Aaargh! Ahoy, Matey!

There are pirates in town. Did you hear? Yup. Real pirates. Honest! Just ask A. She'll tell you. We met 2 of them on Friday. This one here, he was a tailor. He told us a lot about the Whydah and how many pirates were on it: 150 on a ship that was 150 long and 50 feet wide. Spacious? Hardly! A kept asking if he was a real pirate. He kept shifting the question back to her, asking her what she thought. She just looked at him. 

We saw so many artifacts from the ship. Sword handles, muskets, the bell of the ship-in its entirety, ship name and all, but the cannons were the kids' favorites. We even figured out how much they weighed based on numbers that were stamped on the top of the cannon. This one that C is standing by was just over 1500 pounds. Amazing! They even had the cannon balls by them to show the actual size. 

 There was lots for the kids to do through the exhibit. We had a family guide to fill out while we went from gallery to gallery. The kids each got a pirate patch at the end for filling it in. They also got to make rope! This volunteer talked about how rope was made for their ships. Here A and C got to do it on a much smaller scale. But, sure enough, they had a piece of rope, tightly wound, to take with them afterwards!

  They also tried tying knots, with not much success, but at least they tried!

Their favorite parts to see were the ship and the pirate booty (treasure). The ship was neat because you got to "go" on it. That's where we met the surgeon. He was an important part to the ship because he helped people with their infections. AKA: he cut off their limbs. Super! He got a share and a half of the treasure which he was quite proud of. 

Here was the actual treasure. You could touch the real coins here in the circles. They were not cut very neatly. No perfect circle edges there! And then there, with C, is the only known pirate treasure ever discovered. It was kind of surreal to see it there. It was inside a glass box, no doubt temperature-regulated and such to preserve it.

I'm really happy that we went to this exhibit. I'm not usually one for paying for something extra when we have a family pass to a place like the Science Museum. But it was for a discounted member price, so we took advantage! Well worth it, too! I'm not sure when we would ever have a chance to see things like this again. The kids enjoyed it too. They were really into it for a whole hour, which says something for 2 five year olds! Aaargh, Matey! Watch your treasures!

Twinkle Toes

Today we had Twinkle Toes doing a show for us. Do you see her? 

 Now do you see her? In the middle with her oh-so-focused look on her face. She was dancing to Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight? She did great!

 There were many people to support our Twinkle Toes...

 Mamma Sue and Big Papa...even on Mamma's birthday!

 Mamma Jo and Papa Kevin...

 All of the Herll Girls!

 And of course, us!

 This little honey has so much spunk and life in her.

I love watching her shake, jump and leap. I love watching her smile, giggle and twirl. She is a girly girl and I love every little bit about it.

And deep down, her brother loves everything about her too. Even if he did seem as though he had been taken against his will to the dance show tonight. Sorry, buddy. It's only the beginning!

Tying My Shoes

A...Guess what? I know how to tie my shoes. Yep. I do. Know what that means? I get to wear my Twinkle Toes shoes my mommy wouldn't let me wear until I learned how to tie my shoes myself. I guess I see her point. I mean, she'd have to be tying my shoes a lot. Because I didn't know how to tie them. But now I do! Yippee! See, there was this class at "The Mall of the America," at one of my my mommy's favorite stores: Nordstrom. They even let us in early to go to shoe tyin' class! The lights weren't even all on in there. And then I heard voices over the ceiling that talked about a fashion show. We didn't do that though. We tied shoes.

They taught us a little poem to go along with tying our shoes. We made a mountain and found a secret hole. That part was tricky. But I got it. Afterwards they gave us a bag with lots of things in it. And, guess what?! We even got to have a free chocolate chip cookie from the cafe downstairs! There was a surprise in the cookies: gooey chocolate chips. I shared a bite with my mommy because I know how much she loves chocolate chips. We were really lucky to have a cookie in the MORNING! But the best part is now I know how to tie my shoes! And...I'm only 5.

C...Guess what? I know how to tie my shoes! Wait, you already knew that? It was my sister, wasn't it. She was the one who told you. She always tells everything first. Well, I'm going to tell you too! We went to "The Mall of the 'Merica" on Saturday and went to a shoe tying class. I didn't even know we were going to a class until my mama told me. She always does the neatest things with us. I love it. I was a little frustrated with tying my shoes at first. I kept getting mixed up with the laces.

The first part is the trickiest for me. After I get that part down then it's easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. I can even go super fast through the mountain-making loop and finding the secret hole. But even then sometimes I go too fast and have to start over. It takes lots and lots of practice. Sometimes I get frustrated but then I try again. Daddy says I have to do it over and over again to get really good at it. By the time the class was finished I could do it! I think my sister could do it before me, but that's ok. I still got to do it.

And, did you hear that we had a chocolate chip cookie in the morning? I know. Lucky. Then we had apple juice with it. My favorite. I always drink that up way too fast, but it's because I love it so much! Another thing I really liked about that morning was the bag of stuff we got. There were some little toys in our bag and a paper shoe for us to practice on. The nice girls that taught our class gave us a balloon, too. I got a green one to match my shirt. I'm happy Mommy and Daddy took us to practice shoe tying because now I can wear my basketball shoes. They're really fast shoes that my dad bought for me this winter when I played basketball. Now I can wear those ones and my sneakers. I love wearing my tie shoes!

We found a "birdy."

"But it was splattered all over the sidewalk, Mom! There was like, um, well, a POUND of blood that he lost."
"Because you know a baby bird has a pound of blood," says the fourth grader friend.
"Well, we're making it a sign, you know, where we buried the bird. And then you'll know where the baby bird is buried. You should come see it, Mom. Really. But it's already buried so you can only see the spot where the dirt is."
"Ok, I'd love to come and see it."
And this is what I saw when all was said and done...

I wish I was at the beach

Because just look...

Don't you wish you were there too? We had a blast. More to come...