Birthdays on a Boat

Lake Powell

     Lake Powell is one of my family's favorite vacation sites. I have been going there at least twice a year since I was born, meaning that I have been there over 30 times. There is always something new and exciting to do; it’s impossible to go there too much. My family owns a share of a houseboat and only gets a few weeks every year to spend on the boat. We had already been twice this year and were fortunate enough to go a third time over UEA weekend.

    Time spent in Lake Powell is always enjoyable because there is so much to do including: swimming, hiking, tubing, other water sports, and spend time with friends. However, the highlight of this trip was the birthdays. The birthdays of all the kids in my family are in the same week. First is my twin brother and me on the eighteenth. Followed by Jessie, my now seventeen-year-old sister, on the nineteenth. Later on in the week, Artimesia, my sister that has a family of her own, was born on the twenty-fifth. Three of the four birthdays just happened to be over break, increasing the things we could do on the houseboat since the water was so cold.

     Thursday night was cake night. Since having three separate cakes would be difficult, my family often just has one big cake for all the birthdays. As always, singing happy birthday was really funny because no one seems to know the right tune or pitch of the song. All the laughter made up for the fact that the cake was store-bought and kind of gross.
     Being in Lake Powell over your birthday changes some things, but the thing that really makes a birthday worthwhile is still there. We didn’t get to open any presents on our birthdays or do our usual birthday traditions, but we still had a blast. This just goes to show that gifts and parties aren’t what make birthdays fun, it’s the people you spend them with.

Birthday Cake

Lighting the Candles

Singing "Happy Birthday" (Birthday kids from left to right: Me, Jessie, and Will)