This is part of our 100 Things in 2015 challenge. Here’s the full list.

We went to Wisconsin! One thing that always happens when Becky’s family gets together is that Becky points a camera at them for some family portraits.

The house in Lac Courte Oreilles (pronounced lah-coo-ter-ay) used to be a YMCA lodge, and is equipped with 13 (!) bedrooms, basketball court, game room, a commercial kitchen, a dining room that could fit all of us at once, and plenty of space for our 13-kid-and-12-adult family.

We didn’t spend all of our time in the house, though. Everyone who was able went on a hike around Black Lake, which turned out to be more challenging than we had expected.

And, of course, there’s the lake. Our house also came with its own dock, canoe, and island, all of which we put to good use. We ordered some inflatables, most of which we didn’t expect to survive, but the “waffle” was an investment piece – expect to see it again at future water-based reunions. Kevin actually swam the 2 miles to the far shore and back!

Later in the week, we split up again. Lac Courte Oreilles is about 10 minutes outside Hayward, which has a charming downtown with a great candy store, so a small contingent went there. The rest went on a hike on the shore of Lake Superior, near the Apostle Islands.

Hayward had lots of other amenities, like a fish museum and the Wilderness Walk, a zoo-like park near Hayward. The kids loved all the exhibits, including the petting zoo! Our kids ended up there twice!

No reunion can be truly complete without a campfire night. The house has a huge firepit area, and we had fun roasting marshmallows. The kids were dressed in tee shirts which they had decorated themselves (for the showcase night), and played tag games while the fire warmed up, and Kevin led some running games to wear them out in preparation for bedtime.

Goodbye, Wisconsin! We love you!