Every other year my side of the family has a Reunion. We just had one last summer. We had it in Galena, Illinois because my grandparents picked it. They just wanted to pick somewhere historic like Cedarburg. And three years ago my aunt Joanne picked it; we went to Christmas Mountain. It was located in the middle of Michigan near Lake Michigan. We stayed in these nice little homes. They had a swimming pool, rock climbing, and mini golf there. It was fun but not as fun as this resort. The resort in Illinois was called Eagle Ridge. We were staying at this nice place, and it was like a bigger version of an apartment. We had everyone in one house, and the rest of the family stayed in the other home. They have five golf courses, and one of them was called the General. It is one of the top one hundred most difficult golf courses in the entire world. It was one of the hardest because it was really narrow with lots of trees. So, if you hit the golf ball a little right or left, it will go into the woods and you will never find your golf ball again. The other courses had smaller holes, but they were still pretty hard, the four smaller courses were called the South Ridge Golf Course, North Ridge, East Ridge, and West Ridge Golf courses.
My sisters, mom, grandparents, and other cousins arrived at about noon, because they didn’t have anything going on like I did. So that’s why my dad and I didn’t get there until three o’clock because I had lacrosse tournament called the Show Down at the sports Complex. We placed 4th in the tournament after two tough losses. One of our losses was to the Cardinals 8 to 9 after we were down 4 to 8 after the 3rd quarter but a last second shot that missed the net by me with a few seconds left lost us the game. Then we were going for the 3rd place game now and we were playing another team. They are around the Madison area and we were up 4 to 2 going into the 4th quarter. I had three of those goals and my partner had the other. Then I shot the ball past the goaltender for a goal with one second left in the fourth quarter. So it went into brave heart (brave heart is one on one until someone scores). We had Nick go up against this giant buff kid, but Nick got the faceoff ran down the field and shot it. It was a save; the goalie chucked it down the field to the player and ran down the field and scored. Our team was disappointed, but we knew we were better so then me and dad took off to the reunion and we got there at about 3:00 p.m. But our cousins found out we were in the wrong home, so they had to get all of their suitcases to the other house before we even got there. But when I got there all my cousins were already having a blast in the swimming pool. Then I got on my swimsuit and jumped in. But after that we weren’t going to do anything else that whole night, but we a lot planned for the next day.
First, right away all the dads went golfing at the General. I wasn’t able to go because it was too expensive for me to play. Since I couldn’t go to the General, my cousin John, Aunt Karla, Grandpa, and I went golfing at one of the smaller holes called the North Ridge Golf Course because I couldn’t go to the General. I didn’t do so well because that was one of my first times playing the whole summer, but I still played pretty good. My cousin didn’t do so well either, so he got so mad he almost threw his expensive golf clubs against the ground. But the good news was that was just practice for the game tomorrow with everyone else.
So after golfing, my sisters, mom, girl cousins, aunts, and grandma wanted to go shopping in the little town called Galena. Then, when it started raining and we were done shopping, we went to lunch at this one restaurant called Dirty Girts. The place didn’t sound too great because of the name, and the food didn’t taste phenomenal either. The burgers were super dry and the sides of French fries didn’t taste great either. My cousins and we took a few bites and were disgusted and didn’t eat the rest. And they had this special sauce they put on their burgers that taste like dry mustard. And also the service was terrible because they delivered our food so late and put the wrong toppings on the burgers and we still gave them a big tip like $27.00. We gave them a big tip because we were pains to her and there were a lot of people there.
After that we went back to the house for the rest of the night before my cousins John, Josh, Elizabeth, Jenna, Connor, Zack, and I. We went to play water basketball and my team won by a lot but we didn’t keep score, but I knew my team won. My team was Jenna, Josh, and Connor. It was about 9:00 p.m until our parents called us back to rest up for tomorrow at about 8:30 p.m; so we went back to the house to get some sleep after how tired we were after this busy day.
Then my cousin John and I woke up the next day at about 9:00 a.m. When we were having breakfast because the parents had to wake up all the kids for breakfast also my dad got to make it. My dad made chocolate pancakes and plain pancakes, made bacon, sausage, and also he made eggs. It was really good; I had like three pancakes and a lot of bacon. And after that I was full.
There were three tournaments people were in. There was hillbilly golf, beanbag toss, and volleyball. There were two players on each team but in Volleyball there were six. We played Hillbilly golf and beanbag toss tonight, but in the morning we went to the volleyball courts to play in some tournaments. But always in the last few years we would play basketball. But this place didn’t have basketball courts so we decided to switch things up. I was on a team with my Aunt Cyndi, Uncle Matt, cousin Connor, Aunt Joan, and Parker. Our team was probably the best team out there. But my dad got to pick the teams and he made his team have all the best players. But in the championship our team crushed them. His team was him, Jenna (she plays volleyball), Josh, Zach, and John. But we were so happy when we won. But after that we didn’t do anything for the rest of the day until we played the rest of the tournaments at about 7:00 p.m.
In hillbilly golf I was on a team with my cousin John. Hillbilly golf is where there are two golf balls and a string connected into both of them and there are three poles connected by tubing and all are about a foot apart, and you try to swing the golf balls on to the pole so you can get points. The points are worth, the top is one point, the second is worth two points, and the bottom one is three points. We got all the way to the semifinals until we lost by two points against my cousin Jenna and John (he was on two teams) late in the game. I was kind of sad I didn’t get to the championships because in the last two years I made it all the way, so my championship game was lost for that. But I still had hopes alive for beanbag toss.
Bean bag toss is where you have four beanbags on each team and you throw it at the strip of wood. There is a hole in it and you try to get it in the hole. It’s worth two points and on the board is worth one point. And you play until someone gets 21 points. I was paired with my aunt Cyndi. We made it in the championships but we lost by one point off a lucky throw by my mother. She usually doesn’t get that lucky but she was bragging that she won and I was mad about that we should off won that game. But at least I’m not as bad as a sport as my cousin Parker. They were in the Championship in Hillbilly golf and when they were losing he started crying. After that it was about 9:00 p.m. so everybody went back inside to get some sleep for the next morning.
When my grandpa woke us up I knew it was time to play some tournament golf. We play this game called the scramble where you’re on a team of 4 and you try to get the lowest score as possible and you can pick one person to who had the best shot. I was on a team with my dad and Aunt Karla. Our team won, we got one over par and everybody else had about 4 over par. So at least I won in something. Then after golfing we went back to our house to have lunch.
Then when we were done we went to the Alpine Slide. It’s on a ski and snowboard mountain where they have these tracks where you go down them on little carts. I was having a great time with my cousins until my cousin Josh fell off the slide and he cut his hand on the slide, the cut wasn’t too bad but he needed something to stop the bleeding, but he said he’ll be alright.
After that we went back to the house for dinner and we were handing out awards. I got the volleyball award because my team got first place also my team for golf got first place so our prize was a box of golf balls. My grandma got sad that Parker (cousin who cried) that he didn’t get any single award so my grandma gave him an award for the most competitive award. I thought that would be me but she thought Parker deserves that award when she knew I deserve the award.
That was it, our last night there. So the next morning I got Connor’s, Jenna’s, Zach’s, and Josh’s phone numbers on my contacts so I can call them our text them whenever I want. They can also do the same with them because we won’t be able to see each other for another two years unfortunately. I guess that’s it for now, but maybe I will see them down the road if we visit them or they may visit the same place as us because they all live in Ohio and Illinois. So we don’t get to see them as often as I would like.