This story comes to us from Emily Bonga of Wheaton, Illinois. She writes: “My story is about my 13th birthday at the beach off of Lake Michigan. I invited girls and their dads to drive up and back from Illinois and spend the day having fun in the sun on the beach and at my grandparent’s summerhome. We had a blast, and I hope that it is shown through the story.”

Here is her story:

I woke up ready to start the new day. This was the day I was going to celebrate my thirteenth birthday with my friends and their dads. I was very excited.

As soon as I looked outside I knew that the day was going to be perfect. Waves were gently lapping on the shore, and the clouds were covering the sun just enough to make the air temperature perfect as well as the water temperature.

Before I knew it, I had eaten breakfast, finished getting everything ready, and had two of my ten friends coming ready to go down to the beach. After last-minute set-up, I followed after them.

The water felt nice. It was a little cold at first, but when you got in you adjusted to it. After my friends came in from riding on a raft behind our families’ jet ski, we set off to swim in the water.

One by one my friends came down to the beach. We splashed in the water, rode on the jet ski, and sat out in the sun that had decided to peek out for a visit. After about two hours of this we went up to the summerhome for lunch. Everyone was hungry after being so active down at the beach. The deli meat sandwiches and fruit kebobs were great! Shorty after we finished we went back down to the beach. We did all of the same things but added a new “toy”: a surfboard!

We were all trying to get on at once. It wasn’t working very well. We kept falling in, but it was really fun!

The day went on. Splashing and more splashing turned into people going up to the summerhome to play games and eat dinner.

After my friends and I played Apples to Apples we ate. We all enjoyed our hot dogs, chips, and smiley face cookies from the bakery. Then we got to watch the sunset.

The sunset was beautiful. It was exploding in every single color imaginable: what a sight! The colors were in streaks across the sky, casting a pretty glow on everything in sight. It was something I will never forget.

We all had a really fun time playing in the Lake Michigan water. I hope that nothing ever happens to the lake. Lake Michigan is part of my life for over half of the summer every year, and I always want it to be that way.

Thanks, Emily, for sharing your story with us. Glad to hear you had a great birthday!

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