Max loves pirates! He loves to tell you about Blackbeard & Henry Morgan, Ann Bonny & Mary Read. He even thinks privateers like Sir Francis Drake are pretty neat. (Can you tell Mommy's a history nerd?) So when I noticed a poster in the grocery store describing the STL Pirate Festival I knew we'd have to go. And Ian was home, so he got to go too!
Right off the bat, we had to stop & dig for buried treasure! Ian got to do most of the digging since Max was distracted by all the pirates roaming around. Next stop, the belly dancers! I don't have to tell you why he liked them.

After lunch, we headed to the Sword & Roses show which consisted of singing, sword fighting sisters who were followed by a sword swallower/fire eater. Max thought they were great. At one point, we could see the sword moving in time to her heartbeat. He kept asking how they did it & why the sword swallower had so many tattoos & why didn't I have more.

And so our next stop was the face painting booth, to get Max a tattoo, just like a proper pirate. I think that was the longest I've ever seen him sit still.

We roamed all over the fair, meeting a few of his favorite pirates. Some of them even gave him gold doubloons which he promptly pocketed. We evn saw some pirates who had been thown in jail for being wild & crazy! We listened to a harpist who played a Scottish tune for us then a pirate drinking song which Max thought was really nifty. We peeked into shops along the way to see what they had to offer. There were costumes & jewelry, knives & swords, lots of arts & crafts. Max decided on a wooden toy boat since everyone knows all pirates have to have their own boat and a wooden sword. Max tested out quite a few swords before he found one just his size. I think he may have been a pirate in another life since he tested the weight, length & how well it moved before he decided on the perfect one. After he asked the lady pirate how much it cost, he reached in his pocket and pulled out a couple of the gold doubloons & tried to pay with those. When that didn't work, I handed him the money. Then it was time to go.

As we started down the highway, Max chattered about how neat it was to meet all the pirates & how "(big yawn) I'm not tired, Mom. (bigger yawn)" About 5 minutes later, I looked back & saw him sleeping peacfully, sword in hand & pirates sailing through his dreams.