So in a blogging fail to add to all my other blogging fails, I went to BFLF today with a thoroughly uncharged phone. So did Nathan. Net result was a complete lack of photos of this East London pirate extravaganza. Which is a pity, because there were loads of moments that would have looked great on the blog, albeit through that soft-focus camera of mine. So apologies. I’ve improvised a little. What I can show you is the children sharing a seat on the way to church. Eva has her basic pirate outfit on here, but would later add her customary pirate coat. Roo is as piratey as he got all day. Nathan and I were wearing matching blue and white stripy tops, for which we were deservedly mocked at church but never let it be said that we passed up an opportunity for pirate fancy dress. Especially the same week as International Talk Like a Pirate Day – it’s practically heresea (see what I did there?)
We may not have taken functioning phones with us to BFLF but we did take half a ton of couscous from church lunch and other unwieldy things that you really don’t want with you while you’re raving. Luckily, BFLF always provides a buggy park so we could leave everything there and go in and party.
I didn’t really see much of Nathan. We had a loose arrangement to look after a child each and those children soon went in different directions because there was a lot of interesting things that needed investigating. Reuben settled at a table of playdough and Pixar toys while Eva ran off to play in the playtents. Neither of them seemed very interested in the dancefloor but they did like seeing the glitter cannon go off. Shortly afterwards, Eva joined a gaggle of small girls picking up the bits of glitter and throwing them in the air. Like this:
(Totally seamless, huh?)
While she was on the dancefloor, I thought we’d have a dance and we had fun jumping around to “Jump Around”. She also pointed out the projections on the walls (faithfully reproduced above) and said “Ooh…dat’s pretty”. She liked looking at them and she liked her glowband but eventually she wandered off again. She would later dive back onto the floor at the sound of “Pump Up the Jam”, which Nathan swears he’s taught her in late night Daddy-daughter-disco sessions.
Roo meanwhile was busy at the craft table, fashioning his own hookhand. This is him and Nathan working together:
Apologies to Nathan for the size of him here. It was a slip of the mouse, honestly. He hasn’t put on a lot of weight since the last trip out. They spent hours crafting, which kept Roo happy but sadly meant that the dancefloor largely missed out on Nathan’s mad moves. Eva and I spent a lot of time in the play areas, and the outside area, and a lot of charging around the place taking it all in. As long as they seemed happy, I was happy…but it would have been nice if they’d both been in more of a dancing mood.
Luckily, the parachute dance once again lured Roo onto the floor. To the sounds of “Raspberry Beret”, he jigged about under the ‘chute while the grown-ups wafted it above their heads. I assume Nathan had Eva during this bit, because I certainly didn’t. It was lovely to see him having so much fun with the other kids and a shame that our time was almost up. I don’t know what happened this afternoon but it just flew by. Admittedly, we were late but we still had two hours or so of raving with barely any strops from the kids (playtunnel pile-ups aside). In a wild moment, Roo threw his pirate hat on top of the parachute and it bounced around for ages before falling at the feet of a lady with a baby in a sling. Thinking it was a BFLF freebie, she picked it up and put it on the baby’s head before wandering off. I was a bit unsure about what to do – the British thing would be to just leave it, but Eva and Roo are both very attached to that hat so I shamefacedly asked for it back. The baby looked pretty cute in it though.
So, our time was up. Eva had a quick tattoo before we left and we picked up our free Happy Monkey smoothies and Alpha Bites to sweeten the journey home. Me and Nathan didn’t dance much, but all of us had a great time anyway and the venue was busy but not too packed, with a lovely atmosphere. The pirate theme totally worked and the kids all seemed to enjoy running around with their hookhands and hats. The great thing about BFLF is it changes every time and there are always a few surprises. It’s evolved so much from the first party and just keeps getting better. Can’t wait to see what they come up with next!
