The Greatest Fourth in the North

Yup, I think the Lake City Fourth celebration lives up to its name. Mitch and I headed up there after work on Friday and spent the weekend with Jon and his family, playing on the water and just having a good tim in general. As soon as we got there, Jon's mom good-naturedly demanded that one or both of us accompany Jon out on his new HobieCat (small catamaran-type sailboat), so Mitch grabbed a wetsuit (it was cold!) and headed out. I stayed and chatted with Jon's mom and his sister, Lisa. I don't really remember what the heck we did for the rest of the evening, but I know plans were made for a 6 am wakeboard run so I hit the hay early.

At 6:30 am, I swear I heard someone whisper, "They're leaving without you," so I jumped out of bed and headed for the bathroom, where Mitch was getting ready for to go out on the boat. Jon was not awake yet, so we went in and jumped on him, learning at that time that we were not going out until 7 am. Losers. I was anxious to try out my new board, and it was awesome except that I think the bindings are too small for me. I need to do a little reading on how they are supposed to fit, but it looks like I may need to exchange them.

After wakeboarding, we headed over to the Missaukee County Beach for the volleyball tournament. Our warm-up game went great, as did our first pool game, but after that we could not seem to get in the groove until the afternoon when we started playing back to back. By some stroke of luck, we made it out of pool play and into the first round of playoffs. I believe we played 5 sets of 2 games to 11 points, one single game to 11 (to break a four-way tie to get into finals) and one more game to 15 in the playoffs. Result: stiff and sore the next day, but happy. To top off the afternoon, we had ice cream for dinner and did some more sailing.

That night a bunch of Jon's childhood friends came over, originally for euchre but it ended up being drinking and a bonfire. No complaints here...I was beat and fell asleep at the fire, but it was fun to meet new, cool people. We made plans to wakeboard the next morning with a couple of them, but I didn't get to go because we got a late start and had to be back in for the breakfast of all breakfasts within about an hour. Mitch, Jon and I did a little sailing, then the guys left for a round of golf. I hung out with Jon's family on a pontoon boat ride, then decided to take a little nap so I could stay up later that night. It worked, too; I was an alert "pyrotechnics assistant" to Mitch while he was setting off everything Mitch's brother brought and even when I did go to bed, I was not falling asleep walking up the stairs like I was the night before.

Like always, we had hoped to go wakeboarding the next morning, but it was raining so we all slept in. We did, however, brave the rain and the thunder to watch the Fourth of July parade. Afterwards, we helped get ready for the BBQ at the Davenports', which ended up being kind of a movie/pool playing afternoon. Since the weather was not cooperating and we'd been able to set off fireworks the night before, Mitch and I decided to head home around 4 pm on Monday. Even though I love being at Jon's, it was really nice to come home, rent a movie and relax in the comfort of our own home.

So that was our Fourth of July weekend, and now it's back to work. Tonight I think Jon and Matt (once I call him and invite him) are coming over for experimental dinner night. I've been wanting to make this apple cherry pork roast in my crock pot for a long time, so that's what we're having. I had to get up a bit early to get it ready, but I think it will be good. Well, I better get some work done.

Tim - if you're reading this, how the heck are you? I haven't heard from you in awhile but I know you're coming home soon, so have safe travels and write when you get a chance!