One place that is incredibly special to me is St. Germain, Wisconsin.  It all started 17 years ago when my parents, my aunt and uncle, and two other couples went up to this special place for seven days.  After about five years, us kids started to come up as well, and it turned into a tradition.  I’m sure every family has a tradition that they do every month or every year.  If you do, you know how special and important they can be to someone.  That’s how I feel about going up north every year.  It is very important and special to me.  We also changed where we stayed from one resort to Hillcrest Resort on Big St. Germain lake.  We started new traditions such as tubing, go-carting, hiding the rainbow care bear in other people’s cabins, all the kids doing skits at the end of the week, and all the kids riding in the back of a car after dinner one night.  Now, that one week a year that the 17 of us go up north to Hillcrest Resort in St. Germain, Wisconsin, is my favorite week of the year. 

Our drive up to Hillcrest Resort is five lengthy hours of watching movies, listening to music, and watching the world fly by my window as we go further and further north every minute.  Halfway through the trip we stop at the same restaurant we have been stopping at for as long as I can remember.  A&W.  It is a petite restaurant with a few booths and tables inside, two bathrooms outside (one for the boys and one for the girls), and two old, cement picnic tables outside as well.  The same ones we sit at every year.  When we are done eating, all the kids take a picture next to the big, tall bear wearing an A&W shirt at the entrance of the restaurant.  After about an hour break, we hit the road again to finally get to the resort and start an entertaining week up north. 
The second half of our trip is always my favorite.  The sun is shining, the trees are tall and full, the birds are swooping overhead, and that is when I really know we are up north.  And then, before I even realize, we arrive at the resort, cheering and skipping down the big hill at the top of the driveway to get down to the dock.  We take it all in, hug our friends, high-five our cousins, and then head back to our cabins to start unpacking our bags for the fun, exciting week ahead of us.  After we get settled and unpacked, it’s time to relax down by the lake from the ever-lasting car ride up.  Then, around dinner time, we leave to go to the same restaurant we have been going to on the first night of the week, every year for about five years.  We have pizza and soda and just relax with our friends and family.  Then we come back to the resort, have a relaxing fire down by the dock, and eventually crawl into bed for our first night in Hillcrest Resort in St. Germain, Wisconsin.    

The first morning is always the most exciting.  We all wake up, get breakfast, and hurry down to the dock to get our day going!  First, we go tubing on Big St. Germain Lake with our two person flat tube we bring up every year.  We do cheerios, go out of the wake, and fly off the tube into the water.  A cheerio is when the driver of the boat drives it in a complete circle to fling the tubers off the tube.  On our last tubing run last year, my dad was driving the boat and flung me off the tube so hard, I skidded across the water until I finally sunk into the cold, dark depths of the lake.  I came back up to the surface and everyone was laughing and gasping at me and my slow fall into the water.  After everyone has gone at least once or twice, and our stomachs are starting to growl at us, we head back to shore to fuel up with food.  After we are done eating we may play one or two games of Capture the Flag, a yearly tradition.  Sometimes the game is slow but other times there is a lot of action and laughing with, or sometimes even at, each other.  Either way, it’s always a lot of fun!  Then it’s time to practice skits.  Our first step to making the skits better and funnier every year is to pick roles for everyone and put the skits in order for the show.  Our second step is to memorize our lines so we can practice without the scripts sooner than later.  Our third step is to get into character and finalize the skits so they are ready for the opening night!  To end our first day up north, one specific family makes dinner for all 17 of us and then we get together in one cabin to play card games the rest of the night.  Our first great, relaxing day up north, check!

The second day at Hillcrest Resort is much like the first.  We get up, eat breakfast, and hurry down to the lake to start another exciting day up north.  We go tubing, eat lunch, practice skits, play Capture the Flag, and maybe even do a second round of tubing.  In the evening we have another dinner done by a different family and a nice, relaxing fire down by the dock.  While the grown-ups are having an adult conversation around the fireplace, the kids might even play a few games of Candyman.  Candyman includes a Candyman, line leader, and as many more people as we want.  The Candyman will walk around the resort hiding kids in different places away from the line leader.  Everyone who is not the line leader or Candyman lines up in straight line directly behind the line leader.  Then they walk around the resort copying everything the line leader does and responding when the line leader calls for roll call.  While all this is happening, the Candyman takes people one-by-one from the line and hides them in different spots around the resort.  After nobody responds when the line leader calls for roll call, that means everybody has been hidden and the line leader can now look around the resort to find all the people hidden by the Candyman.  The last person to be found is the next Candyman.  As it starts getting late and the fire starts burning out, everybody begins to disperse back to their cabins for another dreamy sleep on our second day up north. 

The third day up north is a lot different, and a lot busier than what we have done so far.  We head over to Minocqua, Wisconsin, which is about 30 minutes away from St. Germain, to shop, eat, and just have a good time!  We usually go into all of our favorite stores and get some ice cream at the best creamery in the downtown Minocqua area.  One of our favorite places to go to is Minocqua Fudge.  It sells all sorts of delicious chocolates, fudges, and candies!  We even get to see some of the chocolates and fudges being made at the entrance of the store.  Another place that we always love to go to is a toy store called Imaginuity.  It sells games, toys, arts and crafts, and more!  It is always so amusing to go in and try out all the games, especially with my two younger cousins, Lily and Lucy.  After we have gotten some fudge, played with some games, and shopped at clothing stores, we head back to St. Germain for dinner.  This night, dinner is made by a different family that is usually my family.  While the parents are all helping out to make the food, the kids usually play a few games of Capture the Flag, hangout on the dock with our toes in the water, or practice skits.  After a fantastic dinner, we do the same thing we have done a few times since we got up north; have a fire by the dock and maybe play a few games of Candyman, until somebody gets tired and goes to the cabin for a good night’s sleep.

Our fourth day up north is pretty casual and laidback, unlike our third day.  We go tubing once or twice throughout the day, practice skits to try to get them memorized, and maybe play a few exciting games of Capture the Flag.  In the evening, it is our last day of one family making dinner and it is always very appetizing!  We all celebrate because nobody has to cook anymore, and then go down to the dock for another calm, relaxing fire, celebrating the fun times we have together.

On the fifth day, things around the resort get a little more exciting! We go tubing and eat lunch as usual, but we spend much of the afternoon preparing for skit night the next day.  We practice on our “stage” (the big open area in front of a cabin down by the lake) and run the entire thing with props and no scripts.  When we think we are ready to perform our skits for the grown-ups to see, we stop and get ready to go out for dinner.  We never have a specific place that we go to every year for dinner, but it’s always very good!  On our way home, all the kids hop in the back of one of the family’s cars and ride back to the resort while singing and cheering the whole way.  When we get back, we play card games in one of the cabins until we get tired and decide to go to bed, excited to see and do the skits the next afternoon. 

On the sixth day up north, we go on two or three last rounds of tubing before we have to tow the boat back out of the water.  These rounds are always the best, most enjoyable, and exciting.  Then we will run on up or over to our cabins for one last lunch up north before it is time to leave the next day.  Then we will play a few more games like Capture the Flag, Candyman, or any other games we would want to play, before it is time for the grand opening of the skits!  The kids gather all the parents, get all the chairs, all the snacks, and everything we could possibly want and then finally start the skits.  It’s one full hour of laughing, jokes, and a funny, entertaining intermission that all the parents love!  After a great show we head over to a cabin to have all the leftovers from the dinners we had that week.  Even though they are leftovers, they are always just as great as the first time.  That night, instead of having a fire or playing card games, we start packing our stuff together to be ready to leave the next morning.  We pack up our clothes, food, cooking supplies, toiletries, and everything else we brought up north.

The seventh day is the saddest of them  all.  Every family packs everything into their cars, clean their cabins, and make sure everyone has everything we brought up.  Then we stroll down to the dock to take pictures of all the families, like we do every year, until it is time to go.  This is always so sad because nobody wants to leave.  That is why the seven days a year the 17 of us go up north to Hillcrest Resort in St. Germain, Wisconsin, is my favorite week of the year.