Half Moon Bay Bar & Grill takes 1st at Taste of Tacoma

This just in... the Half Moon Bay Bar & Grill won 1st place for best entree at the Taste of Tacoma for their crab cakes. If you're in Tacoma today, go check them out!

Better yet, come see us at the beach :)

Stand up paddle ... flat water in Westport

So, the experiment has proved my hypothesis true - stand up paddling in Elk River is FUN and EASY (sort of). We went out last Sunday and it was a little choppy due to the incoming tide, but it was a blast. We paddled from the duck club boat launch almost to the bridge and back. It was a short excursion, not more than half an hour, because the sun was getting ready to go down and my babysitter was turning into a pumpkin, but we had a lot of fun.

Some notes:

(1) You can paddle without a wetsuit. Even though it was not super sunny, I wore shorts & a sweater. We also used our PFD's since it was our first time and we weren't sure if we'd fall in or get swept out to sea :) (Us mom's have to think like that).

(2) As a Hawaii girl, I'm still way more comfortable in the ocean. Muddy river bottoms take some getting used to.

(3) There is a ton of wildlife out there in the Elk River Estuary. We saw a lot of birds I couldn't name, a sea otter (or maybe he was seal) and little fish jumping right around our boards. I'm sure if I wasn't concentrating so hard on standing up, I'd have seen more.

We'll try a couple of other places and keep you posted, especially as the weather gets warmer.

Pirate Daze are here... 2009 Edition

It's Pirate Daze time, and I'm pretty excited because for the first time, I planned ahead and got my boys Pirate costumes ahead of time (and well, this is the first Pirate Daze for the baby). They look darned cute in their pirate hats, and I've got my fingers crossed that they will actually wear them & smile for my camera. If they do, I'll be sure to innundate you with photos.

Since the Rusty Scupper Pirate website is a little hard to follow, I thought I'd post the schedule of some of the highlighted events here (Note that most activities happen along Westhaven Drive in the Westport Marina District, and you can pick up a "South Beach Bulletin" the free weekly paper and there is an insert with all the details on the Pirate Days Festival):

Friday, June 26, 2009:

12:00 noon, festival opens, Games open in Scallywag Alley

3:00 pm Mini Brig Battle in the marina

4:00 pm B.O.O.M Pirates Show (Black Powder)

4:30 pm Treasure Chest Drawings

5:00 pm Espresso Drama "Shiver me Timbers"

Lady Washington & Hawaiian Cheiftain Tall Ship Tours

6:00 pm Captain Jack Sparrow Look Alike Contest

Saturday, June 27, 2009

10:00 am Festival opens

10am - 1pm Tall ships tours

11:30 am Costume contest for amatuer pirates, wenches & Scallywags

1:00 pm B.O.O.M Pirate Performace

2 - 5 pm Tall Ships Battle Cruise (Boards at 1:30)

6 - 9 pm Tall Ships Battle Cruise (Baords at 5:30)

Sunday, June 28, 2009

10:00 am Festival opens

11:30 Professional Pirate Costume Contest

12:30 noon B.O.O.M. show

So go shiver thy timbers (whatever that means), and have a piratey great time! If you see two adorable little baby boys in pirate costumes with their mama, say hi, it's probably me :)