The Pirate Ship

While we were at the beach we met up with a few pirates....


They seemed nice enough, so our family and my brother and his kids hung out with them a bit. And they took us out on their pirate ship....

They taught the kids to defend themselves (pirate style)...

(Megan is in the blue striped shirt and cousin Anna is in the pink)

Then the boys were taught to swab the deck (that's cousin daniel in the grey)

We were joined by some locals (aka - dolphins)...

Megan was such a good pirate that she got a dolphin "tatoo" on her cheek.

Both my little pirates loved watching the dolphins swim along side.

Before long, the swords came out - cousins Daniel and Justin seemed to like this part a lot.

Even Megan worked on her lunges a bit...

Then we went below to see the meanest captian on board and see his treasure chest.

Once we got up on the deck, they were teaching the kids how to shoot cannon balls.

Here's Daniel...

Justin....

Anna, with a little help from a shipmate....

And Megan - with some guidance as well...

After that workout, the crew was on the lookout for the sunken treasure. The mean ole pirate down below said that "X" marked the spot...

And indeed it did.... then everyone had to help hoist it on board.

There was much pirate singing and celebration...

right along with some games and dances...

Nicole prefered to be a spectator...

At the end of our excursion, the pirates so sweetly dropped us off at the pier instead of making anyone walk the plank. All the cousins seemed to have a good time - even though Nicole wanted nothing to do with the captain.