ahhhhhhhhh .. just sitting down after about 5 hours of party + cleanup.. It was a really good party.
We had a ton of help setting up, so it was a pretty low stress prep.. Folks strted showing up just before 7 and
things were getting pretty quiet by midnight. I have no way of counting
how many people were here.. I used to try and list the folks.. but it’s
grown beyond that now.. and my memory isn’t as good as it once was.. I
do knwo that around 9 I walked through and counted more than 250 folks
between the ohouse and the barn. I don’t know what that means abotu the
total number of folks who came and went through the evening.. It’s cool sitting here in the quiet .. and nearly clean place after all those folks have gone..
This year was pretty calm too.. no mischief we saw, no lost and crying
kids.. no police.. all in all.. you can’t ask much more for a
gathering.
We decorated our room by putting spooky stuff in our bed (no making out here, please).. Talk about spooky.. that’s my Monday calendar from work.. I’m talking SPOOKY !
Just before the party Diane and I took a look around to make sure all the hatcheds were battoned down, etc.. the place looked good !
Max came in dressed in armor. a mustache.. and a gun shooting fake pot leaves.. he was ‘The War on Drugs’ … Gabe came as a banana.. both cute..
Diane had a great costume.. she came as ‘John C’s other Half’.. she got a freaky bald mad science guy mask and a fake beard and put it on the back of her head.. along with a Colony style apron.. here she is wither her back to the camera .. pretty cool, huh ? I’m just dressed as ‘John C’.. a mad scientist.. like pretty much all of the last 20 something years.. sureprise surprise !
Sue and Jim came as their sun Dylan in full slacker boarder togs.. complete with drooping pants.
Paula and on were there.. Paula was the girl from a Nightmare before Xmas’.. and Ron came as… as John C.. compelte with solar power, dirty water. dirty face, an extra fan for the inverter, a multimeter, a spark shooter and a morse code key.. And he had to dye his hair gray/ He’s so funny
Lots of folks I hadn’t seen forever.. like Sam’s friend John…
We had soem classy outfits including Classic rockers..
They call him ,,,,,, :TIM: !
Smurfs
Glowing ear plugs
sarah pailn fresh from parasailin’.. she called herself ‘caribou barbi’ !
and creepy smile guy
Seeing Jess was a wonderful surprise !
Cupcake anyone ?
They’re always after me lucky charms.. they’re tragically malicious !
I pitty the fool !
Uh…..
The singing nuns….
Lumber jacks
spooky nightmare guy..
lots of good spooky food.. but I hardly got to it..
Piles of shoes at every door…
Some folks just hanging out..
Others playing games…
Still others in the barn dancing to DJ Sumner.. he did a GREAT job.. there were over 80 folks in there while he was playing..
Here’s aaron inverting..
some hanging out by the fire..
Here’s what a quick walkabout of the party looked like at 10 PM…
And here’s a timellapse of the whole thing.. a little dark.. but cool
There were still just about 100 folks here at 11 PM.. but folks started leaving quickly.. by midnight we were down to about 30.. perfect ramp down.
We collected a good amount of food for food bank during the party…
And had plenty of help for the first cleanup.. by 1:30 the place looked pretty good.. Though we need to do a bunch more cleaning.. We’re having a cleaning party from 10 till 2 tomorrow. Please come by if you’re free.
It was a great evening.. it was wonderful seeing all our friends.. especially so many of Sams friends.. I tell you … her was there with us tonight.. you could feel him there in the spirit of all of his friends..
It was just your kind of night Sam.. just your kind of night.. We love you man ! -me
