Pirates Ahoy!

Last Saturday (while Brad was busy studying) the girls and I went to see some real, live pirates. It was pretty awesome.

Some background: There is a big festival in Seattle during the Summer months called Seafair. It begins in July and ends in August. Every weekend there is some event/carnival going on in the Seattle area, all in the name of Seafair. The event that kicks it all off is the landing of the Seafair Pirates on Alki Beach. The Pirates come and take over the city during Seafair.They land on the beach claiming to seek the treasure they left the previous year.

Like I said, it was pretty awesome.

We got there early enough to get all the free stuff they handed out: pirate hats for the girls, a pirate sword for Lainy, a pirate squirt gun for Leah, and plenty of Pirate Booty (snacks and treats).

Picking her nose or saying "Aarrgh"? You decide...

We also had plenty of time to look around. There were pirates roaming the beach, booths, games, and more. Elliot Bay was full of boats: some just normal speed boats, some real-looking pirate ships. They shot off canons and fireworks all morning.

This pirate was escaping from his captors. Do you see the bombs in his hands?

But eventually the bad pirates caught him again.

A cool boat shooting water

When we'd had our fill of checking out the booths, we picked a spot on the beach and settled down to wait for the pirates. More and more people came until we couldn't even play in the sand anymore. But that was okay, because soon enough, the pirates came!

We saw their ship coming from across the bay. They shot off canons and left a trail of smoke behind them.

Here they come! See the boat with the smoke behind it?

They landed on the beach in this big boat borrowed from  the Coast Guard

Finally, they were close enough to jump off their ship and storm the beach. We couldn't see them very well because of all the people, but I did find this picture on the internet:

My favorite comment of the day from Lainy (said while we were playing on the beach and waiting for the pirates): "Mommy, aren't pirates bad?"

My favorite new thing Leah learned: to hold up her pirate gun and say "Arrrgh!"

Thank you, Seattle, for giving us such a fun way to spend a Saturday morning!