Mark Goldman, writer in residence at the lake this summer, sent this fine account of the July 4th weekend at the Lake:

The Fourth of July is always a big event at the lake house and this year we had a bigger crowd than we have had for several years. Doug and Suz along with Lukas and Josie were the first to arrive Friday afternoon to join Mom, Maddog and me. Groves followed soon after and we ate a delicious dinner of brisket and fried potatoes. Scott, Jalen, and Brayden arrived after ten and Beth pulled into town after midnight and we spent our first night of the weekend staying up way too late reminiscing about past Fourth of July weekends

Saturday morning Scott made one of his excellent breakfasts and early in the afternoon Dane Slayton, his girlfriend Deanna and his children Kale and Bailey arrived and they were soon followed by Mike and Stacy Derrington and their kids Bryton and Riley. Mike, who is in the Army, will be heading overseas to Iraq soon and this weekend will be one of his last hurrahs before his tour begins. The kids all enjoyed the lake and the swimming pool and two year old Bailey made quite an impression on all of us as she served “tea” from her little swimming pool and talked with the adults. Groves, who does not sleep during the night at the lake, joined the rest of us in the late afternoon following his nap. Groves is also known as Fabio or the vampire because of his long hair and odd sleeping habits.

Saturday night we had a great meal of BBQ ribs and pork steaks with Suz’s cheesy potatoes. We spent the rest of the night sitting around the table laughing and telling stories. By three in the morning all of us except Groves went to bed.
On Sunday Groves was still awake as usual when mom made her way downstairs at six in the morning and surprisingly he stayed awake until the rest of us awoke several hours later. Early in the afternoon Doug, Derrington, Maddog, Scott and I headed out on our annual pilgrimage to the fireworks stand. The Fourth is Doug’s favorite holiday and he is in charge of putting together our annual way over the top firework display. The people at the firework stand have gotten to know us over the years and needless to say they were very happy to see us. After an hour and a half of shopping and cramming every free inch in Scott and Derrington’s cars with fireworks we headed back to the house for a feast of fried crappie, onion rings, and Maddog’s famous homemade potato skins. Groves surprisingly still had not been to sleep and he and next door neighbor Skip made a ten dollar bet over who would be the first to fall asleep that day or night.

We shot off daytime fireworks while we impatiently waited for dark. Derrington took a blast from one of the fireworks in the eye but after a trip to Walgreens he was able to bounce back. The minor eye injury did hinder his ability to talk and like usual he shared his many opinions. Eric Nichols and family arrived just before dark with a boat load of visitors to see the firework show. Once darkness hit we shot off firework after firework as we attempted to beat an approaching storm. The short rain shower caused us to take a break for about an hour as the crowd scattered to take shelter. The rain stopped and we were able to finish the show.

After the display Eric’s group crowded on his boat and took off and we went about the task of burning the used boxes from the fireworks. It has become a stupid and dangerous tradition to throw fire crackers and bottle rocket into the fire and this year was no different. Groves finally went to sleep around midnight after 36 hours awake ten dollars richer since Skip was tucked in his bed an hour or so earlier. Skip sorely underestimated Grove’s ability to defy logic when it comes sleep deprivation. The last of us ended our day around three in the morning once again. I thought we were too old for staying up until all hours but I guess not.

Early Monday morning Dane’s crew left. They were followed out of town by Scott, Beth, and Groves. Doug took most everyone else on a long boat ride and then the rest of the afternoon was spent riding the spinning three seater tube that is referred to as the red thing. Maddog after much coaxing by Stacy took his first ride on a tube in twenty years and he survived to brag about it. Everyone had a lot of fun riding and there were lots of sore muscles and great stories afterwards.
There was talk of Monday night being an early night but several us were still up making toasts and celebrating the fourth and Derrington’s birthday at three in the morning. After we all finally went to bed Doug, Maddog and I laughed like little girls at a slumber party for another hour in our bedroom which doubled as the living room during the day.

Sadly the long weekend came to an end on Tuesday as the Hollensbes and Derringtons headed home. Jalen and Brayden are spending the rest of the week here with Mom, Maddog and me, and I will be taking them back to St. Louis Friday