Arghh, Mateys! We be FO'SCHIESSLIN'!

I haven't posted in a couple of days.  But I'm on vacation.  What's your excuse?

Of course, we all love swim-swim-swimming every day, but for those of us with sunburns that won't go away (aka, ME!), we can't spend all of our time our in the sun.

As I typed that, I walked into my room and checked my sunburn.  Sources confirm that it has faded slightly.  When asked if it looked tanner, my mother tried to tell me that burns very rarely tan.  I pretended not to hear her.

Back to the original topic.  With the monstrous mound of board games that we all brought along, that seemed to be the activity of choice for the afternoon.  Which one did we pick??

Why, Pirates of the Caribbean LIFE, of course.

The object of the game: Make your way through the treacherous Caribbean course, looting and pillaging, to try to have the most money at the end.  And don't get caught in Davy Jones' locker!!!

This was my ship.  Black, like my heart.

...just kidding!!!  I'm too sweet for that.  Right?!

Here are the competitors.  Me with black, Jonathan with yellow, Uncle Kenn with blue, Nick with red, and Aunt Ralene hiding with the green.

Half of us started as landlubbers, and half of us started as pirates, but we all started on our way through the waters.

Note: There really is no half and half with five players, for you picky people.  So if you want specifics, two were landlubbers and three were pirates.  Happy?  I know I am.

We all eventually met up at the shipyard to choose our ships.  By the time I picked, alas, the Black Pearl was gone, so I ended up with the next best thing (in my opinion)...

Meet the FRIGATE, with Captain Will Turner.  I love Will Turner.

I'm such a child.  FRIGATE!  FRIGATE!  FRIGATE!

There were some near collisions into the rocks.

I had just found the macro setting on my camera.  I liked it.

After all of that hard work, we did take a couple of breaks for some chocolate milk...

...and Whoppers.

But the best part always came when someone landed on this RAID symbol.

"RAID, RAID, RAID!!"  We shouted like barbarians.

When someone lands on a Raid space, they must challenge someone.  Usually, they challenge the Black Pearl because if you beat the Black Pearl, you win the Black Pearl.  You also win money.  In this case, it was Nick versus his own father, Uncle Kenn.

Pirates of the Caribbean LIFE severs all familial ties.

Nick spun... a high number.  Uncle Kenn spun...

Looks of shock and awe crossed everyone's faces!  Could it really be...??

NICK WON THE BLACK PEARL!

It took Uncle Kenn a little while to get over that one.

But pretty soon it was time to add mascots to our crew.

Hello, Dog.  I will name you Tucker.  I've always wanted a dog named Tucker.

So here was the motley crew.  FRIGATE!, Mr. Turner, and Tucker the Dog.

Now, may I direct your attention to this pile of LIFE tiles, belonging to no one other than my own brother.  He just kept getting them and getting them, and if you know LIFE, you know that you want tiles at the end.

It's like buried treasure.  HA!  Get it??

What's that?  I'm not funny?  Thanks a lot.

He was like a shark waiting to attack when I tried to swipe one.

But then, my luck changed!  Aunt Ralene had to switch captains with someone, and after reminding her that I had given her a CHARITABLE DONATION of one thousand dollars, she gave me Captain Jack Sparrow.

So here was the new gang... FRIGATE!, Cap'n Jack, and Tucker the Dog.

In the end, we didn't win the war.  Who did win??

My little stinker cousin Nick, who evidently conned us all into losing on the pretense that he's little and cute!

I think this picture says it all.


Love and pirates,
Courtney