Liam:

Some birthdays can be awesome, some are not… but they’re mostly awesome. Grace and I are writing this at a coffee shop in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua while Dad’s drinking coffee and Mom’s working. We are talking about the good things and bad things about having our birthday’s on the boat. It’s a privilege to be on a boat sailing in an ocean or on a beach on your birthday.

I turned 12 on November 17th and we were still on passage. It was a good birthday considering we were out in the ocean. We swam in the ocean and it was 5 miles deep. We saw dolphins jumping in the waves. But we couldn’t bake a cake because there was too much motion. Grandma gave me two very good knives since I like to help mom cook and a wool shirt you can were for 5 days in a row which I really wanted since mom and dad both have them. Overall, it was really good. It was nice to be with family even if we couldn’t have a party.

Grace:

I turned 7 on December 18th and I got a birthday cake that was half chocolate chip and half coconut and it was amazing. We were in Anguilla and I liked being there because we saw a spotted eagle ray on my birthday. It was like 2 of me. It was huge. We followed it until we couldn’t see it anymore. Then we swam to the beach which was like 3 boat lengths away (mom note: it was further than that). I swam all the way to the beach without a life jacket. It was amazing. Later that day we got to watch a movie (I chose “Sing”). The downside of my birthday is that I had to share my cake because there were people there and they wanted it. I didn’t mind sharing with Liam because he didn’t get one on his birthday.

I want to be back home for my next Birthday and I think having a birthday on the boat is 50/50 good and bad.

Liam:

I agree with the 50/50, but I would like to be on the boat for my next birthday. Aden’s birthday is coming up in March and you can expect a blog post from her then.

Grace & Liam’s Boat Birthday Pro’s

1. Swimming in the ocean

2. Having most of your family on board

3. Having nice beautiful weather

4. Having a water gun fight with spray bottles

5. Mommy makes us a cake that was half chocolate chips and half coconut (at least for Grace)

6. You get to see lots of wildlife. For example, goats, turtles, eagle rays, and iguanas.

Grace & Liam’s Boat Birthday Con’s

1. No party

2. No friends

3. No cake (poor Liam)

4. No beach (poor Liam again)

5. I miss family

6. I miss Grandma’s food

7. I don’t like sharing my cake (poor Grace)

A Note from Mommy

Hey there….ahem…so I turned 40 on December 29th. Yup. The big 4-OMG. Naaaaah…bdays aren’t a huge deal to me to be honest. Life is good. We are healthy. It’s just another day to wake up and be thankful to be taking a deep breath of clean ocean air. I’m happy and not at all freaking out (unlike my husband when he hit 40!). For my birthday we left our anchorage to take a spot inside the lagoon in St. Martin (it was very rolly) and then we went out for a great dinner and drinks at Lagoonies…pancakes were made for me in the morning which helped treat the very minor headache I had ;) No downside for me with a boat birthday…water, sun, family, love, health, rum, food, warmth, safety, happiness. Perfection.

After having 3 birthdays within 2 months on the boat all I can say is the day is dictated a bit by where you are, what the weather is like and what ingredients we can get our hands on. That said, we all seem to be pretty happy we basic birthdays - thankfully I’ve never been into throwing big parties for the kids so they never got used to them! Just one or two special things, and of course pancakes, makes the day a good day :)

Much love,

L&G&M