Buccaneer Days in Esquimalt

Celebrating birthday week is a ball!  On Saturday, mohawks cut, pirate costume on, we sailed for the fine port of Esquimalt for their celebration of Buccaneer Days!  Fabulous pancake breakfast, a Buccaneer parade, an overly expensive midway and a free child's pirate den made for a day we couldn't complain about!

"Arrrghhhh!"  Eli opened his first present in the morning. Of course, being the good mother I am, I "wrapped" it in a Planet Organic grocery bag, didn't take any pictures of the event, and he had watched me making the entire thing earlier, so there really was no surprise.  In any case, he got a pirate costume, and couldn't have been happier.

Want to make a pirate costume for your own little?  Well, let me tell you just how easy, and cheap, it is.  We went to Value Village and picked the very cheapest white shirt.  I didn't care what size or how dirty it was, I just wanted cheap, after all, pirates don't care about size or cleanliness, right?  I got this one for $2.  Then I picked off the top three buttons, used a seam ripper to make a few more "button holes" on both sides of the shirt (four total on each side), strung some leather through, and tied a knot.  Then I cut off the arms all jagged like, and called it a day!  The bandana was from Michaels for $3, and he just wore some dark shorts.  If I had found some for less than $2, I would have bought some black pants and cut them off the same as the arms, but I had no luck in that department.  He be a mighty fine pirate, don't ye think, mateys?

Then we headed off for the Buccaneer Day's pancake breakfast.  Let me tell you, it was no Stampede Breakfast, but it was fun none the less. I don't know why I  got such a kick out of this, but check out our "juice" options. I'm not sure if there was any apples or oranges in attendance at this breakfast.  We gave them to the people sitting next to us and stuck with our water.

Then we watched the parade.  Again, shame on me for comparing, but it was a far cry from the Raymond July 1st parade (very little candy...), but we were entertained.

 Arrrghhhh!

 I have no idea.  Pirate Jedi?

 No candy, but we did get paper pirate hats.

After the parade we walked through the midway, quickly decided we weren't prepared to spend $5 on a single ride, and found the Child's Pirate Den, where everything was free, and the boys were totally happy. 

 What kind of pirates would they be without tattoos? Not very good ones, I would venture. 

 Yeah for Buccaneers!