Yesterday was Pirate Day at Topsail Beach and though D took the kiddies last year while I was working, this was my first time experiencing it.

We were lucky enough to get there early and get parking at the beach thereby bypassing the hassle of walking or taking the shuttle – both a bit of a pain, especially at the end of the afternoon with two tired little ones!

The fun thing is that almost everyone dresses up! Of course, all the kiddies were fully decked out:

…but most adults wore a pirate hat, at least, and for those who were underdressed, Tim Hortons was there with free coffee, timbits, and pirate hats!

We were a little early, so had some time to wander around and take pictures:

Or not! 🙂

Well, we had time to do some exploring at least:

And to look out for the pirate ship:

Finally, it was time for a bit of fun! Ray Lake performed and the kiddies all had a blast! I have the best video of M dancing and trying to hula hoop without actually having a hoop on – funny!

I also finally got one of them to pose for me:

And they were happy to show off their red and green eye patches:

And then suddenly, there she was, with some very loud explosions of cannons!

For such an awesome sight, two eyes are needed – bye, bye eye patch! 🙂

They came ashore with their pirate booty and agreed to trade it, along with the mayor, for their lives and their skeleton friend who was hanging on shore. And the best part was that everyone got some gold coins!

All in all, a fun day and everyone was pretty tired by the time we got home. Another sign of a good day? They didn’t want to leave and are still wearing the pirate hats this morning!

S.