Nice pirates are out there.  The Veggie Tale pirates are nice…albeit a bit lazy. 

Captain Feathersword, of the Wiggles, is nice.

Now, don’t tell anyone this, okay?  But Indiana Mimi kinda has a thing for Captain Feathersword.  Shhhh….

Smee was almost nice.

And, then of course, there’s Jack Sparrow…

He’s nice…nice looking anyway.  At least that’s what Bonny Annie tells me.  I only have eyes for Admiral Big D.

I’m nice.  Most of the time.  My kids are laughing right now, and I don’t know why.  Excuse me while I go make them walk the plank.

But do you know who is the nicest of all pirates?  Do you know who wins the Nice Pirate of the Day Award?

The pirates over at the restaurant, Queen Anne’s Revenge, that I blogged about here a couple of weeks ago!  After I published that blog entry, do you know what they did?  They sent me that tee shirt I was pining for.  Can you believe that?!

Thank you soooooo much to everyone at Queen Anne’s on Daniel’s Island, SC (especially Lorraine)!  Now, I truly do feel like a….

I know that technically books are not toys, but they are if you are fourteen months old, and these books have demonstrated excellent qualities as both books AND toys in our household.

First of all, I don’t think I’ve ever met an Usborne book that I haven’t liked.  We own TONS of Usborne books thanks to our main school curriculum Sonlight.  They use a lot of their books, especially for science.  So the Usborne reputation preceded the arrival of this line of books to our home.

My sister bought two of the above for Cap’n Jack Henry for his birthday in November and then another one for Christmas, and there is not another book in this house that entertains him more.

Let’s take a look….

The cover is the first page of the story.  Every page then goes through a series of four or five things that are not ours.  In essence we are looking for our thing…whatever it is.  In this case, it’s our pirate, and as you can see, the one on the cover is not ours because his scarf is too rough.  You can then touch the scarf and feel for yourself.  Yep, too rough.  Not our pirate.  (Not to mention that guy is waaaaaay too wimpy looking to be our pirate.)

Page after chunky page we look for our pirate, but there’s always some tactical clue that the pirate is an imposter.  This one has a shiny cutlass, but from the look of his cheek, I’d say it was perhaps too sharp.

And then, finally, on the last page, we find what we are looking for…

Our very own pirate…

We know he’s ours because his beard is so fluffy (and he has a skull and crossbones on his hat…always a sure sign).  *Contented sigh*

As far as quality, they are superior to most board books.  First of all, the textured pieces are very secure.  Your baby or toddler will not be able to rip off the beard or make scratches in the cutlass or whatever.  Secondly, the pages are very thick.  Jack Henry can turn them on his own very easily, and his little razor-teeth can’t, no matter how hard he tries, bite off a chunk.

The other books we own are…

and…

They run about $9 a piece, would entertain up to about a four or five year-old and can be purchased here or here or here.

I am definitely going to be adding to our collection soon.  I can’t wait to find out who our monster is and which snowman belongs to us.  Compelling stuff, indeed!

Near Charleston, SC, on Daniel’s Island to be exact, there is a little gem of a restaurant, at least in my estimation.  It is the Queen Anne’s Revenge, and if you’re ever within about a fifty mile radius of this establishment, you need to try to go there…even if you’re not a pirate.  You’ll still like it.

At first, when you start talking about a pirate-themed restaurant, a tourist-trap type establishment comes to mind, doesn’t it?  Something along the lines of Dixie Stampede or Rain Forest Cafe, right?  That is NOT what The Queen Anne’s Revenge is at all.  It’s actually a classy place to eat, with almost a museum sort of feel, and the menu is nothing short of gourmet.

The decor is nautical and in one of the dining rooms you actually feel like you’re in the belly of a pirate ship…

But what did you expect from a restaurant named after Blackbeard’s vessel?

Charleston actually has a fairly rich pirate history, and the restaurant has collected many artifacts and works of art that collectively tell many of the buccaneer tales.

After you’ve spent some time browsing through all of the paraphernalia and begging your husband to buy you one of the pink tee-shirts that says, “Pirate Princess,” you are more than ready for your pirate food to be delivered to your table.  And let me tell you, it’s several steps above the actual pirate fare of moldy bread and jerky.

I had the Fried Green Tomato and Crab BLT…

…and I inhaled it so quickly and efficiently that I completely forgot to take a picture of it.  Sorry….but trust me…it saved your keyboard from some drool.

Bonny Annie ordered…get this!…the Anne Bonny Chicken.

I was thrilled that she liked the description and didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to dine on her nickname sake’s dish!

Big D and his lovely sister Amy both had the traditional Charlestonian dish of shrimp and grits.

They both gave it a thumbs up.

Amy’s husband Patrick had the fish and chips…another good choice.  I don’t remember what Dirty Harry had, but it was probably macaroni and cheese.  He’s not all that into food.  Cap’n Jack Henry ate a little from everyone’s plates and an apple cinnamon breakfast bar.  For authenticity’s sake, I just let him eat right off the table with his dirty hands, just like a pirate of old would have done.

Well, actually that’s how he always eats, and I wiped both him and the table down with a baby wipe before he dug in.  We’re only half pirate, ya’ know.

Queen Anne’s Revenge…I highly recommend you get your booty there and rustle yourself up some pirate grub!  You won’t be sorry!

And by the way, Big D refused to get me that tee-shirt since it was the day after Christmas, so if you could pick one up for me while you’re there, I’d be a very grateful pirate!

However, here at The Pirate Mom Dot Com, I want you to know that I *HEART* Vikings!

Big ones…

Little ones…

And even the goofy ones…

It’s just what I do.

Well, wonder no longer people!  In honor of…

…I’m going to share a-day-in-the-life-of-home-schooling-pirates.  Buckle your seatbelts…this is bound to be a bumpy ride!

Here’s what happened on…

5:30 AM

My alarm on my cell phone goes off.  I press snooze four times.  By 5:55, I’m up and stumbling into the kitchen.  I see Big D ironing a shirt for work, and I have a momentary wave of guilt wash over me for not having the foresight to get that done myself.  I assuage this feeling by putting together a lunch for him.  He’s already started the coffee, so I go take a shower while the stimulants continue to brew.

When I’m finished and dressed, Big D is sitting at the table reading…

I make myself a L-A-R-G-E cup of coffee and disappear upstairs to read e-mail, catch up on the news and blog.

7:00AM

Both older kids are up now, and they make themselves cereal and get dressed.  I finish up blogging just in time because Jack Henry is awake now and ready to be fed.

I get him dressed and employ Harrison to entertain him for a few minutes so that I can make my bed and do a couple of other things downstairs.

While I nurse the baby, I use my laptop one-handed to surf facebook and read some blogs.  The kids get started on some independent work downstairs at the kitchen table.

8:15AM

The baby is fed, and we’re ready to start for real.  I strap Jack Henry into his highchair and sprinkle a handful of Gerber puffs on the tray to keep him busy for a while.

My stomach growls, and I realize that I forgot to eat breakfast myself.  I fix a quick bowl of Kashi with fresh blueberries and down it.  Jack Henry is totally happy with his puffs, and the older kids seem busy, so I decide to go do my make-up and hair since Annaleigh has a tutorial class today and we’ll be out and about.  While I am in my bathroom, Annaleigh and Harrison have some kind of wild, knock-down-drag-out fight.  I come in to referee, yell my head off at them, threaten them with expulsion from TaeKwonDo if they ever lay a finger on one another again, and then, a little hoarse from this episode, proceed to finish my hair and make-up.

When I come back, I read our Bible passage to much more subdued kids, and we pray together.

9:00AM

I go over a to-do list of assignments with each kid and make sure they have it all written down in their planners.  I begin a language arts lesson with Harrison by copying some sentences to classify on our chalkboard.

He finishes that while I feed Jack Henry some cereal and fruit.  Annaleigh packs up for her tutorial science class, and Harrison gathers some things that he can do in the car, like his math lesson and a reader.  I realize that I have something on the front of my shirt, so I quickly change it.

9:35AM

We’re out the door and on our way to Annaleigh’s science class.

We drop her off at 9:45.  I try to take a picture of her going into the back of the church, but she’s embarrassed because some of her friends are standing around.  Eight graders!  I take it anyway…

Sometimes the boys and I just sit in the parking lot in the van and do school and listen to the radio and read since the class in only an hour and fifteen minutes, but today I go to Target.  They have diapers on sale, and I have a coupon.  I also have to fill up my van.

I also pick up a few more items that are on sale and that I have coupons for, and I marvel that I saved $14….ch-ching!

This Target has a Starbucks inside, so do I reward my frugality with a $2 coffee?

Oh yes, I do!

11:10AM

We pick Annaleigh up from class, and she is thrilled that I am still taking pictures of her.

In the backseat, the boys work on math and a bottle of juice.

We stop off at Kroger.  It’s highly unusual for me to do this during the week (except for milk runs), let alone during the school day, but Harrison had a baseball tournament all weekend long, and this is the first chance I’ve had to get to the store.  If I don’t go now, we will have to eat half a box of crackers, 12 grapes, and chocolate pudding for dinner.

12:15PM

We arrive home.  Jack Henry is passed out cold, so I leave him in his carseat and put groceries away.

Annaleigh makes lunch for herself and Harrison.  They choose HotPockets, which I just bought on-sale and with a coupon. (I saved $23 dollars at Kroger….that’s $37 for the day!!!)

I love that they still use their Princess and Star Wars plates.

While they eat, I get up a groggy Jack Henry, determine he is too tired to sit at the table to eat lunch, so I nurse him and put him down for his Round One nap.  I come back downstairs and warm up some leftovers of meatloaf and mashed potatoes for my lunch.  Jack Henry is in his crib all of about fifteen minutes before he starts howling.  I bring him down and feed him lunch.

He likes it.  I promise.

He then goes down for Round Two nap.  He fusses for about ten minutes and then passes out.

1:30PM

The big kids are back at the table, working on more math, vocabulary, and spelling.

While they finish up, I sit on the sofa and read aloud a chapter from each of these…

…and scratch Clara’s ears because she insists on being in my face the entire time.

After I read, we all kinda go our separate ways.  Harrison plays Lord of the Rings on the computer.  Annaleigh reads over her drama script.  I start some laundry, clean up the kitchen a little and veg on the couch with my laptop.

4:00PM

Jack Henry wakes up.  I nurse him again.  Then I start dinner prep.  I already have some chicken in the crockpot, so I put some rice in the steamer and make a salad.  Annaleigh and Harrison entertain Jack Henry on the back porch with some bubbles.

5:20PM

I realize all of sudden that I forgot to take Harrison to his TaeKwonDo class, which started at 5:10.  Oh well.  He can go on Thursday.  Big D gets home, changes clothes and plays a little catch with Harrison in the backyard for a little while.

While I make final dinner preparations, the kids unload the dishwasher, and Jack Henry spends some time in his playpen.

6:00PM

We finally sit down for dinner.

After we eat, Big D feeds Jack Henry his favorite food:  a Yo-Baby banana yogurt.  I clean up the kitchen, and then help Annaleigh with a nagging math problem, while Harrison finishes labeling his map of Alabama for geopraphy.

7:15PM

Big D and Harrison go to the garage so that Harrison can work on his pitching with the backstop a little bit.  I take Jack Henry upstairs and get him cleaned up and in his jammies.  Annaleigh checks her e-mail and facebook.  Jack Henry and I watch a Praise Baby DVD and read (and chew on) some books.

8:15PM

I nurse Jack Henry for the final time and put him to bed.  Meanwhile, the kids take turns getting showers.  They brush their teeth, read for a while, and both are settled by 9:30.  Big D and I also get ready for bed.

10:00PM

Big D is at the kitchen table working on his laptop.  I join him and read a chapter of Crazy Love.  I read aloud a Psalm.  We decide to log into Annaleigh’s facebook account just to make sure she doesn’t have a secret boyfriend or something.  She doesn’t.  Big D changes her profile picture to a goofy shot he had taken over the weekend.  I tell him that Annaleigh will die a thousand deaths when she sees it.  He leaves it on there and logs out.

I go upstairs to begin loading the 2, 542 pictures that I took today.

11:15PM

I look at the time and gasp.  I had meant to be in bed by 10:45.  Big D is in bed but is still awake.  We talk for a while and he rubs a knot I’ve developed throughout the day in my neck.  I check to make sure the baby monitor is on, set my alarm for 5:30AM and finally, I go to sleep.

So now you know what pirates really do all day.  Go and tell all your friends.

That was fun, wasn’t it?  I think I’ll do this once a week.

Or not.