Michael-Joe turned 21 on the 20th and we all went out to Yokohama’s to celebrate tapanki-table style.  Mike and I bought Michael-Joe his first drink (ok, at least his first legal drink ).

We had a wonderful family Christmas celebration starting Christmas eve with the local Dantas clan.  We celebrated the early mass at Merrimack College with our family and then had our traditional Chinese dinner back at the house with Mimi, Grandpa, Uncle Paul and Donna.

For Christmas, we went to Mimi and Grandpa’s and celebrated with the full Massachusetts Dantas clan.  We had a wonderful dinner complete with awesome appetizers served during the Celtics game (doesnt get much better than that!).  The kids had a blast reconnecting and hanging out.  Check out my Dantas Christmas 2010 video.

After stuffing ourselves at Mimi’s…we headed over to Linda and John’s for dessert and the McDonough side celebration.  The kids got xbox360 for Christmas and it was thoroughly enjoyed by the whole family.  Jack delighted us all with his gamemanship and was cheered on by all the cousins, aunts, uncles and family members.  Check out my McDonough Christmas 2010 video.

Below are some shots I took with the low res camera on my phone…

hands on a hollow apple tree

the horse...Carla's favorite

Amazing the creativity of people.

the zipper...Rhonda's favorite

This was cool, looked like it was built right into the landscape.

the fire hydrant...Verde's favorite

fire hydrant dog conversation

All around the fire hydrant were cement disks with conversation “quotes” from dogs that had visited.

amazing..corrugated plastic and tie wraps

full tie wrap exhibit

This sculpture would make any DI coach proud!

upside down lady...half buried??

snowflake in summer...my interpretation

aluminum letter cube

This one was interesting.  The sign for it was at the top of the hill implying that the letter cube had rolled down the hill and landed upside down with one side caved in….or they just hadnt finished setting it up yet

There are lots of hiking paths at Maudslay park and it only costs $2 to park for the entire day.  We spent a little over an hour at the park and would have stayed longer if we had more time.  For information on the park and directions, see the following website:

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/northeast/maud.htm

Our daughter Carla has been working hard this summer as a member of the Amesbury Playhouse theater group.  She is a cast member in this summer’s performance of Annie.  She plays 3 roles: Hooverville Hobo, Movie theater Usherette and maid at Daddy Warbucks mansion.  She has a few lines and sings in many of the songs…pretty awesome for her first production audition.

The play is directed by Jackie Foss and she does an amazing job with all the cast members holding them to a high standard and pushing them to perfection.  She encourages them and her corrections are positive and help to bring out the best in each of them.  She coordinates the entire effort and she is tireless.

Brian Nickerson is the music director and he is an extremely talented keyboard/piano/synthesizer player.  He is the one man band for the show and does an incredible job of adjusting to every little nuance thrown his way.  He is able to augment the music in order to bring out the best in the performers.  From a little bit of ad-libbing during show delays to real time key and timing changes he is able to do it all and truly enhance the show.

The play opens tomorrow, Friday July 30th, and runs thru Sunday August 22nd.  The cast/crew/directors have put a lot of time and effort into the play and it has really come together this week (I guess technically it still is since they are doing the final dress rehearsal as I write this).  For those that would like to come see the play, tickets are available by calling the Amesbury Playhouse at: (978)388-9444.  You must  call in advance to get tickets and you can only get tickets by calling.

The Amesbury Playhouse is a dinner theater.  I hadnt heard of it until Carla auditioned for Annie.  She and I went to a show there the end of June, Murder at the Howard Johnson Motel, and it was excellent.  The performance was very professional, funny and entertaining.  We had dinner and the food was great (we both had the chicken parm).  Dinner included side salad, garlic bread, chicken parm, pasta, coffee and dessert.

You can purchase dinner/show combo for $36-$46 depending on the dinner choice or you can purchase show tickets for $18 each.  The theater opens 1/2 hour before dinner seating and there is a bar that you can purchase drinks before the show and during intermission.

Showtimes:

• Fri & Sat nights: dinner 7pm showtime 8:30pm
• Sun matinee: dinner noon showtime 1:30pm
• Wed nights: dinner 7pm, showtime 7:30pm
• Wed, 8/11, matinee: dinner 12 noon, showtime 1:30pm

For reservations call the Playhouse at: (978)388-9444.

For directions see: directions to the  Amesbury  Playhouse.  It’s just off rte 495 in Amesbury (25 minutes from the intersection of 495 and 93…if there’s no traffic … 5 minutes from the intersection of 495 and 95).

Michael-Joe got home from Colby-Sawyer College the first week of May and immediately started working a Pinnacle (not on the same job site as his dad).  It was grueling work, but he made enough money so he could take a long weekend off in the middle of June to visit Alana in Bermuda.

Meg graduated from PMA and will be a freshman at WPI in September (actually, they start classes August 26th).  For a graduation gift from her grandpa McDonough, she spent a week in Ireland with grandpa McD, Uncle Pat and Erin.  They had a blast!

Carla has been rehearsing for the Amesbury Playhouse production of Annie.  Rehearsals started June 5th (2 nights a week plus 3 hours on Sat) and have culminated this week with Tech week (ie. long rehearsals every night)…she is loving it.  Opening night is tomorrow, Friday July 30th.

PMA Panthers…Methuen Mass

On Tuesday, February 2nd, the PMA Panthers clinched their 3rd concescutive CAC Small Division 3 title with a 39-32 win over Everett’s Mystic Valley.  The game was a display of competitve skills on both sides of the ball and court.  PMA came out strong with a defense that stifled Mystic’s offense.  They played a unique box and one which prevented Mystic from getting their game going.  PMA’s offensive play was consistent and spread out over the first 4 quarters and Mystic Valley played them toe to toe.  In the 4th quarter, Mystic Valley’s ball handling skills and adaptation to the defense gave them the opportunity to take a 29-24 point lead with 5 minutes to go.  But that is when the uniqueness of the PMA team came thru.  They battled back and went on to win by 7 points, outscoring Mystic Valley 15 – 3 in the final 5 minutes of the game.
 
So, what is it that makes this team so unique and as a result, so successful.. I believe it is their attitudes, their respect for each other and especially their coach, Joe DuBlois.  Their attitudes are reflected in every game that they play…they believe they can win, they play to win and they play to their strengths.  Their respect…the girls truly respect each other and cheer each other on, they have strong leaders and dont get down on each other when someone is “off”.  This attitude and respect is an extension of their coach, respectfully referred to as Coach Joe.  He took over the team just 10 days before the season opener.  DuBlois has done an excellent job of assessing the skills and talents of the girls on his team.  Everyone of them contributes when they take the court.  The team does not have a lot of height, but they play big, use their speed basketball sense to overcome opponents.
 
Who makes up this Cinderella team?  There are the starting 5. Senior (captain) Kate St. Peter plays the middle and owns the box fighting for rebounds and getting put backs.  Senior (captain) Meg McDonough plays the 2, is a threat from outside which keeps the defense honest allowing her to pass inside to the post and rack up the assists. Junior (captain) Danielle Silva plays the point setting the pace for the offense, dribbling thru a maze of defenders and icing critical foul shots.  Sophomore Rosie Pagan plays the 4 getting position on the box so she can aggressively out rebound those taller than she.  Sophomore Ashlyn Ventolieri plays the 3 sinking 18 footers and shadowing the opponents offensive stars, frustrating them and throwing the offense off.  Then there are the ones who sub in and make an impact on the game.  Junior Joelle Bechara has speed and shuts down offensive players, shadowing them, making them ineffective and stealing the ball.  Sophomore Kaylin Michaud fills in the center role as a force under the boards and is masterful on her boxing out and put backs.  Sophomore Liz Farrah comes in at the 4, getting positioning so she can get off her 12 – 18 footers.  In summary, the Panthers are a team that plays well together and feeds off of each other.
 
The Panthers were very fortunate to have Coach Bob Melillo come to the program for the start of the 2007-2008 season.  He worked with the girls; helping the program grow, winning back to back CAC titles and bringing in Joe DuBlois at the JV coach during his second year.  It was Coach Melillo’s recommendation that Coach Joe take over the varsity program giving Coach Joe and the Panther girls an opportunity to win their 3rd consecutive CAC.  Coach Joe plays to all his players strengths, although he has his starting 5, there is no single star of the team.  On any given day, a player will step up and be the scoring ace for the night or the defensive hammer.  By using all the skills his players posses and not focusing his game on one aspect, Coach Joe has developed a team that is competitive and has dominated their division gaining the respect of the players and their parents.  He has taken a group of girls that many thought would be a below 500 team and has produced a championship team that is undefeated in their division.
 
The Panthers final regular season home game is Friday, Feb 5th against Essex Aggie.  The first meeting of these two teams was an excellent match with many lead changes.  This game will be senior night at the Dupre Center and seniors from both PMA and Essex Aggie will be recognized…and then they will get down to business an play a game that is sure to entertain and delight their fans.

Carla, Brigit, Teresa, Carla...Meg in the background..tired of pictures!

So we headed over to downtown Newburyport and  went to Angie’s diner for lunch.

Teresa, Brigit, Carla & Meg

We then walked the outside mall paths popping into different shops along the way.  It was great to have my cousin Carla as our own personal tour guide.  She is an amazing wealth of information and had it just been she and I we would have explored the boutiques all day.  However, the 4 teenage girls with us prefered getting a few treats at Winfrey’s and then calling it a day.

Meg, Brigit, Carla, Carla, Teresa

The PMA Gnomes

The PMA girls were busy gnomes this past week working on their I’ll be gnome for Christmas float for the Methuen parade.  They worked each day after school coming up with creative designs and costumes.  Everything was hand made and they all seemed to have a lot of fine, especially Saturday morning as they assembled and taped and got to see their efforts come together.  They couldnt have done it with the help of the Saurman family who provided the truck, the trailer and the leadership to pull it off.

First, they worked in the Dupre Center after school cutting, taping, gluing, stapling and designing the pieces.  Then on Saturday, they assembled it all in the parking lot (the hot chocolate and muchkins provided energy boosts):

final touches for the gnomes' pickett fence

finishing the backside

assembling hats, beards and golden pipes

Float final assembly (almost final )

Float assembly

Float is almost complete

Sr Edie cheered the girls on!

Mrs V and Faye were super gnomes

It was a sssslllooowww drive to the parade starting point.  Along the way the gnomes’ house was disassembled by the wind.  The cars in the caravan were able to retrieve the pieces and the float arrived at the starting point fairly intact.  Fortunately, the girls brought extra supplies and Mr Saurman had plenty of the magical duct tape which made it possible for the girls to resurrect the float intime for the parade kickoff ….it looked magnificent!

Ready to go!

Teresa and Sarah were 2 busy gnomes!

Meg, Kate and Whitney had the task of manning the truck bed which meant they didnt have to walk much (ok, didnt have to walk at all) and were in charge of the generator which provided the power to run the music.  I’ll be “gnome” for Christmas was the preferred song of the day.

manning the generator and the sound

The gnomes (aka PMA girls) walked or sat in the trailer and handed out smarties along the parade path.

PMA leading the way!

I'll be gnome for Christmas...

gnomes ruled the day

the horse that pulled the PMA "carriage"

For the McDonough clan…even Verde got involved and Carla took the term “walking cast” a little bit to literally:

walking cast and walking verde...

The girls were great and it went off without a hitch (I guess technically there was a hitch since there was a trailer…I know…that was a bad one).

John and Sarah worked hard to pull it all together

The girls worked hard and their efforts paid off.  I had a blast following the lead up to the parade and then watching the girls in it.  Thank you so the teachers and parents who helped and especially to the girls for following thru with a fun float that was both unique and entertaining.  Yet another reason that I am proud to be a parent of 2 PMA girls!

Michael-Joe & Mike outside Riverview

Rhonda & Michael-Joe outside Riverview

Sunday morning, I headed north with Carla’s Girl Scout troop for an overnight at The Lonesome Lake Hut.  The traffic was ok until we were about 1 mile from the Loon exit and the breakdown lane and first lane were all backed up.  So much so that the car in the first lane in front of us had to quickly swerve to avoid a rear-end collision.  Fortunately, we saw what was happening and had plenty of distance between his car and our car.  Unfortunately, he overcompensated, flew off the highway cutting across the fast lane in front of us, bouncing off the trees, rolling over 1.5 times before resting on his side in the ditch facing the wrong way.  The good news was both the driver and his passenger were able to climb out of the car on their own.  Once we saw they were ok, we continued on our way to Lafayette Campground (the base of the Lonesome Lake Trail).

There was tons of traffic and no camping at the Lafayette lot, so we rented a campsite, which was right next to the trail head, for the night where we were able to leave our car overnight.  The girls had a bag lunch, got their packs on and were ready to go:

Girls before starting on the trail

The trail was a little more rigorous than what the girls expected, but they stuck with it and made it to Lonesome Lake in about 2 hours.

Girls up at Lonesome Lake

They were tired after their hike up, and werent up to going around the lake until they all heard about the moose.  There were 3 moose feeding on the otherside of the lake: 1 bull moose, 1 mother, 1 young moose.  We got pretty close to the bull moose and the mother (about 45 feet away from the bull…was wishing that I had a really good camera).

moose

It was amazing to watch them feed.  Dinner at the lodge was outstanding…actually, I dont know how good it was since we were all very hungry and everyone thought dinner was much better than breakfast .

Turkey soup first course at Lonesome Lake Hut

The caretakers are truly amazing, there were 6 of them working the hut:

Lodge partial crew

After dinner, we listened to a talk on how the AMC huts generate power to run the lodge, bring in food and take care of waste.  The crew works very hard and you can tell they all enjoy what they do.  Our sleep Sunday night was very sporadic due to the snoring of one of our neighbors…the walls kept the wind out but did nothing to deaden the snoring.  Sunrise was a relief for me!

In the morning, after breakfast we hiked down in beautiful weather and, after packing our gear and ourselves into the cars, we headed north to Littleton the home of Chutters Candy Store, home of the world’s longest candy counter.  We had lunch at a local diner and of course we had to visit Chutters:

Chutters candy counter

Chutters candy counter (other half)

Chutters candy display and soda case

Chutters, Littleton NH

Everyone was pretty spent by the end of our visit to Littleton and we headed home.  However, as we were driving I thought it would be a good idea for my car to go home via the Kangamagus Highway since it would the only opportunity Teresa would have to see it.  The girls in the car were in favor of the side trip (although none were pleased with the additional time it added).  We saw some amazing views and explored the Rocky Gorge.

Carla, Teresa, Elise & Dana at Rocky Gorge

The drive was beautiful and the traffic was surprisingly light (at least thru the Kangamagus).  Of course later when were driving thru Chicorua Village we had to stop at “The Dam Ice Cream Shop” which I can never drive by when it is open.  We lucked out since Monday was their last day of the season and they were not only open, but were selling icecream at about half price.  We enjoyed the treat (although Teresa opted to stay in the car…the girls really were quite tired…but Carla, Dana, Elise and I being New Englanders are never to tired for icecream!).

Carla, Dana, Elise at The Dam Ice Cream Shop

Dana, Carla and Elise at the Chicorua dam

After our ice cream stop, we continued  on our way.  When we got to Wakefield, NH, the traffic on route 16 was pretty intense.  A ways after that we came across a route 125 South sign.  I decided to follow it figuring that there was only 1 route 125 in NH.  Fortunately, that assumption was correct and the drive was not only traffic free, it was beautiful and interesting  (I had never been on that part of 125 and the towns had traditional New England centers).  All in all, it was a trip I highly recommend!

Hike for Hope at Merrimack College

On Sunday, Oct 4th, Lazarus House had their 10th annual Hike for Hope.  This year, the 3 girls participated as both volunteers and walkers.  They arrived at Merrimack College at 10:20am and helped with balloons, tatoos and face painting:

Teresa at balloon station

Liza and Kristina at balloon station

Carla face painting

Meg applying tattoos

Once the girls completed their volunteer work (aka once the walk started), they relaxed for a bit before joining in on the walk.  It was a 5 mile walk from Merrimack College thru downtown Andover.

Girls hanging out at start of walk

The Hike for Hope is a major fundraiser for Lazarus House and many volunteers help to make is a success each year.  This year our family walked with the PMA- Leading the way team which was headed up by Mrs Blais.  I’d like to thank her and all the other volunteers for their hard work and dedication to the hike…they really do “help bring the homeless home”.

Mrs Blais and her team

To see the members of the PMA team, check out our Hike for Hope link at: PMA leading the way …they are still accepting donations if you are so inclined

The Red Sox started out a bit slow, but then they clobberd the Indians.  In the 6th inning, the subs came in so we decided to get icecream and head out early (I know, not normal for me, but we had to get up early on Sunday for the Lazarus House Hike for Hope).

Girls waiting for icecream

Girls may have liked icecream more than game

I am a big Yaz fan….had to include this picture (even though it is sideways and not the clearest):

Yaz banner