Gigi told us she had a big surprise planned for today, so we finished up our beach play in time to shower and snack before loading up. The surprise? She'd booked us a Pirate Cruise on the Sea Dragon! This would be exciting to anyone, but when we found out that the pirates had two full hours of kids' activities planned and all parents had to do was sit back and enjoy rum punch and ocean breezes, well WOW! It started out with meeting Fearless Phil, our captain, and going over some rules, and then, before we knew it, all the kids were gathered in a circle on the main deck, handed water guns, and turned loose on each other! We watched happily from the upper deck as Dennis engaged a number of children in battle. The captain directed them to return the guns and then sent the girls inside for face painting while the boys were handed mops and instructed to swab the deck. Then the boys went inside for pirate hats and face painting, and when they came out, each kid was handed a plastic sword and told to practice their swordfighting. Dennis LOVED this, and again, we watched from afar. No one was hurt or crying--much fun was had by all. Soon we were sighting dolphins and watching them swim around us, and then the kids were all allowed to shoot the bean bag cannon. They went down to the "dungeon" to read the treasure map and then came back up to see if they could spot the buoy with the "X" on it. Dennis went to get his spyglass and took it to the captain. Together they spied the buoy and one of the pirates hauled it in and attached a line to the line it was marking. The kids formed a line and chanted "Heave, Ho" as they pulled the line hand over hand, pulling up a treasure chest as they did so. Each kid got to choose 3 treasures from the chest (Dennis got a finger puppet, a dolphin, and a piece of pirate gold), and soon, they were all handed tambourines for a conga line. They put kids with March birthdays in the center of a circle and serenaded them (he has had the best birthday month EVER) and then led all the kids in the chicken dance. Dennis smiled the whole time. He would occasionally come up to the upper (shaded!) deck to say hi to us before returning to his pirate duties. At the end of the ride, the kids swore a pirate oath and were given pirate beads (skulls and bones). We heard pirate talk for the rest of the day, of course. Dennis named himself Captain Wherebeard (as in "where's my beard?") and deputized me as "Dive-It". He ordered me around for a bit as we were driving back to Gigi's place. He had SO much fun that he didn't really balk at napping afterward (after all, he'd been very busy as a pirate). Tonight we grilled burgers on the balcony, watched the dancing fountain show as we ate, and then took Dennis for his first ever night beach walk. He was very chatty and happy, and tonight he fell asleep quickly and easily. In fact, I am the only person in the condo that's still awake! What a magical day!
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