Party Like It's 1565:

Happy Labor Day!

 I hope everyone has been enjoying their holiday weekend! 

Tomorrow, September 8th marks the 450th birthday for the oldest city in America, St. Augustine, FL! 

Growing up just 30 minutes away from the nation's oldest city meant more field trips than I can count (in Elementary, Middle, and even High School), to day trips with friends and family (for fun, for weddings, for concerts... you name it), and unforgettable weekend getaways! Being able to share such rich history now with our children and seeing something I saw my entire life through their eyes is truly amazing! 

St. Augustine's celebration kicked off Friday afternoon with live music, food, drinks, reenactments, and so much more. We headed down Friday afternoon after picking Charli up from school and hit the timing of it just right. It wasn't super crowded yet and hadn't turned into the big drinking fest (#responsibleparentlife).

We walked around St. George Street (the main street in St. Augustine) shopped, ate ice cream, and showed Charli everything there was to see! The main attraction for our visit was to show Charli the real pirate ships that were in the harbor for the celebration. The El Galeon is a 170- foot, 495-ton authentic replica of a Spanish Galleon ship that traveled the coasts of Florida 500 years ago. 

We walked down to the Marina to see it and the look on Charli's face was priceless... 

"Wow!! Look at the big piwate ship you duys" she exclaimed! We walked over and got an up close and personal view of the beauty. You can tour the ship right now which is also pretty cool, but we opted out as Steven said he had one more thing he wanted to show Charli (he seriously always has something up his sleeve!). We walked over to the other pirate ship in the harbor; The Black Raven, which hosts the only live and interactive pirate cruise in St. Augustine. This is one thing I have actually never done in all the years I have been to St. Augustine. I was so excited for Charli (and Crew) yet super nervous because my mom and I get incredibly motion sick and sea sick. It's so bad for me that just standing on the dock usually does me in. 

Despite my uncertainty, we went for it. Though I didn't feel great while onboard, seeing the light in our babies eyes and the fun they were both having made up for it! They played pirate games, sung sea shanties, and got tattoos (a mermaid, of course!).

We even witnessed Captain Hook boarding the ship to steal the treasure chest. So out to sea we went to chase down Hook and get our treasure back. While searching for him all of the kids got to practice fighting with the pirates so they would be ready to take him on!

Once Hook was located the battle began... With extremely load guns and canons firing off at each other (seriously amazing, yet I almost pooped my pants) ;) They fought Hook and were able to save the treasure!

It was seriously such a neat experience and I am so happy we could make these memories with our children! Charli has been playing "pirate ship" ever since!  

To top it all off, each child got their very own treasure chest with special keepsakes and treasures in it!

It was definitely a fun filled day!

Happy 450th St. Augustine!