Dread Pirates

Two weeks ago we were risking life, limb, and the neighbor's houses with coleman stoves. There was also a bit of archery, a fair amount of jousting (for granola bar prizes), and some disorganized bashing with padded swords. Middle ages of course.

This weekend we were pirates. Deal was all three kids had to come up with an appropriate pirate name and a story to explain how they became a pirate, how they acquired their treasure, and what caused them to have their horrific pirate injury. Then they could hide their treasure (goldfish crackers and rolos) and, when coaxed into forgetting themselves by imbibing too much sparkling green apple cider, reveal their map (actually, all three ended up writing cryptic clues instead).

Now, my children are extremely creative, but they have never bothered much with names. Stuffed animals in our house have gone by Mr Tiger, Elephanty, Bear-Bear and so on. In fact, only two ever got called anything remotely interesting. A small rubber rainbow trout was dubbed 'Cinderella Kissy Face Fish,' and a tiny felt mouse ended up as 'CheeseAppleMousePeeperSqueak.'

However, they didn't do too badly. We're now housing the dread pirates Dirty Jack, Tom the Invisible Slasher, and Nine-Toed Noodler (a pasta chef).

Next stop, the Spanish main.