Are Ye a Sea Dog?

I bet ye all forgot about Talk Like a Gentleman o' fortune Day.

Lizze got herself thrown into th' stocks

It twere highly satisfactory sailin' ter Portland t' stay wi' me cousins and visit th' brethren this year. When we set into port me mates Alisa, Lili, and Lizzie and meself were all so fatigued it were makin' us mightily merry wi' Cap'n Aaron and Hykel. An' nothin on this side o' Tortuga coulda made Lizzie more happy than eatin them enchiladas, 'cept o' course movie quotin' which we did plenty of!

It be th' next mornin' when we saillied over t' th' festival through th' pourin' rain. We even stopped t' get us these queer objects to try an' keep ourselves dry. I believe me cousins called 'em umbrellys. Fun little trinkets they were, we jabbed an' twirled 'em around a bit fer good measure and while they're not efficient fer fightin' they be mighty handy for keepin' yer head dry. O' course I found me hat did just about as well. I used me umbrelly half as much as the others who be only wearing a scarf about the'r skull. I also felt right smart as paint I did in me new blue coat fit fer a captain with brass buckles and me new boots wi' three buckles a piece, by t'under!

Th' Brits send an envoy

Th' pirates get ready ter attack

We sees most o' th' shops there and we watched a man named Charley Brown (aye, that be his Christian name!) juggel cigar boxes, flaming rods, an' many other entertaining things. Me favorite was when he balanced a three an' a half foot broad sword on his chin an' managed ter lay down and get himself up again. We also went an' grabbed some grub since I were fairly starved an' that's when we found Aaron an' Hykel after we lost 'em when we wandered ahead ter th' festival. Once we found 'em Cap'n Aaron an' meself put down a little competition between ourselves an' sailed over t' th' barrel racing. I sadly lost th' challenge, but Lizzie took it upon herself ter hold up arr family name an' raced Aaron like a she-devil! The lass was plum stirred by Davy Jones himself an' beat poor Cap'n Aaron. Mighty proud I was at tha'.

Hykel an' Aaron watchin' th' festival from their umbrellys

Just upwind o' the barrels the bucanners mannin' the games were puttin' on a wee bit of a show. They be carryin' letters o' marque an' put on fights ter please th' sea dogs itchin' ter cheer on a fight. The rogues be mighty good at puttin' on a spectacle an' used cutlasses, whips, and daggers. What's more, all them scallywags be named Jack which makes fer easy cheering. One privateer asked a favor o' me an' Lizzie tha' if he won his next fight tha' we would take a picture wi' him. It be pretty clear that it were arranged fer him ter win th' fight, but we agreed none thee less fer he were mighty smart lookin' he be. Th' duel were still great fun t' watch, but no one got run through sadly. They both lived ter tell th' tale. I got his portrait he posed w' us up below. Th' night be finished off wi' a cannon fight where th' sea dogs scared th' Brits away. Th' weather made fer a shorter show than ususal, but we be still entertained an th' cannon they blasted still shook us t' our bones! When we made it back ter port th' rain came down in hard torrents an' we be right glad we were t' have pizza delivered as we dried off our boots an' coats.

Jack vs. Jack

Lizzie an' meself posin' wi' Cap'n Jack

Pirate talk over, sorry guys. So on Sunday we slept in and after we woke up we decided to go to the Portland Zoo. Can I just say that this zoo was a hundred times better than the one we have here?! We started out going through the North American animals where we saw black bears, an eagle, and a cougar. I even took a picture of the cougar for all my BYU fans (see below). The Pacific Shores animals were my favorite with the penguins, seals, polar bears, tigers, lepards, and polar bears (oh, my!). The penguins were super cute since we got there at feeding time and one of them was begging for food from the zoo worker, so the worker picked it up and had it wave hi to us. :) Then came the African Safari where we saw rhinos, hippos, rain forest animals, crocs, zebras, lions, cheetas, and more. We even saw the ibis! It's a bird that was central to Egyptian mythology since it was portrayed as one of their gods. I had to take a picture being the history nerd I am. (Only I can find history things to make me excited at the zoo!) The Asian elephants were cute too. We got to see their trunks in action as it was currently feeding time for the elephants! (Name this movie quote: He's got the elephant! He's go the elephant!)

If you can't tell by the long list, we'd been walking for quite some time now and we took a break before we went on to the monkeys. We even saw ocelots which Lizzie tried to pronounce funny like Ahk-a-lot. It's too bad we didn't pay the extra money to see the dinosaur exhibit, but the ones outside it were cool so we got a picture. :) And the coolest part about the zoo when you're walking around is how lush and green everything is since it's literally part of Washington Park. So compare it to putting our zoo in the middle of the forest where green is the supreme reigning color and all the animals are at an easy to see level.When we were done we went to the gift shop and since I hadn't purchased anything at the festival I still had spending money and I got Lizzie and me some cute stuffed animals, a clouded leopard and a giraffe. Yes, they were ridiculously overpriced, but when it helps to support the animals in an awesome zoo how can you feel guilty?

Alisa, Lili, Me, Lizzie, Dino

After feeling completely exhausted from walking the zoo for four hours our plan was to drive around Washington Park until Hykel and Aaron could meet up with us (they didn't go to the zoo, but they wished they had when they found out they still had the dinosaurs). This was much preferable to walking. The only problem was when we found signs for a rose garden and we had to park and get out to see it. Yay! More walking for our dead feet! :) The rose gardens were amazing though, even if many of them were beginning to die. I saw Julia Childs roses, Marilyn Monroe roses, Independence roses, purple hearts, Reba McEntire roses, and many more I didn't have names for. My favorite were the miniature roses, they were so intricate and lovely. I really wish I could go buy a rose bush of miniature roses. The different gardens they had set up were cool too. They have a testing area with many roses that aren't named yet, a Shakespearean Garden (please be sure to use your British accent when entering this section of the garden), the Royal Rosarian Garden, and the Queen's Walk that had plaques of the queens. Later I went to the park's website and found out they have over 10,000 roses planted there! I took so many pictures it was ridiculous.

 

Once we were home we spent our last night having fun playing Nertz with Hykel and Aaron. I swear Alisa won every time! It wasn't fair! We also watched Gold Rush with Charlie Chaplin after I mentioned how we used to have it and I hadn't seen it in years. That was just fun to see again. I like it when he uses potatoes on sticks as his feet for a dance number at the dinner table. :) The only other item of interest for the trip was on the drive home when a giant moth got stuck in my windshield wiper that I thought was a piece of paper.... yeah, I kinda freaked out after I tried tugging it out with my hand... Hahaha. Blonde moment for me!