Sam's 4th B-day

1 This is Sam's 4 th birthday invitation. You should be able to open it from here. It's a pirate party!	2 The long-awaited day of the pirate party and birthday campout!	3 You have to cross the runways on base to get there - makes you feel like you're going somewhere you shouldn't :)	4 Here we are at Hale Koa beach on base, launching the "Pirate Ships".
5 Dennis is a military policeman - such a nice guy. He is Sam's friend Aiden's father. That's little Eva in front, and Jonah in back. Dennis has never kayaked before. I don't think the pirates had either. Luckily the waters were really calm.	6 Caliegh waving goodbye to Anneliese-pirate!	7 Here's Caliegh getting a pirate ship ride, too!	8 Ahoy, there, me hearties!!!
9 The pirates took a friendly tour of the harbor...	10 That's "Pirate Cove" where the "islands" are sticking out of the water (rocks).	11 Hmmm...is there a pirate war going on to take over Pirate Cove?	12 Anneliese welcomes Caleigh home :)
13 Giji and Rinnah - such a cute little girl pirate! Giji took many of the beautiful pictures posted here. Thank you, Giji!!! Giji is Jonah and Rinnah's mom - and our neighbor.	14 Sam was serious about his pirate duties that day. He insisted on being a "good pirate" as in he refused to fight any of the big pirates who showed up (my friend Angel's son David and his two friends who dressed the part so well!).	15	16 Sam and Jonah...
17	18	19 Rinnah found a sword :)	20
21 Pirate parent briefing - the next event is the treasure hunt. I found cute little chests at Ben Franklin, finished them, and loaded them with treasures (rocks, rings, and other things). I made weathered maps by using tea and oil, then burned the edges. Dave wondered if I applied the oil before or after the burning...I actually don't remember. But it all worked out ok :) The pen still worked, too! I had to draw the maps in a major hurry at the party because I couldn't very well make a map until I'd buried the treasure. So while Dave-Pirate was taking wee pirates out to the Cove, I was madly burying treasure, marking it with an x (strange root-things I found at the beach) and making maps. Mom was frosting the planet cake Sam wanted - Jupiter. What a process! That cake took a week to make - two half spheres on two separate days, then frozen. All the while Ben was in my arms, making my left bicep absolutely ache. I think right here he's with mom, finally taking a nap.	22 I handed out 5-in-1 survival whistle/mirror/flint/compass things to the pirate teams to hunt for their treasure. Figured that would be a good thing to have around on the next hike anyway :)	23 Jonah was a very proficient whistler!	24 But that treasure managed to elude him for a bit! He was precious!
25 Rinnah says "Jonah! Look for the X!"	26 Ah ha! Found it!	27 Eva contemplating treasure. Or something :)	28 Maybe mischief?
29 Sam's friend "Aiden K" (there are two Aidens in his class).	30	31 Making coffee with the sand?	32 Giji said Sam was making blueberry coffee for us here :) Thanks, Giji!
33	34	35 Walk the plank!!!	36
37 The fierce grown-up boy pirates! They had bottles of "rum" too - soda! Very clever.	38 Aiden was fearless!	39	40
41 Team Jones begins looking for their treasure as Team K looks on...	42 Team Galang studying their map...	43 Sam found his treasure barrel!	44 Team K found theirs, too!
45 Ohhh! What's in it?!	46 Diamonds?	47	48
49 Success for Team Jones! They didn't know it but there was a second treasure chest for Caliegh hidden as well!	50	51	52 Pieces of 8!
53 Angel pirate!	54 Getting the cake ready :)	55 Lighting the "candles" - real pirate kindling. Can you tell that's Jupiter? C'mon now? No?!	56 The kids are thinking - this is crazy? Where are the real candles?
57 Ok ready to blow?	58 Go Sammy!	59	60
61 OK - dig in! Pirates don't use utensils. We let the kids eat like pirates and just grab handfuls of cake. It was so funny to watch their expressions. Some of them wanted forks! Sam was not bashful - he's been looking forward to this moment for some time. One of his pirate books suggests this is how pirates eat.	62 Jonah dug right in, too! Good boy!	63 The girls say, "do what? hands?"	64 Jonah shows 'em how :)
65 Really? Even Aiden is not so sure!	66 Sam goes in again!	67 And the girls decide to join in the lunacy!	68
69 Now with forks, though!	70	71 Yum!	72
73	74	75 We did a good job demolishing the cake.	76
77	78	79 Look at that bite! And those cheeks!	80
81 Ben sleeping peacefully through it all.	82 Thanks to Gramma. Nice place to nap :)	83 Sweet baby boy.	84 The kids were wondering at first if there'd be a bouncy house at the party. They were amazed when they learned there wouldn't be one. Almost every party here has a bouncy house. The kids love them! Turns out the tent was a great place to romp. It was folding over, bulging out and bursting with fun. We had a great time at Sam's party - thank you to all who came and made it so memorable!
85 The octopus hunters were out...the kids got to feel one.	86	87 You freeze them to let the toughness soften up a bit, then boil them. I think.	88 Shooting out for a quick paddle.
89 Strong winds and current - good workout going this way!	90	91 It's afternoon now, Ben has napped again, and now we're playing. Mom and I camped out with the boys for two days while Dave went about life with work and school. Here Ben is drinking some water.	92
93 Gotta love his faces!	94 Dave hung out with us for dinner, then went home to do school work.	95 Such a beautiful place to camp.	96
97	98	99	100
101 Daddy loves his boys so much.	102	103	104 Pieces of 8 s'mores! Wow!
105 Taking his balloons for a walk.	106	107	108 He did this last year with a big Thomas balloon. Just LOVED taking it for a walk. This year he had FOUR balloons :)
109 Another gorgeous sunset.	110 The next morning we made pancakes and played in the sand. I paddle surfed some little breaks out there (you can see the white in the background). Gorgeous morning.	111	112
113	114	115 Apple cider! (I sneaked out to get mom and me some lattes).	116 Getting dressed?
117 Shooting out for that paddle...	118 And coming home a bit wet :) I went in once. I tried to be very conservative because the break was right over a reef - like just inches below. You do not want that 12 ft board to land on your head and bash it into a reef. I really got the feel of it but need much more practice.	119	120 Our little campsite.
121	122 Clever shot, mom :)	123 The protected wetlands right behind us were a nice place for mosquitoes to hang out. They were not out all day, but they came out and bit the b-jeebers out of the boys at night. Somehow at least half a dozen had found their way into our tent! They didn't go for mom and me at all, but poor Ben...	124 Sam and I collected treasures for a preschool project that we'll work on with Aiden's mom, Michelle. She is an accomplished artist who uses found items to create her pieces.
125 Helicopters doing training overhead add much interest...and noise :)	126 I never tire of the backdrop here.	127 I sneaked Ben and Sam out on a quick little ride, very close to shore in very calm water, only a foot deep in most places, lest you worry...	128 Sam decided he could swim from Pirate's Cove to shore, so he piled out of the kayak.
129 And took to the channel! Go swimmer! He has his boogie board with him.	130 A little bourbon for the evening.	131 Packing up after the second night - in a hurry before more rain comes in. Last night was nuts - very strong winds flapping at the tent all night. Rain. We stayed dry and for the most part, warm. Ben found his way into my bed around 3am - he got cold with all the wind swirling around despite how many layers I put on him. The little trooper was so happy to find himself in mommy's arms that he just kissed me and kissed me, right on the lips. Sam was warm under his fleece blanket. I kept checking on him, as mothers do, but he was fine. So basically I slept in two-hour snatches, but that's what camping is all about. A big adventure. You never know what you're going to get! We debated about staying the second night with 60% rain forecast, but how can one gear-test a tent unless you're in it? So mom and I decided to stay. The tent did admirably, too. We were a bit sad to leave, but also happy to get back to warm, dry environs. We had a great time!	132 That night, on Sam's actual 4th birthday, we celebrated as a family.
133 Sam is FOUR! He woke up at the campsite this morning saying "Now am I FOUR?" I say "Yes!" And he replied, "That is a bit crazy because I still fit into THESE!" referring to his sweatpants. I think he must have thought he would grow quite large overnight!	134	135