Talk Like a Pirate Day

I needed to lighten up and do something spontaneous and fun with the children last week, so I proposed a crazy idea. I asked them to dress up in their best pirate costumes so we could drive 30 minutes to the nearest Krispy Kreme shop for free donuts. I don't even like Krispy Kreme donuts, but I thought this was a unique opportunity to create a fun family memory....so by golly, I was going to do it. Our family needed to do something fun and lighthearted anyway. Even though it's a long drive, to me it was worth it to create a bonding experience with the family. I figured this was the type of silly adventure they would remember their entire lives, so it leaped to the top of my priority list for the day.

Sarah and Matthew dug out costume pieces from our Halloween box in the attic. When they realized we didn't own a stuffed parrot for their shoulder, a duck substituted just fine, although they did joke about catching a live chicken to wear on their shoulder.

I joined the fun and donned elements of my steam punk costume, accessorizing for a pirate-y look while we all practiced pirate lingo.

Not to leave Dnaiel out of all the fun, we stopped by the public school to check him out. I swaggered into the office where the secretary eyed me and asked (with a completely straight face- big points for that!) "Are you checking him out for a dentist or doctor appointment? Or something else?"

Daniel's eyes lit up in excitement when he saw my costume, and I whispered in his ear that we had a costume waiting for him in the van. As we walked through the parking lot to the van, Matthew popped out of the van with a fist raised in the air as he shouted, "Avast, ye yellow-bellied land-lubber! Load the cannons!" Sarah popped out of another window, trying not to giggle while she added, "Ahoy matey! Ahoy!"

Since Diego didn't understand the entire game, Sarah helped him out by carefully penning the word, "Ahoy!" on the palm of his hand. She reasoned, "This way whenever he waves at people, he can be saying 'Ahoy!' even if he forgets."

The boys all donned plastic stickers shaped like mustaches, with Diego eagerly imitating them. (Although Diego looks much more like Mario than a pirate...) Together we swaggered into Krispy Kreme, and together we shared exuberant pirate phrases with the cashiers. Together we were shocked beyond words when we were EACH handed a dozen donuts. I had thought we'd get one dozen to divide amongst ourselves, and even considered that to be too many donuts. Now we had 48! Oh yikees!

We promptly took them home and the children delivered some of their donuts to the neighbors. And then we ate donuts for DAYS on end. At the end of the week, we declared we were throwing a birthday party for our poultry flock, and we fed the chickens the remaining stale donuts. It was such a silly sight and the kids laughed and laughed as they watched the chickens eagerly dig in to Krispy Kreme goodness. The end.