Shiver Me Timbers!

"Shiver Me Timbers": akin to "Blow me down!", an expression of shock or disbelief, believed to come from the sound the ship made when 'shocked' by running aground or hit by a cannon blast

On Sunday, after a tutoring appointment, Will and I went to Belmar.  Bill agreed to stay home and watch football Liam while he checked his fantasy football status graded papers for school.  I thought that it might be unbearably cold and windy, but it turned out to be beautiful.

When we arrived on the boardwalk, Will thought it would be fun to race each other.  When that got old, he decided to "race" random joggers who were out for a run.  He would momentarily run ahead of them, yelling, "You've got a flat tire!" and "I beat you!"  This tired him out pretty quickly.

We then decided to head down to the beach.  We collected shells, dug holes in the sand and played "chicken" with the ocean as it approached our feet.

Afterwards, we were headed to the play equipment.  Will pretended that the play structure was his house and he gave me the complete tour... "This is my room and this is the kitchen and this is the bathroom...".  As Will directed, we had a pretend snack, went pretend potty and took a pretend nap.  Will was climbing on and off the equipment as I sat on the steps and watched.  

"Mom, I found clues to a treasure.  Come on!"

He was standing beneath the grey rock-climbing thing that's pictured above.  He was ready to "play pirates".  As I joined him underneath, he was pointing to the wall.

"The... map... will... tell... you... where... the... treasure... is..."

He was pointing at the words which were scribbled on the wall and he was pretending to read them.  In actuality, the words read "So-and-so loves so-and-so" or "So-and-so was here" or "For a good time call so-and-so".  I was busy reading the graffiti when something caught my eye.  Off to the side and drawn in thick, black permanent marker was a big...

"Treasure map!  Mom, I found the treasure map!"

...penis.  My son thought that this lovely artwork was a detailed island map and he traced his fingers along the perimeter.

"Will, umm, come over here."

"Why, mommy?"

"Oh look, I found the X in the sand..."

After finding the "treasure", we rewarded ourselves with some DD (Dunkin Donuts).  Coffee for mom and a hot chocolate (half milk) and a "Christmas" (red and green iced) donut for Will.  Once returning home, Will went upstairs to take a nice, long caulk.  

"Take A Caulk": To take a nap.  On the deck of a ship, between planks, was a thick caulk of black tar and rope to keep water from between decks.  This term came about either because sailors who slept on deck ended up with black lines across their backs or simply because sailors laying down on deck were horizontal as the caulk of the deck itself.