Talk Like A Pirate Day Hop

Ahoy there mateys! Welcome to the Bento Bloggers and Friends Talk Like A Pirate Day Blog Hop! It's true, there are two hops today. My pirate lunches belong to the Black Bread's Revenge Pirate Ship o' lunches. After you look at my lunches, click on the pirate flag to  make passage to the next lunch in the hop at Feeling A Little Lunchy. 

My son's lunches are inspired by the stories we read together. We have read many pirate books during the past couple of weeks. These are the books we chose to use for our pirate lunches:

Backbeard and the Birthday Suit: The Hairiest Pirate Who Ever Lived and Backbeard: Pirate for Hire by Matthew McElligott

 

Backbeard was the hairiest, smelliest, dirtiest, meanest pirate to sail the seas. For his birthday, he and his crew got into an all out brawl. Backbeard's pirate clothes were ruined. When he went to town to find replacements, none were available. He ended up with a new suit of colorful and dandy clothes with a straw hat and a pig to replace his escaped parrot. Eventually, his crew accepted his new look. In the sequel, Pirate for Hire, the Pirate Council called Backbeard to a meeting to remove him from his ship for not following the Pirate Handbook Rules for proper dress. Backbeard tried to find new employment. He was too smelly to work with the fish, too strong to work with the blacksmith, and too ornery to work in the tea room passing out cucumber sandwiches. He cleverly found a way to force the Pirate Council to reinstate him as a pirate.

Boogs enjoyed the sequel much more than the first book. He said the Birthday Suit story had great pictures but not enough of a plot. He thought the second book had a good plot. Boogs' lunch was inspired by parts of both stories.

In the Laptop Lunchbox: turkey & swiss cheese in a pumpernickel Backbeard sandwich with a pig pick on his shoulder, Pirate's Booty, smelly Goldfish Crackers, marshmallow Pirate Handbook, cucumber & dressing for the cucumber sandwiches, and plums with a properly attired pirate.


Roger, The Jolly Pirate by Brett Helquist

 

Ever wonder how the skull and crossbones became known as the Jolly Roger. In this book, Brett Helquist explains exactly how that happened. Roger was a cheerful and bumbling pirate who annoyed the other pirates on the ship. When battle broke out, the crew locked Roger in the hold to keep him out of the way. Roger wanted to do something to make the crew like him. So he decided to bake them a cake with the ingredients he found down in the hold. Once again, Roger bumbled. He concocted an explosive mix inside a cannon. Roger was blown straight through the ship's deck. He was covered in flour and soot and looked just like a walking, talking, screaming skeleton. He scared the admiral's men away and saved the pirate ship. The crew adopted a new flag with Jolly Roger's floured face on it to put fear into the hearts of other sailors. 

In the Easylunchbox: Roger drawn on cheese holding cucmber "JOLLY ROGER" letters, Pirate's Booty, salad with carrot coins, raisins, dried apricots, and a fruit leather Jolly Roger skull.

Henry & the Buccaneer Bunnies by Carol Crimi

Flashback: This is the lunch Boogs had last year for Talk Like A Pirate Day.  In the ELB lunchbox: pb&j Pirate Henry reading "Storm At Sea" pita chip book, pirate Goldfish, cheese rabbit jolly roger flag on top of a salad, berries for the color of the sky during the storm, and a Ring Pop pirate treasure.

Now that you have seen the bounty of bento lunches here ye must sail on over to Feeling a Little Lunchy to peruse more of Black Bread's Revenge bounty. Just click on the flag to make yer trip.

Once you have completed the Black Bread's Revenge hop and returned to this page, I am sure you will want to see the fantastic lunches on board The Flying Lunchman. Just click the HERE and you'll soon return to BBF harbor to board The Flying Lunchman portion of the Bento Bloggers and Friends Talk Like A Pirate Day hop. Thanks for sailing the Bento Bloggers & Friends lunch ships today.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Picture Scavenger Hunt

Coombe Mill has a wonderful weekly link party called Country Kids from Coombe Mill. Each week, many bloggers from around the world show outdoor activities their children are participating in. A couple of weeks ago, Time To Craft, linked an outdoor photo challenge activity she put together for her kids. It was such a great idea, I had to copy it.

Boogs and I decided to go to the park on Sunday morning. We sat down together and came up with a list of things we thought Boogs might be able to capture with his camera. On his list were: bird, dog, insect, the colors of the rainbow, a smooth stone, an unusual shape, a playscape, a bumpy tree, water, and a naturally formed letter.

Then, Boogs was off on his photo scavenger hunt. He looked so cute trying to find every thing on his list.

Here is what he found:

Animals/Insects: birds, dog, butterfly, and bee.

 Colors: red, green, pink, purple

Textures/Shape: letter "Y" in tree roots, unusual blue shaped swing (looks like an alien from this angle), bumpiest tree, smooth stone, water, water drops.

Boogs had a wonderful time on this scavenger hunt. Then we spent another hour or so on the playground and trails.

 

Thanks, Time To Craft, for the great idea.

This post is linked to:

 

Roald Dahl Day Blog Hop

                                                           

Bento Bloggers & Friends are celebrating Roald Dahl's birthday with a Roald Dahl Day blog hop. By clicking on the red Roald Dahl Day button at the end of this post, you can hop over to the next Bento Bloggers & Friends special lunch based on one of Dahl's books. The button will appear on each blog in the hop. I can't wait to hop through all 13 blogs!

I grew up reading the fun, strange, and slightly creepy stories written by Roald Dahl. Now, my son is enjoying them. Most people are familiar with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, but Roald Dahl wrote many other children's books. Here are two of the ones that Boogs (my 7-year-old son) and I enjoyed:

The Giraffe And The Pelly And Me

In this story, a young boy notices there is work being done on the old Grubber Candy Shop. A sign says it is becoming the LWCCo, the Ladderless Window Cleaning Company. Billy hangs around the shop until he meets the new owners - a giraffe who can extend his neck, a pelican who can retract his beak, and a monkey who is an astonishingly fast window washer. When a wealthy Duke wants to hire LWCCo, Billy tags along and shows them the way to the Duke's house. While there, the LWCCo manages to wash windows and save the Duchess's jewels from  the most dangerous cat burglar in the world. The Duke rewards everyone for helping save the jewels. The giraffe gets an orchard of tinkle-tinkle trees whose pink flowers are the only kind of food the giraffe can eat. The monkey receives access to thousands of walnut trees. Pelly the pelican receives access to the finest salmon river in all of Europe. Billy's only want is to have the candy shop back. The Duke rebuilds the candy shop and gives it to Billy. It was a happy ending for all.

In the EasyLunchbox: 

Almond butter & jelly sandwich. 

The giraffe, monkey, pelican, and Billy are drawn on cheese with black food coloring.

Candy ring for the Duchess' jewels. (Boogs had to save this for after school)

Grapes for the amazingly sweet candy in Billy's new candy shop.

Goldfish crackers for Pelly's salmon.

Carrots and tomatoes topped with radish flowers for Giraffe's tinkle-tinkle trees.

Almonds for Monkey's favorite food - nuts.

The Enormous Crocodile

The Enormous Crocodile in this story has a craving to eat some fat, juicy, little children. He tells all the jungle animals that he has "secret plans and clever tricks" to get the children. Boogs had fun guessing what each clever trick would be. The crocodile disguises himself as a coconut tree, a seesaw in a park, a merry-go-round animal, and a picnic table bench. Each time he almost has a child in his jaws, one of the jungle animals alerts the children of his presence. Finally, the elephant had enough of the croc's horrid ways and threw the crocodile all the way up into the sun. The crocodile banged into the sun and was "sizzled up like a sausage". Boogs said, "Oh when the sausage pieces of the crocodile fall back to earth, the children can eat him up in a stew." I asked Boogs if he thought this book was too creepy. He said, "No, it is not any creepier than Hansel and Gretel."

In the Laptop Lunchbox:

Spinach tortilla, hummus, and cheese Enormous Crocodile

Sunbutter and jelly elephant throwing the crocodile to the sun

Cheese sun with a dark spot where the crocodile sizzled

Almonds for the monkey

Licorice bits for the tail feathers the crocodile bit off of the Roly-Poly Bird

Spinach for the palm tree disguise

Grapes to represent all of the children saved by the kind jungle animals

Now that you have seen my Roald Dahl lunches, click the Roald Dahl Day button to hop over to see Robot Squirrel and the Monkeys' creation for Roald Dahl Day.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Lunches Sept. 9th - 12th

Boogs' lunches are inspired by the books we read at bedtime the previous evening. Each night, Boogs reads one book to me and I read a book or a chapter of a book to him. I usually post his lunches once a week. Click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post to see lunches from previous weeks. We like to pack our lunches in ELBs and Laptop Lunchboxes.

Skylanders Giants Master Eon's Official Guide Book

Boogs saw the Wii Skylander game at a friend's house last year. He has talked about it ever since then. He even picked this guide for his "back-to-school new book" tradition. Two weeks ago, my husband let Boogs spend his own money to buy the Skylander game. Now, that boy is obsessed! We are really having to enforce our time limits for technology. I made Boogs a Jet Vac lunch. Jet Vac's personality file states that he is self-sacrificing, noble, compassionate, and daring. Unfortunately, Boogs' favorite character is called Trigger Happy. During the game, you have to collect jewels, health, points, and other things. I tried to put these things into Boogs' lunch. Over a year ago, Karen from ourlunchbags.com showed me how to easily get a character outline on bread. You can see her picture tutorial HERE.

In the ELB Lunchbox: almond butter & jelly Jet Vac sandwich (drawn with food coloring), JET VAC letters in swiss cheese on top of dried apricots, pistachios for health, blueberries for points, salad with carrot circles and radish diamonds for jewels. 

This lunch is linked to Lunchbox Dad's Throwback Thursday Link-up.

Awesome Dawson by Chris Gall

Boogs said this book really was awesome. We read it several times during the week we had it checked out from the library. Dawson was born to be an inventor. He collected things people had thrown away and used them to create new inventions. Boogs thought the idea of this book (recycle/reuse) reminded him of The Dumpster Diver by Janet S. Wong. He said, "This book is like the dumpster book we read but this one is way more awesome. Dawson turns his stuff into neat inventions where the dumpster diver just turned it into normal stuff like an old tv into an aquarium or art. I like how Dawson made moving robots." I get so excited when Boogs makes connections between the books we have read.

In the Laptop Lunchbox: Babybel Dawson, ham pliers, tomato bit of metal, boiled egg car for the car Dawson invented for his parents, Chex Mix nuts & bolts, apple slices, and broccoli.



Cream of Creature from the School Cafeteria by Mike Thaler

Mike Thaler wrote the Black Lagoon series of books. Boogs loves that series because they are slightly creepy. Cream of Creature was also slightly creepy. The nasty green glop in the school cafeteria develops a life of its own and starts consuming everything in its path. The cook, principal, police, and army can not stop it. The creature begins to eat the school until one brave and hungry kid stands up to it. Boogs really enjoyed reading this book to me.

In the ELB lunchbox: spinach torellini with pesto & sausage creature, green pluot glop, carrots with hummus, and lumpy cottage cheese.

Pig Pig Goes to Camp by David M. McPhail

Pig Pig heads off to camp for the first time and loves it. The only problem is that he makes too many friends. Pig Pig befriends all of the wild frogs at camp. The frogs begin to follow him around everywhere, even to the dining hall. The head of the camp decides it would be best if Pig Pig and his new friends would leave the camp. Boogs laughed at the picture of Pig Pig arriving home on a bus full of frogs. 

In the ELB lunchbox: garlic baloney & cheese Pig Pig made with the CuteZcute cutter, frog drawn on marshmallow on top of pistachios, camp fire log puffs, plum fish in a blueberry lake, and a dragonfly pick flying across a salad.


Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by. This post is linked to Truly Lovely's Fancy This Fridays linky party.

Skate Night

Boogs' school had a skate night this week. It was the first time Boogs has ever been on roller skates. He did pretty well. The skate place we went to had rolling supports that you could rent. What a fantastic idea! Back in my day (yes, I am old) you had to cling to side wall if you could not skate. It was a fun night. I am glad I tied on some skates and skated with him.

Before renting the rolling support.

 

 

After renting the rolling support.

Boogs said he wants to go skating again.

Boogs participated in the 2nd/3rd grade boys race.

Lunches September 2nd - 6th

Boogs' lunches are inspired by the books we read at bedtime the previous evening. Each night, Boogs reads one book to me and I read a book or a chapter of a book to him. I usually post his lunches once a week. Click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post to see lunches from previous weeks.

Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet

In the Laptop Lunchbox: salami & cheese caterpillar balloon, Sarg hummus face, carrots, cucumber, blueberry sky, and yogurt (not pictured).
 
Boogs and I loved reading this book. It is based on the biography of Tony Sarg. Tony Sarg was known as The Father of Modern Puppetry in North America. He moved to NYC and had his own Tony Sarg Marionettes company. Macy's department store was impressed by his work and asked him to design a puppet parade for their holiday window. He used gears and pulleys to make his story book creations move. Macy's had its first Thanksgiving Parade in 1924. Sarg designed floats and costumes for the parade. Live zoo animals were in the parade, but they scared the children. Macy's asked Sarg to create puppets for the parade to take the place of the live animals. Sarg designed puppets made of blimp material held up on rods. Soon he decided to use rubberized silk filled with helium to make the puppets strong, light, and more visible to the crowd. These were like upside down marionettes, controlled through wires beneath them instead of above them. These became the starting point and model for balloon character  floats still used today. Boogs was very interested in how Sarg's interest in art and making things work, led Sarg to such an unusual career.

I thought it would be fun for Boogs and I to design our own parade balloons. Boogs made a bird and I made an elephant. We still need to decide if we want to add a few wires or rods to them.

Momables had a simple mini quiche recipe on their weekly menu plan last week. Boogs and I made the quiche for breakfast on Labor Day. It is always fun to spend time in the kitchen together. The quiche turned out great and went perfectly with yogurt, a plum, and some toast for a yummy breakfast.

Momables is a subscription service whose mission is to help parents pack quick, healthy lunches filled with a variety of fun and nutritious food. With your subscription, you receive access to a new menu of lunches, packing tips, recipes, and a grocery list each week. If you would like to receive a free week of the subscription service, stop by the website and sign up for it by clicking the "free week" tab on the home page. I think is it a wonderful service and I was not compensated for saying this. :-)

 The Magical Life of Mr. Renny by Leo Timmers

Mr. Renny is an excellent painter whose paintings do not sell. One day, he was so hungry he wished he could eat the realistic looking apple he had painted. A little man appeared and granted his wish. The man also told Mr. Renny that anything he painted would turn into the real object when the last brushstroke of the object was complete. At first, Mr. Renny was delighted with his new talent. He painted everything he had ever wanted - car, plane, mansion, boat, and many other material objects. When an old friend stopped by to see if Mr. Renny would paint something for her, Mr. Renny realized that he was no longer an artist. None of his paintings remained paintings. He soon fixed this problem and realized that having all the materials things in the world cannot make you happy. Boogs and I discussed this concept. Boogs said he would paint the Pokemon White video game. Then he decided he would also paint a Sandals Resort (we saw it on Wheel of Fortune) and Disney World so his whole family could take a nice vacation together for some family time.

In the ELB lunchbox: cheese Mr. Renny flying his airplane on top of a pb&j sandwich, Pringles canvases, sunflower seeds painter's palette, rainbow of colors salad, and fruit. 

When I Grow Up by Al Yankovic

This was a fun book about an eight-year-old boy, Billy, who had wild ideas about the kind of jobs he wanted to have when he grew up. The illustrations were detailed and vibrant. Billy's job choices had Boogs and I laughing and groaning. I tried to include many of the jobs Boogs thought were amusing in his lunchbox.

In the Laptop Lunchbox: ham & cheese snails for Master Circus Snail Trainer, pickles for Pickle Inspector, Zbar shaped like a foot for Foot Model, yogurt for Giraffe Milker, grapes with hat & boot picks for Rodeo Clown, kiwi, and salad.

Kat Kong by Dav Pilkey

Several months ago, Boogs received a pet hamster for his 7th birthday. He is slightly obsessed with books and stories about hamsters, mice, guinea pigs, and the like. Boogs loved reading Kat Kong to me. This book is a spoof of King Kong with photos of real mice portraying the human roles and a cat portraying King Kong. There were several puns/sayings in the book that had Boogs laughing out loud. After reading it, he immediately asked when we were going to read Dogzilla, the companion book to Kat Kong.

In the ELB lunchbox: Kat Kong almond butter & jelly CuteZcute sandwich on top of cheese Mousopolis buildings, Babybel mouse being held captive, carrot chip search lights, spinach for the jungle, and a container of pineapple on which Boogs wrote Kat Kong.

Where The Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

I absolutely LOVED Shel Silverstein's poems when I was a kid. Boogs likes to hear them over and over again, too. My favorite poem in this book is Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out. You can clearly imagine how disgusting the trash at Sarah's house is by the desciptive words used in the poem.  Of course I had to make Boogs a garbage lunch to go with this poem!

In the ELB lunchbox: garlic green baloney, chunks of cheese, gristly bits of beefy roasts beef jerky, cold french fries, withered greens salad, crusts of black burned buttered toast croutons, and peach pit plum pieces.


Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post or go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I would love for you to leave a comment to let me know you stopped by.

Labor Day Weekend

Whew! We had a busy weekend visiting with friends we have not seen in a while. Boogs is usually in bed by 7:30. We had not planned on keeping him up way past his bedtime three nights in a row, but it happened and he was a trooper.

Saturday was a beautiful day, plenty of sunshine and blue sky. When I mentioned what a beautiful day it was, my husband said, "It is always a beautiful day here. We need some ugly days filled with a lot rain." That is true. We spent most of Saturday with friends at the Lakeway Resort & Spa. It was shocking to see how low the water level was in Lake Travis. But it was wonderful to hang out with friends that we had not seen in years.

Boogs and his Daddy had a great time playing in the pool! It was nice to cool down with a bit of ice cream. Yum!

 Boogs must have gone down this slide 25 times. He loved it.

We spent Sunday with friends at their house. They have a game room filled with all kinds of pinball and video games. Boogs likes to play the slot machine when we visit. He also insists that he has to wear this Hawaiian shirt each time we go to their house because, "They have a pool and this is my pool party shirt." Boogs is such a cutie.

We were in the pool most of the afternoon. I think Boogs is part fish.

 

We even had time for cooking and crafting on this long weekend.

Now we are ready to face week 2 of school. I hope Boogs will enjoy the coming week more than he did his first week. Our Story Themed Lunches have started back up with the new school year. Be sure to check them out HERE.

This post is linked to: