See ya Spectacle!

 For one last time, Hello Boston!

Max giving a final crab talk

Jaiden teaching proper fishing technique

It is with a heavy heart that I write about my last week on Spectacle Island! Thursday we made one final trip out to the island for the summer. Max and I orchestrated fishing and welcomed families that were joining us for the day. We met so many lovely people who were extremely grateful for the opportunity to fish and try things they had never done before. In true Spectacle Island fashion, we caught a good amount of crabs. One luck boy caught 3 in a row! The kids and adults had a fantastic time hanging out on the pier with us, playing with crabs, and perfecting their side casts. Once fishing came to an end, we took one last plunge into the cold water. Even though the water seemed colder than usual, we welcomed the chill and appreciated our final swim all together.

Qalid and Vince at the Dorchester Beach Festival

This Saturday was also my last event through Save The Harbor/Save the Bay. I attended the Dorchester Beach Festival to complete one more round of fish printing. We set up next to a shark sand sculpture and greeted children as they arrived with their families. Although we faced a few reluctant people, we talked everyone who passed us into printing a fish. We had some pretty creative outcomes including polka dots and rainbow fish.

This summer has been an incredible one to say the least. I have learned so much about Boston and the harbor, I have tried new things almost daily, and I have met some very wonderful people. Save the Harbor/Save the Bay is an amazing program and I am grateful to have been a part of it. 

A great summer team!

I will be on George's Island for the last week of the summer so stop on by!

I really do hope I sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker

Final Days

Hey everyone,

       On Friday was the last day of programming for Save the Harbor and I worked at Atlantic Wharf for the first time which was different. It didn't hit me until the end of the event that it was the last day which brought this light weight into my heart. I grew a bond with everyone and I left with a family.

the Family at Atlantic Wharf.

      I was always afraid to open up to the staff for some odd reason but I conquered that fear and had the best summer ever. I laughed throughout the summer and made memories that I will always remember. 

      At Atlantic Wharf we had two YMCA groups and they were honestly so funny. I was with Ana in the mural section which was peaceful and the kids loved it. I was trying to teach my friend Jamin how to hold a crab and she was not having it. Im glad I helped her face her fear which is what summer with Save the Harbor is all about.

Until next time,

Nieomi Colon

Thank You For an Awesome Summer

Our flower paintings!

Holding crabs at atlantic!

Hi everyone! So yesterday was officially the last day of programming at the children's museum for this summer and it was a pretty smooth day. There was a good number of kids who came to us for fishing and although we didn't catch any fish on the rods, we caught two cunner fish in our crab traps. Many of the kids that had been visiting us throughout the whole summer came yesterday too and even one of the little girls named Anna who had been drawing mermaids all summer long and told us she was one herself, came to say goodbye. These past two weeks at children have been awesome and I met a lot of great kids that have definitely made this summer memorable.

Aside from the last great moments at children's yesterday, today I also got to work for the first time at Atlantic Wharf. I had never been at this site before and I can truly say that it was a really awesome way to end the summer. There was a band playing, face painting, we had fish printing and crab tanks, and there were many other small stations for the kids to come and visit! Not only did I get to help some kids make their very first fish print, but I also got to visit the face painting table and I got a beautiful flower painted on my arm.

This summer was truly a memorable one and being at Atlantic Wharf was definitely a great experience to remember. I can't wait to see the great things that next summer holds!
Til next time, see you soon
                                            Rusenny

See ya Later, Piers Park

Hello Everyone!

The Campers on the Last Day Chasing One of the Save the Harbor Staff

This summer has gone by so fast for me! It feels like just yesterday I went to Piers Park for the first time and seeing where I was going to be stationed at for most of the summer. Now it's been almost two months after going there for the first time and celebrating the last day of Piers Park Harbor Explorers with an epic snack party. Each week, the camps at Piers Park have a snack party to celebrate an epic week, but since it was the last day of camp for the year, they held a huge snack party for the Harbor Explorers. Almost everyone brought something in for the party. Some people brought in chips and some brought in cookies and drinks.  I even got a cake for the party. We ate everything like we were having a picnic. We let the kids run around, play their games and have as much fun as possible. At one point, they started to chase staff members around the park. It was so great to play with the kids, meet some of the great staff members at Piers Park and become a part of the Piers Park community and I sure hope that I can come back to Piers Park as soon as possible.

Campers Looking at a Skate that was caught in the lobster traps 

Campers Looking at the Eclipse

Outside the Piers Park Tent

Join us on three free trips to Georges Island this week!

As the final days of summer breeze by, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay invites you to celebrate the final week of August with a free trip to Georges Island on Tuesday (8/29), Wednesday (8/30), and Thursday (8/31).

These free trips are open to everyone- individuals, families, groups of friends, or chaperoned youth and teen groups! All you have to do is register for the date of your choice via this reservation form. If you'd like to reserve space on multiple trips, please submit one form for each trip trip.
 
At Georges Island, you can fish with Save the Harbor's staff, enjoy a story or song from Harbor Historian David Coffin, or just relax! 

Maybe you can catch some fish or crabs at the island!

On Tuesday (8/29) and Wednesday (8/30), please arrive at 9:45 AM at the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion at 290 Northern Ave. to begin  your adventure with an interactive presentation about the harbor and the islands. We will then escort the group to the to the World Trade Center to board Bay State Cruise Company's Provincetown II for a 10:30 departure.

On Thursday (8/31), please arrive at the World Trade Center at Bay State Cruise Company's Dock by 9:45 AM for immediate boarding!

A few tips for the trip:

• Snacks are available for purchase at the Georges Island Cafe. You are also welcome to bring your own bagged lunch.
• All Islands in the Park enforce a carry-on, carry-off policy. Please bring a bag for your trash so that you can dispose of it back at the boat!
• Save the Harbor staff will also be running activities including fishing, ball sports, and wrack line walks.
• We welcome everyone, however these trips are geared towards ages 3 and up, so please plan accordingly. 
• Strollers are allowed, but may be unwieldy on the boat and gangway

  

  The island is full of adventure: climb, run, crawl, play, or relax!

You can learn more about the program and find a schedule of trip dates and destinations, on the All Access Boston Harbor's section on our website.

See you on the Harbor!

Old Friends and New Memories

Isaac and Oscar and our crab friend!

   Thursday was an amazing day at Children's Museum. A lot of the friends we'd made throughout the summer came back to visit us during our last week of programming. The highlight of my morning was seeing my Australian friend Isaac running to say hi to me. After some interaction with the crabs and fish we decided to play some new games. Isaac, Oscar and I decided to pretend to be crabs for a while. I taught Isaac how to crab walk and then he became the King Crab and started trying to pinch me and his brother. At one point I had two tiny Australians wrapped around my legs trying to take me down! Oscar eventually realized that he could get water out of the bucket we fill up using the rope. He held onto the end while I filled some water. For some reason this was the best part of his visit. He kept demanding I pull up more water. Once we got half the bucket filled I showed him a very rare fish called the "Hand Fish". Basically, I stuck my hand in the water and started flopping it around and splashing it. He kept telling people he had a fish and when they came over to take a look that's what he did! It was great to see them one last time before summer ended!
   The afternoon was just as exciting. Our friends Bryan and Ryan came back to visit too. Bryan and Ryan are twins who's names are actually Sean and Max but I changed them for some fun. Bryan and Ryan stayed all afternoon and helped me fish and pull up crab traps. They have a particular passion for crab races. They got so many other kids involved, who I also made up names for, that we were racing six crabs at a time. We played some 'basketball", which is just the kickball in the water bucket, with our new friends and we played some freeze tag! We had so much fun this was one of the best days I've had at the museum all summer.

Until Next Summer!
 Sam

An Amazing Day

Wednesday was another busy and fun day at Camp HarborView, we fished, caught crabs and helped the Camp Harbor View with a game they play called "The Amazing Race". The Amazing Race is a massive Camp wide Relay race where campers have to travel to different stations and complete tasks. We were at one of the stations and had two tasks for the campers, one of which was to find a certain location on the massive globe next to us. The other challenge was for all campers to hold hands and make a circle, and to pass a hula hoop through everyone, with out letting go of each other's hands.
 After the amazing race was over we had another group and then fishing club. With the next group we went Asian shore crab hunting and caught plenty, at least 100. The kids were very interested and entertained with the crab hunting and had a lot of fun. During fishing club we weren't able to catch any fish, but we did catch spider and rock crabs.
 Wednesday was my second to last day at Camp Harbor View and it was nice to have such a fun day toward the end of my time at Camp Harbor View.

A picture of the waves crashing against the dock

Enjoying the weather and fishing with our fishing club

Until Next Time, Abel Yohannes

L Street Night

Hello Boston!

Ray, Preston, and Daynaja waiting for kids to arrive

Yesterday, I got to represent Save the Harbor/Save the Bay at the L Street Night event at the Curley Community Center. The L Street Night event was put in place to raise money for a playground that will be built in the area. This event was catered to families and children, which made it a perfect place to fish print! When we arrived, there was a band playing and fresh popcorn being popped for all of the guests. Our table was located in the sand so we slipped off our shoes and began to set up.

The sun sunk lower in the sky as families began to arrive. As our table was in the middle of the event, it was hard to miss. Soon enough, we had children running up to our table to learn more about fish printing. Younger siblings would make a print and then dart around to collect their older siblings to make one as well. A few kids were too excited to just stop at one fish print. Because we had a flounder and a fake flounder, we had quite a few kids who chose to do one of each. I don't think I will ever get over the shock in people's faces when they see that we have a real fish on the table.

Hanging the fish prints out to dry

 Many adults at the event were very interested in learning more about Save the Harbor/Save the Bay and all the work that we do for the community. I invited them all to join us for our free days at George's Island next week! I saw one family from the event on Spectacle Island today. This event was a great way for kids to make some amazing art, learn about flounder, and learn more about Save the Harbor/Save the Bay.

Don't forget to sign up for our free days on George's Island!

Sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker

CHV or All Access

On Monday I went to CHV, a site I have been to once before. I went on the boat and the kids on the boat were very energetic and loud, and sounded as if they were ready for the day. We got on the Island and set up for fishing club. As groups went by, one group member caught a skate. I have never seen a skate before, and I was shocked because it kind of looked like a sting ray. Nevertheless, we ate food at CHV, and it was not too bad, but I did think the "eggplant" was a cookie. After fishing club was over, we looked at the eclipse (with glasses), and I played some basketball with Ray. It was a pretty eventful day.

Fishing at CHV

Bye Patrice!

On Wednes-day, it was Patrice's last day of work. She is a soccer captain and fall sports start on Thursday, so she had to go to tryouts. This was a bummer for most people, because Patrice is a favorite for a lot of people. We split the team so we could do sports and soccer. I was at sports playing kickball with the BASE kids, and there were definitely a lot of them, about 17 a team. We lost by one, but the game was very intense. After we swam in the ice cold water, and once we got it out it was time to go. Time flies, it is already the last day of All Access.

Peace out!

Qalid Hassan :)

#tbt

Hey everyone,

   On Sunday was the Seafood Festival and it was so much fun. We had different "booths" in a sense with fish printing, clam painting and fish-prints for sale. I painted 2 child like clams and it was the best.



the clams i painted.

      My buddies Mermaid Man and Plankton drawed a lot of attention by the kids and they received several compliments.

      I also went to the guy who does body spray paint and we had to get  the official tattoos.

my minnie mouse tattoo.

         i had to get my Minnie Mouse and the trademark as he stated. While working for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay you get in touch to your child like memories and self. This year brought me back to last year when Rusenny and I painted Spongebob and Patrick on the clams. I'm glad Save the Harbor gives us the opportunity to enjoy being a kid and help other kids out. I enjoyed the festival and I can't wait until the next one.

Until next time,

Nieomi Colon

making new friends this summer.

Hey everyone,

            Last Friday I went to the Shubert Theatre for a Talent Show hosted by MLK Scholars and it was beautiful. There was many talented young teens all around Boston that honestly surprised me. One that stood out to me was a Spoken Word poet named Tyler. He was perfect in every word he said. He had the confidence, the right audience and the right purpose that gave me the chills when he spoke against racism and inequality.

        That showed me so much and there was many young artists that  I would love to start supporting as of now. They were impressive and I hope they all go very far.

         Later that day I went to Carson Beach for Sand Raking with Andres Amadour and groups from All Access. It went amazing because D and I made two new friends that loved being with us.

my new friends Riley and Kiera.

      It didn't hit me until after that event that summer was almost over and I'd have to say goodbye to all my friends that I'd made this summer. It's probably the worst part of summer when you're so used to the same group of people and not seeing them makes you sad in a sense. I'm going to make the best of it though as we're coming to an end.

Until next time,
Nieomi Colon

Reuniting with Spectacle Island

The big playing field at spectacle!

Today was the first time this summer I got to go to Spectacle island. Last year, I went a couple of times since I was on All Access, but this was my very first time this summer. Coming back to Spectacle was awesome because I remembered a couple of things we learned about the island from last year, so it was a refresher to hear all the things that I had forgotten, like how it was an island built on trash, and about the big bulldozer that sank at the very top of all the trash that used to be there, and so many more other cool things. 

Before we left to get on the boat I remember David telling the kids that whether they had been on the island before or not, to try and do something they've never done before. So I decided to try something new myself. Last year, every time I came to Spectacle I always did fishing and never really bothered to even try sports. So this time, I decided to go for it and play sports with the kids which ended up being way more fun than I imagined. 

We asked the kids which sport they wanted to play and they all ended up saying kickball so we broke up into two teams and played. I didn't think the smaller kids were so competitive, but they were, which made the game not only a whole lot of fun but also very meaningful to them. After my team was losing 6 to 1, we stepped up our game and started making more home runs. It was nice to see how supportive the kids were of each other and cheering themselves on. Unfortunately my team lost with 6 points while the other team won with with 10 points. However, it was a very fun game and I enjoyed breathing the fresh Spectacle Island air and being out in the sun playing an awesome game of kickball with the kids. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the day at Spectacle. Most importantly I tried something I had never done before and so did many of the other kids, and that is all that really matters.

Until next time, 
Rusenny

The Fourth and Final MLK Meeting

Hello Everyone!

The guest speaker (Tory Bullock)

As we all know, summer is about to end and most of the Save the Harbor staff are heading back to school soon. Since it's about to be the time where instead of waking up at 7 o'clock in the morning, we have to wake up as early as 5:30 in the morning, the MLK Scholars program wanted to end the summer with a bang, thus having the MLK Scholars Talent Show. It was different from the other meeting that were held in the past. Instead of  having it at BU, they held it at the Shubert theater and instead of being assigned to a table, we could sit anywhere  we wanted.

There was a speaker for this meeting and he made things a little more exciting and fun. He talked about how he was an activist and the simple things that we can do to change the world. After he spoke, we moved on to the talent show where kids who are a part of the MLK  Scholar program would show us what kind of talent they have. There was some alright performances, but the ones that stood out to me was when two kids did spoken word. One girl spoke about how she is a Muslim and how people judge her for believing in what she believes in, how she is treated, and how wrong it is for people to do so. Then right after she was on, a boy went to the stage and spoke about the current state of black communities and the violence that goes on around in these communities.

I had a great time at MLK and I got to socialize with the kids at my table, even though most of us were tired, we got through it and I think that's the most important thing that I accomplished this summer.

- Imani

The final Performance of the Talent show that was a dance number  

The chandler hanging above in the theater

Fishing Trip Round 2

Hello Fishermen and Fisherwomen,

I had to pleasure to go on another fishing trip today with some kids of Camp Harbor View. We docked on Captain Charlie's ship and departed on our adventure. The kids were all very ecstatic to go fishing today and that lifted up my spirits as well. Captain Charlie's boat was filled with fishing rods so there was no shortage of action for any kids or myself.

The day started off quite slow. Captain Charlie was bringing us to different spots, but we weren't really getting any luck. We would move around every 15 minutes or so if no one was catching anything. In my head, I was starting to think that we weren't going to catch anything today. However, the kids never lost hope. They kept themselves energetic and occupied by baiting the rods with sea worms themselves. This was my first time with the Camp Harbor View kids and I had to say I was very impressed with their enthusiasm for the whole trip. It was no surprise when Poseidon finally rewarded the kids for their patience. It was after lunch when the fish started coming in. Some kids started catching fish after fish. I even caught one myself. Even though it was hot and slow at times, the kids kept their energy up and as a result, all of our energy levels were high as well. It was a great day to go fishing out on the water with the kids!

Me and Uriel caught a fish! He caught about 5!

-Henry Liang

Moony Monday

Hello Boston!

This Monday I worked at Piers Park for the first time. I was very eager to experience a new site and see another side of Save the Harbor's programming. When I arrived at Piers Park, I was greeted by a group of happy, curious, and engaging kids. These kids were very smart and extremely interested in learning more throughout the day. We began by playing name games until we had been introduced to everybody. Then, after a few safety instructions, we suited up into life jackets and took to the dock!

Letting the girls steer the kayak

At Piers Park, we have two crab traps and a fish trap. The kids took turns pulling up the traps and marveling at their contents. We caught a few crabs and one small fish.
Once the traps were pulled up, I decided to take a couple kids kayaking around the dock. I hoped into a long yellow kayak with two talkative little ladies. At first, the girls were determined to paddle us all around the water and examine every inch of it. Unfortunately, their arms grew tired very quickly. I soon took over steering our kayak and started teaching them the history of the harbor. We noticed that there was a bit of debris in the harbor so I took this as an opportunity to teach the girls about how dirty the harbor once was and how Deer Island now keeps our water clean. We talked about all types of sea creatures and the science behind the tides as well. These girls told me that they wanted to be engineers one day and I informed them that understanding science and conservation was a great place to start!

Safety first! Solar glasses for the eclipse

After my arms were weak from kayaking, it was time for lunch. As we ate lunch, we discussed the science behind the solar eclipse that would soon be taking place above us. The kids had a lot of great questions about how the moon blocked the sun and how to properly view the eclipse. We had a few pairs of special viewing glasses available and took turns observing the neat event as it occurred.

I had a great time at Piers Park and thoroughly enjoyed meeting new kids who wanted to learn about the harbor. Although it was a nice change of pace, I look forward to getting back out to my favorite place, Spectacle Island!

Sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiedecker

Crustaceans Galore!

What's Up Everyone!

There must be something in the water. Aquaman must be nearby because the sea critters are buzzing today. We expected it to be like any other day today. Just a few crabs, maybe a fish if we're lucky. However, when we went to check our traps today, we were blessed with an abundance of sea creatures. When we pulled up our crab traps, there must have been at least 20 crabs in there. We quickly filled up our touch tanks and the kids eagerly came to grab the crabs out of their nets and place them in the water. We went to pull up the fish trap and we had about 5 fishes in there! They we cute little fishes, who were petted by the kids immediately. However, the biggest catch of today and the year was in our lobster trap.

We pulled up the lobster trap last. We were having so much luck today that we suspected some more when we reached for the lobster trap. We let the kids pull up the lobster trap since they pulled up the crab and fishing trap as well. Maybe they had the lucky hands that day. The waiting was intense. The kids weren't nearly strong enough to pull it up fast, so we had to wait. As the trap came closer to the dock, we all peeked over to see what it held. The water fell out of the trap and there it was. A big and juicy blue lobster. There was a joyous feeling around the dock. It was our first lobster of the summer!  Maybe we'll catch another one before the summer ends!

Kim with the first lobster of the summer!

Staff Day or Fun Day

My second Staff Day at Save The Harbor and my first time visiting Lovell's Island was a huge success and a lot of fun. I've been to only two Boston Harbor Islands, Georges Island, and Spectacle Island, and it was good to add another island to that growing list.  Lovell's Island is unique from all the other islands, there isn't a swimming beach or a massive military fort, but there are tide pools and cliffs with amazing views. Along with the cliff and tide pools, there's berries all along the island, near paths and high up on trees. At first I along with most people were nervous about eating wild berries, but after we tried one we couldn't stop eating these delicious fruits.
The main event of Staff Day was the Tide pools, this is where we spent the most time and had the most fun. During Low Tide at Lovell's Island tide pools form, these "pools" are shallow for the most part but at some points the water can reach your waist. The cold water is filled with hermit crabs, Asian short crabs, starfish, periwinkles, small fish, and other creatures that I had yet to discover. After exploring the tide pools and finding all sorts of sea creatures, it was time for lunch! For lunch we had sandwiches from J Pace, and some people (not including myself) also tried some of Chris's fried Asian Shore Crabs. Then after a delicious lunch, we were able to walk around Lovell's Island and explore everything the Island had to offer.

A picture of the tasty berries present on the Island

The misty but incredible view from the cliff on Lovell's

Until Next Time, Abel Yohannes

First Time EVER Sand Raking

Beautiful flower drawn by yours truly! :)

This past Friday I was fortunate enough to meet with Andres, a professional sand raking artist. For those of you who don't know what sand raking is, it's the art of "drawing" in the sand. This was my first time ever sand raking so I was kind of super amazed. Like I know we've all gone to the beach and drawn a heart, or a little smiley face or something, but I never thought about all the endless possibilities that could be done with a little bit of wet sand!

We were all at Carson Beach over in South Boston, when the kids arrived we all picked a partner and started to draw flowers and draw their names with cools designs next to them, and the kids seemed to really enjoy this just as much as we did. We had a bit of a break between the groups of kids where we would all spread out and draw our things.

This was truly such an amazing opportunity to be able to learn yet another form of art, was great. This along with fish printing have been some of my latest art obsessions.

I cannot wait till the next sand raking event. I'll be back with newer and better drawings!
Till next time !
-Kim

Too Much Hype!

Hello Everyone!

The Campers and one of the Piers Park staff members viewing the eclipse 

Through the weekend, there were two major events that were on the news. One was the free speech rally and the other was the solar eclipse that was happening on Monday. I was super pumped to see the moon block out the sun for a good hour or two. I was at Piers that day as well and they had special glasses to look at the eclipse for the kids and some of the staff. Most of the day, till the eclipse began, the kids were asking me when the eclipse started. I would respond to them saying that they would know when it had started. The reason why I said this was because I thought when the eclipse was starting, it would get darker and darker until it got to night time dark. The eclipse started around the time when the kids were playing capture the flag. I began to notice that it was getting darker. Then grabbed a pair of the special glasses and looked at the eclipse. It was covering most of the sun and that was enough to gather the kids together and look at the eclipse. I kept of looking at it, but the longer I looked it at it, it didn't get any darker. We then reached the time where we had to head to the dock, but it was also the time were the newscasters predicted when it would end. After that point of the day, I was pretty much disappointed. I remember watching cartoon where in one episode, the characters were excited to see the eclipse and when it happened it got super dark and how exciting it was to see a eclipse. However, the hype that was leading up to the eclipse, was dying down. Seeing the eclipse was pretty exciting though, even though it was kind of a disappointed.

The special UV eclipse glasses

-Imani Dorsey

Time Goes By When You're Having Fun

Hello Everyone!

The first fish I ever caught 

It's almost the end of summer everyone. Most of the Save the Harbor Staff and I are about to head back to school and I just want to think about all the things I did this summer. Well, first of all, before this summer, I didn't know how to do most of the things that I know how to do now. At the beginning of the summer, I didn't know how to fish and now I can teach what I learned to my family and friends who also don't know how to fish. I can also tell the difference between a female and a male crab by just looking at their stomachs. Now lets talk about the sites I worked at. At the beginning of the summer, I wanted to be put at the Children's Museum so bad, but when I got assigned to Piers, I was a little sour about it. Now I think Piers is one of the best sites to work at. It was so fun working there with the kids and the staff and when I was assigned to work at a different site for a day, I would have had as much fun as I would at Piers. This is my first summer working at with Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay and I learned so much and met some great people through the way and I hope to return next year to learn something new and even meet some more great people. So to end my last blog post of the year, I would like to say thank you for the most exciting and probably the best summer I have ever had.

The Piers Park Bear Crawl Race

On Basil's Boat for the fishing tournament 

Exploring Lovell's Island on Staff Day

Double Event Weekend

This is Andres Amador, who taught us how to make this art

So the past weekend, I was scheduled to do two events, one on Saturday, and one on Sunday. However I learned that the event was to sand rake at certain beaches, which I learned on Friday at Carson with most of the Save The Harbor staff. Sand Raking is when you get a three ended rake and dig in the ground and make art. What we usually did was make flowers, and names and easy stuff like that. Simple art, however beautiful to make. Then Andres would get the drone and take a picture of it and publish it on whatever website (most likely Save The harbor's site). The first day we went to Constitution Beach.

simple flower

I took the blue line to Constitution Beach, and because it was the same day as the counter protest, not a lot of people were there. Most of the flowers made were done by our staff, and it came out nice. The next day we went to Nantasket Beach. A LOT of people were there and so many people wanted to sand rake after a couple flowers were completed that staff needed to give up their rakes. This whole piece was so beautiful and large people were pushed off to the side of the beach, and I do not think the drone got the whole picture. It was so beautiful, and a fun task to do at work.

Signing out,
Qalid Hassan :)

Cool Weather & Crabs!

This week at Piers Park has gotten off to a cool start (literally). Monday's weather was beautiful and it was overcast while Tuesday was quite chilly. Despite the weather and lack of sun, the new kids this week are all very unique. There are a lot of kids this week who really actually enjoy fishing and they have the patience to do it. One little boy named Aden is obsessed with crabs and he keeps them out of the water for most of the time we’re on the dock. We tell Aden constantly to put the crab back in the water to rest for a minute but whenever we say it he takes it so literally. He dunks the crab in the water but he never takes his hands off of it. It is funny to watch because he entertains himself with the simplest things. Today he put one of the crabs legs in its own pinchers and he walked around screaming “The crab is pinching itself! The crab is pinching itself!”. He gets really sad when he has to put the crabs back in the ocean but we always have crabs in the trap so he knows it won't be long until he finds another friend to play with.

Even the staff were fishing

Aden and his crab obsession

Some of Aden's friends

Eli being a monkey

Today we went to the playground like we usually do after lunch and I played with this little boy named Eli. He and his friends introduced me to a really fun game called Sardines which is basically backwards hide and seek. One person goes to hide and everyone else has to spread out and find them. If you find the person hiding then you have to hide with them in their spot until there is one person left. That is why it is called Sardines because you all have to squish into really small spaces. It was really fun and at one point we had almost the whole camp playing. It was a really fun day at the park and I bet we will be playing Sardines for the rest of the week. I’ll keep you readers posted on any more new games I learn at Piers Park!

Until next time! -Maeve Fittz

Total Eclipse of the Eclipse

I started my Monday morning the same way anyone who was excited for the eclipse would; I listened to Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart on repeat on my long train ride to the Children's Museum. I'm a pretty big fan of environmental phenomena, and I was not about to miss the chance to see the eclipse.

Our morning session was a bit quieter than usual, so I wrongly assumed that, despite the museum's advertised eclipse activities, people had chosen to go do their eclipse festivities elsewhere. Boy was I wrong!

What a big beautiful girl!

When we came back from our lunch break, the dock in front of the museum was so packed that it was difficult to move. Fishing rods and accouterments in hand, we wove our way over to the railing to set up the fishing program - the more the merrier! Within seconds people came to check out our touch tank and try their hand at fishing. Realizing that we were slightly unprepared, I ran back to our storage closet to pick up a few extra fishing rods.

I weaseled my way back to our station, only to notice that we had attracted quite the crowd. Zach, my fellow SHE, yelled over the tops of everyone's heads (he is very tall), that in the two minutes I had disappeared, we had caught a lobster! I made my way over to the railing where the confused young man was holding a fishing rod with a lobster hanging on for dear life right at the surface of the water.

Politely nudging some people out of the way, I grabbed a bucket with a long rope attached to it and lowered it down into the water. It took some maneuvering, but we eventually managed to get the lobster into the bucket. With the help of a few other people, we hauled up the bucket and examined our catch; it wasn't just a lobster, it was an enormous lobster!

Zach quickly banded the lobster while I prepared the touch tank for our new friend. Between (safe!!) glimpses at the eclipse, we taught hundreds of kids and their families about the secret and exciting life of lobsters.

Unfortunately, our lobster was just a hair to big for us to keep, so at the end of our session we had to let her go. It was so much fun to have the lobster and to talk to so many kids and families that I had almost completely forgotten the eclipse!

Crustaceously yours,
Melissa

The Epic Catch at Children's!

Measuring the Striped Bass!

After having caught about a total of 10 cunner in these past weeks, today wasn't just like any other ordinary day at the Children's Museum. As a little boy named Danny and his dad approached us, they were extremely excited to fish. While we waited for the fish bite, he told us all the stories about him and his dad fishing and the almost-whale they caught but their line snapped and all these other amazing stories. I had never seen a kid so excited about fishing. 

After waiting about 20 minutes Danny seemed a bit discouraged but his dad encouraged him and told him that fishing was a sport of great patience. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit in doubt too, since we had only caught one fish that whole morning, but I really admired his patience and determination. Then, right when they were almost about to leave Danny yells "I feel something! It's tugging!" Everyone rushed over to see and some even thought (including myself) that the hook might've just gotten stuck on a rock or another line down there. However, we all thought wrong! As he was railing his line up it was still moving, so it was definitely a fish. 

We all expected another cunner of course, but instead we railed it up and saw the very unexpected...... a STRIPED BASS! I was really surprised because the only other time I had seen someone catch a striped bass was on the fishing tournament last year when my group caught one. It was 13 inches long and its the biggest we've caught this summer at the Children's Museum. It barely fit into our tank! All the kids gathered around to see the fish and were asking all sorts of questions about it. We ended up learning so many new things about striped bass including things like their favorite food, which are clams! Today was a very memorable day and is definitely one of the highlights of this summer as it nearly draws to an end. I can't wait to see what other amazing things we will catch in the harbor next week during our last week of programing! This summer has truly been an epic one so far. 

See you soon! 
Rusenny

Feeling the Waves

Hello folks!

This week I've gotten the chance to enjoy the waves at Camp Harbor View by learning how to wind surf! With the guidance of Tyler, a surfer from the west coast, I had the chance to catch some waves and air in the Boston Harbor! Growing up, I was never really physically coordinated; sports was not my forte. I learned the most from falling about a hundred times and then some. However, this time around I fell about twice, before I got the hang of adjusting myself to glide in the water! I was super excited to help out when it came to shifting the gear into the water. The next thing that was very neat was that the sailing terms that I learned at Pier's park had some usage in helping me learn how to windsurf! That just goes to show you, you never know what you'll need to know at any given time!

Figure 1. In this photo Raymond is aiding Nate in carrying the base into the water!

Figure 2. Raymond is lounging on the base of the wind surfboard during his lunch break!

By the end of the week, CHV had broken it's dry streak with fish! Jennifer had helped reel up a striper that was about a foot long just halfway up the Pier before the hook got loose in the fish's mouth! The following day, one of the attendees of the fishing club caught a skate! Soon enough, some of the biking club's members rushed over to spectate the release of the skate. Not all of the young ones had a chance to ever see a skate, let alone touch it. This was quite an experience for our friends at Camp harbor view that week!

Figure 3. He was told to smile, with all his being he forced a good one for this photo opportunity!

One thing I have forgotten to mention is that at CHV, their food is amazing! I aspire to cook food with as much flavor and quality as the grub from CHV's lunch!
 
Raymond Chai