A Pirate Adventure

Pirates in Oklahoma! The foothills of the Ozarks were once home to a band of pirates that terrorized the settlers along Spavinaw Creek -- well, at least today they were. And here's their leader, Ornery Oliver (formerly known as Uncle Sam). And yes, if you look closely, you can see that the name of their fierce ship is the "Bass Buggy." Pretty intimidating, don't you think?

The adventure started with a real pirate map...


...and tales told by Wiley about the the real pirate gun. (Do not ask me where in the world Sam picked that up!)


And here's our pirates getting ready to dig for treasure on Oklahoma's Treasure Island!


And after a little help, they dug up a REAL wooden treasure box full of gold coins, medals, a pirate knife, and pirate jewelry! A little boy's dream!

And then we were off for a little bass fishing. This was the first catch of the day. Thomas reeled in a black bass!

And while everyone else was doing some serious bass fishing (as serious as you can get with a boatload of little boys) "the mom" was checking out the baby water moccasin. Just trying to help it get up on the rocks. And away from the boat.


Here's our proud little fisherman! When he would cast his own line, we would scramble like mad to give him a good four-foot clearance. Seriously! (He would shout out a warning that he was getting ready to cast, and we would all start moving quickly to the other end of the boat - haha!)
After we finished fishing, we had a delicious lunch made by Wiley and Peggy: fried catfish, french fries, homemade hushpuppies, and homemade tartar sauce. Lunch was followed by a real treat for us North Carolinians - Blue Bell ice cream cups and chocolate chip cookies!
We love Blue Bell! All I can say is Southern Living needs to come visit Peggy for their next issue. It was that good!
Then after lunch, we admired Peggy's pretty "fraidy hole."

And then Thomas, Daniel, and Colton explored it. You can tell we're from the East Coast.

Many thanks to our very gracious hosts, Wiley and Peggy! Sam and his dad and step-mom did an awesome job creating a pirate adventure for three little boys!