Avast, me hearties! Behold me wee pirate lad, set to sail the seven seas and find where 'X' marks the spot! Now where be me treasure map?
This little Halloween costume has been one of Will's go-to outfits for the past year {who wouldn't want to wear this everyday, right?}. So, all last summer I was scheming a photo shoot of him like this. On a beach. With a treasure chest {thank you, Mom, for having crazy things like this at your house}.
It was a warm day last September and my schedule was open. Let's go! The very next day, cold weather snapped and I don't know if I would've had another chance for months. Although the sun was shining, this shoot was SUCH an immense effort! I wish somebody had taken some behind the scenes photos or videos because they would be so funny to see now. {Why do I do these things to myself? Am I a crazy person??}
Here's how the pirate shoot went down:
Four of my five kids came along for the 45-minute ride out to the Great Salt Lake {Hannah opted out of this one. smart girl}, and when we arrived, the water was disappointingly low. Meaning Ben and I had to lug this incredibly heavy treasure chest for about a half mile? A mile? I have no idea. And we still didn't make it all the way to the water. It took forever, as we tried not to lose our flip-flops in the squelchy, slippery mud. Thank goodness for my teenage boy, I couldn't have done this without his help!
When we finally set the chest down, the girls of course had to pee, and I realized I had left the coconuts in the car {palm to the forehead}. Ben ran another mile and back to grab the coconuts while the girls tinkled on the beach...which I figured was fine because we were still at least a mile from the water's edge anyway!
Exhausted before I even pulled out my camera, I was SO thankful that Will was happy and completely in pirate mode. I shot all of these in about twenty minutes, finishing up just as somebody came to tell us they were locking up the parking lot and we needed to leave right now unless we wanted to spend the night. Arrgh, matey!! Running this time, back to the car we heaved the chest and the other props, with ten pounds of sticky mud glued to the bottoms of our feet, mosquitos attacking us from all sides, and children whining all the way! Some members of the crew were nearly forced to walk the plank, I tell you.
I'd do it all over again though, because I LOVE these pictures of my pirate boy so much. Yo-ho!
