Surprise Destination – Martha’s Vineyard | Continuation of Triplets’ Birthday

Continuing sharing the triplet’s 8th birthday here.  Get ready for a whole lot of photos! (Let them all load before scrolling like crazy, ok?)

Following a birthday kick off at home in the morning (as posted in ‘They 8 and 8 and 8’…), we had big plans for the rest of the day!  Well, you know, big in our world.  It was going to be a great surprise for the kids. A whole new adventure, and I knew they would excitedly enjoy every second of.

But first, believe it or not, we had to deliver our home schooling package to the town, as this day was the deadline! Ugh. The office was in the complete and distant opposite direction of our adventure, so it was a mad rush, as we had transportation to catch!

In our travels, the kids tried to guess what we were doing, and eventually voted that they wanted to know, so they could be excited on the way. So I told them.

(Imagine the announcement here, Oprah-style:

“We’re going to Martha’s Vineyard!!” “We’re going to Martha’s Vineyard!!”   “We’re going to Martha’s Vineyard!!” “We’re going to Martha’s Vineyard!!” “We’re going to Martha’s Vineyard!!” “We’re going to Martha’s Vineyard!!”

Ok enough.  They were about as excited as that audience too!!  And no, I don’t really watch Oprah much.  But is there anyone in the world, who hasn’t seen that clip?)

Sometimes, knowing what you are about to do is half the fun! They chatted excitedly the rest of the way, all the way to………

… the Island Queen Ferry. We were indeed going to Martha’s Vineyard!

It was about as close to (and as exciting as)  a cruise ship experience, that we were ever likely to have.

You’d think, where we live, we would have been to Martha’s Vineyard by now, if not 100 times.  But we hadn’t.  I think I do recall going as a kid with my family, though.  But not since.  Have you been?  If not, you can ‘come along with us’ through these photos. And if you have, you’ll know it’s well worth the re-visit!

Just about to deport.

The sea was so calm that day, and the temps were mildly warm…..perfect for a nice cruise, and a beautiful day on the island.

They stood a lot of the time.  They didn’t want to miss a thing.

A few days later, someone asked {S} if he saw any dolphins or whales out there, and he said,
“No.  All I saw was a dead bass, and a jelly fish.”

This mother’s heart gushed at the sweet sight of this.
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Another motherly heart sigh.
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Pulling into port!!

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A little welcome from the shores.
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An Osprey nest, perhaps?
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We got walking on the island, and every where I turned around, there were fun photos to take.  Who’s birthday was it, anyway?

 

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Looking at the pamphlets available, there was one ‘must see’ that jumped out to us, and we were on a mission to find it.
(Dropping in on little shops as we went along of course.)

We found it!!

I can tell you, it was hot as hell in this old wood structure.  (Or so I would imagine.  Hopefully I’ll never know, for sure.)  You could literally smell the warm wood.  And believe it or not, so dark in there I had difficulty taking (good) photos. But it was so charming anyway!

Ready to go!!
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The coolest thing about this carousel, was trying to get the brass ring, as the carousel went around.    These next 2 photos are awful, and you’ll need to look carefully to see what I am talking about.  But, do you see that thing {JM} and {A} are reaching towards?  That’s a metal ring dispenser.

You could try and grab one out of the dispenser, every time you went by.

Most every ring was silver.  But the one who got the ‘brass ring’, got a free ride!!  It really added such a fun element to the whole carousel experience.  There was also a dispenser on the inside of the carousel.

None of our kids got the brass ring.  But hey…they are lucky enough, right?

More strolling around, just enjoying all of the charming little shoppes and restaurants.

This place looked like fun!

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Just a quick glance around, told me this place had some great games to play!  And none of the smutty and/or violent animated graphics I deem inappropriate for my little one’s eyes.

But nothing in this amusement arcade place, was more exciting than the site of PLINKO!!  Seriously??  I could not have been more excited!!  That was always my favorite game on the Price Is Right.  We were good at it too!

I was busy playing myself, and not taking as many photos in here.

Racking up the tickets!
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Oh what to get……decisions, decisions.
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I am sure all of you parents out there, know how long this can take.  Have mercy!
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In the end, they all happened to settle on ‘silly bands’.   It’s their first ones, believe it or not.  I don’t think I’ve seen anyone wear them more than once or twice, since.   But they sure do like to collect stuff~ Oh my gosh, do they ever. (All of them.  Trust me!)
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There are a lot of great signs at Martha’s Vineyard.   Being in the sign business, we really notice and appreciatethese things.  For anyone reading and not aware of these things, a sign is one of the top most important elements of your storefront business.  It’s a first impression.  It’s creates all kinds of sub-conscious messages about your business, and it definitely effects the flow of people that come in your door.  Or not.

This sign, Sharky’s Cantina, drew us in.  It was just a great sign.  Well laid out, fun, high quality.  So it gave those same impressions of the establishment as a whole, too.

The margarita might have been calling me in also.

But……there was just no room for us in there. It looked like a great place, but it was small, and packed with people. (Because of the sign. no doubt. ; )  See? ) We sat at a teeny-tiny table, in the very back corner, and I immediately felt trapped. Need-to-get-OUT!!  I guess ‘Cantina’ was a clue there.  But I was hyper-focused on the, well maybe the margarita.  We had to find somewhere else to eat.

As we looked for somewhere else, we happened to look down a pathway, that really, really drew us in.  As hungry as we were.…..

Walking through these gates, was seriously like walking straight into another world.  Martha’s Vineyard as a whole, is pretty peaceful.  But this…..this place….offered an indescribable feeling.  All we could hear, were our own soft steps on the sidewalk, and the occasional tweeting of birds.  As we walked along, I had to look back behind me to the gate I had just walked through, trying to figure out what just happened.

The little walkway, led to a street lined with the quaintest little homes, that all seemed to surround a big green.   Just looking down the little street, with the row of little houses, almost dumbfounded me.  I almost felt like I was in Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.  Can you imagine that?  I really wanted to go there, as a child.

This is the green that the we came upon, surrounded.  What you see there in the center of the green is what is known as ‘The Tabernacle.’  We had to check it out.

It definitely had elements of a place of worship. It seemed like such a lovely place, to hold an outdoor Mass.

(To us, because we’re Catholic.)

As I looked around, I think I said, “This place is so cool, ” 20 times.

But it really was!!

One of the kids took note of the banner sign hanging, and read it out loud:

“Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place.”

Yes, surely. It seemed to us, that the ‘presence of the Lord’ was all over Martha’s Vineyard!  The beauty of it all….how could one not feel God everywhere?

But, we didn’t see ‘the Tabernacle’ as us Catholics best know it. And thus, ‘the presence of the Lord’ as we know it, either.

Still, it was cool!  And I did feel Him everywhere, all day.

I guess concerts and such are held there.  I got the impression, some non-denominational celebrations as well.

Over yonder, from ‘the Tabernacle’ looked like what might be a Catholic Church.  But the family was all talking about their ‘bellies grabbling’, and they all wanted to eat.  We all needed to, really.

So we continued on our quest for a restaurant, which really got to be quite the task!  There were little places around, but by this point in the day, I really wanted the kids to eat some ‘real food’, as I like to call it. (In other words…healthy.)  Time was ticking, we were all dragging by now, and pretty warm too!  When finally, we settled on an Italian Restaurant.  By the time we got in, got a table, and ordered, we were in a slight panic waiting for the food, worried we would miss the last ferry at 6:45, to home-land!  So we were scoffing down our meals by the time we got our food.  Can you imagine missing the last ferry of the day?  An overnight at MV was not at all in the budget, and we had nothing with us!

Can I just say, Fettuccine Alfredo is not easy to eat quickly!

Nor is high-tailing it to the ferry with a belly full of it!

(The fettuccine was what I ordered.  The kids made healthier choices on their own, thankfully.)

I just had to grab a shot of this place.  It’s an Inn.  Michael knows some folks who stay there every year.

See?  No heavy fettuccine in those bellies.  “Hey, wait for me!!”

We did make it to the ferry in plenty of time.  We ended up sitting and waiting for it.  But we were happy to just sit, and chill.  No rush anymore.  Just a sweet evening ferry ride for us all, at dusk.   SO BEAUTIFUL!   The cool evening breeze……the smell of the sea…..the colors in the sky…….God everywhere, still.  Not to mention our beautiful children, I was especially, especially thankful for on this day.

So….I took lots more photos on the ferry ride home.  And that, my friends, will be the final Trio Birthday post, coming up next.  You just have to see how perfect it all was.

Now tell me, have you ever been to Martha’s Vineyard?  Once?  Many times?  For a day or an extended stay?  Recently or a long, long time ago?  As I said, I think I had been as a child.  Michael never had.  Nor our kids, of course.

But we’ll all be going back.

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