"You've got a playdate with destiny!"

Last weekend was a special occasion for Opeie as it was the first time that he has fully experienced the magic of the Pirates and understood what is going on. Even if you are a regular reader or you've stumbled upon us by accident you may be thinking 'why Gifts from the Pirates?'. The Pirates were invented as a kind of reward system for Seth, they are a magical happy crew and their ship is in the sky, they are always watching over the boys through the light fittings in the house and keep a close eye on their behaviour.

Clearly excellent behaviour and things that the boys do that we are proud of should be rewarded and in the past every now and again Seth would hear the sound of waves and a creaky wooden ship and then frantically dash around the house looking as he knew from that sound that something special had been left for him. They can turn up anywhere and have been known to show up in the park and while Seth was in hospital, they are very clever Pirates.

Last weekend after some serious great behaviour it was Opeies turn for a special surprise. When he woke up on Saturday morning there was a Lots-o'-Huggin' bear sitting at the end of the bed facing him and he was very excited to see him. In a whispering but excited voice we heard, "Mommy! Daddy! There's a Lotso at the end of the bed, can I open him please?" It was probably a bad move as it was quite early and surprisingly there was no going back to sleep after that (for me anyway), dam Pirates. 

Opeie had a huge smile on his face though and couldn't wait to get his new buddy ready for our weekend adventure to the beach. So we strapped him in the car seat and off we went in search of fun...

And when it was time to come home Opeie even made him his own bed so he felt like part of the family. Opeies a well behaved little chap (most of the time) so I think we'll have many other visits from those magical Pirates.