Pirating tales

I'm too old to lead a pirate gang. Today was Ali's birthday, and we had a pirate gaethering here in the backyard. Thank God it didn't rain.
I planned this so last minute- when I am grading and writing papers right up until a week before, and then attending a fabulous reunion the weekend before, it's hard to get a party planned. So Monday night I called everyone and invited them, and amazingly, most of them could come.
We started off by inducting them into piratehood by walking the plank. They were rewarded with bandannas and eye patches, though some didn't want one. In fact, some boys didn't want to be pirates at all- party poopers. Should've had them swab the decks!
We also did some cannonball popping. The idea is to sit on black balloons until they pop, then run back and let the next person go. However, these balloons popped the minute they touched the grass, so it was pretty easy.
Then we pinned the treasure to the treasure map (think donkeys and tails). There may have been some peaking. The youngest player got the closest to the X.
I made tons of English muffin pizzas- most of the boys didn't even eat them. But we drank alot of grog (lemonade). It was HOT!
Bubbles got most of the kids doing the same thing, finally. Some of the bottles were gone pretty quickly, though.
We also had a treasure box pinata. Each of the kids hit it two or three times. It creaked, and some candy fell out, but the box held firm. Our story was that we lost the key and had to bash it open. "But it's already open," one of the kids said, because the chest looked ajar. Finally, after we were back at Ali and he whacked it five or six times, I took the stick and started hitting. It swung wildly, and some candy scattered out. At this the kids ran to get it, and I just tore the bottom out. Surprisingly, nobody cried, spoiling my theory that pinatas always resulting in crying.
We had brownies instead of cake, at the birthday boy's request, and then he didn't even eat any. I thought they were pretty cute though.
I finally let the kids go inside to open presents. Some of them had been trying to get inside for a while, but I wouldn't let them. Ali got lots of good loot- Star Wars predominated. They opened some of the gifts and played for a while before getting picked up.
It was a fun day, but exhausting! Next time, I'll make sure my parents are in town before planning such a strenuous party. H did the pinata- his first. Fortunately we didn't have any "funniest home videos" incidences.
So arghhh, and avast me hearties. I'm off to bed!