This was another year of "firsts"...

Amber Lindsley, Cullin Berry, Jan Durante, Skyler Durante, Jan Emmersen -- all paid their first visit to St. Germain.  The only one who looked a little the worse for the wear at week's end was Jan Durante.  By the end of the week she looked pooped.  Nobody said vacationing with this group was easy, Jan.

Kyle Berry, Lauren Berry, Nicole Birschbach, Sam Fosbinder and Skyler Durante all skied for the first time.  Thanks to Kevin Berry's wondrous internet find we even had three-year-olds flying across the water - an amazing sight.  Thanks to Mike Birschbach and his expert handling of the tow rope, some of the little ones never even got wet!

This was the first year of "Wee Hours Lodge Olympics."  Rumor has it that teams participated in the "PAM" aerosol cap relay, standing-on-one-foot marathon and a foot race around the Foozeball table.  Truthfully, the only witnesses were the team members themselves and maybe Mike, the bartender, so it's anybody's guess what actually happened.  There are also no pictures so we can only guess what Johnny looks like wearing that PAM cap on his head.

Linnea Jackson received her Master's Degree the week we visited and Ken, in a moment of madness, asked Dr. David Treleven (alias "speedo man") to give the commencement key note speech at her surprise party in the lodge on Friday night.  Dr. Treleven gave her some tips on how to speed up retirement.  We aren't quite clear on what those tips all entailed, but are quite sure they had something to do with upping Ken's life insurance!

With that all said, lets get to listing the nominees.....

1) John Durante for sleeping on the bathroom floor with his fly open after returning late from his first night in the lodge.  This was all captured on video - thanks to Julie Berry.  Also, for not following up on the motel reservation he made which left his mother, pregnant sister, and nephew homeless on the last night of vacation.  A definite winning move!!!!

2) Bean Durante  for sleeping issues early in the week.  Bean finally got her own room, thanks to Pat & Jim Laasch, and she still slept on the floor under her bed!  Later in the week she fell asleep on a picnic table near the fire bowl while waiting for the sun to rise in the West, which of course won't happen until hell freezes over.  She also helped Dave pee in the lodge bathroom where she did see a tiny bit of Dave's pee pee and claimed it's ruined her for life!  And last but not least, giving herself a tattoo "Bean rulez" with indelible magic marker across the entire expanse of her stomach.  This happened late one night in the lodge with an assist from Mike, the bartender (according to Kristy), but again... no pictures and no witnesses except those directly involved!

3) Sean Ryan for running out of gas on the lake.  Truth be told, Sean ran out of gas before he even set foot on the pontoon!  Perhaps it was all that grilling at the Thursday cookout??  Great job, Sean!

4) Julie Hutter for crawling across the bar in an effort to demonstrate to her daughter that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.  Way to go, Grace!

5) Rob Hutter for backing his truck into his mother-in-laws car in his haste to get to work when returning home from St. Germain.  That's what side mirros are for, Rob!!!  His defense was that his truck is so big he couldn't see her little bright red sports car in his rearview mirror.

6) Kristy Hutter for being the queen of bruises this year thanks to her mom.  Kristy also got points for thinking the sun rose in the west along with her good friend, Bean.  One would almost fear for our social security with these two college grads out in the workforce!!!  (We are giving you the benefit of the doubt here, Kristy... we all know you are going to graduate!)

So, with all the nominees in, the voting took place.  The swing votes all came from the Durante family (gee you think the anticipation of sleeping on the floor on Friday night might have had something to do with their vote decision???)  It was a brother and sister act all the way!!!!

John Durante took Mary home to Tinley Park, and the dice went to Kenosha with Bean Durante.

Congratulations new S.H.I.T, John Durante and runner up Bean Durante!!