Today was Memorial day in the most real way. Today was the day we chose to publicly mark Sam’s 16th birthday. it was a happy and sad day.. Rain and sun..

It was also my parents anniversary ! (Happy A-day mom and dad !) ..

We started today cleaning up the house for the gathering tonight.. The boys went outside and started working on the boats and rafts that they were going to use to float down to the park. Gabe got a nasty surprise when he turned over our canoe and found that some enterprising squirrel had hidden a whole cache of now rotting sunflowers.. The smell was indescribable !

Max, Mason and Emma worked on re-rebuilding Max’s giant raft. It hadn’t quite made it on the last trip.. so they hammered in a few new supporting members.

Meanwhile Tim K and I worked for a half hour to rig the canoe with a proper flag holder.. which underscored what I already knew.. which is that the most time on a project will generally be spent doing the least important thing.

Put it sure looked good and piratey ! Arggggh !

The guys grabbed hte boat and rafts and walked them down to the Winooski .

Ooops.. almost stepped on this guy !

Here’s the peanut gallery watching from the bridge ..

Away goes raft’s 1 and a half…

Here’s the boat… (sorry about the haze.. I was shooting through a plastic bag at this point to protect the camera)

I climbed aboard Max’s raft…

Captain Max gave the order to weigh the anchors and set … uh… drift..

I only wanted to go as far as the Huntington. I had to get home to help prep for the gathering this evening.. I jumped off there and said good by to the flotilla.. Sam would have loved this so much. Somehow I’m sure he does still !

I tromped back through the nettles to help Diane get the house ready..

I went on a nice 3 mile run .. thinking of Sam..Sometimes when I run I talk to him… I could feel him so strongly today.. He was right there with me..

I got home around 2, showered. grabbed my rocket and headed to the park.. Max and Gabe had already made it there by boat.. and Diane went down in the other car.. we needed all the vehicles to pull back our tired sailors.

There were about 70 or so folks at the park. .. some of them were playing ultimate..

I carried the rocket around to let people draw and write on it.. just like last year.. I’d rigged up a loud beeper in it this time.. with the hopes that it might make it easy for someone to find.. .. (It has a loud ‘neeener-neeeener-neeener’ annoying warble that should last for a few days.. in case you hear it).. Anyway.. it was really strange carrying around this big rocket which was making that noise.

Britt.. what are you doing in that tree ?

Bary and ammay and there three kids came in Gary’s french fry oil powered bus

OK.. time to launch.. the rain was coming and we planned to gather at our house at 5:00.. Perfect timing !

I loaded the rocket.. this is a big ‘G’ engine one..weighing just over a pound. it goes just under a half mile high.. you’re supposed to get FAA clearance to launch one of these … but it was a quiet day so I figured it was safe..

I didn’t expect to get it back.. but you never know !

Max agreed to do the honors..

We had quite a crowd

!0-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0 .. up it went witha roar.. clear out of sight . Carrying a small amount of Sam’ ashes with it…

..

At that point, it really started to rain.. everyone headed to our house.. while Max and the guys dimattled their rafts..

I got home to find a ton of cars already at our house..

I went over to say hi to Gabe… and to say ‘hi’ to Sam’s rock… .. Then I went inside.

The place was already jumping !

At one point I was lying on the floor with Chai looking at the party from a dog’s perspective..

Around 7 came the time to light the candles for Sam.. This was so hard.. we were all here having fun in Sam’s memory.. and .. he was not physically with us.. Sometimes it’s so hard for me to get my head around that.. I miss him every moment of every day.. I missed him more than ever the moment we lit those candles.. I really can’t describe how that felt.. Diane managed to get out a wonderful thanks to all of our friends for being there.. I was too choked up to say much .

I’m so glad our friends were here.

THe rain was letting up a bit at that point.. so the kids went outside and riged up a make shift ‘slip and slide’ .. They even put a jump in it !..

..

A few of the brave kids even went into the unheated pool.. the water must have been in the low 50’s …

A couple of the kids came up with the weird idea of zipping their hoodies together

They made themselves into a 10 legged thing.. here’s the view from the bottom..

… and the view from the top !

I came back inside and managed to get this shot of Wendy’s impressive sunburn….

I also wandered into a ‘piercing party’ (ewwwwww). Rj was putting an ‘industrial’ ear cartilage piercing in Abbot’s ear. It was fascinating and weird to watch.

Abbot’s only anesthesia was holding Rose’s hand.. awwwwwww.

I cane down stairs and saw that Victor and Paulo had shown up.. Victor said he had a surprise for me.. An small welding table that UVM was throwing it out.. I’d been needing one of these so baldy.. I’ve always meant to make one.. but never found the time.. it’s the perfect size for me !! What a great surprise !!!

I’ve been having trouble with stup for my cutting tourch (It’s got a hair trigger O2 adjustment) .. so Victor helped me with that , too.. he’s an expert welder and machinist !.

Back inside.. things were slowing down.. Jessie had to go.. she as wearing a little kids overcoat as a dress. and looked very stylish as always.. we all decided that she looked like Barbara Eden in the old Get Smart series.

We stuck the SamStones we’d made to dry out on the stares (I can’t find my pictures of the SamStone making.. but we went through a whole box of clay)

Some of the kids even helped us clean up and take out the recycling.. The house was soon back in better condition than before the party.. !

I wandered outside for one last check of the yard.. When I looked back, I could see the ‘See Sam’ sign we have hanging in our entry way through the window.. I wish I could See Sam.. This party was exactly the right way to mark his birthday. He would have so much wanted it this way..

Good night all our friends.. thanks so much for being there for us…
Sam.. Happy almost birthday my son.. we miss you s much.. you were very much with us in spirit today.. you will always be my party animal… I love you..
-me