Great post thanksgiving day. Everyone just hung out and talked.
It was my brother in law Johns 59th birthday.. so we did some of that
We decided to do a family project as is our tradition. Todays project was to build a Boomstick (aka plasma gun) . I like calling it that because Sam had this Boomstick shirt
This build involved a couple of hardware store runs and some missapplied food shopping (ie.. we needed the containers.. not the food or drink inside them)
The basic operation is simple. you use a propane/MAPP rorch and run the output through clear vinyl tubing. You can run the tubing any way you want. When you fill the tube with gas an ignite it.. a small flame follows the tubing making cool sounds until it comes tot eh exit barrell which is made from a plastic bottle. there the gas has air to burn and makes a satisfying bang.
Thanksgiving.. what to say.. ? We have so much to be grateful for. It was wonderful to be here with family… It was a fun and chaotic day.. i’ll let the pictures tell the story
Techncially it was already thursday when all the kids came to our house after dinner on Wednesday.
Diane worked on the ‘picakin !./ a carrot cake on a pumpkin cheescake on an apple pi all frosted with cream-cheese frosting ! WHile the cousins caught up
Next morning people hung out, explored and cooked.. it was a pleasant chaos.
Diane got us all organized to jump in the water.. not a natural thing to do since it was in the 50’s out.. but super fun
then we headed across the way for some fishing, crabbing and birdwatching
Then it was time for dinner !
And finally some fireworks and other mischief
And finally Dianes wonderful ‘pie-cakin’ (carrot cake on pumpkin cheeskake on apple pie all frosted with cream chees frosting !). It was half joke but 100 % delicious
Dad and Sam were much in our thoughts.. .. Also sending love out to Becky’s parents and grandmother. They were in a terrible wreck 2 weeks back and are all recovering OK in Wisconsin. We’re grateful for that as well !
Diane and I were up to see the sunrise., which was a great way to begin vacation. today was our first full day at the beach and a great day to settle in and explore.
Diane lost no time in starting to cook. Our house had some great retro appliances.
Eventually everyone started waking up.. and we crossed over the road to check out some of Billy and Shawn’s land. It goes from the road all the way to Galveston bay. It’s swampy and full of snakes.. but it has some amazing animals.. crabs. alligators and beautiful birds like roseate spoonbills and great blue herons
it’s particularly cool to see an alligator this big.. it’s probably 6 feet.
there were signs of snakes too !
THe rest of the day we ate, drank, sat around talking, cooked up the crabs we’d caught, walked on the beach… and waited for max , gabe and Sammantha who were coming in late at night. We all went to dinner at a place called Nates up the road a bit.. and took food back for max, gabe and Sam .. they got in just after 10 PM.. We got them settled then headed out to do some fireworks on the beach ! Diane started her PiCakin.. two pies and cake stacked together and iced as one.. It’s gonna be so yummy !
nice to be all together.. missing Becky who couldnt come and as always .our Sam and Dad whos spirits are with us.
Today was the day we mark Sam’s organ donation. I just made a separate post on that because its too important to mix in with the events of a day.
Though we mark all three days of Sam’s passing. This year we had decided to use that day as a travel day to start our Thanksgiving trip to meet family in Houston. We left home at 4AM to meet our 6am flight . By 1PM we were in Houston… where I grew up.. it’s a huge and gritty city.. but it’s still home.
We picked up our car and headed through the concrete jungle to billy and shaun’s
Though we all get together a couple of times a year, this is the first time that DIane and I have been to see billy and shaun in Houston in several years.. before covid at least. It was so good seeing all the Texacohns and their super cute sheep dog Andy !
We were so excited to see Billy’s skeletons that he made for Halloween. They are 11 (I think) full-size plastic skeletons that spin around on a speed control motor (which I helped on)… Illuminated by strobe. The whole effect is so amazing as you watch the skeletons brachiate around the wheel. The pictures don’t do it justice. It’s really a work of art
It was so great to see the skeletons all assembled after spending so much time working with it remotely.. It’s one of the coolest things I think Billy has ever built !
After skeleton time, we all jumped in our various cars and drove to Galveston . Billy drove his Maclaren which had been decorated as a HotWheels for a HotWheels publicity stunt.. very cute.
My sister and her family and my mom met us there at a place called the Spot. A great place to start our vacation.
So far we have Grandma, Billy, Shaun, Berto, Ben, Bens dog Oliver, Chris, Billy Jr, Billy’s dog Andy , Mary. John. Ellery. Jake. Theo, Diane, and me, Great start to our vacation !
