Thanksgiving was much better this year than [last year](/journal/archives/2004/11/26/151/thanksgiving-sucks-when-youre-away-from-your-family/ “Read the Story”). We, the immediate family, were all together, I cooked for 5 hours, and then we ate. The food was good, and we only had to deal with my mother-in-law for about 30 minutes.

A.E. Telling Us Why She’s Thankful

B. Showing and Telling About Thanksgiving

W. Pretending to Be a Turkey

Buddy hoping he’ll score some turkey

I took my 5-year old son fishing in the [Roanoke River](http://www.dgif.state.va.us/wildlife/vbwt/site.asp?trail=2&site=MRV08&loop=MRV) this morning, but we came up empty. B. got very discouraged and said he doesn’t want to go again unless I can guarantee he’ll catch something. Unfortunately, he’s going to quickly discover that I’m a poor fisherman. I don’t think he grasps the concept of getting out on the river and experiencing some peace and quiet, but I’m sure he’ll understand by the time he turns 42.

Hopefully, these ducks had a better day than we did.

We took the kids to the [Mill Mountain Zoo](http://www.mmzoo.org/) yesterday, and I hate to admit it, but it wasn’t worth the price of admission. 3 of the 4 kids – the 8, 7, and 5 year-olds, found it very lame. My almost 3-year old, who’s crazy about trains, loved the ride on the [Zoo Choo](http://mmzoo.org/index.cfm/fa/pgs.view/PageID/20.htm), a miniature model G-16 train.

The [Mill Mountain Star](http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/VAROAstar.html) is up the hill from the zoo, and we had a nice view from the platform near the base of the star.

I helped the kids dye their Easter eggs this afternoon. A.E. produced a copy of the [American Girl](http://www.americangirl.com) magazine and said she wanted to try some of their suggestions for dying eggs. We did, and the results are displayed below:

B.’s contribution:

A.E. drew this a few minutes ago:

W., who’s 2 1/2, drew this earlier today:

‘Pushy parents’ who demand results from doctors can unwittingly be harming their child’s health, researchers warn.

[Read][ReadMe] (BBC News)

[ReadMe]: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/health/4368057.stm

For Valentine’s Day, I bought my wife 100 roses from [BloomsUSA.com](https://www.bloomsusa.com/). They were delivered to her work the Friday before Valentine’s Day by Federal Express, and she and her coworkers were very impressed. The roses were very pretty, in good condition, and lasted close to a week. When I ordered the roses, I used a 20% off coupon, but when I received my credit card statement, I noticed that I was charged full price.

After discovering the problem, I called BloomsUSA.com’s customer service number, and I spoke with a very nice woman who said she’d correct the problem. I checked my credit card transactions several days later, and the credit was there. That was excellent service, and I’ll definitely remember that when it’s time to order flowers again.

Now, how do I top the 100 roses next Valentine’s Day?

The number of households with five or more people has fallen by half since ’70, while living solo is more popular.

We’re staying at 5 here.

[Read](http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1202/p01s01-ussc.html) (Christian Science Monitor)

Thanksgiving is depressing when you’re away from your wife and kids on Thanksgiving Day. My mother-in-law decided that she wanted to take our two oldest children to Disneyworld Thanksgiving week. I said no, but my wife said yes. I finally agreed to let them go if my wife went, too. I don’t understand why my mother-in-law had to pick Thanksgiving week. So, this Thanksgiving sucked. It sucked even more than these:

• The year I was in basic training on Thanksgiving. Thankfully, it was the last day of basic training.
• The year I had guard duty. By the time I was relieved, the mess hall had closed, so dinner was a 7-Eleven hot dog.
• The year my mother-in-law took us to the Holiday Inn for a Thanksgiving buffet. The food wasn’t very good.
• The year my mother managed a laundromat and decided she would open the laundromat on Thanksgiving day and serve the family dinner there. Yes, in a laundromat.
• The year my wife drug me to her boss’ house for Thanksgiving dinner with her boss and her boss’ eccentric German grandmother.
• The year I cooked dinner while my girlfriend and her brother got inebriated and he and his girlfriend got into a fight.
• The year my pregnant sister and her husband showed up for dinner. She met and married her husband 4 months earlier while he was working a booth at a carnival. He skipped town a couple of weeks after that and hasn’t been seen since.
• The year we ate Thanksgiving dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Yes, we actually ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant that year

Here’s an mp3 of me reading “The Monster at the end of this Book” book to my kids – (3.7Mb 3 minutes, 54 seconds).

Here’s an mp3 of my 7-year old daughter reading a short story she wrote this evening – Fox And Louise (1.7Mb 1 minute, 48 seconds).