Expert Tree Climber

Playing a game of 3 man kickball.

This week the All Access group traveled out to Georges Island for the 2nd time this summer and it was my first time playing sports at the beautiful island. After lunch we headed inside the fort, the "fun way", as my coworker Patrice calls it. We followed her through a small square opening in one of the walls of the ginormous fort and through a series of doors until we exited into the broad daylight of the bridge and into the field. Settling under a large tree near a bench, we plopped our things on the floor and it seemed going up the tree was the plan.

Vince is too strong!

At first it looked like a good, fun idea and so I went along. First up was Patrice, followed by me and Vince was last. It was all fun and games until I got up there, a good 6 ft. if not more off of the ground. Too scared to move I just gripped the large branch I was on. Patrice convinced me to move over to make room for Vince. It was pretty cool after all, but then it was time to get down. I don't know how it came to be me being the first to get down, but I wasn't fully prepared for what was coming next.

You can see the fear on my face!

I was told to go down the way I went up, which I could not quite remember at the moment. Frantically thinking, I crawled onto my belly to get down feet first so that my senior harbor educator Jenn could help lower me onto the bench. As I panicked to get down, Jenn guided me and as I laid sprawled over the bench with my limbs dangling Jenn started panicking! All of a sudden she started yelling, "Oh my God! I can't do it Kharliyah! I'm sorry I can't help you, you have to stay like that!" I couldn't handle it, I was cracking up stuck in the tree slowly slipping. As I got closer to the bench Jenn realized she could help me after all. HOW DARE SHE TRY TO LEAVE ME IN THE TREE!!! I forgive her but I won't rely on getting out of trees through her anymore.

See you next week in All Access
-Khar 

Monkeying Around

Hey guys! Happy weekend! Today at Carson, we had the pleasure of hanging out with a group called "Let's Get Movin'" from East Boston. The mission of this group is to promote physical activity and strength to children from ages eight through fourteen. We had a group of fourteen girls, ages ten to thirteen, join us today for some beach fun! Our original plan was to engage in some sports games and fun on the sand. But this heat?! No way! All of the girls wanted to go swimming, and us harbor explorers were not opposed to getting a little wet on a day like today (it comes with the territory of Carson). But instead of calling it a wash, we decided to join the two ideas together. We brought our volleyball into the water and slowly but surely got a little game going. At first some of the girls seemed nervous or shy to participate in some light fun. But soon enough, our circle got bigger and bigger and I think they realized that I was not very good either (I cannot speak for my fellow explorers, but I am no volleyball star). Here are a couple of photos at the beginning of the activity.

Well, I guess I cannot say exactly how it happened, but then the game morphed into some volleyball-turned-monkey in the middle activity. It was hilarious! If the person in the middle got the ball, whoever had touched it last had to switch and become the new monkey. To be honest, I was the monkey twice (see the photo! Sigh.). And let me tell you, it was stressful! I was trying to "get up" as Preston would say, but not so easy with running shorts weighing you down in the ocean! It was hilarious. My favorite part was the dedication that these girls showed: diving for the ball, jumping up so high to get it, swimming out to it if it left the circle, so that the monkey would not get there first. It was amazing! I think overall, this group had a ton of fun getting moving and still staying cool on this hot beach day! And I may have been in a polo and shorts, but nothing was stopping me from joining the harbor fun!

Enjoy your weekend explorers,

Bridget M

New Faces

Second week new kids ! It's good and awesome making new bonds with new kids. There's a lot more of them, so it's a little more work. It's never boring at Piers Park from kayaking to fishing, there's always something fun going on. These new kids have a huge thing with calling me Corbin Blue! It's getting annoying but still funny that they constantly want me to sing, and oh god you don't want me to sing!! 

To wrap up, the kids are great. The activities always keep us occupied and the kids. We all have fun with them and there is never a dull moment! 

Till next time , Mauricio Andrade

First Time Sailing

Unfortunately this is our last week working with these amazing kids, so I wanted do something I had never done before. I have never been sailing and this week I had the chance to go sailing and it was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. It was really fun being out on the water moving with the wind. At first when we sailed all was at peace were moving fast and we where in control and everyone was having fun. I even had an opportunity to sail the boat for a couple of minutes which was really amazing.

So as we were out on the water the boy that was sailing the boat had to go home because his parents came to pick him up. The McDonough staff came on the motor boat and they took him and left us there with Mae who we thought knew how to sail. Mae then tried to sail us back but it wasn't working, Vinh tried he couldn't and finally I took the post and nothing happened. We were stranded out there for about 20 minutes trying to get back. Finally the staff from McDonough came to rescue us and I couldn't be happier to see land. Even though we got stranded out there, I was really happy to go sailing and I'm really looking forward to taking sailing classes so I can become a pro and make sure I don't get stuck out there again.

Jazeel Mendes- Chao

Kick Ball 13-1 !

Today at Blacks Creek the kickball game seemed to be fair when teams were being picked. Even number of counselors on each team, equal amount of kids and all -- atleast thats how it seemed. We were out in the field at first and the other team looked as ready as can be. First kick became an out and then the second kick became the second out and yup you guessed it , the third also became an out. It was our time to shine and we were certainly ready. After the first kick became a double run I knew this game was in the bag. By the third kicker we had two runs to zip and one on third base. Kick after kick became a run and next thing we knew the score was 8-0 with one out. My team was beat from kicking but we were still pushing, -or kicking for that matter. The ball was flying over the opposing teams heads, through their arms and out of their grasps. It looked like a miracle was happening. By the time we had three outs we had 13 points. The other team kicked and had two outs. It was not until one of the kids dodged every ball being thrown to get them one point. We were still satisfied with our victory and ended the game with high fives and bottles of refreshing water. Everyone still had fun despite the lopsided scores.

- Chemar David

Staff Day MVP

Staff day started of really well because everyone was at the pier on time and no one was left behind, so that was awesome! We all made it to the island safely and then we had a chance to hear a few words from Bruce and Patty about our amazing summer- then we were of to the games. The no access team came in with a lot of excitement and hope that we were going to win but it turned out that we got creamed in kickball even though I was the MVP. The all access crew was on their A game and it was unfortunate that we lost the dodgeball game, but all that mattered is that we had fun.

The Squad

After the game we headed down to Bruce's boat where we ate some hot dogs, cookies, chips, cheese and some water to wash everything down. After we ate, we had the rest of the day to ourselves to do any activity we wanted to take part in. I took a walk on the beach then I had time to catch up with some JPA's that had been moved to other sites. I also had the opportunity to get to know some of the other JPA's better. Overall it was an amazing day and I really can't thank Bruce, Bridget and Patty and everyone else enough for an awesome day.


Jazeel Mendes- Chao

The Seafood Festival

I usually spend my Sundays with my family but this past Sunday I was working at the Fish Pier doing fish prints with kids and representing Save The Harbor. The day started of well, it was a warm sunny sunday then things took a turn and it started raining and it wasn't a pleasant place to be. The people who were at the Fish Pier we're awesome enough to not leave and they waited the rain out. When it was pouring we had an opportunity to learn how to use paper and paint to make fish prints. In the beginning I felt like it was going to be complicated but Sam helped me out and after I gained some confidence I felt like a pro.

Sam showing us how to do fish prints

After I learned how to make the fish prints, I had the opportunity to help many little children and a few adults learn how to do it. All the kids that made their fish prints, depending on the color and the fish they chose,  came out beautiful. My favorite fish that we worked with was a Fluke, the Fluke was really flat and it made it really easy to print. The Fluke was one of the most popular fishes that the kids chose because we were using the colors Pink and Purple and the kids loved it because they were really colorful. I never expected to have as much fun as I did working on a sunday.

Me helping a girl pain a fluke

Jazeel-Chao

Family Fun!

Nico holding a sea star

Hey folks, Kiauna here..

 Recently I went to Family Fun Night at Carson Beach and I had a blast. I even made a new friend who goes by the name of Nico. Nico requested that I take a picture of him and show it to all of my friends. Attention all friends: Look at the picture above, please. Thank you. 

Holding a crab!

Okay, I have a confession, everyone. I'd worked at STH/STB for 4 weeks when I went to this event and it was my first time holding a crab! Shocking, right? I don't know how but I always managed to get out of holding one. If we pulled crab traps I would just encourage the kids to pick the crabs up themselves. As part of my job I try to convince kids that holding a crab isn't scary and that if they hold it properly it won't pinch them. I figured it was time to stop being a hypocrite and take my own advice. I put my big girl pants on, dove my hand into the touch tank, and before I knew it, a crab was in my hand! Give the girl a prize, someone!

Zumba at Carson! Check out Myriam and Sarah Bailey!

To my surprise, there was a Zumba instructor at the event. I thought hot dogs, slushies, and kids were exciting. I was ecstatic about having the opportunity to do Zumba for the first time. I had always wanted to try! Not only did I do something I'd never done before, I did two things I had never done before.

- Rebel, be a leader, stay golden
Kiauna

Frisbee fun!

Ahmed showing the kids a lobster

What's up, guys? Kiauna here. 

Today was quite an enlightening day at Courageous Sailing. Another JPA, Amhed, taught the kids lots of fun facts about crabs. The kids were really smart. They knew all about what kinds of crabs live in the water. From Green Crabs to Red Rock Crabs. They knew it all. I wasn't very surprised that they were pretty familiar with Mr. Krabs, from Spongebob. 

  After we had great conversation about crabs, the kids got to hold a few. They even got to see a lobster! For some of them it was for the first time so they were kind of nervous. Most of them were brave and held it. They sure are braver than I am! Especially Emily. She held it twice! 

  

 It wouldn't have been Save The Harbor style if we didn't do something with frisbees. Of course we played a game with an official STH frisbee. Ahmed and I walked to the field and set forth in our game. He had a system where he threw the frisbee and the person who caught it had to tell a fun fact that they knew about a sea creature. Supposedly a shark is likely to watch me undress. I'm not sure how much truth there is to that theory but, hey! We did not discriminate about what kinds of facts were thrown into the mix.

Stay golden,
Kiauna Peete

Ps. Shoutout to Bruce Berman. I know how much he enjoys reading about frisbees

Pps. Ahmed and I did all of the above while drinking milkshakes. McDonough may have sully's but look out! Tedeschi's is catching up! That is a big bonus about being at Courageous. Tedeschi's now has a smoothie/milkshake maker! 

Only $2.99!

Yummm!

               

Girl vs. Fish

Fishing at Community Boating

Hello beautiful people,

This morning the children of Community Boating and I  had some fun fishing. We weren't really having any luck catching anything with fishing rods and we were pretty bummed. That was when my Senior Marine Educator, Sarah Bailey, showed a few of us a spot right along the river bank where Sunfish like to hang out. Lucky for us there was a lovely willow tree  in the same spot to shade us from the 91 degree weather.  We grabbed a net, took a seat on the grass, and it was on! 

I was on a mission!

One fish in particular wanted to be difficult and not let us catch him. The kids and I were getting so frustrated because it was practically teasing us. We tried to throw food in the water to make it come closer to us but it would just come grab some food and swim away really fast. The kids switched off with the net trying to catch the fish but to no avail. Soon everyone was around us, giving ideas on how to catch this fish. Some kids gave up and decided to try their luck catching fish with the fishing rods. I got so fed up that I finally just hopped in the water to try to catch the stubborn fish. This job has really changed me and made me more adventurous. Before I worked at STH/STB, I never would have willingly gotten in water where fish would be swimming around me. I used to be afraid to be in the same water as fish, crabs, or anything that wasn't human. People can always afford to expand their horizons and try new things, they may be surprised at how far out of their comfort zone they will actually go. 

                                                                                                        Catch you on the flip side, 

                                                                                                                                  Kiki