As John braved the chilly evening, swimming out into deeper water with the older girls, Jane and I ran in and out of the shallows.
But before too long the two of us were chilly and had moved on to playing in the sand. Digging holes, building castles…
Me: “Look Jane! Now it has water all around it, like a castle with a moat, or an island.”
Jane: ” NO! It’s a LIBRARY!!!”
Soon Jane was cold, not even a sand library could keep her by the water, and off she went to the play structure at the edge of the beach.
Jane was happily playing on the slide.
Ivy, Clara and John were happily swimming out in the cold water.
A young park employee was happily(?) using a tractor to haphazardly move picnic tables about.
I was happily sitting on the sand.
And then Jane erupted with screams of terror.
“MOM! MOM! I scared! MOM! I scared!”
I ran to her side.
Jane pointed one little, shaking finger at the park employee, who was still bouncing about on a tractor, curly hair tucked under a bandanna, and cried:
“I scared of the pirate!!!”
Poor Jane. 
She was so scared of the pirate.
She was so scared and I, her rotten mother, could hardly keep it together long enough to calm her down before dissolving into a fit of giggles on the beach.
Poor Jane.
Behind the Willows 
So funny and so cute! Kids’ imagination is wonderful and hilarious.
It’s sure is, And I need to make sure I write some of it on here a little more often or I’ll forget it all!
Exactly…a blog is a bit like a modern baby book, a keeper of memories…and what I love is that it only takes up virtual space, and doesn’t make any more clutter around the house!
Hopefully you explained that true pirates always wear a bandanna AND an eye patch.
Oh gosh- strike two for the rotten mother, giggling while attempting to comfort and failing to impart important knowledge! 🙂
Love this one! Jane and the Pirate! So sweet!
Is there any hope that Jane will get a good mother one of these days?;)
That’s hilarious! She’s so funny! Errr. I mean poor Jane!