Virginia Beach...Day 6 Capt. Jack's Pirate Adventure

Today was our last full day at Virginia Beach. We had hoped to meet up with the Thompsons who live in the area and have a son who is a year younger than Lukas and adopted from the same baby house. Unfortunately we didn't catch up with one another. I must say that our vacation went out with a big bang! We slept in and then headed to the inlet for the Capt. Jack Pirate Adventure. It was a great trip and Lukas had a blast!

First we rode the shuttle from the boardwalk to the ship in the inlet. Prior to boarding they gave all the kids pirate hats and took our photo with the pirates...or in the case of the one, what was left of him.

Always the ladies man, Lukas got picked to assist with the safety demo

Naturally they have pirate items for sale on board. Yet more guns for the arsenal
While the other mates wanted to hunt for blackbeard and treasure this one preferred to sing a little Gilbert and Sullivan....
The others had other ideas and managed to pursade her otherwise...
Ah, more face painting. A pirate must have a mustache and scar...arrrgh!

Chatting it up with one of the ship's mates


We trolled back and forth in the atlantic in front of the Virginia Beach boardwalk. We had seen the ship earlier in the week while on the beach. We got to see some dolphin as well. At one point one of them came swimming up towards the ship. About half way through the outing they had the kids sit down on the lower deck and told them all about the history of Blackbeard the pirate, pirate symbols and other pirate lore. It was very educational and well done.

Then they brought out the big cannon and the kids got to prep it to shoot it off. Lukas got to help with step one, cleaning it before packing it.
They didn't actually fire the big cannon but a little tiny one clipped on to the side. It did make a big, loud noise just the same. Then it was on into the inlet to look for Blackbeard.

LUKAS ON THE LOOKOUT

LUKAS INFORMING ONE OF THE SHIP'S MATES THAT HE SPOTTED BLACKBEARD
ALL THE SHIP'S MATES DEFENDING THE SHIP AND TREASURE FROM BLACKBEARD WITH WATER CANNONS

Each child was allowed to pick out one item from the chest. Lukas chose a canary diamond ring to go with his pirate ring, eye patch, gun, and cup that we came home with from the trip. We also had an actual pirate cap that we managed to lose walking from the shuttle to the car. It literally vanished into thin air.

LUKAS GETTING HIS COPY OF THE TREASURE MAP AND HIS SHARE OF THE LOOT
One last photo op before heading to the shuttle ride back to the car

Once we got home and had some lunch it was off to the beach for one last afternoon of fun in the waves. Lukas got to try out his new body board in the surf with the girls.

LUKAS, MADISON AND KIRA Lukas was a little tentative about going out beyond where the waves broke. If he stayed at the shore it was hard to really catch a wave. The biggest problem was he couldn't really make his way beyond the breakers with the board by himself. Madison and Kira came to his rescue.

GETTING A LITTLE ASSIST FROM THE GIRLS

Lukas spotted Skyler laying at the surf's edge. Look out Skyler...

COPY CAT
GIRLS, WATCH OUT FOR THOSE SLEEPING SURFERS...CRASH
Since it was our last night we headed into town to the boardwalk to pick up some more souveniers. Can't go to the beach without stipping by the candy shoppe to pick up some salt water taffy and other sweets. Then it was on to hunt down some t-shirts. Lukas had the best line of the evening. We had gone into several shops as we made our way down the boardwalk. We had bought what we came for but Aunt Becca asked if we wanted to go in another shop. Lukas replied,"why, they all sell the same stuff." Ain't that the truth little guy! So we headed back to the car to meet up with Aunt Ro who went looking for Skyler who was out playing his guitar somewhere on the boardwalk. Never did find him. Lukas was quite taken with the Mime on the corner though.

LUKAS WITH TWO OF HIS FAVORITE THINGS, A BIG LOLLIPOP AND HIS BEST GIRL, KIRA
And so ends a great week at Virginia Beach with great friends and family! See ya next year!

Virginia Beach...Day 5 Aquarium and Grommit Island Park

Today it was breakfast out, a trip to the Aquarium, stop at Grommit Island Park and then the beach. We had planned on doing the Capt. Jack Pirate Adventure but they canceled the late afternoon trip for some reason. It was probably a good thing because Lukas feel asleep in the car almost as soon as we left the Aquarium.

We were planning to eat at one of the Pancake Houses but the line was really long. We parked outside this local hole in the wall place and opted to eat here. I think it was called Bonefish Cafe. The servings were huge and the home fries appeared to be chopped up french fries but tasty just the same. I ordered a breakfast burrito and was barely able to eat half of it. Mr. Lukas ordered pancakes, good thing Skyler was along to help with the left overs.

LOOK AT THESE PANCAKES GUYS! Lukas kept himself busy drinking the creamer out of the little plastic containers until his actual milk arrived. He also likes to eat the butter straight out of the little tubs as well.

After breakfast it was off to the Aquarium. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Virginia Beach. Below is a sampling of the many pictures we took.

Lukas had a blast with all the interactive exhibits. He is a big time hands on learner and had to try everything out. Here he is learning about sediment and how different environments help prevent the beach from washing away.

Lukas watching the turtles and fish. He was quite fascinated.

We told Lukas we were going to look for Patrick, Squidward, Spongebob and Mr. Crabs. Here is Jellyfish fields. And here is Patrick, where are his tropical print shorts?

LIONFISH WITH ITS FANS OUT

GREAT VIEW OF THE STINGRAY, SEA TURTLES AND OTHER SEA CREATURES IN THE BIG TANK TUNNEL

LUKAS RIDING THE DOLPHIN LEARNING ABOUT GATORS AND CROCS

BABY DOGFISH SHARK EMBRYOS

LEARNING ABOUT HOW SHARKS SENSE THINGS AND WHAT'S INSIDE

HELP, LUKAS HAS BEEN SWALLOWED BY A SHARK! THAT SHARK IS IN FOR SOME BAD INDIGESTION!
SHARK TANK

TIME TO GET UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH THE STINGRAY

Naturally you end up exiting through the gift shop. Lukas immediately made a bee line to anything Stingray related. He ended up with a new friend, Rock the Stingray puppet. We also purchased a mini rubber stingray and very, very tiny shark.

We took the nature walk to the other pavillion where they had a river otter exhibit, sea horses, crabs and other native east coast bay residents.

SEAHORSE EXHIBIT...THEY ARE VERY INTERESTING CREATURES THIS LITTLE GUY IS HARD TO SEE. IT BLENDS IN WITH THE CORAL. IT LOOKS ALMOST LIKE A LITTLE ZEBRA MERMAID. RIVER OTTERS UP CLOSE

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post we had intended to take a pirate boat ride. Instead Lukas played at the Grommet Island Park since it was next to the parking lot we were suppose to catch the Capt. Jack shuttle from. All was well, Lukas was getting grumpy from being tired and had fallen asleep in the car when we left the Aquarium. He had a little respite, got a snack and drink and played instead. We made arrangements to do the Pirate Ship the next day.

This is a really cool park that was established by a family in which the husband suffered a spinal injury from a surfing accident. It is designed so that children and adults with any physical disability can access the playground and the beach. HAVING A SNACK BREAK UNDER THE WAVES

SURFER DUDE!

SOME VIDEO OF THE JELLYFISH, SEAHORSES AND SEA TURTLES