I can't believe it's been five years already since our littlest guy burst into the world. In some ways (for example, his vocabulary), he seems older than five. In other ways (such as how he likes to pretend to be a baby), he seems younger. Because he missed the school cutoff by four days, he'll be spending another year in preschool before moving on to kindergarten next year. Somehow, five seems so OLD. He has been such a delightful addition to our family--it always boggles my mind when I realize that I have three kids (and that we only have him through sheer grace).
Today, for his birthday, we decided to take in the
Portland Pirate Festival. I've always considered attending, but we've never gotten around to it. It's a bit pricey for a family of five, compared to other festivals and events around town. Of course, leave it to us to attend for the first time ever...the first time it has been outside of Portland! The festival moved to St. Helens this year, about 40 minutes from Portland. It turned out to be a nice setting for the festival, because it was set in the historic downtown waterfront area. But man, was it hot!!
As soon as we arrived, the kids got recruited to be in a pirate play.
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| Kieran striking a pirate pose |
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| Nick on deck with the other deck hands |
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Then, unfortunately, I got pulled out of the office to participate! (This usually happens to Mike, not me!)
I ended up being the anchor. |
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| Deck hand Nick |
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| The deck hands pulling up the anchor (me) |
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| Kieran sailing the ship |
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| Kieran in the stocks |
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| Nick in the stocks |
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| Pirate ice cream on a hot day! |
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| Watching a pirate puppet show |
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| Sleepy pirate during the puppet show |
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| Kieran with one of his "pieces of eight" |
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After the puppet show, we listened to "Mr. Mac," the singing pirate...
I asked him to sing happy birthday to Nick while he was prepping for his show |
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| Our little face-painted pirate |
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| Kieran getting his face painted |
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| Our two pirates |
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| Kieran's intricate dragon |
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| Team effort on a coloring contest |
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| Chris listening to his tunes while the younger kids color |
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| Pirate on stilts |
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| With the mermaids |
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| Nick especially enjoyed the inflatable slides |
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| Nick twirling with mermaids |
After we'd endured enough heat, we headed back into town to meet my parents at Burgerville.
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| Mom with Nick (showing off his new cowboy boots, a gift from us) |
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Cowboy pirate
(in his new costume from Grandma and Grandpa) |
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| With Grandpa |
When we got home, he dove into some of his new gifts, including a Toy Story stunt set from Grandma and Grandpa, and a race car painting set from friends Stephanie, Pasquale, and Natalie.
As I was putting the boys to bed, Nick asked me who Davey Jones was, and what the word "soul" means. Then he told me he wasn't afraid of Davey Jones, because Jack Sparrow would protect him.
And his final words before I said goodnight: "Mom? Am I five?"
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