{"id":582,"date":"2011-06-07T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-06-07T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/06\/florida-discoveries-14-billy-bowlegs-pirate-festival.html"},"modified":"2011-06-07T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-06-07T23:00:00","slug":"florida-discoveries-14-billy-bowlegs-pirate-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/06\/florida-discoveries-14-billy-bowlegs-pirate-festival.html","title":{"rendered":"Florida Discoveries #14: Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This past weekend was the Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival<\/a> at Fort Walton Beach Landing…about 20 miles east of where we live.  Dave suggested we hang out at the festival on Friday night, so after the boys got off the school bus, we went to the base to pick up Dave and headed eastward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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The boys put on their favorite (read: their only fitting) pirate t-shirts and brought their toy swords.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

At 5pm on a Friday, the parking was surprisingly easy — we parked only a block or so from the festival.  Timmy wanted his face painted right away, after that we had some dinner and enjoyed the evening out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Go ahead, say it…”What is that thing on Timmy’s forehead????”<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Jacob was good with his eye patch and hat.  The hat is actually from Colonial Williamsburg, when he was 5 years old.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Most of the boats on the water had pirate flags flying on them!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Part of bringing 3 pirates with me to the festival: lots of mayhem!  We got those popper things that you throw onto the ground. My kids were annoying everyone….<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Dave was no exception!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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We had about 15-20 minutes of thunderstorm right when Billy Bowleg’s ship was supposed to come into Fort Walton Landing.  This giant mast thing blew down near us.  Our family hunkered down in one of the vendor’s tents and were fine.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Right after the weather cleared up, the Krewe of Bowlegs pulled up and all their crazy pirates disembarked.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Yeah — part of me wonders if this is just an excuse to celebrate Mardi Gras in June…<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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They perform this every year — Billy Bowlegs (right) comes ashore and attempts to make a deal with the Mayor of Fort Walton Beach (walking on the left).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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The ladies throw out beads to the spectators.  Those are my three boys’ hands all asking for beads!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Ask and you shall receive….<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Who else noticed that Timmy’s makeup is now gone?  After all, we got a real bandana for him \ud83d\ude42<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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My boys enjoyed the ladies who were handing out the beads….I wonder if the young lady on the left is Miss Billy Bowlegs or something like that….<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Jacob’s dessert — a New Orleans Sno-Ball with a do-it-yourself syrup tap.  Really!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Dave was having the BEST time!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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A band called “The Bilge Pumps”<\/a> performed sea chanties and pirate songs.  They were a lot of fun.  Download their songs on iTunes.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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We waited for the fireworks, but there were a couple of problems with the launch control system and then there was a disabled boat too close to the fireworks barge and the show ended up canceled.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Jacob got really really sick of waiting…<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past weekend was the Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival at Fort Walton Beach Landing…about 20 miles east of where we live.  Dave suggested we hang out at the festival on Friday night, so after the boys got off the school bus, we went to the base to pick up Dave and headed eastward. The boys […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[],"tags":[626],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-9o","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":652,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/09\/florida-discoveries-19-you-cant-grow-hops-in-florida.html","url_meta":{"origin":582,"position":0},"title":"Florida Discoveries 19: You Can’t Grow Hops in Florida!!","date":"28 September 11","format":false,"excerpt":"Many of my more loyal readers know that in Nebraska Dave and I were able to grow hops in our backyard. \u00a0We had a cool landlord\/homeowner who gave Dave permission to dig up part of our backyard and string up trellises to grow hops (among other fruits and veggies).In\u00a0summer 2009\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"florida discoveries\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-sKmVquO3j14\/SmfWYljsEHI\/AAAAAAAArHM\/BkLAaH-VL8o\/s640\/IMG_1627.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1214,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/07\/florida-discoveries-27-destin-parasailing-with-the-kids.html","url_meta":{"origin":582,"position":1},"title":"Florida Discoveries 27: Destin Parasailing with the Kids","date":"18 July 12","format":false,"excerpt":"Last weekend we took advantage of another Groupon: $35 parasailing with Destin Parasailing. By buying two for \"myself\" and gifting two more to Dave (per the terms of the Groupon), we were able to swing $35 parasailing for the whole family! We were scheduled for last Saturday, but due to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"destin\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/IMG_2732-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1211,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/07\/florida-discoveries-26-5-now-were-olin-marler-spokespeople.html","url_meta":{"origin":582,"position":2},"title":"Florida Discoveries 26.5: Now We’re Olin Marler Spokespeople!","date":"15 July 12","format":false,"excerpt":"Today we took the kids parasailing (new blog post coming soon!) and we used the same business, Olin Marler Fishing Service, that we did for the deep sea fishing earlier this month. \u00a0So when we were checking in, Jacob pointed out that Dave and I were in one of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"boating\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/OlinMarlerFrontWindow.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2726,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2013\/11\/the-all-colorado-beer-festival.html","url_meta":{"origin":582,"position":3},"title":"Colorado Discoveries 18: The (Tax Exempt) All Colorado Beer Festival","date":"03 November 13","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Saturday night Dave and I joined some friends for a fun evening in Colorado Springs celebrating Colorado craft beers at the All Colorado Beer Festival. I didn't take any good pictures during the evening, unfortunately, but I did want to show off our take of stickers that we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"all colorado beer festival\"","img":{"alt_text":"The All Colorado Beer Festival is a great fund raiser hidden in the guise of a fun party.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/1403585_568955599825217_86077079_o-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":619,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/07\/florida-discoveries-15-great-blue-heron-in-action.html","url_meta":{"origin":582,"position":4},"title":"Florida Discoveries 15: Great Blue Heron in Action!","date":"24 July 11","format":false,"excerpt":"First of all, I learned that it's \"heron\" and not \"huron\". \u00a0Oops. \u00a0I was wondering why my Google searches kept directing me to Michigan-related websites...Last night Dave and I went on a good old fashioned DATE! \u00a0The kids are visiting grandparents in the northeast through next weekend, and even though\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"bird watching\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-mcyQ5xOEAb8\/TiuZJ8eMNLI\/AAAAAAABYho\/kqhim4UZw7U\/s640\/IMG_5340.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1862,"url":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2013\/03\/florida-discoveries-39-sea-world-orlando.html","url_meta":{"origin":582,"position":5},"title":"Florida Discoveries 39: Sea World Orlando","date":"16 March 13","format":false,"excerpt":"On our weekend trip to Orlando at the end of February, I was hesitant to invest in one-day Disney World tickets. The solution came easily to us. Thanks to the Sea World Entertainment Hero Salute program, military members and up to three dependents can get one day's admission per year\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"florida\"","img":{"alt_text":"During the Disney Princess Half Marathon weekend, we played hookey off-resort and went to Sea World.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/IMG_5815-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}