Nostalgia

Two weekends ago we went down to Salem MA for some Halloween fun and give the kids another excuse to wear their costumes.  Although with how they have been wearing them at home they have already gotten great use out of them.

Brendan and I lived in Salem for 5 years, 3 without kids and 2 with Cole.  How I loved our time in this city!  We had moved to Salem because it was about equa-distance commute for Brendan to Boston and me to Andover.  I never thought I would enjoy this place as much as we did.  We had a ton of fun here, by ourselves, with friends, and as a family.  In the background of the first picture is the house where we rented our apartment.  Our brush with celebrity...the guy who lived upstairs was the son of the man who wrote The Exorcist! How's that for a spooky addition to what is already known as Witch City!  They still live there apparently too because the boat they bought and never used is still parked in the same parking space as it was 5 years ago!  We lived next to a graveyard in Salem too which was both quite spooky and entertaining for lots of reasons!  I never minded it though.  

As we walked through the city, there were so many memories that Brendan and I started talking and laughing about. We had a couple great Halloween parties here and those stories will always live on!  I wanted to do everything that we used to do....take a walk in Salem common where we used to bring Cole to play when he was a baby, have a beer at Salem Beerworks, walk on Pickering  Wharf, wander down the backstreets where we had walked, ran, and rollerbladed.  I love this city for all the wonderful memories Brendan and I created there together!  I wish we had gone earlier in the day so we could do so much more but alas! We didn't get there until about 4:30 so sightseeing and pictures were scarce. :)

Our street!

Oh, the atrocity when this statue went in! I was so mad that they put this stupid statue in Salem when Salem meant so much more to me historically than the witch trials!  But see, we are back as tourists now so it's ok to take a picture. :)

Pickering House.  The only house in the neighborhood with an acre of land.   The house is freaky and awesome.

No one quite understands mine and Brendan's love of this place. Maybe we just love fancy hot dogs. Maybe it's the memories that go along with it. Either way we could not wait to eat here for dinner...which is funny because the amount of fantastic restaurants now in Salem has risen significantly.  Salem is a hopping community now! It had just started to take off really when we moved to NH.

Brendan and his taco dog.

  

Me and my Arizona dog.  Roasted red peppers, jalapenos, cheddar cheese. YUM!

 There weren't a lot of kids wearing costumes but Cole got SO many compliments and smiles with this one from adults and kids alike. I think after awhile of hearing that he began to fill a bit like a rockstar.

Tired girl.  This is in front of the Peabody Essex Museum which is ANOTHER reason Salem is so awesome.  

We had a really great time and I wish we could have stayed much  longer! We didn't even get to drive by our old townhouse which was on the other side of town.   Maybe next year!