends...

What a great clambake!   We are so grateful that the Arlington Ward opens up this classic New England tradition to "ward alumni" so we can continue to build on the great clambake memories we've had over the past 13 years.  2010's was hands down one of the very best AW clambakes.  This year we caravanned to Crane Beach with our friends and fellow AW alumni, the Balmforths.  Between Allison, EP, and I, we've got some great fun documented....

Grace & Allison

Wayne and AWESOME Ellen.  She's my hero.

Wayne joined a group who biked from Arlington to Ipswich (and he biked to Arlington to make is ride 80 miles), and was pleasantly surprised to ride with an old friend from his childhood years in So Cal- Patrick... 

Watch our family photo come together.

We'll start with the cuddle bugs....

Add an obligated teen, a goofball, and a dad who's going to make this happen...

And VOILA, the perfectly imperfect miracle  happens....

(PS...Notice the difference the lighting makes at the beach.  The photos at the beginning of this post were taken early on, around noon, and this family photo was taken around 5:30pm....much softer natural light)

Part 2 of the clambake this year was a stop at Russell's Orchard just outside of Crane Beach.  The fresh donuts were melt in our mouth delish. It really was sensory overload from the minute we got out of the car...the smell of the donuts, cider, the potted flowers for sale at the entrance, candy, caramel, apples, pumpkins, corn maze, the cute mini felt pendants strung from the ceiling, etc.  It was a New England version of Willy Wonka's place.  We had so much fun at the beach we didn't get to Russell's until just before closing.  We'll have to get there earlier next year so we can really explore Russell's Orchard.

As if that wasn't enough, we stopped by this landmark on the drive home.  The first 3 meeting houses of the area once stood on this common space in Topsfield.  Joseph Smith I was baptized at one of these Congregational churches.  The Smith family were prominent members of the  Topsfield community.

We got home after 8pm exhausted after

one of the best days we've had in New England!